Weekending

I spent most of the day on Saturday thinking that it was Sunday - if that isn't the best way to have a weekend, I'm not sure what is. PLUS, I managed to take two naps on Saturday (don't judge) and get a whole heck of a lot done around the house, so #winning.

Friday was a really important day: Toby's birthday!

That's right, friends - my kitten is no longer a kitten. Instead, he's a horribly obnoxious cat, who managed to lock himself into a bedroom on Saturday night and cause me to panic and also try to knock wine glasses off my wall and climb my curtains this weekend. He's lucky he's still living with us.

Friday was also fun because C and I met up with my mom, aunt, and uncle to show them around downtown Fredericksburg for a bit and enjoy dinner at one of our favorite local spots: Vivify Burger & Lounge.

We were trying to go to a new brewery that opened a few months ago, but when we got there, the wait for a table was over two hours!! That's great for them, but not so great for us. So we opted for a back-up, which probably turned out to be an even better choice. The weather wasn't unbearable, so we enjoyed out meal and drinks on the rooftop patio - my favorite! The food was delicious and the company was great. Love!

We planned to do a ton of yard work on Saturday, but we woke up to rain and puddles in the backyard.... so I did what any good wife would do and suggested a breakfast date! C and I headed to Amy's, where the special of the day was blueberry pancakes. I was one happy girl.

Mismatched coffee mugs - one of my favorite things about Amy's!

After breakfast and a nap, we got down to business in the room that we will be turning into the nursery. It's currently a beauty, with banana yellow walls and pink carpet (I cannot even) and so we have lots of work ahead of us.

Seriously.... why? :(

C worked on sanding the walls and filling holes, and I followed behind him washing walls and prepping to paint. He managed to get two walls primed on Sunday, so we made some pretty good progress unexpectedly. I'm so glad!

Saturday night we had plans to see our friends Stephanie and Chris, who are moving at the end of the month. We are going to miss the going-away party for them and some other friends while we are at the beach, so we are trying to see everyone while we still can! We headed to their house for a fish fry, and the boys fried up some delicious fish, shrimp, onion rings, and hush puppies, while I hogged the baby and snuggled as much as possible. Just practicing!

On Sunday, we tackled the yard work that got scrapped on Saturday, and I got my workout in for the day by squatting up and down (and up and down) pulling weeds and fighting some serious weed-intruders. We've had so much rain lately that the situation as gotten a LITTLE out of control. It took several hours to feel like I'd even made a dent!

After lunch, I headed out for a pedicure and to the mall - my email had been yelling at me for days that the summer candle sale was almost over. I snagged a couple good scents, and swung by Target for a few new maternity tops (I had a coupon, so it wasn't terrible).

My parents joined us for dinner last night, and we threw some chicken on the grill, which I marinated using this recipe. It's so flavorful - just a little time in the marinade does wonders for the chicken. Paired with watermelon and a Mediterranean chickpea salad, it was a delicious summer meal. My favorite!

Unfortunately, I was nursing a killer headache most of the evening (pregnancy symptoms no one warns you about...) and so I wasn't much fun once my parents were gone. A little ice cream and TV time on the couch was all I could handle before heading to bed. I was exhausted - I can't believe we had such a productive weekend in the end. Success!

Bad pet parenting

Last Tuesday, I posted this photo on Instagram:

Toby the Terrible had gotten himself into the giant, sprawling bouquet of lilies that C had gotten me for Valentine's Day, and managed to get himself completely covered in the bright yellow pollen that comes with them. He basically looked like he had been smeared all over with mustard. Delightful.

We took him up to the bathroom and tried to rinse him off and use some shampoo to clean him up, but that was only marginally successful - just think about the logistics of bathing a cat for a minute. Yeahhhhh.

He was pretty funny looking soaking wet, though, so to Instagram I went. Hashtag Toby the Terrible.

It became significantly less funny when one of my sweet friends alerted me to the fact that lilies are stupid poisonous for cats. (Thanks, Em!!!) We had no idea - and our cats are notorious plant-eaters. Like, if there are flowers anywhere in the house, they will track them down and munch. Great!

Both cats had only had limited exposure to the bouquet unsupervised (about an hour while C and I had been shoveling the driveway), but who knows what happened while we were outside. Cue panic.

I promptly threw the bouquet away and we tried again to wipe Toby down with a sponge (a little more effort this time, and with more success, luckily), and went to work trying to keep him from licking the area with the pollen. FYI - If you Google "cats and lilies," the internet will pretty much tell you that you're an idiot and a terrible cat parent and tell you all the horrible things that are going to happen to your cat before they die. Trust me, you will feel awful.

Our vet was closed because of the snow, and there really wouldn't have been much they could do anyway. The best we could do was monitor both cats, make sure neither of them starting acting unusual, and keep an eye out for changes in the litter box or throw up. Okay. We could handle that. I guess.

Until I woke up on Wednesday morning and found cat throw up (gross, I know) in the living room. Given the state of alert we were in and the fact that it is rare for either of the cats to get sick, I went into super panic mode. Neither C or I could afford to stay home from work that day and watch the cats, but we needed to not leave them alone for 12+ hours and wonder if they'd be okay while we were gone. What to do?!

If you think I called my mom at 5:30 AM on a snow day, woke her up, and begged her to drive an hour each way to spend the afternoon with my cats, you better believe you are correct. And because my mother is an angel and a saint, she did it without question, and ensured us that all was fine in the house. Nothing was amiss, both cats acting totally normal, and all was seemingly well.

By Thursday morning, we were pretty sure we were out of the woods (a la T. Swift song), because the World Wide Web says signs of being poisoned with show up within 48 hours. Apparently, the one case of vomiting was just a really, really poorly timed coincidence (thanks, whoever did that) - it's been just about a week now, and both cats seem completely healthy. Normal, no, healthy, yes. We are still watching them closely, but I think we are okay. Needless to say, it will be awhile before we have fresh flowers in the house again... and definitely no lilies!

Drowned-rat status. Good thing cats have 9 lives!

Someone please share with me a similar bad-pet-parenting story. It can't be just us! Anything else that you know is poisonous to animals that I probably don't know about? It is going to be rough when it comes times to have kids!!