Cats!

Noah came running in this afternoon yelling, “The cat had a baby, the cat had a baby, really, come see!” We ran out and saw that the neighbor’s cat had indeed given birth to a kitten under our front bush. It is very cold outside and I was afraid that the poor kitten was going to freeze to death, but I know that you shouldn’t bother a laboring cat. I ran in and grabbed a box and towel and had Gary transfer the mom, then the baby into the box and we brought them inside. Gary was complaining about how gross it was. I told him this was nothing, surprised that he was complaining about a tiny little kitty placenta when he dealt with Matthew’s HUGE placenta when he was born. The mom was freaked that we moved her but eventually calmed down and delivered two more kittens.

The other neighbor completely freaked out and wanted them (the mom and the babies) immediately, even walking into my house to see them after I specifically said that she could not, then telling her daughter that the cat and kittens would live in her room. Hello, they do not belong to you!

The cat owners eventually returned from work and asked us to keep them where they were for a while and offered us first pick of a kitten. They are very cute. Their little girl said to Noah, “thank you so much for finding them” to which he replied “saving them”. It’s true. If he hadn’t found them the babies most likely could not have survived in the cold. I told him that he was the first person to lay eyes on the kitty and that was very special. The really interesting thing is that the other kittens were born on Matthew’s birthday, in the very same room that Matthew was born in. How cool is that!

To celebrate Matthew’s birthday we decided to buy him a balloon at the grocery store. I was in line while Gary went to have them blow up a huge Sponge Bob balloon. When it came time to pay I realized that I didn’t have my wallet. I guess I have gotten used to Gary holding all the money while we were on vacation. I yelled across the store to Gary asking him to run to the van. When he reached the doors I remembered that it was locked and yelled again to Gary as I reached for my keys, which were not in my pocket, not in the carriage, nor in the babies hands. I began to panic. Holy crap, we are locked out of the van, and have no way to pay. Crap, crap, crap. I am turning red. What to do? Frantically I start searching the carriage. No keys. Panic. I tell the cashier that they must have fallen in an aisle, and just I as turn to go look there is Gary with the wallet. It seems the baby had dropped the keys several aisles back and Gary put them into his pocket. Phew! I pay and he goes back to retrieve the birthday balloon.

Matthew is thrilled with the huge balloon, and if the crazy mother with four kids and no keys or wallet didn’t attract enough attention the 2 ½ foot balloon made up for it. We thank the bagger and start to leave just as Sponge Bob comes loose from his string and floats to the ceiling. Now we have an audience for sure. Matthew is very concerned, and Gary points out that this was the only Sponge Bob balloon in the store. Great. The bagger put some tape right side out on a broom to stick to Bob and bring him down, which is disturbing because it looks like he is beating Sponge Bob with a stick. The tape does a wonderful job of sticking to the balloon but doesn’t stay attached to the broom handle. Now people are yelling suggestions, “ push him to the wall”, “use the other end”! Eventually we were able to bring him safely down. We tied the string so tight that it cut off all helium circulation to the flap under his foot but assured that he will never again float away.

We left the store with Gary pointing out the obvious; our family is a circus. Where ever we go we create a scene. Thankfully the scene was in the store and not in the parking lot where Sponge Bob would be gone for eternity!

We are open to suggestions for kitty names, so if you have any ideas, please let us know. The funny thing is that in my caffeinated state the other night I made a list of really cool pet names, but I don’t remember any of them of course.