The newest additions to our family (includes video).

Hi Nesters!

For a while now, our family has been talking about getting a pet. Mostly, it's just been the kids begging for a dog and Jason and I telling them NO. Dogs are a lot of work. They need to be let out to go potty, they need to be walked for exercise, they pee on the lawn leaving bald spots, they poop on the lawn leaving lovely little "presents" which need to be picked up before the kids can play on the lawn, they dig up your pretty flowers, etc. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike dogs. Other people's dogs are great. I just don't want to take care of one. I am a stay-at-home-mom and already take care of two kids and one husband. I don't need or want to do more care-taking.

So I get this brilliant idea to let the kids each adopt a kitten from the local SPCA. Only problem is, Jason doesn't care for cats (DH: cat's scratch, they get hair on everything, they make your house smell, etc.). After a discussion about the merits of cats (I won't go into all that here, but every cat owner knows them), he reluctantly agreed. After doing lots of internet research about owning/raising two kittens, I decided to go down to the SPCA on Saturday to ask lots of questions and check out what kittens they had, if any, before taking the kids down the following day. When I arrived, they told me that it wasn't "kitten season" yet (as I suspected) and they only had 3 kittens available for adoption. They suggested I come back in 6 to 8 weeks when they would be getting litters of kittens in nearly every day.

I came home and told Jason what I had learned and I think he was secretly glad that we would have to wait on the kittens. I told the kids that I would still take them to the SPCA the next day so we could visit the other dogs and kitties there. After all, they want and need to be played with too. I thought a bi-weekly visit to the shelter would help get the kids through the waiting period as well.

The next day (Sunday), the kids and I travel across town to the SPCA to visit the animals. We got out of our truck and spotted a woman with a pet carrier in her hands and I told the kids, "Let's see what she got." I asked her and she said, she didn't get a pet but rather she was going to leave a mama kitty and 3 kittens (she had already found homes for the other 2 in the litter). She said if we wanted to, we could take them home right now and avoid the adoption fees. The kids immediately fell in love with two of the kittens. I decided it must have been fate that we came back that day to visit with the animals and told the woman we would take the kittens but I didn't know how we would transport them back home. She said she would take the mama kitty and the remaining kitten into the shelter and then let us take the carrier home with us. So we waited with our new kittens under a shady tree.

The shelter was unable to take the remaining kitten but they did take the mama. Apparently, they don't take kittens under 2 lbs. because they are only able to spay/neuter cats who weigh 2 lbs. or more and feeding/housing a kitten until it reached the 2 lb. mark would be too costly. The woman told me she would find a home for the remaining kitty, she gave me the carrier, and we said our goodbyes.

We've had Milo (the white one--Sierra's) and Sebastian (the black one--Cameron's) for a week now and, with a few adjustments, they fit right into our family. We tried various crate/gate systems (borrowed from a wonderful neighbor) while the kittens were learning to use the litter box. Not only did they master the litter box, they also mastered climbing over the gate. Now they have the run of the house and haven't had a single accident...yet.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I've caught Jason petting and talking to the kitties. I think he's coming around to the dark side. Mwahahahaha!

Here's some video footage of their first day home playing in Sierra's room.