Um, we found the hamster...

Well, we found Pepper yesterday. Follow your nose, it always knows...

I started to smell something yesterday morning and just knew it meant Pepper was dead. I began moving stuff last night out of a bottom cabinet after emptying the trash and checking in the fridge for yucky food. I knew then it must have been her.

She must've climbed up my cookie cooling rack in the bottom cabinet and fallen into a glass vase that she couldn't get out of. I could just barely make out her form in the glass vase at the back of the cabinet. I called Slade and he disposed of her. I was so sure she had gotten out of the house, and knowing she was so close and yet we just didn't know it, made me feel so sad.

These dumb hamsters have made my emotions run the gamut! Now I kinda don't want to get rid of the other (still nameless after all these many, many months--although we sometimes call her Salty) hamster. I want to do better by her than we did with Pepper. Surely if we had loved Pepper more, she wouldn't have run away, right?!

A short look at her life:

Here she is, with Bashful (who ended up being a boy hamster and obviously, wasn't so Bashful after all).


Here she is after we discovered that Bashful wasn't a girl...


Having baby hamsters was similar to having baby humans. Except I wasn't ever worried that I might eat my baby humans and I did have to watch out for Pepper and her baby hamsters.

Teaching the little ones to drive...


Anyway, I guess we'll be keeping nameless hamster after all. (Since none of you volunteered to give her a better home!) Randall is glad and Russ doesn't seem to care either way.

We didn't tell them about finding Pepper because we figured it was unnecessary.

So, here's to Pepper. You lived a short, but fruitful life.

Sometimes, though, we just want to get out and explore...

Okay, this is not good...

We used to have 2 hamsters in the cage. We're down by one.

I went to change the hamsters' cage and there was only one in there. She's not really fat, so I don't think she ate the other one. Actually, I know that Pepper escaped.

A few nights ago, we had to be out of our house for a showing. While we were sitting at dinner, my cell phone rings. It says "Home". Hmmm. That's strange. The only person that might call me from home would be Slade and he was sitting right next to me.

I answer it and it's the realtor showing our house. She said that when they got there, one of our hamsters was running across the floor and she wanted to make sure it was okay to put her with the other one in the cage. I had just realized that afternoon that the hamsters had learned how to open the hatch on the very top of their cage. Stinkers.

The worst part of having Pepper out is that I don't even know how long she's been out! We just really don't play with the hamsters anymore, so she could have been gone for a few days! I looked all over the house, but with no luck. I have no clue where she is. She could've gotten outside for all I know.

Sigh.

So, I'm offering one sweet hamster to a loving home. She will come with a cage, some extra bedding and food. Her cage has a ball attached so she can get exercise, but she's pretty timid and doesn't seem to run in the ball that much.

We obviously just aren't giving them the attention they should get, so I'd like to give them to someone that will. I don't even think the boys will mind; they never ask to hold the hamsters anymore.

Now, whoever wants them has to take them with the understanding and agreement that if I find Pepper, you will take her, too. Okay?

So, if you are interested, please e-mail me. And, pray that I find Pepper. Alive.

M.I.A.

Well, I've been M.I.A. (or should I say M.issing I.n B.logger-sphere A.ction) this week. I've been scrapping my heart out to get ready for the Christmas Corner at Maude Cobb this weekend. This is a huge craft-type show (not everything is handmade, but a lot of it is) and it should be a big affair.

This time last year, I was scrapping my heart out to have 9 paper bag albums ready to join my neighbor, Allison, at her booth at Christmas Corner. She was the one that encouraged me to make extras so we could try to sell them. That was the start of something beautiful...

I will be setting up at Maude Cobb tomorrow and then Thursday night the show opens to invitated guests of the Symphony, I believe. Then all day Friday, all day Saturday and half a day on Sunday. Whew! It will be a long weekend, but, hopefully, a very fruitful one! I plan to do some shopping myself, so that will be fun, too! :-)

Hamsters, hamster everywhere!

