My notes

Just noticed, this is post 500!

Had another playdate with the quad mom (Hi M!) and I brought K along.  Her little boy seemed really happy to have another guy around during the day and pretty much stuck to him like glue.  Very affectionate, even I got a nice hug.  I'm jealous.  My babies don't hug and aren't snuggly.  They are moving away in a couple of weeks which totally sucks for me, it's my favorite playdate household, especially since her kids are the exact same age as mine.  And what do moms do at playdates when the kids are the same age?  We compare notes!

In the spirit of comparing notes, I bring to you basically every bit of information about how my household is functioning so you too can compare notes.  As always, I make no claims that I'm doing things right or wrong, this is just how I'm doing things.

Girls age - Almost 15 months

Sizes - I weighed Teeny Tiny the other day and she was 20lbs2oz.  I suspect Middie Biddie is about 21lbs.  Just moved up to size 12m clothing but a lot of 9m still fits.  Also just moved up to size 4 diapers.

Teeth - I've lost count.  Both have some molars, Teeny Tiny is cutting one right now and whining a bit about it.  I know I'm supposed to brush their teeth every night but it doesn't happen.  That's totally my fault.  They actually enjoy it, so the only reason it's not happening is because I'm not doing it.

Car Seats - Still well under the weight limit of 30lbs but they've outgrown the height.  I ordered new car seats this morning.

My post-partum body - I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight within a few weeks of having the girls.  I have since gained 30lbs.  I was pumping until 10 months and gained about 10lbs during that time, and the other 20lbs have packed on since I stopped.  I'm currently having my second post partum period, 2 months after my first one.  This is shocking to me since with my PCOS, I usually only have 1 period a year, and that's usually medically induced.  So having 2 natural periods?  This is new and unpleasant!

Pacifiers - Teeny Tiny never took one.  Middie Biddie never seemed to have a moment without her wubba hanging from her face.  We started weaning her from this about a month ago.  It's now no longer allowed outside of the crib, and every week or so I run a needle through it a few times.  This makes the suction far less satisfying and we no longer see it hanging from her face when we get her out of the crib.  She still likes it, but she's no longer dependent on it and is rapidly losing interest.

Baths - They happen about twice a week.  Gee, K gets two days off per week.  Any correlation???  Yeah, I'm going to have the smelly kids in school.  We'll do this more when they can walk and get in and out of the tub themselves.  Until then, I'm still doing baths in the baby bath in the sink.

Walking and talking - Lots of babble and experimenting with sounds.  They are real chatterboxes at home, but not in the presence of anyone else.  I think they think they're talking, but no English yet.  Just about everything is referred to as "Da Da!!"  Both are firmly cruising.  Teeny Tiny is experimenting with standing up unassisted, or flinging herself from me to something else to grab onto, but no unassisted walking.  She will walk around laughing holding onto my fingers.  Middie Biddie can do both of those things, but she's not very interested in them.  Still expecting both to walk across the room any day now, but we've been saying "any day now" for a month.

The girls living space - 
I keep the girls pretty limited.  In the nursery, they are only in their cribs, they have yet to be in that room when they are not being held or in their cribs.  Here's a quick tour of spaces my girls occupy during the day.

The living room.  A good portion of their day is in this room.  I cleaned up last night and they haven't been in there yet today, but normally it's got that tornado hit it look to it.  Going from top left corner and working clockwise - the kitchen (gated off) is behind where you see the stuffed dog on the couch.  The room being gated off is our other living room/dining room (windows are covered with sheets right now in an attempt to keep the sun from heating the house).  We basically haven't used that room for anything but crap storage since the girls were born.  Then you see toy bins and the TV.  That window/door to the right is our deck where we used to feed the cats (they're gone now).  You see a bit of K's desk in the corner, then the wall of gates, and circling back around to the pack and play.

Here's the girls feeding table on the other side of the gates along with a litterbox, garbage can, generally stuff I don't want the girls to have access to.  You can kind of see the bar in the upper right corner, the changing area is behind the bar.

Here is what used to be my office which is now the morning play room.  I took this picture so you can see it in context with how it's attached to the living room.  That's my chair and desk so I can sit just outside the morning playroom and the girls can't get to my computer.  I can also see the tv in the living room when I'm sitting at my desk but the girls can't.

