Sarah's sister and her husband Nick were kind enough to loan us their two cats, Curtis and Claudia, for the day on Sunday to help patrol the borders for any rebel mice. Curtis spent the entire time under the bed and Claudia came into the living room for a brief spell to say hello and catch some looks at the cat. We figured there was a chance that the mice could smell the cats and would pack their mouse knapsacks and move downstairs. The initial response looked good as the counter was free of any new mouse poop for a few days. I found a mouse poop in the bathroom bathmat which worried me but I figured it could have been some expedition by the mouse team into the bathroom from months ago. But this morning Sarah found more tell tale signs of the mice on the kitchen counter.

So this evening we now have Thumper, a seven year old female cat, who is Sarah Madden's. It is an exchange where we are cat sitting and she is travelling. We met Madden in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn in Dedham to do the kitty cat exchange. Sarah Madden is also helping us with our birth announcements. I hadn't realized we needed to send out birth announcements until Sarah brought home some of Madden's (the two Sarahs gets confusing here), great samples of birth announcements. I picked through them with Sarah and I think we have a winner of a birth announcement. Madden is a former event planner and mom who has a burgeouning new business making announcements and invitations called Creativity Counts. She was the one responsible for the pink M&M baby bottles at Sarah's baby shower.

I'd describe the birth announcement further but that would ruin the surprise. Thus far Thumper is hiding behind the two person chair in the living room. Madeline is hanging out with Sarah eating after getting very hungry from the long trip out to Dedham and back convoluted by a trip to the Cheesecake factory to pick-up dinner.

On reflection I have found that the baby is different from the loud adventures of the past. Madeline is a quiet adventure and a personal experience. Her maturing doesn't take place in a bar filled with hip-hop blasting or a stadium full of screaming sports or rock fans. She hiccups and reaches for things and just staying home with her is the adventure. It takes some adjustment to get excited or understand getting excited about the quiet triumphs in life but they are exciting and so far I am very proud of my little girl.