Breastfeeding LM: Birth to 1 Year and Beyond!

Because breastfeeding has become such a huge passion of mine in recent months I thought I would share a little about my journey with LM. To get a good view of how things went we will have to start from the beginning...

In writing this post I discovered that this is the ONLY
breastfeeding photo I have for over 1 year of breastfeeding
that wasn't on my phone.
*photo was taken during a camping trip last summer!

After birth: we chose to do immediate skin to skin (Notes 1) once LM was born. I had read that this will encourage baby to latch and nurse within 30 minutes-1 hour after being born. I dont remember exactly, but I'm thinking LM nursed for the first time around 45 minutes after being born!

The first few days: while at the hospital, LM latched and nursed beautifully! I was so pleased since this was something I had really wanted to do.

The next few days: the day after we got home my milk came in... and then issues started. LM would not latch and nurse properly. I was in extreme pain from going through a difficult labor, I was on pain medications which made me groggy, I was trying to recover from everything I had just gone through and then to experience perfect nursing the first 2-3 days and then end up with this the 4th night I decided to pump and give LM a bottle. I continued to do this for the next handful of feedings. I called the Lactation Consultant (LC) at the hospital where we delivered and she really encouraged me to try and get LM back to nursing at the breast (Notes 2) because he was still young and that would really be easier in the long run. So... we worked on getting him to latch and nurse. And he did!

The first few weeks: With pumping a lot during those first days my milk came in I accidentally created a major oversupply of milk and was engorged ALL the time (Notes 3). I could get 14oz total of ONE session, and that was AFTER nursing LM. I didn't really understand what all was going on and why I was constantly engorged. I thought I had to get all the milk out to make it go away... turns out that just told my body to keep overproducing. (Notes 4) Fortunately, since I nursed on demand (which is RECOMMENDED for breastfeeding moms) (Notes 5) LM always had plenty of milk and somehow we were blessed that he never had many of the issues associated with oversupply.

At the 1 month mark: LM had been co-sleeping with us (sleeping in the same room, but in his own space) at the very beginning. Through several nights of barely being able to keep my eyes open to nurse we finally gave side-lying nursing a try (Notes 6)... and of course we ended up falling asleep like that using safe bedsharing guidelines (Notes 7). This became the ideal way to breastfeed and continued for the next few months.

Making it to 3 months: I could have celebrated with joy when we hit the 3 month mark! I had always heard that if you could make it to 3 months it got easier from there. After having experienced this for myself, I absolutely agree with that statement! As a first time mama who had never breastfed, I had many things to learn. LM was born never having breastfed either so we both were able to learn together. This creates such an amazing bond for mother and baby. There is no way words could describe this feeling! At this point I was still pumping daily (as I had been from birth) and had an enormous stock pile of breastmilk in my freezer that I wasn't sure what to do with.

Four month (12 week) growth spurt: sadly I was convinced that having my son sleep in bed with us was not good for him and we transitioned him back to his own bed around this time (I have since done a lot of research on this subject and feel that as long as you are breastfeeding, and it is working for everyone in the bed, bedsharing is the ideal thing for breastfeeding moms & babies) (Notes 8). Around this time I also discovered a quick and easy way to remember WHEN growth spurts hit (Notes 9). Its easiest to remember "They Hit in 3's". 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 9 weeks, 12 weeks (4 months). 6 months, 9 months, 12 months. As we nursed through the 4 month growth spurt I grained more confidence in my ability to feed my child, knowing that the frequent nursing (Notes 10) was completely NORMAL during the growth spurt phase. Just after the 4 month mark I decided to stop pumping as much (because I didn't need the massive amount in my freezer to keep growing!). I started pumping as needed to relieve engorgement so maybe once or twice a day.

