Tuesday, April 29, 2008

mixed blessings

it's been a while since i've posted, but it's been a crazy time. i am not a religious person at all but the most apt expression for our recent weeks has been the lord giveth and the lord taketh away. our family is dealing with two situations -- one very positive and one negative -- and they take turns eclipsing one another.

our negative situation is that one of our three cats, jackson [a.k.a. gumby] has been recently diagnosed with lung cancer. how weird, right? how does a cat? get lung cancer? smoking? we'd noticed he's gone from a robust black beast to a spindly, bony spectre. when we had him weighed, he was 13.5 pounds, certainly shy of his normal 18. his xray showed the top quarter of one lung was completely consolidated and two small tumors were nestling inside the bottom healthy parts. the doctors don't think he will see autumn. right now with the help of some appetite stimulants, he's able to enjoy the springtime and gorge himself on plenty of sloppy-good wet food. we just take every day as it comes and lavish love on the guy whenever we can. he gets right in there and snuggles hard against his daddy at night, happy as can be. otto gets in plenty of eskimo kisses, too.

our positive situation is... that we're expecting our second child! my official due date is november 5, and we are pretty much just referring to the baby as he until we know otherwise in two more months. our first trimester screening came back today -- important now that i'm technically of "advanced maternal age" -- and we're looking good! here are some ultrasounds below...

this one's at eight weeks...











... and this one's at twelve weeks.