An update on our hamsters. They are getting so big! They're about half the size of Mama Hamster and about 1/3 the size of Daddy Hamster, who has done nothing but sit around and eat since being moved to his own cage and has gotten quite chubby. :-)

Mama is trying to wean them, but one big, fat Baby follows her everywhere and won't leave her alone. It's humorous. :-) If you are still interested in one or two, let me know! We are planning to keep Mama Hamster and one girl Baby. So, there are 4 other babies and the Daddy Hamster. The hamsters don't come with any of their stuff (cage, food, etc), so you'll want to get that first and bring it here to pick up the hamster. If you're interested, let me know!

The other day, Russ, Randall and I were playing with their wooden train track and we had the great idea to put blocks inside the track to create a "cage" for the babies and Pepper to run around in. The babies loved it! They scurried and scampered all over, leaving tiny little pellets all over the carpet. :-) We got some fun pictures. Pepper, however, was crazy-fast and would climb over the blocks and scurry under the bed or behind something before we could catch her. That happened twice. The first time, I tried to move stuff and get her, but then we decided to just close the bedroom door and let her come out. She did eventually and we put her back in her cage!

We've had lots of fun with them and it has been a neat experience, but we just can't take care of all of them. They each need individual attention and handling and we just don't have the time to love on them all. None of them have names and I'm not even sure which are girls and which are boys, but I'll take them to the pet store and find that out... soon... :-)

Well, the house needs some TLC and the corner of my livingroom where I am scrapbooking is calling out to me, so I guess I'll sign off. Ask me which of those two things I will be giving my attention to... :-)

Blog ya later!

And then there were five...

I noticed this morning that one of the hamsters seemed very small and weak. I was worried that it wasn't getting enough to eat so I took Pepper and the two smallest hamsters and put them in a little bug catcher cage that Randall had. I went back in later to check and see if Pepper was nursing them and there was a hole in the net and no Pepper. The cage was sitting on top of the dresser in the guest room and there was no Pepper anywhere on the dresser. There was also no Pepper dead at the bottom of the dresser from falling off. So, I had no clue where she had gone. And, the two little ones that were supposed to be getting more attention were left shivering in the bug catcher cage.

So, I put them back in with their brothers and sisters so they could warm up and I could tell that the smallest one was just very cold and seemed to be hardly breathing. Just as I got the hamsters back in the regular cage, who should scurry by, but Pepper. So, I put her back in, too.

Then I got the bright idea to take out the big and fat babies and leave the thin, skinny ones so they could nurse. So, I put the big babies in the bug catcher cage, since they weren't able to climb out Pepper's hole and left the others in the cage with Mama.

That seemed to go well and Pepper nursed them like a good Mama.

Then I put the others back in the cage and we left to get Russ from school. When we got home, I could tell that the little one was just not going to make it. Pepper kept scooting away from it and not nursing it or keeping it warm or anything. I just cried and prayed for a miracle.

We went to the park for a picnic dinner with Christy, Kyle and their kids and when we got home, it was pretty much gone. He was laying on his back, tucked into a corner of the upper room, with his mouth open and just barely breathing. I called my Mom to see what I should do and she said to just wait until it died and then throw it away. *sniff* She was so sweet and sympathetic and I just cried. I know that this is a natural and normal thing, but it was so hard to watch the little thing slowly die, knowing there was nothing I could do.

After we put the boys in bed, it was gone and Slade took care of it for me. Not seeing it in the cage does make it easier, but I still feel sad. The boys have handled it surprisingly well, even seeing my tears. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing... But I'm thankful that it won't give them nightmares or anything.

I've decided that once the babies are weaned, which should be within the next week or so, I want to keep Pepper and one of her daughters and give away Bashful and the remaining 4 babies. I kinda want to give them away in sets of 2 so they have playmates, but I don't have an even number now. I guess Bashful would be the best one to give away alone since the babies are still little and probably need each other for heat and comfort. (Or am I giving them human feelings again?...) So, we'll see how that all pans out.

It is neat to see Pepper being a good Mama, though. The other day, I noticed that she had brought some seeds up into the upper room for the babies to chew on. Their little eyes still aren't open and they're already gnawing on seeds. It's so cute to watch their little paws hold the seeds and their little mouths open to eat.

It's been hard having these babies around to worry about, but it's also been neat to see how God works all the details out and gives the Mama instincts to know what to do, even as a first-time Mama.

