Five Cats Blog
~ The life and antics of 5 cats and their human family
TechBot
~ Killer apps, cool widgets, sweet gadgets, hot fixes, must-gets, everything on the web
HELP: BECAUSE YOU CAN
Monday, February 12, 2007
Blogdrive Monthly Archives
Since Blogdrive doesn't quite have a monthly archive script yet for us and I hadn't been able to find one online, I figured out the only way is to do it manually.
1. Go to "Blog Configuration" in your Admin.
2. Go through your blog and locate the last post of every month.
3. Create a link to each last post and label it [Month] [Year].
4. Place them under the Calendar.
It's not perfect, granted, but it allows visitors to access the archives faster than clicking Next at the end of each page.
Maintenance is low. Once a month when you write your first post of the new month. Just follow steps from 1-4.
It was a shock to hear that Anna Nicole died so soon after her own son Daniel died in her hospital room after she gave birth to her daughter Dannielynn. As a mom now too, I can't even begin to imagine the grief she felt.
I remember seeing a picture of her a long time ago scrubbed and looking very young, innocent, and beautiful. That's how I will remember her. Rest in peace, Anna Nicole.
Jack loves his plastic bottles. He gives me the excuse to buy those 500ml Pokka Green Tea (and assortment of flavours) just so I can quickly drink them up and he can play with them. We have the Green Tea Jasmine, Honey Lemon Green Tea, and Lemon Tea. He is however, most fascinated by the 1l bottle I keep by my bedside - very important for nursing moms at night.
My Mom mused that he must be wanting to emulate me drinking water and truly, when I remove the lid and let him drink, he chomps the water down. A bit messy, but he always rewards me with a toothy grin after. Even now, a couple of months or so after the fetish started, he is still fascinated by them and will sit there for a while patting the bottle on his lap.
Stuff Jack has sunk his teeth into lately: a plum he grabbed out of the fruit basket, a small organic carrot, my shoulder, my knee.
The bags and cat pendant I ordered from The Animal Rescue Site Store on 22 January arrived. Great quality gifts for friends and myself and in buying, the order gave 56 bowls of food to to a rescued animal in a shelter or sanctuary.
The aesthetics of this carrier were enough for me to give it a second look, and then a third look. But as a Bjorn user, I contemplated the financial wisdom of buying another carrier. Baby is now 9kg and carrying him in the Bjorn feels like being 9 months pregnant again. My knees ached and I felt tired and unwieldly. After a conversation with several moms, I decided to give it a go.
The purchase process through MummysMilk was fast and very pleasant. Lulu, the owner of the cool online establishment, herself an AP (attachment parenting) mom with 2 kids, was a delight to talk to. Her articles on AP are a must-read.
After I paid last night via Internet Banking, the Ergo arrived the very next day via courier. Mom was surprised how small it packed into (as a packing genius herself). It is light, comes in a clear A4 pouch, with clear instructions in print and in a DVD. I wasted no time opening it up.
Like kids under the Christmas tree awed by the lights, Mom, Jack, and I gathered around to have a look at it and oohed and ahhed. Visually it is as beautiful as it appears on the picture. No boring navy Bjorn or tired navy triangle hip carrier, this is jet black with a maroon trim. Definitely the epitome of cool.
While my Mom carried baby, I strapped the Ergo on and sat baby in it. I felt no weight at all! No sigh of weight like when I put baby in the Bjorn. Jack was rather amused by the new experience and beamed widely as I played with the straps. We danced around with it for a while. Then I decided to try putting the poncho on him. He brushed it off three times (okay, I put it on him 3x) and began to fuss.
Removing Jack from the Ergo (reach behind, unstrap + undo arm strap) is way faster than with the Bjorn, which is a three-action removal (undo button x2, undo long pin). I just undid the neck strap, undid one arm strap, and off he went chasing after the DVD box and the other papers in the pack.