Six months, halfway to my original goal: when I took a breastfeeding class through the hospital where I gave birth I learned about setting goals to aim for through the breastfeeding journey. My original goal was 1 year. Someone recommended having smaller goals along the way to help keep me motivated and excited about the breastfeeding journey. That's when I made goals of 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and finally 1 year. Six months felt like a huge accomplishment. Unlike many moms, I wasn't anxious to begin introducing solids so we continued to nurse on demand (Notes 11). Nursing sessions took a complete change from nursing a small baby, to nursing an active baby! LM was interested in every little sound or movement that was happening around him so breastfeeding in the living room while watching a tv show with our cat running around "chasing ghosts", as we call it, was not happening. I started doing nursing sessions with no distractions (turning off tv, putting down the phone/book) and focusing on LM during his nursing sessions. Once he drifted to sleep, which happened often during nursing sessions, I would pull out the phone/book and entertain myself quietly while he finished nursing.

Also at six months, I discovered the world of milksharing! I had NO idea there were moms who would be thrilled to have my freezer stash of milk. This was a completely foreign concept to me because I had never heard of it but I was interested! I started pumping several times a day again to bring my supply back up (Notes 12). This was tricky to do with having LM nursing on demand, but we figured out a pattern that worked for us and I got my extra amount per day up to 20oz. daily. Finding a mama-baby in need of donor milk took some effort on my part, and just when I was getting discouraged I found a full time baby to donate to who was just 3 months younger than LM and was a local mama! Milksharing for us was meant to be! (Notes 13)

Seven months, introducing foods: I was finally convinced by hubby to let LM try some solids. I had read that baby cereals were NOT a good food to start with (Notes 14) and my mom actually recommended mashed banana or avacado as a first food (Notes 15). Turns out these are both very popular first foods among many moms who chose to skip traditional baby cereals. We went with mashed banana and a few bites were about all LM was interested in. We later tried mashed sweet potato, mashed carrots, mashed greenbeans (those were not a hit!), mashed peas and the list goes on... Because I have food allergies, we introduced one food a week and waited to make sure there were no visible signs of reaction (Notes 16). Most things went well... sweet potatoes, though a favorite, caused problems as did strawberries so we have skipped both of those since. Around this time we were getting a good stretch of sleep at night lasting from 11pm-6am *most* nights. I loved it and took advantage of the much needed, extra sleep! (Notes 17)

Ten months, sleep patterns changed: LM started waking up frequently during the night. We tried bedsharing again, and for a few weeks that seemed to help... until we woke up one night and he had crawled out from between us and was sleeping at our feet!! We decided bedsharing was not a working option anymore and transferred LM back to his own space. Food intake also increased for LM. He started eating 3-4 times a day the different foods he enjoyed. At this point LM went on a nursing strike (Notes 18). This lasted about 5 weeks and was extremely difficult for me! It gave me a completely new respect for moms who have to exclusively pump (Notes 19) for their babies. Milksharing was going well! I was donating 100oz a week to my donor baby consistently since I made the match up.

Eleven months, thoughts about extended breastfeeding: since around 6 months or so I had been thinking about breastfeeding beyond one year. I started to do research on this and found that only in the US is breastfeeding past one year considered "weird", "gross", "inappropriate", "unnecessary" and I could go on... Turns out the WORLDWIDE average age to wean is 4.2 years! (Notes 20) I had no idea! Hubby had not really been open to the idea of extended breastfeeding and felt that after one year there was no point to let LM continue to nurse and that I could just pump and give him breastmilk in a bottle/cup until age 2. This made me a little worried about what the next few months would bring. I continued to do research and share with him what I found, but for the most part I didn't bring it up much because I figured he would see that LM would still very much be every bit of a baby at 1 year as he was now at 11 months.

One Year! We made it!! I was so thrilled to make it to the one year mark! And guess what... hubby wasn't even phased when LM continued his regular breastfeeding habit. It was normal and natural to continue breastfeeding at 1 year, just as it had been to breastfeed at 11 months. Hubby and I have had a few conversations on this since and thought we disagree slightly on when we think the best age to wean is I am confident that we are doing the right thing to continue to breastfeed at this point. As I approached the 1 year mark I started getting passionate about helping other moms with struggles on their breastfeeding journey. I started doing research and learning about the things of breastfeeding I've never dealt with. I ordered The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding book, 8th edition which is put out by La Leche League International. I have looked into becoming a Lactation Consultant but that requires more schooling that I would be able to handle at this point in my life. I did discover that it might very well be possible for me to become a LLL Leader (Notes 21) so I have been working through their list of requirements to see if that might be a future option for me. In the meantime I have been helping admin a breastfeeding support group on Facebook and am loving it!

