We had talked about it for the last six months or so, but Andrés and I finally made the decision to give Salem back to the Humane Society last Monday and yesterday we had to drop him off with the cat coordinator for the Kansas City area.

Salem was a great cat and he kept me company for a little more than a year while I was desperately lonely after moving to Kansas City. Andrés worked opposing shifts to mine and I spent a lot of evenings alone. Having someone at home eager to see me made my days much more pleasant. I could never explain how much I needed that little kitty in those early days.

Since we brought Alliclaus home, however, Salem has never really adjusted. He is apparently one of the many cats who don't do well living with children. We've always been very strict with Alliclaus about leaving Salem alone, but his stress level seemed to skyrocket anyway. He began peeing on my clothes and the baby's and also increased his scratching/biting even as he got older and farther away from his kittenhood.

I've been desperately sad about the decision since last Monday, when I first contacted the Humane Society. They've been nothing but nice and confirmed that we had tried all the options they generally recommend (both Prozac and Feliway pheremone treatment). Still, Salem is a black male cat, notoriously difficult to place, and now he has a behavioral issue as well. I feel like we should have tried something else or otherwise learned to live with his behavior.

Our vet believe that Salem will be better off in another home, one without children, but I'm fearful he won't find one. The guilt is extreme and my hormones are not helping.

More than anything else, though, I just miss my first baby.

Six days ago, I had a baby.

Mimiclaus was born January 9, 2008 at 12:59 p.m.
8 lbs, 12 oz., 19.5 inches, 14.5 inch head
So much for a baby who was "so much smaller" than Alliclaus.

Considering how big she was, we had a super-easy labor and delivery. They broke my water at 7:00, I went into labor at 10:30, I started pushing at 12:55 and she was born before 1:00. It was so different than with Alliclaus that I could hardly believe it was real.

Not so different than with Alliclaus? Big baby, rising bilirubin, poor breast milk supply. We're supplementing some with formula (shut it if you have something to say on that point), but I am cautiously hopeful that things might smooth out since Mimiclaus is interested in breastfeeding where Alliclaus could have cared less for, oh, say, twelve weeks or so.

Alliclaus is relatively good with the new baby. She is certainly struggling with the change in her life, but seems to be mostly taking it in stride. It helps that my mom's in town to help us out.

I'm the mother of two now.

I'm so lucky.

Alliclaus has finally decided to recognize who the heck I am. This is certainly a nice change from the constant yelling of "Popper" whenever Andrés leaves the house to, you know, work and support our family. For awhile, she seemed like she was getting it. She called Andiclaus "Popper" and if prompted, she would repeat that I was "Momnee." It wasn't perfect, but most of her language skills require at least a little bit of translation, so I was feeling pretty good about it.

Now, she's asking for me and pointing me out in pictures unprompted. It's pretty awesome. Except that apparently Momnee required too much effort, so I am now Mon. I'm really not prepared for my kid to go from Mommy to Mom, but I'm definitely not all about the referring to me as Mon. Hopefully, as the speech gets better, we'll go back to Mommy. Or at least Momnee.

She's got some other words coming on that are less exciting to hear. While I'm positive that she hasn't yet picked up any of my swear words, she is frequently saying "cock" and "fuck" when referrring to trucks and frogs. And because she knows I'm mortified, she says it over and over again. Relentlessly. I think I'll try to teach her other words to refer to those things. Like toad instead of frog. Who needs zoological accuracy when you can avoid immense humiliation?

Well, the weekend is here. Talk to you on Monday.

I know that I am not the only woman in the world who's had to deal with going up and down the stairs with a toddler while nine months pregnant, but my God! Alliclaus is still dreadfully slow going up the stairs on her own and doesn't know how to go down them by herself and while I would like to say that I just never have to take her back and forth because Andrés is always here by my side, that would be a wishful delusion. So I've been carrying her up and down the stairs at least a couple of times a day. Now that the contractions are a little stronger and the baby is attempting to engage in my pelvis, the added 25 pounds I'm carrying up the stairs are creating the horrible sensation that every step I take may break my water and cause the baby to fall out. (I know that's not really how it happens, but it is decidedly how this feels.)

