Yet again...

Yet again, I post about Grace because she is now the centre of my attention. I feel a bit like a hermit these days, but I'm actually having fun staying in and taking care of her. It's too cold to take her out anyway.

We had to take her to the hospital on Monday for another blood test. The test they did right after birth came back a bit strange on the thyroid levels. They mentioned hyperthyroidism.... I'm trying not to get too worried about it just yet. Results are in Thursday morning, so I'll deal with that then. But it was nice to get her weighed and see that she has gained about 10 ounces already (300 grams). She definitely eats enough, so I'm glad that's not a worry. It's great to see her get fatter and fatter.Getting ready to take her to the hospital: I feel a bit out of the loop these days not being online as much and not keeping up with the world in general, but as I said, I'm enjoying it. Friends have been dropping by here and there, which I really appreciate.
Sad news: Toto has to go away for a while. Her behavior is not an issue. In fact, she's perfect around the baby. She doesn't bother with her much at all. A couple of time she came over and sniffed her and gave her a little kitty head rub. The problem is ventilation in these Korean apartments. There are no vents or air ducts. And to prevent Toto from coming in and sleeping with us, I have to close the bedroom door at night. But that puts us in an air tight concrete box for the night. It's not good for breathing or air quality. Luckily, one of my good friends is going to come to get her tomorrow. Her boyfriend babysat Toto before, so they know her well. They're going to keep her for a while until I decide what to do. It's so strange that all along I was worried about the cat's behavior around the baby, and it turns out the apartment setup is the problem. Poor, poor Toto...

A good Monday

Today I was really sleepy, but it was a good day nonetheless. My friend Karen came over with her son, Ian, and we had a nice chat over some deopbap and manduguk. She brought me a tonne of Thanksgiving leftovers, which I really appreciated. It's been a while since I've had turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie! I just finished eating a few minutes ago and I'm even more sleepy now, of course! Thank goodness for good friends!

I've been a little slow with knitting. I finally finished my baby bell bottoms. They turned out cute enough...but we'll see how practical they actually are. Far more practical is the baby beanie I made for Karen's baby. It turned out really cute, so I think I'll make one for my baby as well. The yarn I used for this was nice and soft.

Other than that, not much is new. I'm staying very close to home and spending less and less time at the computer. It's just becoming too uncomfortable for me to sit here for very long. Whenever I get up from sitting a long time I have a sore back for the rest of the day. It's hard to believe I'll have my 36 week appointment on Friday. Time is definitely flying, but I usually tackle a small project every day and I'm beginning to feel a little prepared for this baby.

Toto, on the other hand, has no idea what is to come.

Toto's Training

For over three years now, Toto has been our baby...She's slept with us every night, right in between us on our pillows. We're not sure whether she considers herself human, or she considers us cats. Whatever the case, she's pretty attached and feels she can do whatever she pleases.

Up until now this hasn't been a problem. She's a pretty laid back cat -- she doesn't jump or climb around like a lot of cats, thank goodness. We've never seen her on the kitchen counter or island, and she won't eat human food. She sleeps most of the time and always goes in her litter box. Pretty low maintenance. But emotionally, I'd say she's high maintenance. When I get home from an outing, she goes a little crazy, kind of like a dog, jumps on me and rubs her face against mine, purring. It's cute, but I won't be able to afford her this attention three months from now.

So, in order to make it easier on her in the long run, we've started a three-phase training program.

The first phase is trying to eliminate the risk of injury to the baby. This can never be fully eliminated with any animal, of course. But I think Soft Claws help a lot. We put these little plastic caps over her paws and she can't scratch anyone or anything. So far, so good. She's had them on for over a month with no complaints. When one falls off (when her nail sheds), we just replace it. Very easy and much kinder than declawing.

Toto Jo's grade for phase one: A+

The second phase is banning her from our bedroom. The baby will sleep with us for a while because it will be much easier this way, and we really don't have another room to properly fix up for him/her. So, that means Toto has been displaced. Of course we can't risk her cuddling up too close to the baby, even innocently, and also, we just don't want her hair shedding in that room anymore.

Last night, history was made when I closed Toto out of our room. It was really sad, but we have to start somewhere. She scratched and meowed at the door for about 5 minutes before giving up and going to sleep. I got up around 6am to use the facilities and get a snack. She didn't look very pleased with me, and tried her hardest to slink into the bedroom with me. She scratched and meowed for a little longer that time, but eventually gave up. So, she deserves credit for sleeping her first night without us. I was pretty happy with her performance because I thought she'd get upset and pee somewhere out of spite.

Toto Jo's grade for phase 2: B+

(She did well for the first night, and I think she will improve slowly over the coming weeks)

Phase three is simply her keeping on good behaviour around the baby. It's impossible to grade her on this phase right now obviously. We will be keeping a close eye on her when the time comes, and if there is any sign of aggression, we'll have to think about other options. I'm pretty positive, though, that she'll adjust well. She's proven to be a pretty adaptable and easy-going animal, so I hope she continues to impress us.

Toto Jo's grade for phase 3: To be determined

Soft Claws

I have to say, I'm very impressed with these "Soft Claws" that I ordered for Toto. We're trying to de-arm Toto for several reasons. She's not a super destructive cat, but sometimes if the mood strikes her, she is able to put holes in things with her razor sharp nails. She doesn't really scratch me or Sejin anymore because we can almost predict her every move, but ocassionally she gets us, and it hurts. So I had heard of these nail caps for pets (they're made for cats and dogs) and decided to see if I can get them here in Korea. Luckily, they are available on the website that we order Toto's food and litter from, Cat Republic.