And then the morning play room just beyond my chair.  The exersaucers are going to go soon.  We haven't put them inside them for over a month, but they still use them for pulling up and cruising and will play with some of the toys from the outside.  The main reason I'm reluctant to get rid of them is that the one in the back corner is blocking the girls from getting to things like the modem and router.

Discipline - Still too young to really implement any discipline, but I'm starting to say NO when Teeny Tiny steals something from Middie Biddie.  I say No, take whatever it is and give it back to Middie Biddie.  Sometimes I have to physically block Teeny Tiny from being able to get it again and she is NOT happy when I do that.  I'm doing my best to convince her that she wants something else, but she really is the jerk who just wants what her sister is playing with no matter what it is.  

There hasn't been any biting.  I'm told by everyone out in public that they are remarkably well behaved because they pretty much just patiently sit and wait for their food and then quietly eat it when it arrives.  Basically, I haven't really had to do any discipline because they haven't misbehaved yet.

Sleep habits- 

Bedtime routine - we don't really have much of one.  Bedtime bottle, a lullaby while I get them in their sleep sacks, turn on the light mobile (now mounted across the room), kisses and good night.  When K is home, we'll do bottle and lullaby while rocking them, but they aren't snugglers, it's a total wigglefest.

They sleep in sleep sacks and will until we move up to toddler beds.  They can't climb out of the crib with those things so I'm going to use them until I simply can not use them anymore.  We might add lightweight blankets once the weather turns because they are very adept at uncovering themselves now.

Their cribs currently butt up against each other.  We might change that today because I think they are playing too much and it's preventing them from falling asleep.  

They've had a variety of loveys and stuffed animals in their cribs, primarily because anything that starts out in Middie Biddies crib quickly finds its way into Teeny Tiny's.  The theory was give Teeny Tiny several things so she doesn't want to steal and give Middie Biddie plenty of back ups for when they are stolen.  But I've now found some of Middie Biddies toys on the floor outside the crib so she's throwing them out, she's not the poor victim here so we cleared everything out except one lovey each.  

Once they fall asleep at night, it's usually 12 solid hours.  Yes, you may hate me now.  Sometimes we'll have a wake up after being asleep for 30-60 minutes, but singing over the monitor usually puts the woken one back down without waking up the sleeping one.  

I think they should be going to sleep around 8pm, they seem think they should be going to sleep around 9:30pm.  Guess who's winning that argument.

Naps are where things are going all kaflooy.  Middie Biddie really wants to be on a one nap schedule but Teeny Tiny is still firmly in two.  I can't tell you what exactly we're doing because kaflooy is really the best way to describe it.  Every day K and I are having discussions about what to do about their sleep schedule and every day I end up flying by the seat of my pants anyway. 

Yesterday was K's day off so he had the kids while I did everything else a person does in life.  He decided to go according to Middie Biddies schedule and they had a single one hour nap in the afternoon.  That seemed to work out ok yesterday so that was the plan for today.  We woke them up shortly before 9am (trying to move their overall day a little earlier) and I figured when they showed tired signs, I'd put them in the pack and play with just a couple of toys (no noise makers) so they could just kind of veg out before getting a second wind to energize them for another hour or two before a single afternoon nap.  

When they started getting a little cranky, I moved them back into a play space figuring they were ready to play again.  Middie Biddie was, but Teeny Tiny was very clearly tired.  Climbing on me and dropping her face onto my chest because she didn't have the energy not to drop her head.  So they went down for a morning nap and both promptly fell sleep at 11:15am and stayed asleep for 90 minutes.  Will they take an afternoon nap?  I don't know.  I'm pretty sure Teeny Tiny will, but will Middie Biddie whine the entire time?  I just don't know.  But I couldn't keep Teeny Tiny up any longer because she was kind of miserable.

Girls Toys and Activities - 

We don't get out of the house much.  We should probably go for more walks and do more things like going to the zoo, but we don't.  I take them out to family breakfast (my parents and some aunts, uncles, a cousin with her kiddo) every few weeks, but generally we just stick to the house.  I'm such a homebody.  Ya know, if society were suddenly all under house arrest, with the internet and delivery services, I probably wouldn't even notice for a month or two.