13 months, nursing a toddler: let me tell you... nursing a toddler is COMPLETELY different from nursing a newborn, 3 month old, 6 month old, and even an 11 month old! Gym-nurse-statics are a regular part of our morning nursing session. When I first heard this word around 3 months into nursing I thought it was ridiculous and why couldn't moms make their babies lay down and nurse?! Turns out this is normal and natural and to be expected of nursing a toddler (Notes 22). Around this time how often a toddler nurses depends on many things, for us we have consistently nursed first thing in the morning, right before nap or right after nap (rarely do we nurse at both unless he is on a growth spurt), and then at bedtime (around 6-7pm) and maybe once between 9-12 and maybe once between 3-6am. He's not terribly consistent with nursing anymore so I've had to keep an extra eye on the clock to make sure I am pumping regular to keep my supply up for my donor baby. One advantage to me pumping is I am able to give LM breastmilk in a cup throughout the day instead of transitioning to cows milk -which he has not had- or almond milk -which he sometimes has with lunch or dinner meals- (Notes 23).

14 months, that's were we are now! I am so glad we are continuing our breastfeeding journey. As LM *chooses* not to breastfeed (I still offer, and he might nurse for a few quick seconds and then get down to go play... and then I'll go pump) (Notes 24) I find I'm cherishing the moments when he does breastfeed more than the "quick snack" sessions. This is truly a beautiful thing and something that will not last forever so I will enjoy it while I can!

Notes

1. The Importance of Skin to Skin Contact, from International Breastfeeding Centre.
2. Getting newborn back to breast, from La Lache League.
3. Engorgement, from Kellymom. 
4. How Milk Production Works, from Kellymom.
5. Nursing on demand, from LLL.
6. Side-lying nursing, from Mother-2-Mother.
7. Safe Bedsharing, from Dr. Sears.
8. Co-sleeping, what every heath professional should know, from University of Notre Dame.
   -Why human babies shouldn't sleep alone, from Neuroanthropology.
9. Growth spurts, from Kellymom.
   -Is baby getting enough? Birth-6 weeks, from Kellymom.
   -Is baby getting enough? 6 weeks-12 months, from Kellymom.
10. Frequent nursing, from Kellymom.
11. Introducing Solids, from Dr Sears.
    -Topics of different solids and when to offer, from Kellymom.
    -First foods for baby, by Wholesome Baby Food.
12. Power Pumping to bring up milk supply, from Low Milk Supply.
    -18 tips to better breast pumping, from Dr. Sears.
    -Video of exclusively pumping moms that completely changed how I pump breastmilk, from Stanford School of Medicine.
13. Finding a milk donor/donating to a baby through Human Milk 4 Human Babies {facebook} (each state has their own chapter, find the one for your state to post locally), also see the HM4HB {website}.
    -Through Eats on Feets {facebook} (each state has their own chapter, find the one for your state to post locally), also see the Eats on Feets {website}.
14. Side effects of infant rice cereal, from Livestrong.
    -Skip the baby cereal, why solids before 6 months is not needed, from Breastfeeding Mama Talk.
    -Why ditch the infant cereals, from Food Renegade.
    -Your baby doesn't need rice cereal, from Natura Integrative Medicine.
    -Nine good reasons NOT to use baby rice, from Analytical Armadillo.
    -Dangers of rice cereal for infants, from Global Post.
    -Skip the cereal, from Breastfeeding Mamas.
15. First foods for baby, by Wholesome Baby Food.
16. Food allergies in babies, from Kellymom.
17. Sleeping through the night, from Kellymom.
18. Nursing strike, from Kellymom.
    -Nursing strike, from La Lache League.
    -Nursing strike, from Dr. Jay Gordon.
19. Exclusively pumping, from Kellymom.
20. Worldwide average age to wean, from The National Association of Child Development.
21. Thinking about LLL Leadership, from La Lache League.
    -Thinking about LLL Leadership, FAQ, from La Lache League.
    -Steps of accreditation, from La Lache League.
22. Nursing a toddler, from Kellymom.
    -Benefits of breastfeeding your toddler, from La Lache League.
    -Breastfeeding your toddler, from International Breastfeeding Centre.
    -Breastfeeding your toddler, from Australia Breastfeeding Association.
23. Alternatives to cows milk for an allergic 1-year-old, from Livestrong.
    -Introducing cows milk to toddlers, from Dr. Sears via Parenting.
24. Weaning, from Dr. Sears.

