November 10, 2007 by Barbara.

At supper last night, I told Ken and Reid that my Aunt Dorothy had died. Reid had asked who that was, and I explained that Aunt Dorothy was Grandma Joyce’s sister-in-law. Reid asked what had happened and I said that Aunt Dorothy had been very, very, sick. “Like Mars?” Reid asked and I agreed that it was like what had happened to Mars. She asked why Mars had died. Ken told her that sometimes things just happened and I said that since we loved Mars, we could keep him in our memories and in our hearts. Reid’s eyes filled with tears and she said, “I want to keep him in our *house*!” We all do, he was a good cat.

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July 6, 2007 by Barbara.

I wish that I had blogged from the moment we decided to try and conceive, barring that, I wish I had captured my thought while I was pregnant or, at the very least, that I had written about Reid’s life from when she was born. My memory is so poor and she changes so quickly that I know I’m losing memories at a startling rate. But I didn’t. I started writing when Reid was 2 years old. I’m not about to spend my life regretting this, though. I’ve decided to create my own meme and maybe others will pick it up. Or maybe it’ll be just something Reid and I look at and enjoy. I’m going to beginning and move forward though time, except that I’m leaving open the possibility of goint back even further or maybe returning to an earlier point in time once I’ve passed it.

The day I found out I was pregnant was one of the happiest days in my life but I have to say that *I* was the easiest person throughout the day. I’d gotten up and peed on the stick on a lovely Saturday in November. Okay, I made part of that up, I don’t remember what sort of a day it was but finding out I was pregnant after more than a year of trying probably made me think that it was a good day. I went out and bought groceries while Ken was still sleeping. I’m an early riser and he isn’t. Plus, I wanted to find a clever way of telling him that I was pregnant.

I returned home mid-morning with the groceries and found Ken quietly cleaning out the refrigerator. I couldn’t believe he would be so blatant in his criticism of my housemaking abilities! I know that I snapped and snarled at him, I’m pretty sure that he was taken completely aback. I’m not positive, though; he might have had enough experience with my innate unpredictability that he was only partially taken aback. Needless to say, I didn’t tell my beloved husband about his impending fatherhood right at that very moment.

After supper, when we were sitting together in an uneasy peace - I think Ken was afraid I might do something equally as unpredictable as flipping out when he did something as non-threatening as cleaning out the fridge and I was probably worried about something similar or maybe I still harboured resentment that he’d cleaned the fridge. Finally, I handed him the *What to Expect When You’re Expecting* calendar that I’d bought as a segue into the BIG news. Ken looked at the calendar and then at me and said something about not getting my point. Poor man. I told him that we’d need a calendar to keep track of my weight and the pre-natal appointments. Understanding gradually dawned. Ken will tell you that I am the least subtle person he knows but in this case, I was too subtle or maybe I was trying too hard to be clever.

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October 27, 2006 by Barbara.

I’m usually much happier than this when I start to write a message but today I have to report that we had to put Mars down last night. Clio and Leo are wandering the house seeming a bit lost and, honestly, Ken and I are as well. Reid asks about “Marsh” but is satisfied with the answer that he had to go away.

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