Maybe, Maybe So, Harriett, & Anne

Yes, yes I am in fact still alive and ready to blog. For all of my loyal 10 followers, please forgive my 5 and a half month hiatus. I have no doubt that you have been checking this blog day after day, hour after hour, to see what enchanting adventures I have been on lately. After rummaging through some old photos and videos today on my laptop, I wiped a thick globby tear from my eye after coming across the following pics.

It was the summer of 2008 when my first maternal instincts began to set in. Prior to this time- spring of '08 and earlier- I never saw myself as a very "sweet" person. Not to say that today I would describe myself that way (I would probably opt more for adjectives like alluring, ravishing, stunning, racy, titillating etc.) but after this particular summer I took one bound closer to being so sweet I could give you all (my 10 followers) a toothache. Long story short I started babysitting the most precious little being I could ever get my hands on. I rocked him to sleep, wiped his stinky little bottom, fed him messy mashed up carrots, and breast fed him from my very own teet. My falling in love with him led me to fall in love with humans and animals alike..which leads me to my blog plot.

When I was a sophomore at Nebraska I decided to try my hand at caring for another small creature in the same loving manner in which I cared for my almost-child from the summer before. Since I was living in the Theta house I would not be able to have a puppy or pussy cat, so instead I took a trip to PetSmart and purchased myself a gerbil and promptly named her Maybe (after Arrested Development).

Momma and baby. She slid out like a wet bar of soap!

Day 2 of Maybe's life: my dad surprised my homesick little self in Lincoln and when I took him up to my room to show off the newest member of the Munguia family, we found her corpse in the corner of her cage. (tear tear)
Well, thank goodness Petsmart has a 14 day exchange guarantee...(which came in handy more than once)
Gerbil 2: Maybe So. Maybe So lasted a good 4 days before death became her. After two down, I decided I better try my luck once more, this time using only bottled water and none of that tap-water crap.

Quite the exerciser! She's got her momma's thunder thighs..and flexibility!

Gerbil 3: Harriett Tubman (who dug fluff-tunnels like nobody's business) followed by Gerbil 4: Anne Frank (the sneaky, hidden one). Harriett and Anne had a three story loft with pink and yellow floor adornments and colorful walls.
The bottled water worked wonders as Harriett and Anne both survived the Nebraska fall and harsh winters. Like the baby from the summer before, I rocked them to sleep, sang them lullabies, and attempted to breast feed them to no avail. My love for them was unwavering...that is until their nightly racket kept me awake and forced me to take them to the Humane Society.

Oh sisters! As you can see, Anne was clearly having a fit over my snapping pictures as she got ready for their prom. Harriett was a nervous wreck, she resorted to chewing cardboard (like her Momma!)

Sisters quarrel. Go to your rooms!

Posted above are photos of my lost loved ones, the closest things to bearing (and losing) my own children. If you look closely, each of my little gerbils has a feature or two of their mothers.--Anne has my eyes, Harriett-my cute little tush, Maybe- that dreadful birthmark, and Maybe So, well she looks like her father.

RIP Maybe and Maybe So
I like to think Harriett and Anne are both still alive and well in the arms of some delicate little child of the corn.

Below is a video of myself lulling sweet Anne Frank to bed after a night on the town. Notice I delicately place her in the third floor loft, or "annex" as I called it after it became her favorite place to hide from me. Hiding from mom, what else is new? Kids will be kids!