Master Bed & Bath Makeover, Part 2

Scraping off the popcorn texture on the ceiling in both bed & bathroom were a huge task!

In March I posted about redoing the master bed & bath. {Read Part 1 here.} The previous post shows all the before photos of the two rooms. Now I will show you the 'during' of the main part of the makeover: painting! The painting part really didn't take too long to do. I tore out the old wall paper, got the popcorn ceilings scraped off, re-textured the walls and ceilings, and finally edged & painted.

This is what the floor in the bathroom looked like after the ceiling texture was removed.
It took lots of vacuuming to get it all clean again!

I moved everything out of the bathroom and the only things left in the bedroom were our dresser (which I moved around the room so I could texture and paint the ceiling easier) and the headboard & frame to our bed. I'm really glad I took everything else out since scraping popcorn ceiling off really gets awful dust everywhere! Not only that, but it's just tons easier to move around in an empty room!

This is what my hallway looked like for 4 days.

The painting part really went pretty fast. It took almost all of four days to tear out the wall paper, texture the walls, and then paint. I was SO glad when this project was finished because my whole house was torn apart! Not only was there one foot width of space in my hallway, but all of our stuff from the master bathroom was relocated to the front bathroom during those days too. That stuff ended up staying the the bathroom for several weeks, but the hallway returned to normal as soon as the painted had dried.

BATHROOM

This is the during & after of scraping off the popcorn texture on the ceiling and painting the walls. I did add one photo of some of the decor I already have in place at the very end of this post. The rest of the decor is still coming together (and may take me a few months) so I thought I'd share a sneak peek of what I have going now.

Demi, our cat, wondering what is going on and where all the stuff went!

The bathroom before we painted.

Another 'before' shot of the bathroom.

I decided to take the tank off the toilet.
That made it much easier for painting the wall behind it.

Walls and ceiling are painted!
Paint stuff is everywhere!
{That camo bucket is the trash can in LM's room!}

Getting the room cleaned up.

Unfortunately when I peeled off the tape, some areas messed up.
This had to be redone with a fine art brush.

Even though I put a sheet down over the floor I still got paint all over it! :(
Fortunately I do plan to eventually replace the flooring in here so it's not a completely lost cause.

BEDROOM

The room seemed to take forever to texture and paint. I was nervous about doing the walls and ceiling all the same color but I was brave and went for it. Result: I LOVE IT! I'm SO glad I did it all the same color and it makes our wood trim/doors and dark wood furniture stand out really nice too!

Bedroom without most of the furniture and previous decor.

Wallpaper has been removed! Yay!!

Edges have been painted. This was quite a chore, especially around the window!

More shots of the edges being worked on. Do you like my brush stroke poka dots there on the left wall? Lol.

This is me being nervous about painting the ceiling the same color as the walls.
I ended up putting a sheet over the frame and headboard to keep paint from splattering as I used the roller brush.

Walls & Ceiling are painted, all the gear is cleaned up, and the floor is vaccumed! I was feeling quite accomplished.
Demi was enjoying the view out the window.

Demi chillin' in the chair while I clean everything up.

I decided to go ahead and paint over the light switches and electrical outlet covers.
I'm really glad I did this. It makes them not stand out from the wall.

