Let the Little Ones Come

A Sad Farewell

When you get a moment, please say a little prayer for the kids.  Our pet guinea pig, Tricki Woo, met an untimely demise early this afternoon.  We said a few prayers to St. Francis and hoped for the best, but it was not to be...:(

The kids and their Daddy are burying her right now in the backyard.  I am trying not to be too maudlin, I mean she was just a little rodent, but I am sad...we got her right after baby Joseph was born and when we were watching loads of episdodes of All Creatures Great and Small.  It seems like a lot has happened in those three years and losing her makes me sad.  Sigh... I think the Dostalik family needs to say good-bye to caring for small rodents--we do not have the best track record in that department.  

Here's hoping the week gets better from here!

The new baby (kitten)

The Baby:

The Mommy (looking a bit sleep-deprived--bottle feeding a tiny, newborn kitten can do that to you--especially those 2 am feedings):

Say a prayer that the kitty does well.  We take him in to the vet later today.  He is about 3-4 weeks old and was found by a neighbor of ours in an abandoned house next to a house they are renovating.  Our neighbor has two LARGE dogs that are part wolf...We didn't want the kitten to be a tasty snack, so we offered to adopt him (for now)...The kids have named him Eoin (Irish spelling of Owen)...I think we're in trouble...he's awfully cute...:)

Meet our newest family member...

Meg has been begging for a new pet that she could have all to herself. She had promised to care for it and keep it in her room. Her initial request was for a rat--a domesticated rat. She had checked out a few books from the library and proceeded to use her powers of persuasion almost convincing me to pay money for such a creature! I mean, even Thornton Burgess, the veritable lover of all animals said of the rat, "There isn't a good thing I can say for him, not one...he is hated by all animals and all men." Albeit, he wasn't talking about the domesticated rat--but hey, to me, the similarity in appearance is enough to keep me from shelling out a few bucks to welcome a rat in my home...

So, to make a long story short, when Meg decided she'd rather have a guinea pig, Bill and I decided to just forge ahead and cut our losses! So, we welcomed little Tricki Woo (named after a pekinese from the James Herriot novels--(as an aside, we love the books and the British tv series in our house--I highly recommend them to all over the age of 10).

Tricki is sweet, albeit a bit shy. She hides in her makeshift house (a shoe box with a cut out door) but is adjusting well to life in this lively household and is a cuddly and welcomed lap companion for Meg when she's reading.

Welcome Tricki Woo to our family. May we all enjoy you for years to come!