Trying out Parenthood

So, it definitely seems like the thing to do. Write about your kids on your blog. Unfortunately, Diego and I don't have any of those yet, but we embarked on some fun parenthood experiments this weekend.

First, we got a kitten. After some begging, wide-eyed yearning, and underlip trembling, Diego finally gave his patriarch of the family consent and we adopted a little grey and white kitten. She is four months old, and she basically begged us to take her home. So we did.

But before she could even get settled in...she jumped out of Diego's arms and ran out the front door. Never to be heard of again.

...

Just kidding. But she ran into our neighbor's garage and it took FOREVER to find her. There were about a million places she could have hidden, and after about a half hour of searching, our neighbor finally discovered her.

Parenting Lesson #1: Don't give your kids much leeway. If you do, they will run away and hide in your neighbor's garage.

Well, we finally got her kind of settled in. It took us a while to think of a good name. But we finally decided on "Cusi Kitty Paws Cabrera." Cusi is Quechua, the native language of Peru. It means happy. And it's pronounced [koo-see]. Kitty Paws was the name my 5-year-old niece, Leanna, thought of.

Parenting Lesson #2: Don't let five-year-olds name your children.

We bought Cusi a cute little house. She doesn't sleep in it. But I suppose it was a good thought. The first night she slept under our bed in Diego's empty suitcase. The second night she slept with us in bed. Or tried to anyway. Diego couldn't sleep very well with her purring and batting at his face with her paw. So I tried to keep her close to me on my side of the bed. She got up and changed sleeping positions at least 50 times. I think she didn't really want to sleep, but rather was waiting for Diego and I to finally give up trying to sleep ourselves and get out of bed to play with her.

Parenting Lesson #3: Don't count on getting much sleep, if any.

Cusi's first day, giving us the false hope that she would actually use the bed we bought her.



On Sunday, we had another unexpected parenting experiment. Diego and I took my 10 month old nephew, Daniel, to church. Saerra wasn't feeling well, so I volunteered us to take care of him for a while.

It's funny that even though everyone in our ward knows that we were married in the temple just a month and a half ago, so many people asked if he was our baby.

Because he looks so much like Diego. :)



Parenting Lesson #4: As much as I wanted to believe the contrary, you can't be as holdy-handsy, lovey-dovey in church with a baby. Because the baby is constantly needing something. Like a bottle, or his pants changed, or just a hand to hold on to. Or snacks.

Also,

Parenting Lesson #5: Don't let husband be in charge of feeding the baby snacks. Especially when church is right during lunch, from 11-2. He'll just eat them himself.

All and all, I think we had a very informative weekend.