SOME OF THE DECOR

With this being the second and third room in our Country Home Makeover I have come to a conclusion: it's much easier to retexture and paint than it is to decorate!! Decorating requires a) finding exactly what you are wanting/looking for and then b) being able to afford to buy it! Thrift stores & yard sales are still my favorite places to look, but some things (new curtains and a new comforter) don't always show up at those places. At least not usually in decent shape. I have bits of decor up in both the bathroom and bedroom, but much is still needed before I can reveal the finished rooms. In the mean time, here are two sneak peek photos of what I do have up!

Dried roses in three separate Kerr jars on the shelf over the toilet.

These yellow roses are very special to me. They are the first roses Autry ever gave me. I had them in a funky green vase I got at a yard sale back when we lived in the apartment. You can see the roses (and the vase) in all their glory in this post. I had them on the dresser in our bedroom at the apartment and one day I came home to find Emerald, our black cat, had knocked them over and 'played' with them. I was SO mad! I don't remember putting all the pieces in the vase, but last week when I went to attempt decorating I was delightfully surprised to find all the bits and pieces! I divided them up and now here they sit in fun jars!

Wedding photos are hung in antique gold frames on both sides of the dresser mirror.

As you can see, I am still working on the decor, but you already knew that from reading above. I did finally get photos for all the empty frames printed off and I have added candles to the dresser as well. I still have quite a bit left to do for the decor in the bedroom part since it involves more work and money than the small master bathroom. The photo arrangement on either side of the mirror was magazine inspired!

I will post 'after' pics as soon as I get everything pulled together. I might do those separately though since I have a feeling the bathroom will be finished long before I get the bedroom decor pulled together. We will see!

Related Posts

• Keeping Your Special Roses
• Master Bed & Bath Makeover, Part 1

Our Cat Demi Tom

Demi sleeping on the back of our recliner. One of his favorite spots.

Hubby says that 'Demi Tom' is a silly name, but my sister and I recently started calling him that because we think he looks so much like Tom from the Tom & Jerry cartoons. Not only does he look like Tom, but he acts crazy like him too! I think our cat chases ghosts around our living room. There is literally nothing there and he will run and jump from couch to chair to table to couch without stopping. It's quite entertaining to watch.

This photo is from October. Demi would climb on the bookcase and lay on my stacks of jeans & shirts to sew.

Demi is our only indoor pet now. We had some problems with Emerald and she had to go. Demi has become a completely different cat now that she is gone. He is much more playful and seeks out attention and loves snuggling and being petted. I think he is much more fun now than he was in some of the previous months. (We got him when he was about 6 weeks old and he was a friendly cat then, but at some point he changed and was more stuck up like Emerald vs. the fun playful cat he is now).

After Emerald was gone I was curious to see how Demi would react to the change and what his personality would be like. If he continued to be a stuck up, boring cat I was considering getting rid of him too. Obviously he is now quite entertaining and very much like Tom. I like him much better with his fun personality. Since he has changed for the better we went ahead and got him fixed and had his front claws removed.

Demi likes sitting in the kitchen chairs and he won't move if you go to sit down.
I've literally sat down on him and he doesn't move or make a sound. He is weird!

Getting him fixed was a necessity since he had started to pee in different rooms of our house. It was awful! It smelled musty and at first I wasn't sure where the smell was coming from, but after I caught him marking his territory we quickly made a vet appointment to get that taken care of. I haven't had any problems with him peeing on things now that he's been fixed.

Demi jumped in the laundry basket one day when I was doing laundry. He stayed in there for quite awhile too.

I was torn on whether or not to take out his front claws. Thanks to Emerald's influence in clawing on the ends of the couches he was bad about doing that too. He also kept trying to climb the curtains I had in our room (before the makeover) and in Little Man's room. He had poked a ton of little holes in the sheet and comforter on our bed from where he jumped up on it when he was really little and even now with him being around 8 months old he still got his claws caught up in my sheets. I wanted to get some new sheets, curtains, and a comforter for our new bedroom makeover but didn't want them torn up. This is where the waiting to see how his personality changed came into play. If he was boring I probably would've let him be an outside cat (he was an outside cat when we got him). But because he's not, I decided it would be best to have his claws taken out so for the rest of how ever long he is with us he at least wont be tearing up the furniture and linens.

