Although 2009 had some bright spots (Finland with my mom, visiting Holland in April/May, my amazing friends and family), overall it’s a year I cannot wait to put behind me. For 2010, the future seems unsure – I have no new job lined up yet for when this one ends in late January, and I honestly don’t know what I’m gonna do – with work, with everything, my life. It looks like things might have to take a new direction, since it’s so hard to find a job in the areas I consider myself skilled at, sigh. I don’t imagine 2010 will be a lot easier than 2009 was, but hey, gotta stay positive, right? The future fills me with anxiety instead of the joy it seems to fill most others with (I hate uncertainty, in ANY situation), but then again, I always get very emotional on New Year’s Eve, so perhaps today isn’t the right day for me to be reminiscing.

Instead I shall leave you with some of the photos I took of holiday lights at Victoria Square in Belfast, taken while my mom was visiting in early December. The happy and pretty colors are just what I needed. :)

I wish you happy holidays and all the best for 2010! :)

I brought home a huge, heavy, organically grown pumpkin for myself, which will be carved a few days before Halloween. Yay!

This last one is my pumpkin. :D

We had a scare with her eye last month. While playing with one of the other cats, somehow they managed to accidentally rip the inner eyelid of one of Coco’s eyes. If you’ve ever spent any time with cats, you’ll have noticed they have two eyelids, one normal one like ours that goes up and down, and a second thinner one, that moves from the inside of their eye to the outside corner, covering it like a little membrame. Well, Coco’s got ripped, and it was bleeding and everything. Of course, this happened while I was in Helsinki, so Alison had to deal with the vet etc on her own! After giving Coco eyedrops against infection for a good couple of weeks, we’re now pretty sure the wound has healed and her eye will be okay. Phew!

Here’s some more photos from the recent weeks – Coco is growing so fast, she’s nearly the same height and length as Peaches now!

I’m still working through more photos, but I finished uploading the best ones I took in Tallinn, Estonia. Such a beautiful city! Now I only have Friday and Saturday left to do!

More on Flickr!

The weather is lovely – 20-22 degrees and sunny except for some rain this morning! We have free WiFi in our hotel, so I’m uploading a few photos to Flickr every day – keep an eye on it! Here are some of my faves so far:

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Supervised only, no wandering off on her own because she’s too small for that. But my backyard is safe and contained, so I let her outside when I sit out in the sun too, and here are a few photos of the first afternoon she went outside. She’s still a bit insecure and easily spooked by loud noises, but she’s getting used to it! She is still SO SO SO cute and adorable, and Misty and Peaches are finally starting to play with her, chasing each other through the house. Absolutely hysterical if you’re watching them!

Anyway! Coco is doing great! I took her to the vet past Wednesday for a check-up and to get her vaccinations. Kittens are supposed to get them at 8 weeks, but since we don’t know exactly how old Coco is, we have to guess. When I first got her, 3 weeks ago, the vet said she was too small, and guessed her age at 5 weeks. On Wednesday, he weighed her (0.6 kilos!), and she was finally big enough for them. He still maintained she’s around 8-9 weeks now, and she’s doing really well. Growing right on schedule, she’s active and playful and cuddly and just a real joy.

She has about doubled in size since I got her, and is finally making progress with befriending Misty and Peaches. They didn’t want much to do with her at first, but Misty happily plays with her now, and even Peaches seems less appalled at the sight of her lol. Coco is just adorable, purring loudly even when she just sees me or Ali – a little sweetheart.

Now that she’s been vaccinated, Misty and Peaches can go back outside – which I’m sure they’re happy about, as they were crying at the back door every morning in the past few weeks. They love going out into the backyard, yet they never roam. All I have to do is call their names from the backdoor, and they come running. :)

Coco has also been de-wormed and gotten anti-flea drops at the vet, and she’s due back in another 3 weeks for her second set of vaccinations. I can really tell the difference between her, Misty, and Peaches at the same age. Misty and Peaches were a good 9-10 weeks when I got them, older than Coco is now, and I can see the stages of their life I missed out on. Misty was bigger in size than Coco is now, and already a lot more shy and scared. Peaches was still tiny, because she was sick, and far quieter and less active than Coco is. It took her a good month to figure out how to climb onto the bed by herself – Coco sussed it out last week. She can climb anything fabric: couch, bed, chair, legs, and is a lot faster with figuring stuff out than Misty and Peaches were. I suppose it helps that she watches her big sisters jump up on things first, giving her the idea of how to do it! :P

Anyway, here’s a few more photos, these were taken yesterday: