Meow Meow Meow

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am a full on crazy cat lady. Lots of other bloggers with babies post birth stories (I'm not sure anybody would want to read that, to be honest) but instead this is the story of how Murdoch came into our lives. (His picture graces the banner at the top of this blog)

We always had cats growing up and I can't imagine not having one in the house. We had a much loved family cat who died when he was 16. I had him from the age of 8 to 24 so really, we grew up together. The day he had to be put down was a sad day for our family and years later, we all still talk about him regularly.

About a year after that cat died, I became desperate for a cat of my own. I was like a broody woman wanting a baby. At the time, we were living in New Zealand, where cat ownership is high (much to the detriment of the local wildlife!). There were cats everywhere and the day that Mr HNW caught me trying to tempt the neighbour's cat to come in to the house with a saucer of milk was the day he realised we needed to get a little cat of our own. Our big concern was that we knew we were not going to be in New Zealand forever, but after some discussion we decided the cat would just have to come with us when we left and that was that.

One Easter weekend we went to the Wellington SPCA. The staff were very busy because it was an "adopt-athon" day and there were lots of prospective cat and dog owners in. They asked us four or five questions and then instead of bringing us into the main cat area brought us into the administrative office. There were so many kittens that needed homes that there were two cages in there with a litter of kittens in each one. They pointed us to one cage, said these cats love people and left us to it. I opened the cage and a little black and white cat crawled up my arms and fell asleep in the crook of my elbow, purring loudly. I knew then that this was my cat and Murdoch has been with us ever since.

When we left New Zealand, Murdoch came with us on a three day trip across the world to get him home to Dublin. The trip involved two long car journeys, three flights and a ferry crossing and it cost a small fortune to bring him back but it was worth every penny. It's a story for another time I think.

When I got pregnant a lot of people advised me (aka told me what I had to do, in a way anyone who has had a baby is familiar with) that I would have to "get rid" of Murdoch when the baby arrived or that it was madness to have a cat and a newborn in the house. These were people who did not know me well and it infuriated me. Obviously, I wasn't going to let Murdoch babysit and it's not like cats steal babies souls or anything. I know toxoplasmosis can be an issue but it is rare and there are normal, sensible precautions you can take. People said that Murdoch would smother the baby because they like the warmth or that they can smell milk. To be honest, that's nonsense and people who say that must not know cats well. Cats, in general, do not like things that move when they are trying to sleep on them (as you will know if you have a cat and get up while they are on your lap and have experienced the "death glare" for disturbing their slumber.)

I discussed it with my vet who said that as long as Murdoch was fleaed and wormed regularly and we watched to make sure Murdoch didn't get into the cot on top of him then it was fine. In fact he said that there are studies showing that babies who grow up with pets in the house are less likely to be asthmatic (unless the mother is actually asthmatic herself). We "cat-proofed" J's cot before he was born but Murdoch, of course was having none of it. We found him in there on top of the cat-proof netting so many times that we gave up and just did our best to keep the door closed. He had some kind of cot sensor though and would manage to get in there all the time. He still sneaks in there whenever he can and gets shouted at a lot for taking naps in there (after I took pictures of course because it is bad, but also kind of cute!)

Murdoch, is in fact, very good with J. He is a gentle cat at the best of times but now that J can grab and move about he really has a chance to show that. When they are near each other I watch them carefully in case Murdoch suddenly turns but he just walks off when J gets a bit rough. If J is crying Murdoch will come and sit next to him and give him headbutts (cat kisses) and when Murdoch walks past J starts giggling like it is the funniest thing he has ever seen. I know some people will probably think I'm a terrible mother for letting J and Murdoch sleep like in the photo below but it works for us and I just think it is the cutest thing ever.

So, there really is no reason that pets and babies are not compatible. J and Murdoch already have a little bond and  it's lovely to see them together. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if J's first word is Murdy. As long as you are smart about it and take a few precautions what''s the problem? If I could get ten more cats I would but Mr HNW has vetoed it. Apparently 11 cats, one baby and two parents in a two bedroom apartment is "not a good idea". We'll see!

N
xx

Sleepless Nights and a New Bed!!!!

I was going to put about ten more exclamation points in the title of this post - I am that excited. I'll start off by saying I love sleeping and love being in my bed. It's by far the hardest thing about having had a baby, the lack of sleep and the fact that opportunities for lie-ins are thin on the ground. In saying that, I do spend a good bit of time with J in our bed. In the morning he will often have a nap about 1.5 hours after he wakes up (very strange, if you ask me) so in the morning sometimes we stay in bed and play for a while and then he goes back asleep, giving me time to lie next to him and go online or grab a quick nap myself.

J is a very bad sleeper. There's no other way to put it. The idea that he will ever sleep through the night seems crazy to me, I just can't picture it ever happening, although as has been pointed out to me by a few people, no 18 year old wakes up 6 times at night needing his mother! I know they have a point but at the moment I feel like I am in a constant state of exhaustion, like a foggy cloud of sleepiness that I seem to exist in. I always had a good memory and picked up things quickly but lately my senses seems a bit dulled and I find myself become forgetful and disorganised. I never really had "baby brain" when I was pregnant but it is definitely kicking in now. He doesn't need to be fed or changed during the night (he refuses food) and he is neither too hot nor too cold. He just wakes up and lacks the ability to go back asleep by himself.

Recently, our solution when he wakes up at night  is to just bring him into the bed with us, instead of rocking him in the dark for two hours singing Five Little Ducks (I am really starting to hate those ducks, there may be a duck cull coming up in our future). A few people (including my Mum) have said just do what you need to do to get some sleep and to take the path of least resistance.

When J was younger all the SIDS advice used to scare the crap out of me. I thought if I took him in the bed with us he would just die immediately, on the spot. I was terrified. Now, I have mellowed a bit and just take some precautions to make sure he is not smothered by us or a duvet.

Our bed is not very big so when he comes in with us Mr HNW usually moves to J's bedroom and sleeps on the floor on a little fold out mattress type thing. Also, bad mammy alert here - the cat sleeps at the end of our bed too so often there are actually four of us in the bed. Recently I'd had enough and decided we had to have a king-size bed so we would all be a bit more comfortable.

We had a bit of a shop around and decided to buy it in good old Ikea. Some of the prices for beds were shocking. I know a bed is an investment but we are on a budget here! We bought a Malm Ottoman bed because I loved the idea of having all that storage under the bed. It is just fabulous and I'm loving have all the extra space in the bed. After years of renting  it's also nice having a bed that you have bought yourself and you know that nobody else had slept in. It's always nice to get to buy new bedlinen too!

What's even better is all the storage under the bed (notice the obligatory cat photo):

Great for those of us in apartments. I'm still organising but look at all the space for bags, shoes and scarves. Now I can buy more!

Fingers crossed this leads to a better nights sleep for all of us - and on that note I'm off to get into my lovely bed now and catch some Zs while I can!

N
xxx