Both surgery's were done at the same time. He was at the vets for two nights because I had to drop him off the night before his surgery and he had to stay over one night with his claws being done. When he got home he had to use a special type of litter for that first week. It was called Yesterdays News and was basically old newspapers turned into pellets. It was awful stuff (smelly) and I was SO glad when we were able to start using our regular litter again. That first afternoon when he got home he seem a little mad at me. He wouldn't have anything to do with me for several hours (I was the one who took him up to the vet and brought him home), but eventually he came around and now he is back to normal.

Demi's "I've been caught" face. He likes roaming around in the bath tub.
He's even hopped in the shower a few times when the water was running!

Demi took a little time adjusting to not having his claws. He was used to using them to climb on the furniture (not that he needed them to jump on the back of the couch), or play with our feet so the first few days when he would do something and realize his claws weren't there he was confused. He would look around like, "what is going on? why isn't this working like it's supposed to?" Once he adjusted how he jumped on the furniture or played with things he was fine.

I have noticed that since Demi doesn't have his claws he seems to over compensate with his teeth. He doesn't actually bite down, but he does put his teeth on your hand or your foot (which ever he is playing with) so I've had to work with him so he won't do this. I was a little concerned about this habit when he started it up, but he isn't as bad about it now as he was at first. I was mostly concerned because of having Little Man around him, but I don't think I'll have to worry about Demi biting him.

Demi snuggling with LM.

That's another thing to bring up: Demi is great with Little Man! In the beginning he could care less about him, but I think he's figured out that LM is here to stay. Demi usually sniffs his head and walks on, but occasionally he will lay on the play mat with LM or come snuggle on the couch with us. I can't wait to see how they react together when LM gets older.

Sprawled out on the couch. Demi does this quite often.

I swear Demi is part dog. He sniffs EVERYTHING, drinks out of the toilet (also a habit of his I don't like and can't get him to break), tries to lick you, and lays sprawled out on the floor or the couch or the bed. He is the perfect cat for me because I would love a dog, but can't have one right now. Yes he is still a cat and still does mostly cat things, but he also does these odd dog-like things and it makes me laugh.

Candy Filled Easter Eggs

Over 400 hundred eggs and almost as much candy!
Notice our cat, Demi, in the background sniffing all the eggs. I swear he thinks he's a dog!

As this Sunday is Easter I thought I would share with you a few photos from stuffing our eggs with candy for the hunt we will be having at our house this year. I am really excited and do hope the nieces and nephews are able to come to find all these eggs!

I bought the 'good' candy as well all call it. I got one bag of chocolate candy and the rest is all tootise roll stuff. I didn't realize until later that the dots & suckers don't fit in even the giant eggs so I just put an empty egg in the mix for each of those items and will let the kids pick out what they want if they get empty eggs when hunting.

The peach egg is a 'giant' egg and holds most of the bigger stuff like the big tootsie roll logs. The yellow egg is the medium size and holds almost everything except the big stuff. The green egg is a miniature egg and holds most of the small tootsie rolls and nothing else.

Hubby wanted the eggs counted so we wouldn't end up with eggs in the yard for months to come. As I filled them I set them to one side until I had a new set of ten and then I'd add them to the box below:

As I filled the eggs I would put them in the big box I had for them. As you can see, it was quite empty to start with, but it filled up fast!

It's probably gonna take awhile to get all these eggs hidden, but I'm sure the kids are going to have a blast!! We have one 'secret egg' which is a giant egg with a miniature egg and medium egg inside it (like those Russian dolls). The person who finds that will get a giant 2lb. Chocolate Easter Bunny. I can't wait to see who ends up with that!

Introducing Demi

Me holding Demi after his first bath.

As some of you know, our little family of just Autry & I grew in April to include our cat Emerald. She was adopted from a local animal shelter and has been an good company keeper & pet since. Back in April I introduced Emerald on the blog and then in June I shared the post Days With Emerald which showed a little of what she had been up to since we got her. In July I shared a post about Emerald's reaction to my pregnancy and since then things have been quiet on the post scene for her.

