Guess what?

Heidi is back! She showed up a couple of hours ago at our back door, looking disheveled and missing her collar, but overall, no worse for the wear. We are so thankful for her safe return!

Drake was outside playing with a little neighbor friend in the "woods" behind our house (a few trees in a weedy patch, but that's "woods" to five-year-old boys who have grown up in base housing). I also had Levi outside playing in our backyard, and he started pitching a major fit - screaming and flinging himself over backwards. It was SO hot, and I took him inside to let him cool down a bit, and within less than a minute, I heard meows coming from the sliding glass door. Heidi was meowing on the back porch, where we had been only a minute before! I'm seriously thinking she may have recognized Levi's screaming or something - she's certainly heard it enough.

When I opened the door, she almost ran from me. I called out to her, and she came back hesitantly and let me pick her up and take her inside. I checked her over well, and she looks like she's fine; besides her wild appearance and missing collar, the only thing I noticed was that the little pads on her feet were all swollen and blistered! I guess gravel, sand, prickly weeds, and burning-hot asphalt make your feet sore when you're only used to walking on carpet and tile floors! And she was surprisingly not hungry. After nervously walking around and reacquainting herself with the house, she has now settled down, and only wants to be held and cuddled. So we are thankful and feeling so blessed to have her back.

Funny how we tend to take things for granted. When we first moved down here from North Dakota, almost four years ago now, we left a large 3-bedroom house with a big basement and huge kitchen. We realized we were only eligible for much smaller 2-bedrooms at our new base - there are no basements here, and small kitchens. I was feeling irritated. Then it turned out that we couldn't get into base housing at all because the waiting list was so long, and we ended up living in a pseudo-scary neighborhood off base in a tiny, poorly insulated, dirty apartment that was literally falling apart for about 9 months, while we waited for base housing. Once we got into base housing, I was thrilled with our new 2-bedroom home! What an attitude adjustment! Living in our little apartment, God taught me contentment with my circumstances. Then He gave me even more to be thankful for when we were able to move. (And actually, there are things I miss about living in a small home. It was much easier to keep it tidy, for one...)

When Heidi disappeared, I became more thankful for my boys and their health and safety - something I admittedly don't think about all that often. The first night she was missing, I was so upset and sad, and I slipped quietly into the boys' room just after midnight to check on them before I went to bed. Just hearing their soft little snores made me feel like I really and truly had so much to be thankful for. I forget sometimes, that life itself is fragile and precious. Now I feel even more blessed by the return of our little cat, and I will gladly take this experience and carry it with me as a lesson in thankfulness and appreciation. Even without her, we are so blessed...but I have such a soft spot for my little icing-on-the-cake!

Dentist visit, and some thoughts on volume control

Drake and I had dentist appointments this morning. I realized at 10:08 that we had our appointments scheduled for 10:00, and so I frantically called the office and was rescheduled for 10:45. (We made the 10:45 appointments!) I feel like such a space cadet. I was thinking of leaving that part out, but then I remembered I titled our blog Real Life for a reason. Anyway, Drake did much better than he usually does at the dentist office. This is the first time they've had us in two different rooms at the same time - usually I'm there when they clean his teeth - and I actually think that not having me in there was very helpful. Drake was a lot more calm and cooperative this time, but from the next room I could hear him telling the hygienist that yes, he does brush his teeth every day, but usually only before bed, that mommy says we should do it twice a day, but we don't usually. And we hardly ever floss. Oops. The hygienist that was cleaning my teeth said, "Now he's telling on you!"

And they told me that there's a spot on the enamel between two of his molars that is getting soft. So we DO need to floss him. I just have such a time trying to get floss back there between those teeth. They're so tight that to get the floss through always seems to hurt him when it finally pops through. The high price of cavity-free teeth...

Anyway, Drake did so well that I decided to take him to the McDonald's in our old town (where we lived in an apartment for about 9 months before we got into base housing) for lunch. He was so excited because he got a Transformers toy in his Happy Meal! That was only the beginning of the excitement, though, because Levi decided to throw a big, long tantrum sporadically throughout our attempt at eating lunch. Pretty much whenever I looked at him, or tried to hand him food or drink, or didn't hand him food or drink, he arched his back and screamed and cried. And threw everything on the floor. And squirted his juice box all over the place. And would not accept help of any kind. He was just "in a mood." And although it was only noon when we started eating, I guess he was exceptionally tired, because he passed out in the van on the way home and is currently napping in his crib.

Unfortunately, screaming has become a common method of communication for him lately. It's usually an attention-getting tactic, to let you know he's serious about whatever it is that he's trying to say. Often, though, it's also a frustration/rebellion thing (like today) or a just-because-I-like-the-sound-of-my-own-scream thing. That last one has been the case on many recent commissary trips. (When my mother-in-law was visiting in May, she captured a full-blown Levi tantrum on her cell phone video thingy. Not too long ago, she told me that she had been watching Levi's tantrum again! :) So I guess that's proof that the screaming and tantrums have been going on for at least a couple of months...)

And while we're on the subject of volume, Drake is also a LOUD kid! Adam and I are constantly shushing him. This is a totally different thing than Levi's issues, because Drake's not upset or throwing tantrums, but just really excited about whatever it is that he's talking about. I have been told too many times how I was the same way as a child...okay, and Adam still tells me to quiet down sometimes when I'm really on a roll about something. I know that Drake doesn't even realize he's doing it, but nonetheless...the decibel level between the two of them really grates on the nerves. Love those boys, but I sometimes wish they had volume control knobs built in.