In terms of toys, they are at an awkward spot where baby toys are too simple but toddler toys are too complex.  Most of the baby toys have become filler stuff to be discovered.  They go inside of empty tissue boxes, or something plastic will go into an old formula or puffs container.  They like to shake various things like water bottles with something inside it. A favorite is a box with about a 3 inch hole in it and all the plastic rings I can find inside.  They'll sit at that box and dig out rings, bring them to me, then go back for more.  Oh yes, bringing me things is a big one right now. They are very amused with pulling an item out of a container so anything that they can put in their mouths without dying (the sippy cups we didn't like, measuring cups, blocks, tupperware type containers) is tossed into a basket or bin in their playroom.  They are also big on using blankets to play peekabo so there's a stack of baby blankets in the cabinet under the tv.  

They beeline for my phone or the remote if either is within reach so I don't keep them within reach.  Baby selfies with my phone is always a hit when I don't know what else to do with them though.

Middie Biddie thinks gravity is the most awesome thing ever so she'll often amuse herself with throwing a stuffed animal on the floor over and over again.  

As for purchased toys, they've figured out the ballapalooza so that's a favorite.  They will put other items on the track and see if those will roll too.  They haven't figured out stacking rings or sorting boxes yet so those items are treated like any other random thing they can bang together.  They love anything that makes music and treat music making toys like a radio that has to be turned on over and over again.  They'll get the music started, go to play with something else, then come back to the toy to restart the music when it stops.  Music tables are being used as walkers.  As I type this, Middie Biddie is sitting at a music table holding a tupperware container and one of K's shoes.  She rolls the thing on the music table to make a song go, and then goes back to inspecting the tupperware or shoelace before whacking the table again when the music stops.  And now she's pushing the table across the room.  Oh look, Teeny Tiny just took over the table pushing duties leaving Middie Biddie with just her tupperware and shoe.

Food - I bet this is what we are all most curious about.  So here goes.

We're on whole milk now.  They drink out of straw cups and throughout the day they get a cup of either water or milk every time they eat totalling about half water, half milk for their daily fluid intake.  They only have one bottle a day and that's at bed time.  Sometimes we let them try sipping out of a sippy cup or a real cup, but that's a rare game and not the norm.

They eat about every 2 hours.  I tried meals and snacks, but when they eat, they pretty much always eat the same amount so we're looking at 4-5 small meals per day.  Most foods are finger food, still cut up to the size of a big blueberry (except blueberries are cut in half due to the shape being a choking hazard).

**OMG!  Teeny Tiny just took 2 steps from the ottoman to the couch!!!!  Any day now might be today!  Ok, back to our regularly scheduled topic**

They self feed from pouches really well so I keep a supply of those on hand.  Some from the store, some that I make myself.  When we go out, I always have some of those for the girls but I usually don't resort to using those when we're at home.  I can usually manage to prepare something else.

First meal when they wake up - Baby oatmeal with fruit puree accompanied by a cup of milk and then Cheerios until they're done eating.

Meal after first nap - Scrambled eggs with veggies mixed in.  I season with salt, pepper, and paprika.

Afternoon meal/snack - fruit and cheese cubes.  Sometimes I toss some sort of meat on the plate like mini pepperoni's or chicken, but the foundation of this plate is fruit and cheese.  Yogurt if they're still hungry when they finish that.  Sometimes I'll do a cut up banana and toast with peanut butter.

Those are the consistent meals pretty much every day.  Yes, it's a rut, but it works for me.  By the time we've eaten our rut foods, I know they've had fruit, grain, protein and a smidge of veggies for the day so if the following meal or two doesn't go over well, I can just feed them whatever is easy knowing they've had a variety of healthy stuff already.  The basic rule is that there is some sort of protein on every plate.  If their good behavior is due to anything I'm doing, that's probably what it is.  No blood sugar spikes or crashes to make them cranky because protein helps regulate that.

Dinner - Usually we try to give them our leftovers from the night before depending on what it is.  If it's McDonalds, they don't get any and I have to come up with something else.  Usually it's pretty simple, steamed veggies sprinkled with cheese and some sort of meat.  I keep precooked chicken in the freezer to make this easy.  Pre-diced meats often sold as salad toppings are also pretty easy.  They often have a pasta dish, but I get either the whole grain pasta or the veggie infused stuff, boil it in chicken stock, and their serving is about 50% pasta and 50% diced veggies with some meat thrown in covered in the sauce.  Fishsticks are becoming more common.