So I'm letting Alliclaus go up the stairs on her own in spite of the fact that it means I'm on the staircase for upwards of five minutes at a time and just praying that she doesn't wake up until Andrés comes home. When that doesn't work, I carry her down the stairs as quickly and carefully as I can and hope for the best.

We're pretty close to making a decision to move into an apartment in another part of town in February. We're doing it mostly because it will move us close enough to my work that I would be able to come home to breastfeed, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of no more stairs. I can't believe that my laziness has reached this degree, but I am going to blame it on the pregnancy and believe that the laziness will go away with the heartburn and the backaches once this baby gets born.

I went and saw one of the midwives at my OB's practice this morning and the appointment went really well. Everything continues to be good - my blood pressure is great, my weight gain (while huge) is consistent and the baby's heartrate continues within the high range of normal.

Since I know we're hoping for a 39-week induction, I had them check my cervix. I'm at 2+ cm and am 70% effaced. This is good news, so I'm hoping that next week will bring a firm date for the induction. Hopefully, my OB will be on the same page. I don't know if I'll be able to start my class if I have a five day-old.

I got some books for Christmas, so I am happy to say that I'll have a few new reads while I'm endlessly strapped to the breast pump (although I am certainly hoping that I'll have to spend less time with that this time). We're getting excited about Sarah's arrival (in a little more than a week) and now I'm starting to want everything in the house spotlessly clean (I'm always a little late in the nesting). The office is open tomorrow and Friday, so I'm hopeful I'll get in a few hours at the office before my last day (January 4).

The heartburn is slowly killing me, so I am off to take more Tums.

A few pictures for the holiday.

These were taken in the church nursery on Sunday. It will likely be the only time she will wear the Christmas dress. Luckily, I waited until Saturday to buy it and therefore got it for, like, ten bucks.

And here's a quick picture from this morning. Alliclaus' aunt and uncle sent her a rocking horse for Christmas. She's still a little too short for it, but she likes to rock on it.

See you tomorrow!

Did I say everyday? I guess I meant every weekday. Huh.

We were beginning to be concerned about Alliclaus' speech delays. At 18 months, she was only really saying two words and they changed from week to week. She'd seem to learn a word and then the next week she wouldn't know the word, or at least she wouldn't say it.

In any case, it seems that we were concerned about what amounted to a regular developmental delay. Alliclaus has been a few months delayed across the board on most stuff, so I don't know why I let the speech delay worry me so much, but we're enjoying a wonderful speech explosion at this point.

It's funny. I've read tons of mommyblogs where they lay out an inventory of their children's words and I've always found it fun, but I can't bring myself to do one. For me, it just seems like a chore to write it all down. However, I'm not above giving you a small sampling of my favorites.

• Fairy (free-ree) - Alliclaus has a number of fairy Christmas tree ornaments that she likes to identify
• Papa (pop-per) - For some reason, that "r" just cracks me up
• Whoa. Are you okay? (wo-yo-kay?) - When Alliclaus was first walking, I had to work very hard to have a shake-it-off attitude, so I turned to this phrase whenever she fell. Apparently it sunk in, because she not only says it to us if we slip or fall, but she also says it to herself when she falls. I love it.

She mimics us a lot now. It's probably about time for me to start focusing on cleaning up my act. Nobody wants a baby who swears at the grandparents.

I'm so excited that tomorrow is Christmas. We've never stayed home for Christmas before and while I'm sad that I won't be seeing my friends and family, it turns out that not traveling for the holiday has left me with an amazing lack of anxiety surrounding these last few weeks. Plus, my in-laws are taking all the kids to Disneyland this year, and I can think of nowhere I want to be less the week between Christmas and the New Year than Disneyland. (In truth, there's almost never a time when Disneyland is not the last place I want to be. I have a heart of stone.)

I'm desperate for the next couple of weeks to come and go and for this baby to be born already. This pregnancy has been super-easy, but the heartburn the last two weeks has been unbearable. I'm not sleeping at night because of it and am having trouble eating for fear of it.

I have some pictures of Alliclaus in her Christmas dress that I need to pull off the camera that I'll probably post tomorrow. (After all, why take pictures of your kid if you can't use them for a complete cheat of a post on a holiday?) I'll see you then.

Alliclaus says, "By-ee."