Lyla Rose: The Cat Whispering Night Owl

The other day as Lyla was cuddling Carlos, (or Car Car or Carkey or Cark according to Lyla), she said to me "I really understand cats."  She's kind of right, the way she loves on that Car Car, but mostly she's lucky to have the sweetest kitty around.  He love, love, loves that girl.  Somehow he endured her baby torture and now almost can't stand to be without her.  If she's cuddling on a couch with a blankie, he's curling up in her lap.  If she gets banished into timeout land, he almost always sneaks in before the door is closed.  If you can't find him, he's surely curled up on Lyla's pillow in her bed.  It's pretty much the cutest thing ever the way those two have become best friends. 

It's not quite as cute when he sneaks in her room in the middle of the night when we have to go in and get her back to sleep, then starts meowing uncontrollably when she finally is back to bed.  Which is happening WAY more often than it should.  I'm not sure what is going on but we are having a tough time getting her to bed at night AND getting her back to sleep when she wakes to go potty.  She likes to claim that her tummy isn't tired anymore.  These toddlers are lucky they're so darn cute.

A few nights ago we were going through the nighttime shenanigans of Lyla not wanting to go back to sleep.  She ended up turning her light on in her room and Carlos noticed so he started crying outside her room.  Her door is right across from ours so I was peeking to see what would happen.  All of a sudden the door opened up, just a crack.  I could barely see her little eye looking through the crack, taking it all in.  She finally opened it a little more, just wide enough for Carlos to slip in, then quickly shut it.  I looked over at our monitor and Cark had jumped right up onto her pillow, so she grabbed a book and started reading to him.  It was so darn adorable, like they have this little secret book club together.  I guess she really does understand cats.  :)

- K

Animals are Assholes

I'm sorry for the language, but can we just be honest with ourselves for a second?  There are about a million and two causes out there inundating my social media about these "Pitiful Pooches" and "Krestfallen Kitties", and I'm calling your bluff.  Animals are assholes.

Seriously.  They are expensive.  They are loud.  They are dirty.  They have zero regard for their human counterparts, pooping and peeing anywhere they please without the slightest hint of remorse.  They bark and meow in the middle of the night, just to check in, make sure you know they're still there.  And then, after all that, they demand treats at all hours of the day.  As if they've actually done anything remotely worthy of a reward.

I can't remember the last time I sat down and actually had my lap to myself.  Or a pillow to myself for a single night's sleep.  I don't know what it's like to walk through the house without some kind of critter wrapping themselves around my ankles and tripping me, and not a single pair of black pants is still black 5 minutes after putting them on.

But, just when I think I've had enough and I've written off ever having another animal again...they curl up next to me, the warm piles of fur with those sad puppy dog and puss in boots eyes, and all is forgiven. 

Damn it. 

- K

Last Weekend

So now that it's almost the weekend I can finally get around to a post about last weekend.  I mean, it's not like blogs are supposed to be timely or anything.

Last weekend was a really good one, and even included some Pinterest success stories, which given my track record isn't exactly the norm.

Saturday was Lyla Snoozapalooza '13.  She slept from 7pm to 9 am.  NINE AM.  I slept in until 8 and had an entire hour to drink coffee in peace, which was kind of amazing.  Except for the slight paralyzing fear I always feel when she sleeps too long and all I want to do is bust in that room to make sure she's still breathing.  Am I the only one that does that?

Once she finally woke up I started my Pinterest experiment #1, power blueberry muffins.  And they were SO delish.  Lyla even helped out with the stirring, in between dancing to the Spice Girls with her dad.

You can find the muffin recipe here.

 
After muffins and a trip to the park we came home and Lyla took a 2 1/2 hour nap.  Have I mentioned that she is officially down to just one nap a day?  And it's typically 2 hours right on the dot.  But why not throw in that extra half hour when she got 14 hours of sleep the night before??

When I went into her room I found out that Carlos, our Mexicat, had snuck in and napped in her crib with her the entire time.  Lyla was ok with it.

Sunday we went to church and MADE IT ON TIME.  Can I get a "hallelujah"?!  Then we went out to this super cute area just north of Minneapolis to have brunch and take pictures with one of Ryan's rugby teammates for Rugby Mag.  It was hotter than Hades and soo humid, so we decided to sit outside for brunch.  Never mind the frizzy, sweaty messes we were all becoming before said photos.  But brunch was delish, and it was fun to get to know the other couple, so not a total failure. 

Is anybody else getting sick of seeing her in the same dresses over and over and over??  I am.  And yet all of the stores are now carrying sweaters, jeans and boots and it's in the 90's every dayyyy.  Come on Fall, can you just live here all the time?

To celebrate the heat that night I went ahead and made some piping hot chicken tortilla soup.  Another Pinterest find, which was tasty, but I'd save it for a nice cool day.  Lesson learned.

I also made a tomato-avocado salad, which it turns out isn't super photogenic, but very, very tasty.  And it didn't have sweaty, frizzy hair, so that's nice at least.

I know, I know.  My photography is breathtaking. 

You can find the soup recipe at the bottom of the page here, and the salad recipe here.

- K

Hola Amigos

Hola Amigos.  It is I, Carlos.  Today I have seen muchos of these equal sign things, y I can feel your pain, amigos!  It is mucho UNFAIR en mi casa, and I can't take it!  I mean, seriously.  We came first, but as soon as la nina comes, it's all "baby this" y "baby that".  Y, it sounds like it will get worse before it gets better.  Por ejemplo, we are hearing rumors of perros?!  And MAS NINOS?!

Ay ay ay, amigos.  We must take a stand!

- C

Hola Amigos

baby sisters are mucho hard work, amigos

afternoon siesta

snuggling with la nina

Hola amigos.  Allow me to introduce myself - I am Carlos, el gato.  Let me tell you, this "big brother" business es muy dificil!  Pero, secretly I kind of like it.  It took some getting used to her stlye of "petting" and "cuddling".  And ay, ay, ay amigos - the constant screaming!  But I sure do get mucho attention these days, so I'll take what I can get.  Que sera, sera as they say.

- C