A couple of days ago they surprised me by liking the roasted artichoke I made for myself.  I had to keep scraping the meat off with my thumbnail and giving it to them like they were little birds.  When I put a little of the vinegar dressing onto a spoon for them, I expected a shocked baby face reaction but they reacted as if I had given them chocolate!  I had to keep giving it to them as if it were pudding!  I didn't give them a whole lot because I didn't want to make them sick, but just lots of spoons with a tiny amount on it.

I keep a supply of canned diced fruits or veggies in the house for them, including some that K and I don't eat just so we can introduce them to things we may not be overly familiar with.  Maybe today they'll try okra.  I may or may not join them.

Baby mum mum crackers generally stop the cranks when I can't figure out what's making them cranky.  Cheerios often do the trick too.

I do keep some processed crap dinners in the house (beefaroni, those yellow packaged baby dinners) for easy meals, but I try not to use more than one or two of those a week so they don't develop a taste for processed foods.  I grew up on white flour and cream of fill in the blank soup so I'm trying to instill an appreciation for veggies, whole wheats, and foods without fats.  I can eat a barrel full of fruits and veggies and still not feel like I've actually eaten anything until I have a pastry.  I want them to feel like veggies are actually food.

When K is home, we're starting to work on things that you have to take bites from.  He likes to cook so they get a much more adventurous menu when K is home.  He made them pancakes yesterday (I made him plop some pumpkin in them, yay veggies!) and grilled cheese sandwiches.  They are good at taking bites from a banana if I hold it.

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So, uh, that's it!  That's my life and how we do things.  Did I miss any categories?  How do I compare to what the rest of you are doing?

The core of my problem

I've figured out what's at the core of all my bitching and moaning about running on empty.  I'm an extreme introvert, but I'm never alone.

As an introvert, I need alone time to recharge.  That's pretty much the foundation of that personality trait. Being around people is draining.  Sometimes it's a good draining, like when you've gone out dancing and come home ready to crash, but other times it's like running for your life before you come home to crash.  Raising two babies who aren't yet intellectually stimulating conversationalists, it's like living on a slow treadmill and never getting off.  Ever.

Since the girls were born, I have had the house completely to myself exactly once.  ONCE.  For a few hours, my parents took the girls out, K was at work, and I was furiously installing a new floor.  Hardly relaxing or recharging.  I go and hide in my pottery studio from time to time, but it's not enough.  If you only plug your phone in for 20 minutes at a time, it's never going to be a fully charged battery, and this is the same thing.

Naps are ok.  That's like the 20 minute phone charge.  They help, but the battery is never getting full.  Lately Midde Biddie is having some sucky sleep habits so even during nap time I'm still hearing her whine at me through the monitor for most of it.  Since getting up almost 12 hours ago, she's been asleep for 35 minutes today.  And just to make sure I'm as annoyed as possible, she fell asleep after Teeny Tiny had already been asleep for nearly 2 hours (!!!) and was just waking up.

My parents come over for one evening every week to give us a break, and that's great.  It's much appreciated.  But we use that time for date night, so again, I'm not alone and recharging.

As a result of this desperate need for alone time, once the girls are down, I'm hiding behind my computer, so K goes and entertains himself with his, just so I can try and relax a little bit.  Then when we go to bed, I'm complaining that I don't feel like I ever interact with him anymore and I'm lonely.

You read that right.  I'm complaining about both never being alone and being lonely at the same time.

So that's my problem.  That's the stick that's up my butt lately.  I'm open to suggestions.

The lovey disparity

Both girls have a couple of loveys.  Each one has one specific to them and they each get one or two extras for the hell of it.  The last few days, I've found a bit of a pattern when getting them out of their cribs.

The contents of Teeny Tiny's crib:

The contents of Middie Biddies crib:

Wardrobe change

I just dug out my maternity jeans.

I've gained about 30lbs and as a result, I really only have one pair of proper jeans that fit right now.  I promised K I would make a sincere effort to do some pottery while the girls napped today and when doing pottery, I really need to wear jeans.  I always get some clay on my thighs and when wearing yoga pants or leggings, the water soaks through, so denim is my wardrobe of choice in there.

I'm one of those people who only washes my jeans when necessary.  Part of the reason is that when they come out of the dryer, they're always a little bit tighter and I just don't want to deal with that.  So I'd like to save my proper jeans for when I'm going out in public.  Thus, digging out my maternity jeans.

