A New Kitten

Meet Sophie.

Or Charlie. We're not quite sure yet.

He or she is a little ball of fluff that has made this little girl smile again.



The Princess has been working on cat ownership for about two years now. We've put it off. We got our dog, Bryn, and the house was busy enough with that. We bought The Princess a fish. But you can't cuddle a fish. We bought The Princess a hamster. Sadly, we found Butterscotch had died on the same day The Husband's dad so unexpectedly passed away.

It was a very bad week indeed.

We promised The Princess a new hamster. But when we went to the pet store, there was a sign on the door.

"We have kittens."

Dear god. No. I looked at The Husband. He looked at me.

We knew we were hooped.

Of course, The Princess hardly glanced at the hamsters. All she wanted to do was play with the kittens through the cage door. The Husband and I have been married for a long time. 20 years. A look between us was all we needed to come to a decision.

It was time.

We left the pet store without a hamster. Instead, The Princess walked out with the promise that we would start looking for the perfect kitten for our family.

We had the past few days to talk about the responsibilities. We researched our options and priced things out. Free kittens are never free (vet fees, shots and spay/neutering costs had to be figured in), and pet store kittens weren't what we wanted to support. There were black kittens at the shelter, but The Princess wanted a kitten with tabby markings.

Today we found Sophie/Charlie, one of four little kittens just ready to leave their mom for their forever home. And I found myself looking at anatomical drawings of cats hinies online, trying to figure out if it's a boy or girl.

Obviously biology wasn't my strongest subject in school. I'm still calling the kitten "It".

The Princess said, "Thank you, Mommy!" about 8,000 times this afternoon and evening. I've filed those thank yous into a corner of my brain so I can draw strength from them when the kitten is clawing up my furniture and The Princess has 'forgotten' to clean the litter box.

But tonight, I'm enjoying the feeling of an 8 week old kitten cuddled on my lap, who occasionally wakes up enough to lick my hand with her...or his rough little tongue.

So sweet.

Potty Party

Excitement is in the air.

We're in the midst of a party here. Keeley was playing, I was puttering, Patrick was pouting (another blog for another day), Kaitlyn was primping and Eilidh was prone on the couch when we heard a little voice proclaim, "Poop Mommy! Poop! Quick! RUN! RUN!!"

You have never seen me move so fast. Keeley and I raced to the bathroom and success ensued.

And Keeley got a treat. A big treat. An entire cupcake with icing and sprinkles. There were high fives and cheers and big girl panties put on to Keeley with great ceremony. (For the record, she chose the monkey ones over the butterflies.)

I've been changing diapers off and on for 16 and a half years. When I had my own children out of diapers, I was changing the diapers of day care children. I have potty trained no less than 11 children including 3 with autism.

This is a glorious day. GLORIOUS I tell you.

A Happy Moment

I was going to start griping about something but decided that the day was too bright and sunny for complaints.

So I will share a lovely moment.

"Horsie!"

Ah, to be two and find the greatest joy in moments like this. I need to remember to savour the moments that God gives us. It's not about big bank accounts or fancy houses. Enjoy life, not just persevere.

I cannot find any joy in my messy house at the moment but I shall overlook the disarray and remember that it is messy because I've been blessed with children and summertime fun. School and schedules will be back before we know it.

I shall enjoy this day....but I probably won't look as cute as Keeley doing it.

Happiness is Creativity Without the Need for HTML

Today I turned this:

Into this:

All without having to deal with HTML.

Oh happy day.