We are FAMILY...

I've had some time to really enjoy my family the last few days. Thursday, zedrikcayne took the day off and we spent the day at EPCOT to see Cory's high school choir perform. (Cory is the fifteen year old son of Cayne's ex, and whose mother mentioned to me that he wanted to see us when he was here with school.) Yesterday we went shopping for a birthday present for a three year old and then went to said three year old's birthday party-I bought two sets of play wings for her-butterfly wings which came with a skirt, wand and antennae, and fairy wings which I added a wand to. They were a hit with the children at the party. And today we went to celebrate Cayne's 37th birthday (a day early) at the Great American Pie Festival (down in Kissemmee/Celebration.) Unfortunately, Naomi ran out of patience in the heat before we were ready to leave so our day was cut a bit short, but we still had a good time.

And I got to clean a bathroom without holding a baby at the same time today!

Miri is getting more efficient at rolling from belly to back but still not rolling from back to belly. The firmer the surface the faster she rolls, which makes sense. She also seems to be having a growth spurt, and

Naomi has added the phrase "You're welcome" to her vocabulary and has even used it correctly. I love the fact that Naomi uses polite words. It's cute, certainly, but it also means one less thing to try and teach later.

Mom got a call from the no-kill shelter tat they have room for two more kitties, and she's sad to part with them. She's got to part with the adoptable ones of course, but they're also some of the ones she's fond of and it's sad. She's already got one litter of kittens this spring from one of her semi-ferrals, and is anticipating two other litters soon. She's like to catch/fix/release the cats, but isn't able to catch them yet. I know two cats who she's certain are staying with her, and one who is staying with her but will eventually come to live with us (Baker, one of Mom's cats who took a particular liking to Cayne and me, though mostly me, when she was a kitten and still really likes us will eventually come live with us.) I wish I could do the kind of generous work that my Mom does. I know she'd like to do more, and perhaps it's something that she'll do in her retirement, because my mother will go absolutely off her rocker if she doesn't have a project.

We're talking about where they should live when they retire-they're talking about moving down here, and would like to be within about an hour from us and an hour from Tampa. Not too hard, though finding them a place that isn't all planned community/HOAs and fulfills their other needs will be interesting. I know it's a few years off at least, but there are times when I think it would be nice to have them closer to us. My Dad is already looking forward to it, and when I said that I was too, he pointed out that what I was looking forward to was the babysitting-and that by that time, my kids would probably all be out of diapers, too. My Mom has been adamant about not being our default babysitter even before there were children-and I have no problem with that, but I know my Dad is looking forward to having the kids close by and getting to see a lot of them and do things with them. I don't think anything compares to how he feels about Naomi-Naomi will have a very special place because she's the first of his grandchildren who he really gets to be Grandpa to (even though there are four others ranging in age from about 12 to 17...but that's my crazy older siblings.) I know also that he feels very strongly that Naomi's name is a special blessing...Naomi is named for my great aunt Nettie-I'm not supposed to know that Nettie was married and it was annulled, but I do know that. She had no children of her own, was single for pretty much her entire life. When she died, I explained to the rabbi doing the funeral service that having her around was like having a third grandma (and my father loves to tell this story, but the rabbi used that phrase, which came out of my 9 year old mouth in her eulogy.) So it stands to reason that when thinking of names for my children (and following the tradition of naming children for dead relatives) that I'd consider my aunt Nettie. And so Naomi is named for her. My father choked up when she was born and when he heard we were naming the baby for aunt Nettie-he knew we were thinking about it, and he knew I wouldn't name a girl after my grandfather unless that was my second baby. (I was pretty sure after Naomi we'd have a second baby and I wanted to name a son after my grandfather if I had one...so I saved that for the second baby. Miri is named for my maternal grandfather and my paternal grandmother. Naomi is named for my aunt and my maternal grandmother. Had my brother died after the appendectomy debacle, we'd probably have named Miri for him. The third baby will probably just get a name we love.)

And now, I'm going to enjoy the impending thunderstorm. And hope for no tornadoes.

My parents overwhelm me

My parents are in the process of renovating their kitchen and know that we're about to finally do ours. Mom and I have been on the phone repeatedly about cabinets lately and the guy who is doing the plans for theirs offered to do a quick and dirty set of plans for us so we would have a better idea of the budget.

And then tonight I got a phone call from my Mom. Mom and Dad have decided that if we (Cayne and I) can get our act together to go and choose cabinets very quickly (within about a week) and choose from a particular line (the same one that they're getting their cabinets from) that they'll pay for my cabinets.

I cried. They're overwhelming me with their generosity.

And so I've got some shopping to do. Very soon.

(Like I said on Facebook-anyone want to meet me at Lowe's to look at cabinets and then have some dinner? Cayne told me "Go do it, have a night out with a friend by yourself. I can manage both of the girls." He's awesome.)