Well now I have something new to share! A friend of Autry's from work had another friend with several kittens. Their house had just burned down and they were not staying on the property and were therefore unable to take care of the kittens and needed homes for them. Autry knew I love cats and how hard it's been for me with Emerald because she doesn't really want my attention or company most of the time and that is so rare for cats to behave like that around me. Usually cat's love me and want all the attention I can give them, but not her.

Demi after his first bath.

As a surprised Autry got one of the kittens for me. I was worried at first about how Emerald would react to having another cat in the house since her previous care taker had said she liked to be the only cat of the house. I think it was because Emerald would get more attention that way, but as I said...she doesn't really like or want my attention. Demi was about 6 weeks old when we got him. I think he was an outdoor cat who was fed table scraps, but that's quite alright. He is adjusting quite well! We did have to give him a bath for several days to get rid of his fleas though. I was really pleased with how well he behaved during each one.

I don't think this is considered 'sharing'.

Demi was kitten enough when we first got him that for about a week he wouldn't eat the kitten chow I bought because it was too hard for his little teeth. Eventually he graduated from straight soft foods to some soft & some crunchy to now where he eats all crunchy. Even now when he hears the microwave beep he'll run to the corner of the kitchen were I would feed him and look for his plate of food. He is such a silly cat! Both Emerald & Demi have their own water & food bowls in the laundry room which is right next to the kitchen. I still feed Demi kitten chow, but many times he will eat the regular cat food before he touches it. Emerald, on the other hand, likes the kitten chow... Here you can see them both going after the kitten chow. On a side note, back before we got Emerald I made a little crochet rug for her food and water bowls to sit on...I now need to make one for Demi's so his will stop sliding all over the floor!

For the first few days Demi lived with us he was kept in the mostly unused front bathroom. I had to keep him in there for several reasons: 1) he didn't know how to use the litter box and would pee anywhere he wanted to, 2) he was too small to leave out at night, and 3) he had fleas. A small litter box was put in the bathroom for him to use and after about the second day he was using it regularly. He still messed on the floor outside of the box & bathroom for several weeks, but it was only on occasion and any time I caught him in the act I would pick him up and take him to the litter box to finish his business. Eventually he got the point!

Demi spending some time curled up in a blanket on the couch.

Not long after we got Demi and gave him regular flea baths we were able to let him out to be around Emerald and lay on the couch. We've discovered that he really likes to snuggle and often, when I look 'everywhere' and can't find him, he's usually curled up between my stuffed horse & bear in the recliner chair. He likes to climb, run, and play with toys and socks too.

For awhile Demi enjoyed laying in my yarn baskets,
he doesn't do this as much anymore.

When Demi was first let out of the bathroom, once his fleas were gone, I carefully watched him around Emerald. At first she would have nothing to do with him and a few times she even hissed and swatted him away, but that didn't last long. Emerald & Demi are great play mates now. They roughhouse with each other quite a few times each day and they love to chase each other up and down the basement stairs and around the furniture in the living room. I think Emerald has adopted him as her own because she will reprimand him when he's doing something he's not supposed to and she will clean him if he will sit still long enough for her to do the job.

A very typical face of Demi's when he's found something new & interesting...
in this case it's the red light on the camera before the flash goes off.

I'm not really sure if Demi is a boy or girl cat, but I think he's a boy (obviously) from what I can tell. His 'parts' look different than Emeralds so I'm probably right. When I first saw Demi when hubby brought him in I knew right away what his name would be. In college I spent a lot of time at my friend Emma's house doing homework on the computer. They had a grey boy kitten for awhile and his name was Demi. He would curl up in my lap and keep me company while I was busy doing home work. My Demi reminds me of him, not only in color but in personality as well.

Demi has claimed one of my baskets of blankets as his 'bed'.

I am really excited to have Demi in our little family. I love that he will come snuggle with me when he gets tired or lay next to me when I am on the couch working on my laptop, reading, or journaling. He is a sweetheart and though I was not happy to see another cat when Autry first brought him home I am SO glad we kept him!