For me, the Bjorn felt safer when baby was small and now, when bending over to pick up something while carrying baby. It gives better head support too without the use of a poncho (for fussy bears who hate stuff on their heads) and you can turn baby outwards. I'd been concerned about him being held by the crotch for a while on the Bjorn and am pleased that the Ergo carries him by the rump instead. The Ergo also allows back carrying and is certainly better for Mom's back.
"I reckon we're pretty lucky kitties to have been rescued by Mom and Aunty Mini when we were mere kittens. Mom's always taught us to help others if we can (well Tuxie still demands food but I think the rest of us got the lesson).
The good kitties at the Paw Pledge Shelter need your help. Please pop by their website and blog to say hello. They've got cats up for adoption and neat merchandise you can buy to help the shelter."
Although he's been doing it for months now, especially when he was first learning to crawl, he would wake up crying on all fours, puzzled and upset why he was in such a position. I used to think he got himself there, but according to Moxie:
"All that physical development also makes it really tough for babies to sleep, and they often wake themselves up in the middle of the night with movement. It's a little funny when your baby wakes up and is shocked to be up on hands and knees rocking. His or her body just did it without any conscious effort."
Now he also stands and does a little "I put my right foot in, I put my right foot out, I put my right foot in..." but stops short of "shaking it all about". It's really cute to watch!
BREAKING NEWS: In an effort to rescue a baby's toy dinosaur, two community cats meowed feverishly till the baby's mother peered out the window to see the poor dinosaur lying on the ground. She rushed out to retrieve the poor dinosaur and thank the kind samaritans but the two had left after their good deed.
In an interview, the mother said, "If not for the cats, Mr Pterodactyl would have been run over by a car in the morning. Whoever they are, thank you from the bottom of my heart." She will pledge a membership and donation to the Cat Welfare Society, who helps these caring critters.
Beset with guilt from neglecting the kids, every day their Dad feeds them in the morning before he goes to work and while one of my parents is playing with Jack, I go spend some time with the kids, petting them and talking to them, and giving them some grub.
I noticed today that all of them accepted pets, and dear sweet Kaku who spent the past few months staying away from me, leapt onto the table and lay in her "please pet me Mommy" pose (prone with bum up in the air). I gladly petted her and cooed at her calling her my sweet baby girl.
I gave her some food then, which she nipped at and after, fed the rest too. Buffy rushed and ate but the rest hovered around. I petted each of them and then left them to their own devices. When I turned, Boy went to eat some more.
It broke my heart that he would rather I pet him than eat (although yes, they had been fed not long before), which probably means he is feeling neglected. Unlike the rest (and maybe even Kaku), he doesn't seek much solace in feline company.
I should try to organise more time with them as baby grows more independent.
Meanwhile, I made Baby a Treasure Chest (from a small blue cat-laden mug box with a lid) with a rotating assortment of toys inside: his rubber soccer ball, Baby Tigger, a yellow plastic donut ring, a photo album with the cats' pics, his cardboard "mobile phone".
He always delights in playing with them. Sometimes I add small plastic bottles of different colours and sizes. Sometimes different balls. Anything that teaches him categories and are fun to play with.
He's been pulling up to standing since 6.5 months, but it's his most favourite activity now. He even lets go of one hand and looks at me, like look Ma, one hand! He also crawls like a speeding bullet, usually when his Dad comes home and shrieks in delight when he picks him up.
On Sunday, he amused all of us by sticking out his tongue whenever we say shh and put a finger to our lips. I have no idea where he learnt that from but it sure brought laughter to everyone watching.
Now he usually wakes up before me. Sometimes he pulls my hair and I yelp ouch! He quickly buries his face in my chest and hugs me tight. I smile and hug back and tell him it's okay. It is just ouchie for Mom. And he returns the hugest grin. It's the sweetest thing.
"To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness." -- Bertrand Russell
"Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages."
-- Thomas Edison (Harper's Magazine, 1890)
A woman's romance with motherhood, green living, finance, and this heady thing called life.