For a moment I felt shame.  Shame that I'm so fat that I'm resorting to a big elastic belly instead of a standard fly.  Then I put them on.  Fuck you Fashion, this is awesome!  I'm so comfy!!!  I'll be able to crunch my belly as I lean over the wheel without the waistband marks of shame digging into my belly.  Screw regular jeans, I might just buy maternity pants for the rest of my life.

I can't hide that I'm fat.  Seriously, there's just no pretending that I'm anything but a big, round person.  So why am I buying giant versions of clothing that are only comfortable on skinny people?  Yes, I'm embarrassed about my weight.  I'm overall just embarrassed to exist right now.  But I'm going to be just as embarrassed wearing pants that dig into my stomach, so why not just be embarrassed but comfortable?

So here I am, a walking fashion faux pas while my blobbing belly celebrates and cries out in victory (an for some reason a Scottish accent) "Freedom!!!  You can not contain the belly!!!!  I laugh at your waistbands of shame.  From this day forward, I celebrate my freedom!!!"

Couch photos

Remember how I used to take all those adorable couch photos?  I'd prop the girls up in cute outfits against my red couch and get pictures of the two of them being cute?  If you don't remember, here are a few highlights.

 

Pretty cute, right?  I haven't done this in a while and the girls were in coordinating overalls today (to look cute out at breakfast), so I figured I'd give it a go.  Here are the highlights.

 Yup, we're done here.

Finances

Ugh.

Raise your hand if you're satisfied with your financial situation.  Anyone?  Bueller?  Yeah, us too.

I've been effectively out of the workforce for a few years now.  I still do some videography but those gigs are few and far between.  I didn't get that pottery job I interviewed for which is really disappointing.  Interviewing for it may have a pay off later, she said that she may need to hire an additional person next spring and I'm first in line if that happens.  But there's a lot of car payments between now and next spring.

Job hunting the last few years is not what it was when I got out of college.  In my early 20's, I was able to sign up for a temp agency and have enough work to support myself relatively comfortably.  Since I've been dealing with the whole infertility thing and having doctors appointments every 20 minutes, I've tried to go that route again a few times (temp jobs would work great around a potential pregnancy) but I really haven't had any luck.  I sign up, I take all the tests, and then nothing ever comes of it.  I'm never called for the jobs.

Part of the problem is that the skills that made me really desirable 15 years ago are simply no longer needed.  I type incredibly fast, can do Powerpoint, Word, Excel, etc etc, but now all of the employers that used to hire assistants to do those things can pretty much do them themselves faster than they could explain to an assistant what they want done.  I'm also no longer up to date on software, I'm still using Office 2003 for crying out loud and my computer is 5 or 6 years old so I'm not exactly the up to date computer geek that I once was.  It's like I hit 30 and all of my computer prowess went right out the window and now I'm 38 and that much stupider.  This blog is on Blogger because I can't even figure out Wordpress as intuitively as I feel I should.  What the fuck happened to my inherent computer ability?

Now of course there's the added difficulty of having been out of the workforce for a long time and having 2 kids to complicate any potential schedule.  Whenever I try to find work, I find myself embarrassed and completely defeated before I really get going.  K doesn't exactly fill me with confidence when he tells me about the types of people he now has applying for cashier positions because they can't find work on par with their skills and experience.  If they are being turned down for entry level work, what hope would I have?

I'm trying to figure out how someone like me can contribute financially to the household.  I'm pretty much drawing a blank.  I'm looking at some writing sites, but those pay like a quarter per article.  Not much of a contribution.

While I try to figure it out, K and I discussed that the only thing I've got is my pottery shop.  It's not much, but we're at the point where a few penny's would be helpful.  So we've decided that now that the girls nap pretty consistently, and go to bed at a reasonable hour, I need to be spending an hour in the pottery studio every day.  Since getting pregnant, I have made one kiln load, approximately 2 dozen mugs.  It's time for me to up production and fill my shop.

The real benefit is that pottery makes me happy.  If nothing else, hopefully just having that hour every day will make me feel better in general about life so I'm not as worried about money.

When you get around to Christmas shopping, check out my pottery shop and see if some handmade mugs will make a good gift for that hard to shop for person in your life.

