sad, fun and scary! oh and a birthday!

Yesterday was my 26th birthday. We joked during the day calling it my "twenty sick" birthday because I was sick all day. It actually was one of the most meaningful birthdays I've had. It was my first birthday with a family of my own! Joe and Olz took care of me all day because I felt so crappy. I mostly laid in bed and Joe brought me soup, tea, vitamins and BURRITOS! No, I am still not able to eat dairy but I found a fake cheese that gets the job done. The boys took care of me and I did some nappin' and relaxin'. It was all I wanted for my birthday. And my parents got me a kindle! Score! I had been wanting one so I am pretty excited. I still haven't gotten the chance to play with it... 

Ole is a little crawling monster. He can go forward now. Very fast. He can also climb on to things and walk along them. He is also saying "hi!" to everyone and everything. It's really cute. Two of my friends stopped by last week and Ole kept saying "hi!" to them. It's so funny. He also said "daddy" for the first time yesterday. Joe was tickling him and he was laughing and screamed "DADDYYYY!!!" It was awesome. I was very close to getting video of it. My video started RIGHT after! Here's the video:

We moved last weekend. We love our new place. It's a two bedroom, two bath apartment right in town. It sucks for having a dog in an apartment but we really love the place.. The only bad thing is that my beloved first born Zappa disappeared a day before we moved. I am devastated and heartbroken and have been out to our old house (an hour away) looking for him every day. I keep up hope that he will be there.. I think I am in denial. Zappa was my best friend. He has been there for me through the hardest times of my life. When my ex and I split up and then my Grandma passed away I would just lay in my bed so depressed I couldn't get up. Zappa would just lay on me and let me pet him. He was a crazy cat. He didn't really like anyone but me and no one really liked him except me. He had the most personality of any cat I've ever known. I feel lucky to have been his mom. Joe always said that Zappa was lucky to have found me because no one else would love him like I did. He was meant to be a wild, outdoor dude. Which he got to be for the last 2.5 years. The first year of his life was spent indoors at our old apartment. He would stalk every one in the apartment and attack. Which was awful not only because you were being attacked by a cat but you were being attacked by a huge maine coon. I knew that once he was able to be an outdoor kitty he would be a happy kitty. And he was. After he could go out he was mellow and an avid hunter. When we lived in Everson we would come home to 1-4 mice a day. Sweet little guy. I was a proud mama. Joe was disgusted but I was just proud. I knew he was in paradise. He was like a dog. He would lay on Cuba's dog bed. He would play chase with Cuba outside. He would come when you called him. He would stand on his back two feet to be pet. He would give kisses. He cracked me up. To me, there could be no better pet. Every day when we would get home he would run up to the car, tail in the air. He was a smart, happy, huge kitty. I miss him so much I can't stand it. Our new place doesn't feel like home without him. Whenever we have moved with him in the past him and Cuba have explored the new place together, chasing each other around the house, and annoying Joe and I. It just really isn't the same.

Ole seems to really like the new place. There is more room for him to crawl. He hasn't really seemed to notice we have moved. There is a workout center in our new place and I've worked out a couple times. Hoping to have a hot bod by summer! Here's Ole in the new place (don't mind my pump in the background):

Ole seems to get bigger and bigger every day. He is full of energy (literally! He doesn't like to sleep it seems!) and laughter. Last night Joe and I were talking about how much he has changed our lives in these short little 6 months and how much fun he has brought. We couldn't picture life without him. We always say too, that he was just meant for us. There is no way this kid could fit us any better. He is just so him. I don't know how else to explain it. I've never met anyone like him and I know that I won't. This boy is just Ole.

Last two pictures from our old house. 

This is my new favorite picture of him. It's so him. He's such a ham. Joe says "I can't believe he already knows how to pose. He sees a camera come out and he smiles and poses. He is definitely your kid." Ain't nothin' wrong with that!

I like this picture of us because you can see his little teeth! One thing I love about Ole is that he can be grumpy but he still smiles. Sometimes he smiles while "crying." He still fake cries and it's still hilarious and endearing to me. That probably doesn't help that I always laugh when he does it... but it's too cute.

...beyond beautiful.

 My sweet boy snuggling his sick mama on her birthday.

I think these last two pictures really show how huge my "littles" is getting. My little chunk. His 6 month check is on Wednesday and I can't wait to see what he weighs and what his height is. I think he has grown quite a bit since his last check up.