Hamster Days

The hamsters are getting so big! Well, actually, they're still tiny, but I can see them growing and developing. They are no longer totally pink and fuzzy. They have some dark fur, especially on their backs, coming in and we can see the stripe that dwarf hamsters have that runs the length of their backs.

They are 9 days old today. Last night, I cleaned their cage and got to hold each little tiny one. I put Pepper in her ball so she could run off some energy. After I cleaned the cage, I tried to put all the babies down in the bottom of the cage because they need to learn to eat regular hamster food within the next week and a half because she will stop nursing around that time. But, once I put the silly Mama back in the cage, she kept running up and down the tunnel returning the babies to their little "upper room" bed. I'm not sure how they'll learn to feed themselves, but my mom says not to worry; that I just have to trust the Mama to know what to do. Okay. So, this is me not worrying. Just trusting the Mama. Okay.

Here are some pictures to track their growth.

Day 1:


Day 2:


Day 5:


Day 7:


Day 8:


Here's Russ holding one on Day 8.


Rand holding one on Day 8, also.


Look how tiny it is in Randall's little hands.


It looks like Randall is giving it kisses, but he's actually just nuzzling it with his nose. He was being so sweet.


The hamsters can eat soft fruits or vegetables now, so I've been cutting up little pieces of apples for them. This was Day 9 and this was the only baby that actually tried to eat the apple. The others either jerked away from it (it wasn't cold or anything, it was just foreign, I guess) or just sniffed it and licked it. This one grabbed it and chewed in little tiny bites. The "crunch" sound was so sweet.


A few are starting to move around and three fell down the tunnel today due to their crawling. I figured that was how Mama decided they were ready for more freedom, but after a little while, she scurried down and carried them back up. So, it'll be interesting to see how it all works out with them weaning and eating hamster food.

Hamster Updates

Well, still six baby hamsters and the one I had been worried about seems to be doing fine. Whew.

I told Randall when we picked Russ up from school the day the babies were born that we were going to surprise Russ. I asked Randall if he could keep the surprise to himself and not tell Russ. He said he could.

It went something like this...

We hug Russ when he comes out and we head to the van.

Randall: We have a surprise, Russell, but... no, we don't have a surprise, I was just kidding.

Me: Actually, yes, we do have a surprise for you Russell, but we want you to see it before we tell you.

Randall: Yeah, and I'm not telling you what the surprise is.

Russ: Oh.

Me: Actually, you'll get to see a picture on the computer of what the surprise is.

Russ: Huh?

Randall: The surprise is... um, leaves! I'm just kidding. I just didn't want to tell you what the surprise was.

Me: Um, Randall, let's just not talk about it anymore until we get home. I'm afraid you're actually kinda lying...

Randall: I just don't want to tell Russ the surprise!

Me: I know, I just don't want you to lie in your attempt to keep our surprise.

Randall: Okay.

Russ: Hmm.

As you can tell, Randall was very excited about our surprise and Russ didn't really care.

Well, here's Russ' face when he saw the picture of the hamsters on the computer. It turned out to be a good surprise for him and he thought the baby hamsters were pretty neat.


Here's Bashful's new home. I keep thinking he might be sad and miss Pepper, but I'm probably giving him people feelings and forgetting he's a hamster. I keep worrying that he's miserable or lonely or confused and I have to just not think about it. :-)


Since that picture was taken, we've added a new little house and a toilet paper roll for more excitement. I can't tell if it's helping...

Here's Pepper standing up and trying to see/get out and a few of her little babies.


Six little hairless babies.


After I disturbed her by opening the top on the little upper room, she took off and headed to the wheel to run. Working off that pregnancy weight. :-)


And, like all mothers of newborns, she just needs to get out!


Can you imagine having 6 newborns to care for?! I guess I just might eat one, if I had that many to nurse, too...

And then there were six...

Well, we had seven baby hamsters yesterday, but only six today... It makes me sad even though I know there's nothing I can do. The worst part is, I have to assume Pepper ate it because I don't see a body... It makes me want to cry just thinking about it. And it grosses me out. And it makes me feel angry at Pepper.

I keep going in the guest room where Pepper and her babies are vacationing until they are a little older and petting her... and counting the babies. Still six. Their pink skin is so thin and transluscent and one of the babies looks like it might be bleeding internally, but it might just be no big deal. I'm trying not to worry about it, but I do keep double checking... and counting.