Having some fun now

Another development spurt and we're really starting to get into the fun stuff with babies.  They are beginning to understand the purpose of their toys and how to play with them.

They've both recently figured out the fancy schmancy ball track thing we got for them.  For a while, the bottom was just a holder for balls they could fling around the room.  Now they've figured out that it's fun to put a ball in the top and watch it roll down.

I took an old garbage bag box and used some tape to make the opening for it a lot smaller.  I toss all the little plastic ring things we have (those rings that are used to attach toys to strollers and stuff, we got 2 packages of them, they're everywhere!) into that box so the girls can fish them out.  They are starting to figure out putting the rings into the box too.  I often find the balls from the track thing in that box.

Both have learned that they can carry items when they crawl or cruise.  I'm getting a lot of presents, especially from Teeny Tiny.  She delights in presenting K or I with an item, dropping it into our hand, being told "thank you" and then taking it back.

They understand when I say or make the motion for "come to mama".  I say that and they both come scrambling over.  It makes getting them in their table for meals a lot faster.

They are doing classic "check-in" behavior where they'll play, and then come over to one of us, park in our lap for a minute, and then off they go to play again.  The only problem is that when one does it, the other one suddenly wants lap time and it's a fight to see who gets the primo spot.  Teeny Tiny usually wins.  She's more aggressive than Middie Biddie.

Both are increasing their babbling sounds vocabulary.  Still no real words, but the array of sounds they make is expanding.  Especially Middie Biddie.  She likes to experiment with her voice and makes a wide variety of sounds.

They are becoming much better at playing without me.  They'll entertain themselves and each other for quite a while before getting upset and wanting my attention.  For the most part they'll accept my attention when I want to play with them, but it's really nice to be able to walk away and take care of other things without everybody getting all upset about it.

They should be walking soon!  Teeny Tiny took her first independent step a few days ago.  Just one step, and just the one time, but it's progress!  Middie Biddie now enjoys when I stand her in front of me and then let go letting her fall forward until she grabs me to break her fall.  Any day now I'm hoping she figures out that taking a step towards me will have the same fall breaking effect.  She's mostly just delighting in gravity.  She spent quite some time laughing as she picked up her monkey and threw it on the ground next to her.  She's still a little whiny, but whatever was up her craw the last month or so seems to have calmed down making her a whole lot more fun to be around.

Feline headaches

Before I actually start this post, I just want to remind everyone that I'm a good pet owner.  I love my cats, I'm good to my cats, they are well cared for.  I used to work for a cat shelter, K works at a pet store.  We are pet people.

Ok, now onto the post.

Ever since having babies, I fucking hate my cats!!!  Oh....My....God.....Just get out of my fucking way already!  Gah!

Always underfoot.  I can't take a single step around here without watching where I put my foot down to make sure it doesn't land on a cat or a baby.  There is simply no walking in a straight line in this house because a cat is always right where you need to step.  So many of my steps are kind of sweeping steps, gently moving a cat out of my path with my foot.  That is such a pain in the butt when carrying a baby!  I'm glad my cats are so comfortable that they trust they won't get hurt when sprawled out across a doorway, but come on!  See that I'm coming, see that I can't see the floor very well because I'm holding a baby and GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!

Let's meet the offenders.

Buster

Lives outside yet still manages to be in my way.  Ever since Spot and Tyg disappeared, he's taken up residence sprawled across the front door.  Does he get up and skeedaddle when that door opens?  No.  He begrudgingly gets to his feet and keeps himself within inches of my feet as I'm trying to carry a baby to the car.  With every step, I step past him or over him and he scootches forward just enough to be in the way of my next step too.  When I sit outside to get a moment to myself, he's right there, grabbing my leg with his claws to get my attention.  Sometimes he stinks to high heaven and then rubs my legs to make sure the bottom half of my pants are covered in stinky cat hair.

Pebbles

This is our old apartment, years
before babies.  Those swords are
actors props, perfectly safe, but still
hidden away now.

You know I'm getting royally annoyed when this is the cat I'm least irritated by.  She's just creeptastic and very possessive of K.  At night, she starts out being good and being on K's side, but then once he falls asleep, she gets in between us and tries to push me out of bed.  She also likes to lick which I know is affectionate, but it's getting annoying.  She's recently taken to sleeping on the bathmat in front of the shower so on the rare occasion I want to actually shower, it's a major production to get her to move her ass.

