Murray and I snuggle. He stands on my great big belly and I scratch him all over. And he has trouble keeping his eyes open. Eventually, I hypnotize him and he falls over. He wraps himself around my neck and falls asleep. And he purrs, oh boy does he ever purr. His purr calms me greatly. It’s so calming I’m considering bringing a recording of it to the hospital with me when I go into labor.

Murray and Toby have a different relationship. They are playmates. They play hide-and-go-seek, a wicked game of chase, and tackle. My favorite is when they combine hide-and-go-seek with chase, which consists of Toby running from one room to the next and Murray tearing after him. Sometimes he runs so fast, his butt passes his head and that makes me crack up.

Usually Murray gets the game (or games) going the moment Toby gets home from work. Murray makes direct eye contact with Toby and then he TAKES OFF! running in the other direction. And since Toby is fluent in Catonese, he knows exactly what to do. And I sit and watch, wondering what our neighbors must think, as my boys run back and forth chasing one another like children. Tobyjoe giggles and Murray squeaks and meows. Watching them play has me so excited about having Toby’s son. I can’t put that feeling into words.

About a month ago we emptied the guest room in order to ready it for the baby. My mother is going to stay with us for a while once the baby arrives because neither of us has any clue as to what to do with a baby. I don’t even know how to hold one let alone feed one. So if things don’t work out, we’re just going to give my mother the baby and send her on her way. In the meantime, we decided to hold onto the futon so my mother has a fairly comfortable place to sleep.

One of the places Toby and Murray end up playing is the doorway separating the dining room from the foyer that leads to the bathroom. This is also where the futon currently lives. Tobyjoe hides behind the door jam and Murray hunts Tobyjoe from the futon. And this works out well for the two of them. It doesn’t really work out so well form me, however.

I use the bathroom a lot these days. I visit it every 90 minutes. And since I usually walk fast in order to get there, Murray often thinks I’m ready to play and assumes his position on the futon. It doesn’t matter that it’s me – the one he usually snuggles with. He wants to play! He makes it downright impossible for me to go directly to the bathroom. It’s like that game we played as kids where you have to pay a toll in order to do something. I simply cannot use the bathroom until I have played with Murray. Unfortunately his stamina and attention span is a lot larger than my bladder so I always feel like I’ve let him down.

Here is a brief video of what you have to deal with in order to use the bathroom at our house. When he runs off at the end that’s my hint that I’m supposed to chase him. Unfortunately, I can barely walk these days let alone chase a small kitten.

^{(The video is a .mov file because I can’t figure out how to export any other file format from iMovie because I’m retarded.)}