Congratulations, it's a girl!

Meet the newest member of the McGrail household! This is Miley (named after Miley Cyrus, AKA Hannah Montana), a 5 month old Fancy Rat.

Paxton wanted a hamster for his birthday, but ended up deciding at the last minute that he'd rather have a bike right now, and hamster for Christmas. We got the bike, he rode it a few times.... then decided it was a little too tall for him, and gave it to Spencer. He was completely fine and happy with his decision, but I wanted him to have another present. So we looked into the hamster. We read all the websites, and researched all the small pets.... and found that rats make even better pets. They're highly social, intelligent, and friendly (and as a bonus, live much longer than hamsters too) Paxton was very certain that a rat was his choice, and couldn't wait to get one.

We were going to wait until we were in the new house, but we're not always good with waiting, especially when Mom (aka Me) is excited about something. :-) Everything's been so crazy and busy lately, with packing and cleaning and going back and forth to the new house. I was really wanting a distraction, for the boys and for me. Plus, I just wanted to do something fun with them, completely unrelated to moving or renovations. We had to have the carpets cleaned on Wednesday, which meant spending the afternoon out while they dried. We hit Barnes and Noble first, to browse and play with the trains, and then headed to PetSmart. We found a great, knowledgeable salesclerk who helped us pick out everything we needed to get started, and finally picked the rat herself. Paxton chose a black and white one, and she was hands-down the cutest one there.

We set up her cage together, and have been focusing on her helping her get settled and acclimated to her new home. I never thought I would be a rat owner, but she is a wonderful pet!! She is curious and sweet, and she keeps us all laughing. The boys spent the first day running up and down the stairs every fifteen minutes to check on her, so the second day we brought her down to her new home on my desk. We're still researching like crazy, and both boys are scouring the internet - both with me, and on their own - for info, photos, tips, and ideas for food, toys, and games. They are so excited about her they can barely sleep.

She was exactly what we needed, exactly when we needed it.