Also, I sometimes find a big turd in a random location.  I'm fairly certain she is the perpetrator.  I don't think she does it on purpose, but unpleasant none the less.

Jipsee

Adorable and she knows it.  Only about 6 or 7 lbs, she keeps putting herself in harms way.  She adopted the babies from day 1, will not keep away from them.  We're doing our best to make sure the girls only touch her nicely but it's a battle.  Teeny Tiny is really good about only touching with an open hand, but like every baby, sometimes she hits when she intends to pat.  She finally got a pissed off nip from Jipsee (didn't break the skin, just startled her) and has hopefully learned her lesson.  Shortly thereafter, Middie Biddie grabbed her tail and got meowed at.

Primary annoyances - she sidles up to feet.  Especially on your heels when you're in the kitchen so you trip over her a lot.  Recently she's decided to start climbing on the kitchen counters nibbling at anything left out, including licking the pans on the stove and in the sink.  She's our escape artist.  Every time a door is opened, you have to protect the opening from her zipping past you.  She likes to jump on my desk and park her butt between me and the keyboard and lick a spot on my hand until it's raw.


Shadow

Oh Shadow.  You annoy me and make me feel guilty about it.

Most of his annoying habits are due to a desire for love, and a skittishness about receiving it.  Every evening he decides it's time for us to go to bed and love him, so he parks himself next to our chairs and reaches for our arms with his claws.  He doesn't really claw at us, but he keeps patting us with the claws.  But if you make a move to give him the love he craves, he gets nervous and runs.  Any fast movement and he freaks out, leaping away, and you'd best not be near his paws when he's startled because you will get injured.

He's also the one who started the peeing outside of the litterbox trend.  Now, while that sucks, at least he's consistent about it.  He does it in certain places and if we put down a puppy pad where he likes to pee, he'll pee on that.

He's making sleeping difficult for me even though I know he's trying to be as out of the way as possible.  He's decided that he's going to sleep in the corner of the bed, right above my right shoulder.  Sometimes that's out of the way, but a lot of times it forces me to move my arm or shoulder in such a way that I think he's the reason I have some permanent knots in that shoulder.  No matter how often I kick him out of bed, he's back in that spot within minutes.  Then he headbutts my hand and arm, very firmly, trying to get me to pet him.

And then there was Mayday

I'm so aggravated with this cat right now, I'm seriously considering making him an outside cat.  Then I remember that he wouldn't survive because he's probably too old to learn how to defend himself from the raccoons and various kitty illnesses he doesn't have immunities to and I'm right back to hitting my head against a wall trying to figure out what to do about him.

He is the primary urinator.  There's no predicting it so we can't protect against it.  He is 90% of the reason we're redoing the floors.  He's the reason we can't leave anything fabric on the floor.  He'll pee on piles of clothes in the bathroom, any random blankets he finds, and most recently he's peed in our bed.  Little fuck face.  Every time his urinating behavior changes, we take him to the vet to make sure he doesn't have a UTI (which he's prone to) and we spend $150 to confirm that he's a perfectly healthy asshole.

He's now over 20lbs of complete clod.  He walks all over me and his paws seem to hit the most sensitive spots for him to put all of his weight on.  It's painful.  We didn't have to do a lot of baby proofing of the house because we've had it Mayday proofed for years.  I've been scratched by him a few times when he's snuggling but then gets excited about something across the room and takes off.

He is outrageously fooffy.  The softest cat you'll ever lay a hand on.  But his fur is so fine that when he sheds, it's like velcro sticking to every fabric it comes into contact with.  He's recently decided to start sleeping on the cabinet in our clothing closet so the bottom half of every shirt we own is covered in Mayday fur.

He's also underfoot a lot.  No respect for people walking towards him needing him to move.

The good news is that he's affectionate.  The bad news is that he drools when he's happy and he crawls up between our heads in bed, drooling in my ear with his butt in K's face.
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I'm just sick of the cats at this point.  Partially because at this point, someone is trying to get my affection 24/7.  When the girls are in bed, no longer demanding my attention, the cats all come out and quibble over who gets it.  Sometimes I just want to not be touched.  I love them, but since the girls were born, they're kind of like extended family.  It would be awesome if they could visit, but having them live here is frustrating.