More Baby Shower Pictures

Thank you to Susan for taking these pictures at my shower!

Cat Fight at 1am

Last night Jake and I woke up at 1pm to hear a huge cat fight going on on our back patio. Jake jumped out of bed - I moved much more slowly - and ran out the door to save Seven. He saw the other cat go into our garage while Seven hightailed it out of the patio into the front yard for safety. Jake went into the garage while I got our squirt bottle and we proceeded to scare the living daylights out of the cat that had trapped itself in our garage. I actually felt really bad because the cat looked so scared, but I'm hoping that he won't be coming back to bother Seven and eat her food. And for those soft hearted folks out there, this cat did not look he needed Seven's food. It's obviously owned by someone who takes care of him.

So Jake used the water bottle and chased the cat around squirting him while I remained out of harms way. This lasted less than 30 seconds before the cat realized that the best escape was to exit the open garage door and exit back out of the patio through the hole. It was kind of funny to watch Jake running after the cat trying to squirt it as it lunged through the hole as quickly as possible. And again, for you soft hearted folks, the temperature probably was somewhere around 60 degrees, so I don't think it hurt the cat at all to be squirted. Of course, he probably thought we were trying to kill him.

I tried to call Seven to give her some comfort but she was nowhere to be found, so I figured she was probably OK and we went back to bed. Jake was tossing and turning for an hour and neither of us could sleep. Then just after 2am Jake finally got up (he couldn't sleep) and went back out the door to the patio and called Seven over and gave her some pets and sweet talk for a few minutes. I asked how she was and he told me Seven seemed to be doing really good and was actually pretty happy.

The next day Jake mentioned that he couldn't sleep for that hour and I said that the cat fiasco didn't help either of us to get to sleep. He then said that he couldn't sleep because he kept thinking that another cat could come back at any time to bother Seven and she shouldn't have to worry about that since it's her back yard area. He had been trying to think of what he could do to keep the other cats out. Now I think that's very sweet that he was so concerned about Seven that he couldn't sleep. It also could have been that he doesn't want another cat in the backyard eating the cat food that we have to pay for, but I like to think that it's because he was concerned about our cat. :)

Target's Policy Sucks - Warning Not to Register There

I just had my first opportunity to return some of the gifts that Jake and I found that we didn't need from the baby shower. There are always a few people who forget to tell the people at the cash register to take the gifts off of the registry, and there were some items that Jake and I realized that we really don't need since we got so many from other places.

Jake and I registered at Target because I've always loved them and I thought it would be very easy. I've heard a few bad stories about Babies R Us being difficult to deal with. Up until now, I've never known a bad thing about Target, however, after yesterday I'm ready to boycott.

For presents that were bought outside of Target, most we had to either keep, or donate if we didn't want them. Which kind of stinks, but what else are you going to do? But for the presents I knew came from Target, I thought, there will be no problems with returns - YA RIGHT!

We went to return our Target extras and were told that new store policy since August is that you can do a return for up to $20 twice a year (without a receipt). So what this means is that I could only return a couple of items (up to $20) for one return, and then another return (up to $20), and that's it - I could only return about $40 worth of stuff. Luckily, Jake was with me, so we were able to return up to $80 with both of us combined.

So today I called my mom who was able to return another $40 for us, and now I need to go with one more person who will be able to return the rest of the items for me. How much of a pain in the butt is that?!!!

All of this is extremely annoying, but at least I could complete these returns by getting around their horrible system. But there was one item I was given for $70 that we can't return at all. Two days before the shower a friend of ours gave us a used high chair, so I would like to exchange this item for something else, but I can't. I talked to the return counter, talked to their supervisor, talked to customer service for Target by phone, and talked to the gift registery by phone. I asked to talk to their supervisor and the person said they were a supervisor and there is no one in the entire Target company that can help me. How horrible is that?!!!

Now, I know that I could call my Uncle who purchased the chair for me to see if I can get a receipt, but that seems so tacky after he spent such a generous amount of money on me. So I guess we'll just keep it and get rid of the used one. It just really sucks. I suppose that I'm extremely lucky that that was the only item I had over $20 that I wanted to return.

Another thing that sucks is that I've made no effort to keep any gift receipts (although I really only got a few anyway) because I didn't think I'd have this problem. But there was one item - a car seat - that was sent to us by mail from one of Jake's friends. We registered for two since we have two cars, and I thought I'd just take one back later if it turned out we didn't need it. I didn't keep the gift receipt that must have come with the package a few weeks ago because I didn't think I'd need it. I just assumed that I would exchange it for Target merchandise since we ALWAYS shop at Target. Well not anymore! I don't know if I'll be able to completely boycott since they're my favorite store, but I will definitely get the word out that they are not a good store for a baby registery. What a horrible experience.

Lastly, when I went to Target today with my mom, they told us that soon they won't let anyone return anything without a receipt (rather than the 2 times for under $20 rule). Can you believe it? How could you ask all of your baby shower guests for a gift receipt just in case? You can't! How tacky would that be. So my final thought is.... Don't register at Target!!!!! You could end up regretting it. Maybe Babies R Us is the way to go?

I'm thinking about typing up a paragraph and posting reviews to the target site under their baby items to warn people. I wonder if I'll be able to keep my anger long enough to do that. Probably not, but I want to.

Baby Shower Pictures

I might end up with more pictures in the future, but I figured that I'd post the ones that I've received so far from my sister who was taking pictures for me at the shower.

Me talking to Jake's Aunt Barb, Cousin Cambria, and her son, River.

My step-mother's Mom and sister-in-law, Vanessa.

My mom holding my niece, Kiya.

Cameron's mom, Momma Pat.


A whole group of people.

My good friend Becky and her daughter, Lily.

Jake's Aunt Barb, Aunt Moe, Grandma Michie, and cousin Cambria.

Emilio's cousin, Carina, and two sisters Gaby and Kristi.

I had a really great time at my shower. Everyone was so generous and the day was perfect. My mom and step-mom were the main contributers and I'm so thankful to everyone who helped out and attended. I usually don't celebrate my special events, but I couldn't resist on this one. :)

Micah

I stole these picture from Wendy.... sorry Wendy!


Micah loved showing off his Disney tatoos to everyone - anything to get his shirt off. In fact, it seems as if he was happier the fewer clothes he had on - running around naked in the house. :)


And in this picture you can see that Uncle Jake was very forgiving about any drool that might have ended up on his shirt.

Eight Months - Egg Hunting

Here is a photo of us hunting for Easter eggs with Micah last weekend. I'm posting this picture because it's a good one of me at about 8 months. I'll try to post baby shower pictures soon but I've got to wait to get the pictures from everyone else since I wasn't taking any.

Jake's Sprained Ankle

We were playing tennis on Saturday morning and Jake sprained his ankle pretty badly - poor guy.

The picture below is later the first day...

The picture below is about a day later...

The picture below is about two days later...