Just an Ordinary Day

Yesterday was fantastic. Although it started out like every other ordinary day.

I was feeling a little icky when morning came at 6am, so Chris jumped up and took Matthew and got Devon ready for school. I manage to get out of our warm and comfy bed about 10:30. All is quiet and I'm wondering why Chris didn't wake me up to nurse Matthew to sleep for his morning nap. When I walk out of our room I notice Matthews bedroom door is closed, so I peek in, out of curiosity. And he is out cold in his crib.

I head downstairs and Chris is watching a Harry Potter movie, and he tells me putting Matthew down was easy, so he didn't have to wake me. At first I was a little hurt because I wasn't needed, but I got over that pretty quick because I was excited because maybe this weaning business wasn't going to be quite so horrible (on Matthew).

I went to the bus stop to get Devon and we came home and did homework. So far, like I said it was very ordinary, for the most part. Then we head downtown because Chris needed to go get some of his uniforms replaced because they had holes in them. After that it was yet another instance where we were like, "Well, now what?" Whenever Chris has weekdays off, it can be a little tricky finding something to do that doesn't cost money. So I head south not sure exactly where I'm going.

At first I wanted to go to SoCo (south congress for you non-Austin folks) and just walk around all the fun shops. But then I wasn't paying very close attention and drove right past Congress. Smooth. I know. So I changed my mind (this has been known to happen frequently) and since we were headed for the Town Lake trail (I refuse to call it Lady Bird Lake because it was Town Lake when we moved here almost four years ago). We park and check out this new area where there is this awesome fountain that is great for kids to run around on, but it's too cold, so we head to the trial.

The side of the river we were on has a leashless dog area, so there are cute dogs every where! Matthew had an unwanted encounter with a little puppy lab and got a kiss. Let me tell you, he did NOT like that at all. I suppose he felt very violated. I can see that. ;) So from then on when a dog got too close he protested from his stroller. As we're walking Chris suggests we cross the river at the next bridge and head over toward the animal shelter. Sounded fun to me, so we headed that way.

When we get to the shelter Chris goes straight for the dogs, but after a little while there are these girls in front of us talking to every dog they pass, so we detour to the cat house. There we meet Rebel. The 18 lb five year old cat. Chris and Devon go in to play with him and then I went in because he was adorable. But he hid in his cat house when I went in so we looked at the other kitties and we met Xander. He was cute and the volunteer said he was great with kids, so I take Devon in and he is very playful and sweet. One of the shelter workers heard us talking about Xander and she told us his adoption rate was reduced from $75 to $35. Wow. We hang out a little longer, including one more visit with Rebel and head back out to the dogs.

Chris found a pure bread Siberian husky and takes him out for a walk and into a pen. He's not very social, but he does listen well coming straight to the leash and doesn't fight it. Then we find a german shepard, lab mix. He's cute and playful so we take him out too. He basically acts the same as the husky, but Chris seems disappointed that I'm not interested in any of the dogs. We walk around some more and head out.

It's about 4:30 and we start walking back on the trail toward the car. We start talking about the animals we interacted with. Chris brings up the dogs again, talking about how we will never find another pure husky again at the shelter, trying to win me over. I wasn't really thinking about the dogs. I was more concerned about Xander, the playful black cat. So we talk about the possibility of getting a cat and the next thing I know we are in the car grabbing some drive thru food so we can go back to the shelter and rescue Xander.

I knew there could only be one reason they were cutting his rate. He had been there almost two months and his free room would be needed for the next kitty. So we sign some papers and hand over the credit card and wah-lah! We now are the proud owners of Xander!!! They give him to us in a cardboard pet carrier and off we go. In the car he seems a little concerned so at first I let him peek him head out and then I just open the whole box so I can pet him and comfort him.

When we get home we quaranteen him in our bathroom, give the kids a bath the put them to sleep then we give Xander a bath, just to be on the safe side. He does surprisingly well. After the bath he just roams the house for a couple of hours and then after that he just follows me everywhere. It was cute. We headed to bed and he came with us. I think he has done this before because as soon as I went in the bed room he hopped on the bed and layed down. So we get in bed and at first he lays on Chris and then moves to the end of the bed where he stayed until about an hour before we got up.

Once it was time to get up Xander got to get reacquainted with the kiddos. Devon was very good with him, but for some reason Matthew would protest if Xander got too close to him or me. It was funny. Nothing too loud like crying, he would be pretty much go, "Ehhh" like saying "hey!" It's been fun. However Matthew does seem to enjoy the cat scratcher just as much as Xander. And already Xander is good at sharing. So now, we have a third kid in the family.

Xander has quickly made himself at home. And I've got to admitt it's going to be nice having some company at night when Chris is at work.