We went to Wet Pets 'N Critters today to get an exercise wheel for Bashful (also known as Dash around here because Russ said we need to rename her, I mean, him). I debated getting another cage and just keeping both our original hamsters in separate cages, but that's just a big expense, not to mention the extra work of keeping two cages clean, so I decided we'll have to get rid of one. I don't know which one! I like them both. Maybe we'll get attached to one of the babies and whichever sex it is, we can keep the same sex parent. I don't know. Geez, so many big decisions! :-)

I took some more pictures of Pepper and her little ones, but I'm too lazy to upload them to the computer, so maybe tomorrow. Their eyes are still closed and they make the sweetest little squeaking sounds. If anyone wants to come see them, let me know! Especially if you're considering adopting! Of course, right now, all you can do is look, but in a few weeks, you can hold them, too.

Hamster Education

Well, not only is Randall getting some sex ed, but I'm learning a whole stinkin' lot about hamsters. My favorite: a hamster is only pregnant for about 18 days. Amazing!

I found this info on the computer and freaked out!

So, I grabbed Bashful/Doc/Grumpy/Sneezy out of the cage and made him a makeshift cage in a tall plastic box. I left the top off, I promise. I called Wet Pets 'N Critters, where we got our hamsters, to ask if the info I had read on the website was correct and she said, yes, it is. So, for the safety of the newest little members of our family, Bashful is in his own home for a few weeks.

I'm not sure why none of this info was given to me when I bought the hamsters, but I'm very thankful for the great world wide web where I can find out more information than I can from people.

Hopefully, Pepper isn't pregnant again and hopefully she won't eat any of her babies! Whew, who knew having hamsters could be so exciting?

A little trivia: Baby hamsters are called pups. Isn't that sweet?

I counted the babies and there are 7. Seven tiny, wiggly, pink little things. They're so, so cute! The girl at Wet Pets 'N Critters said that they need a few weeks with Mama before they will be ready for new homes. They need to be able to eat on their own and that should be within about a 3 week period. So, if you want one (or two or seven), you have about 3 weeks to get a cage (or cages) and all the other stuff. That's assuming Pepper isn't pregnant again and that there won't be another litter born in the next 18 days. Yikes!

And, I don't know how to tell if you're getting a girl hamster or a boy hamster (obviously, neither do the nice girls at Wet Pets 'N Critters...). So, if you want more than one, you might want to be prepared for babies. I don't know how quickly they grow, so I don't know when you would need to worry about them being big enough to get pregnant. So, anyway...

All you homeschooling moms, here's a fun way to teach your kids about reproduction... Or not...

Anyway, I'll keep you updated on when they'll be ready to adopt. Please, please consider adopting! Adoption, the loving option. :-) Free to a good home!

Slade doesn't know yet (Randall wanted to surprise him like we're going to surprise Russ), and I can't wait to see his response. :-) Hehe. I'll keep you updated!

Sex Education

Some of Randall's comments about these baby hamsters.

*Why don't they have any heads? (in the picture, you can't see their heads) (They do, you just can't see them in the picture)

*Why does Bashful have to be a boy hamster? (because it takes a girl and a boy to have babies)

*So, if there is a boy hamster and a girl hamster, then the girl will have babies in her tummy? (yep. Especially with hamsters! Um, they're married.)

I wonder how the conversation will go when Russ gets home...

Well, so Bashful ain't so bashful...

Recently, I noticed that one of our hamsters, Pepper, was getting really fat. Her little tummy was just getting rounder and rounder.

I mentioned to Slade last night that she seemed really chubby and she was either eating something she shouldn't be eating, or she was pregnant. We laughed and went to bed and I had the passing thought that I should blog and ask people to consider adopting a baby hamster if I ended up being right.

Well, when we got home from BSF today, I went to pet the hamsters and Pepper was up in the "upper house". I opened the top to pet her and her tummy didn't seem so chubby. I wondered about that and was about to pick her up, when she raised her head and stood up to try to see what was going on. That's when I saw this...


So, obviously, Bashful is more of a Doc or a Grumpy and not a Bashful at all...