I was skeptical, but decided to give them a try. They are just plastic caps shaped like the cat's nails that slip over their existing nails. You put a drop of glue in each nail and then slide them on. It was easier than I thought, and they really stay on. I put the first ones on Toto about three weeks ago and none have fallen off. The best part is that they don't even irritate her. In the instructions, it says that some pets may try to chew them off, or seem annoyed by them. Toto didn't seem to notice there was anything on her nails! There was no adjustment time at all.
The only problem is that kit comes with two small vials of glue, which isn't enough for multiple applications. Also, the glue in our kit was kind of gummy and difficult to apply to the cap. So I picked up some regular manicure glue for human nails and it works just as good. Sejin and I are happy, Toto is indifferent, so that's a big thumbs up for Soft Claws. We'll definitely be ordering them again. I think we may order her a nice pink set next time!

Toto the plastic-eating cat

Thank goodness my classes canceled on me today. I've been debating all morning whether to cancel them or not, and I didn't even have to make the decision! I was going to cancel because it's pouring out and I hate traveling in Seoul in the rain, and also because I'm pretty tired. The story:

Toto got into some trouble last night and puked four times. She'll puke once or twice a week from over-eating, but four times in one night is a bit much, so I started looking for the answer. Finally I found it. In the center of our headboard, I put this pretty artificial flower some time ago. It's kind of a mini-arrangement, with some ribbon and fake ivy hanging down from the flower. The white ribbon is now all crunched up and hard, and the plastic ivy is gone, probably eaten. I don't understand this cat. She will not touch any food (cat or human) except her Pro Plan, but she'll eat plastic? I've tried giving her bacon, ham, cheese, fried chicken, everything. She just sniffs it and walks away. She won't eat any cat treats, even the nice canned stuff. Not that I'm complaining -- I hated when our dogs used to beg at dinner time. It's nice to be able to leave food on the table and not worry about it being licked. But why plastic and ribbon? Anyway, she paid for it. She's all right now, taking her daily all-day nap as usual.

Here's a great before and after shot of her sexy new haircut. She looks really weird, but she's much happier. She's running around and playing more and just seems in a better mood most of the time. I think we're going to get her shaved twice a year from now on to keep her hair under control. Especially with a baby coming, her hair floating around just isn't healthy.
Speaking of cats, Sejin and I went to the musical CATS last Friday night at Charlotte Theater in Jamsil. I've always wanted to see it, so we spent a little extra money and got first row balcony seats, which was really worth it. I've had the CD of the musical for years and am very familiar with the story and music, so finally seeing it was fantastic. It was the original London cast and I have to say I thought it was amazing. I've heard some friends say they don't like it, or it was just so-so, but I think it depends what your expectations are going in. Perhaps an appreciation for musicals helps too? I'm not sure. I just loved every second of it. Charlotte Theater was impressive too. It's a nice, small, but classy theater located right near Jamsil Station which was designed especially for musicals. This means that it's quite small (seats about 1,000), and since the seating is quite steep, there are no really "bad seats." I noticed that next up at Charlotte Theater is "Dreamgirls," but I don't know if it's the English or Korean cast. It's not very often plays and musicals are shown in English in Korea, so if you want to see something and it's in English, just go and see it, because you probably won't have another chance. It was a nice evening. We walked around Jamsil Station near Lotte World beforehand and got dinner. I forgot about the skating rink at Lotte World. Since it was a Friday, it wasn't that busy. I wouldn't recommend going on a weekend though. There are lots of restaurants and fun shops in Jamsil Station because of Lotte World. I got some fuzzy peaches and chocolate malt balls to snack on at the musical (secretly of course!). Great treats. So now that I have a whole rainy day ahead of me, I'd better be productive and get some work done, since I'm behind deadline yet again.

20 week ultrasound

Well, today was the big "halfway there" ultrasound. It was a special ultrasound where they check to see that everything is present and working. Everything looks good according to the doctor. That's all I want to hear. Downs Syndrome test came back negative and my blood anti-bodies test came back negative (I have A- blood which could cause problems, but everything is fine). I found out that when it gets closer to baby's arrival, I'll bank a bit of my own blood for emergencies, since negative blood types are very rare here.

Unfortunately, the pictures are not the best, so I tried to touch them up and highlighted the areas so they're easier to see. The first one is looking up the baby's nose. Sejin hates his own nose, so he said he's worried it might have his nose. Too funny. The next one is the baby's foot, which is much easier to see. I got a CD at this ultrasound, too, but due to technical difficulties, I'll have to post that later. I'm on a brand new computer now and it's not detecting my disk drive.

Also big news is that books 2 and 3 arrived and are in bookstores. One project down, two to go. I'm nearly done the listening books -- I'm going to celebrate with a nice dinner out when they're done because they've caused me a lot of stress. Then it's on to another series aimed at preschoolers. I'm really psyched that by the time baby comes, I'll have 9 books out!Poor Toto...We dropped her off at the pet salon on the way to the hospital today. It was a stressful day for her and she's pretty tired now. I think she got manhandled a bit, but at least the guy didn't use any drugs, and he didn't cut her at all. It was kind of funny when we went to pick her up. The guy was finishing up, clipping her fur while smoking a cigarette. We wanted him to leave a centimetre of fur so she wouldn't be completely naked, but he said she was too badly matted and it all needed to come off. He was probably right, but she looks just hideous. I can't wait for it to start growing back! He also commented on her weight issue, saying to put her on a diet. Problem is, she doesn't eat any people food or cat treats (won't touch either), and she really doesn't eat that much. I think it's just laziness, so I'm going to try to play with her more often. She's sleeping soundly now. If anyone wants the groomer's phone number (he does cats and dogs) or directions to his shop in Chungmuro, just say so. He did a good job. Here's a before photo and an after video.