Rats, Kate, and Drew

Ug, I cleaned the rat cage while the girls were at gymnastics yesterday. The deal was the they were to clean the cage (it's their pet) once a week. Well, THEY POOP SO MUCH that the cage has to be cleaned twice a week...or it smells. That has got to be the grocest job!! It's worth it though. They are pretty cute and very very good with the kids. They've been tossled and Ethanized and still are very gentle. I am going to look into litter box training.

Kate is so cute I could eat her. She has really began to coo, but only when you are in her face talking to her. So, at nights, after the other 3 are in bed, we cuddle in my bed and she just talks to me and I to her. It's really adorable. It seems to take a lot of effort to get non-crying sounds out, so she gets excited when it happens and her face lights up; her eyes get real big and she smiles and then tries to do it again. I love it so much I almost cry. This, I know, will pass so quickly.

My Drewsy Lucy! After gymnastics yesterday, they went to their friend's house to play until about 7:30. Well, bedtime is a sharp 8 pm, so they had to bathe quickly, brush their teeth, read their AR books, say prayers & be tucked in all in about 30 minutes. So, apparently, Drew was having a hard time going to sleep. The rule is that they have to start out in their own beds, but if they wake up in the middle of the night, they can come sleep with me....I need what little time is left for myself (and Kate). Drew has figured out that if she stays up until McKenna falls asleep and waits a bit, then that would be considered "the middle of the night". So, right before I turned the lights at 9:15 she comes in and gets in bed with me. I would usually escort her right back to her bed, but last night I cuddled with her and we just talked until a quarter til ten o'clock. She is so mature for six. I don't remember all of what we talked about, but we laughed a lot. McKenna'a rat had diarreah yesterday and that made for a really funny conversation with her. We had to be quiet because Kate was sleeping in the crib beside my bed, and that made it even funnier. So, thanks to our nasty rats and Drew's persistence, I had a great bonding time with 2 of my daughters last night!