Anyone want a hamster?

Hamster Maze

A little while back, we decided to make a maze for the hamsters to go through. The boys had a blast constructing it and making sure there were no small holes for the hamsters to squeeze through.

I almost didn't post these pictures because the house looks like a war zone, but I decided to suck it up and post them anyway. It was laundry day and I had also been crafting (when I craft, I spread out...and out...) So, now that I've drawn your attention to the mess, pay no attention to it! *grin*

Randall works hard to get the maze just right.


Proud of his handiwork.


Getting out the victims, er, I mean, volunteers.


Putting the first hamster in...


Aren't they so little?! They seemed to enjoy running around and found their way pretty quickly.



Oops, one escaped. She figured out how to push through the door block.


Adding to the fun by putting obstacles in.




The hamsters didn't seem to bothered by the maze and it was a nice evening of cheap entertainment for us.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to and end, and in the end, I had a lot of tiny hamster poop to vacume up. But, it was fun anyway.

Adding to the family...

Well, after Wendy's comment about dwarf hamsters being social and getting lonely on their own, I did a little research and we went and got Bashful a roommate.

First, we had to give Bashful's roommate a name. Since none of the other Dwarf's names from Snow White were feminine, we started brainstorming.

Me: How about Chocolate Chip and we could call her Chippers?
Russ: Yeah!
Rand: No.
Me: How about Cinnamon?
Rand: Yeah!
Russ: No.
Me: Hmmm, how about Pepper since she looks like someone sprinkled pepper on her back?
Russ: Yeah!
Rand: Yeah!
Me: Hmmm, well, Pepper isn't a very girly name, maybe we should try Chocolate Chip or Cinnamon again?
Russ and Rand: No! We like Pepper!

So, Pepper it is.

And, what a brave little hamster Pepper is. We have laughed and laughed as we've watched her scamper up and down the tunnels and run on the ball/wheel on the top of the cage. Bashful won't go up the tunnels and when she's in the exercise ball, she just sits there. It's been fun having two hamsters to watch and play with.

And they look exactly alike! The only way we can tell them apart is by seeing which one will go up the tunnels (that's Pepper)... or by seeing which one POOPS on us (yeah, that's Bashful). Bashful poops on us for about the first 5 minutes that we are holding her. Ick. Luckily hamster poop is proportionately small like they are. But, aside from that, both are so sweet. They still don't bite and they snuggle up with each other when they sleep. They've just been perfect little pets. Both boys are doing so well at being gentle, too. They love to hold them and just laugh at how their noses and paws tickle. And, Randall loves to help me get them food.

When I make up some chore charts, sometime, someday... I was planning to make it Russell's chore to take care of the hamsters, but I might let them share the responsibility.

Here's Randall with Bashful.

One of the Seven Dwarfs

Well, we got our hamster today. We went to Wet Pets N Critters and the girl who worked there was super helpful. I reached down to let the little hamsters smell me and one came over and bit me! And it bit me hard! As soon as I got it to release my finger, I shooed it away and decided that that was not the hamster for us!

The worker reached in and found a little one that she picked up and snuggled. She looked and said it was a girl. It was so sweet! It is crawling on my shoulders as I type and it is so sweet! It also tickles like crazy! She hasn't bitten any of us at all. She lightly nibbled on me once, but it didn't hurt and didn't seem like she was being unkind.

The boys and I named her Bashful. I kinda assumed we'd be getting a male hamster, maybe since I have boys, but she was so sweet, they were okay with getting a girl. I had wanted to name our hamster after one of the Seven Dwarfs since it would be a Dwarf Hamster and the best of the dwarfs' names for a girl hamster was Bashful. Both boys keep confusing her name and calling her "Dash-I mean, Bash-ful".

The picture is not of our hamster because it was such a busy evening, I just never got a picture, but Bashful looks very similar to the one in the picture. I'm not sure whose picture I stole off of the world wide web...


We might get another to give her a playmate, but I'm not sure. We'll give it a few days and see how she seems to settle in. I think I'm just as excited as the boys (if not more so) to have a pet. We'll just work our way up and eventually, I'm sure Slade will agree to a cat and then a dog... Okay, that might be pushing our luck...

Blah...

