A New Family Member!?!

Yes, you may not have known that we were expecting, but a new bundle of joy has entered our house. His name is Mr. Spot. He's a rat, and I have to say he's pretty darn cute. He really belongs to my friend Jessica, but she's on a trip to California to visit her husband in Santa Barbara, and we have the honor of rat sitting.

We first met Mr. Spot when we went over to Jessica's house for dinner. The girls played with him so much that, when Jessica took him out after we left so he could get some exercise, he curled up on her lap and went to sleep instead. It was that fateful night that he received his name; Mr. Spot was Moira's idea. I think Evie's idea was "rat."

So Jessica thought it would be a good idea for our girls to help keep an eye on him while she was gone. And they were excited to do it. All week, all we heard was, "We're getting to watch Mr. Spot! Is today when Mr. Spot's coming?" We're going over to a small group meeting for church tonight and Moira will get to see a good friend of her's (who happens to also have a room packed floor to ceiling with dolls). Is she excited to go to her friend's house? Yes....BUT....when she woke up this morning and asked if we knew what today was, it was NOT the day she gets to see her friend Jenny, no it's the day Mr. Spot is coming.

So we have a rat for 5 days (until Sunday) and hopefully this doesn't cause a rat craze leading to a rat of our own. Personally, between my dog and my daughters constantly popping their heads up by the cage to see our visitor, I'd be surprised if we didn't take at least one year off the poor guy's life. It's sad, but I don't know if our home is fit for rats.

And, Jessica, if you're reading this right now...I'm sorry, really sorry.