That is how I feel right now. Blah... And a little weepy. Not a good combination.

It's been a busy few weeks and I hate busy weeks. I also hate change and there's been a lot of that lately, too. BSF started up last Thursday and, although I am very excited to be "back in the saddle", I'm also feeling the stress of change. My Tuesdays and Wednesdays are spoken for now.

I'm also still adjusting to having Russ in school. I know, I know, it's been two weeks, can't I get over it?! No, I can't seem to. It is so hard having him gone all day. When I'm standing at the door waiting for exactly 3:10, not a minute sooner, I can always see him standing in line waiting to come out and he looks so sweet. He'll grin and wave at me and then grin and wave again. And he might make a face or something.

When he comes out, it's a quick hug, hop in the van and head home to start dinner, do any homework and hopefully get piano practice in before Slade gets home. But, I also want to just play with the boys and hang out like we did in "the good old days". I feel like I'm being pulled in too many directions. I know there's no reason for me to feel so overwhelmed, it's not like I'm gone all day, just Russell is. But, it has just thrown me off and I'm having trouble adjusting.

I've thought lately that I can so totally see why people homeschool and I have questioned our decision to send him to school. The other day, he said a kid in his class was punching him and spitting on him during a movie in the computer lab. Spitting on him?! The punk. I asked if he told the teacher and he said that they aren't allowed to talk during the movie. I asked if he raised his hand so that he wasn't just talking without permission and he said they aren't even allowed to do that. I asked what he would do if he had to go to the bathroom and he said they have to do that before the movie. I can picture the scenerio and I know that with so many kids the computer lab teacher probably did make some broad rules. But, surely he could say something if someone was behaving like that. But, what if he got in trouble because the teacher didn't listen to the whole story or if Russ didn't explain it well because he was so bothered or something. He didn't seem too bothered by the whole thing, he just said he kept scooting away until the kid finally stopped, but I just felt badly for him.

I know I can't protect my child from every injustice in the world, and I want to raise them to do the right thing even when everyone around them chooses to do the wrong thing, but I don't like not being there to rescue him...even if he doesn't think he needs to be rescued. I guess it's a control issue. Me, dealing with a control issue? Never...

Do I still feel like we did the right thing in sending him to school? In my head, yes... in my heart, not all the time. Do I want to pull him out of school and keep him home with me? In my heart, yes, in my head, not on your life. I know that I am not called to homeschool. Even if I were homeschooling, there would probably be a similar post about being stressed and not liking the change and balancing all my responsibilities, blah, blah, blah. That's just me. I don't do change. So, if everyone around me would just accomodate me, life would be fine...

I'm going to make it. So, is Russell. In fact, he might make it better than I do...

Good things about these busy last few days:

* At our BSF leadership meeting, I found out who my co-leader is and I'm super excited about teaching with Ms. Phyllis. She was Russell's teacher when he was 2 and she is very good. I hope to soak up a lot of her creativity this year. We will have 15-16 kids in our class! Whew! Creativity might be the only way we make it. Oh, yeah, that and the Lord's help.

* Sometime this week, we're going to go get a dwarf hamster for the boys. We went to the pet store with Slade's mom this weekend and I fell in love with the tiny little hamsters. I figured it would be the only pet Slade might possibly consider besides a fish and I didn't fall in love with the fish. I asked Slade if we could get the boys *wink wink* a hamster and he was surprisingly all for it. So, the boys *wink wink* get to pick out their hamster as soon as we have a free afternoon. Luckily, they're as excited as I am and I think it will be a fun pet.

* I spent hours in the yard this afternoon. My mom kept Randall and I got a lot accomplished. I went to Lowe's to get decorative bricks to go around the front flower bed. Then, I swept off the roof, cleaned out the gutters, raked and blew leaves out of the flower beds (more accurately, bush beds, since there aren't any flowers), blew out the garage and the driveway and got about 3/4 of the bricks placed. I don't know when I'll finish the remaining 1/4 and get the mulch down, but, that's okay.

* After all that work in the yard, I have blisters on my hands and every part of my body aches, including my toes. Hmm, what was the good? Oh, yeah, I got a good workout!

Okay, that's it. I'm off to clean the kitchen and then sit down with a good book.