Learning to live with a cat.

On Saturday, Jameson was able to fulfill a life-long dream and get a pet.  Not just a pet, but an indoor pet.  Not just an indoor pet, but a CAT.

Now, for those you who don't know us, this is a HUGE deal for this family.

Not only are we not "indoor pet" people, we are definitely not "cat" people, either.

We had a cat for several years when Chelsea was a baby named Lulu.  She literally appeared on our doorstep one day.  We tried to ignore her, but Chelsea instantly fell in love with her.  She played with Lulu every chance she could go outside.  As a matter of fact, one morning we woke up about 6 am by hearing Chelsea coming back inside the house from playing with her.  (Needless to say, keyed dead-bolts were installed that day!)  Since Chelsea loved her so much, we decided to keep her, but keep her outside.  She ended up being the best pet we've ever had.  She was fiercely protective of Chelsea and would attack anyone or anything she thought was trying to mess with her. 

 

Once, a new puppy from across the street came bouncing across the road to play with the cute little girl.  What the poor puppy wasn't counting on was Lulu trying to protect her owner.  When the puppy got too close, Lulu jumped off the porch, landed on the puppy's back, and road that poor thing back across the road like a pony.  I felt bad for the puppy, but I swear, it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen....EVER!

We had Lulu for about 7 years and then she just disappeared one night.  Chelsea was heartbroken.  At that time, she didn't want another cat because she said that no other cat would be as good as Lulu.  Instead, she got a baby brother.

Well, Chelsea has continued playing with animals here-and-there, but has never really actually asked for another pet.  Jameson, however, is a different story.  He's wanted a pet forever.  He didn't care what kind of pet, he just wanted one.  He's played for hours and hours with our neighborhood dogs (the best kind of pet ever!), but that was never enough for him.  We finally broke down and got him a puppy (Star), two years ago, but after she unexpectedly passed away, we realized a super-hyper, outdoor puppy just wasn't a good fit for our family.

The day Jameson got Starr.

Jameson has asked repeatedly over the years for another pet, but I've always said "NO!"  I thought I could count on Marty for support, but he's been as bad as Jameson.  He even went as far as to wait until I was working one day, and then casually sent me a text letting me know they were going to look at a dog they found for sale.  Needless to say, I was not amused.  Because I would ultimately be the one who fed, cleaned up after, bathed, and worried about it....not them.  They did not get the dog.

Over the past year, every spare chance he gets, Marty is looking at dogs for sale/adoption online, watching "Dogs 101" on Animal Planet every time it's on, and going to PetSmart every first-Saturday-of-the-month.  He was NOT making this easy on me.  I hated being the big, bad, mean Mama, but I knew that it would not be fair to bring another dog into this family!  We don't have a fence or an enclosed garage, and I definitely don't want to try to house train a puppy in this new house.

Then the focus somehow changed from a dog to a cat.

The more they talked about it, the more I was warming up to the idea....but still NOT ready to take the plunge and actually get one.  The online searching continued, the Animal Planet shows continued, and the monthly PetSmart visits continued, too.

And this gets us to present day...

We adopted a cat.

For the first time in our lives, we have an indoor pet.

I thought it would be really hard and complicated, but it's really been easy.  I'm sure it's because Sweets is such a great cat.

She even has the man of the house wrapped around her little paw.

I just noticed Jameson has the exact same shirt on that he does above in the Starr photo.  HAHA

Jameson has just been a different child.  He is IN LOVE with Sweets.  He tells her over and over "I love you, girl." "You are the sweetest kitty-cat ever."  He plays with her constantly...so much so, she has to go into the other room occasionally just to get a break.

He even cleans the litter box daily with no hesitation!

Yes, the litter box is in the tub.  We never use that tub, so we thought that would be the perfect place for it.  So far, it's been excellent!

She may have even suckered the mama of the house, too.

But as great as she's been, we've still had to get used to a few things.

First, it's a little weird seeing something moving out of the corner of your eye at any moment.  I know we will eventually get used to that, but I've had mini-heart attacks several times already.  HAHA!

You have to always protect the food.  Whether it's still on the stove top, on the counter, island, or in our plates....you must always protect your food because girlfriend can jump ANYWHERE!

Don't ever close the bathroom door, unless you are actually using the bathroom.  Sweets doesn't like having her litter box access cut off.

and finally, nighttime is a whole new ballgame.

The first night, Sweets didn't venture too far from Jameson's side.  She stayed right next to him all night long.  But the second night, she was much more adventurous.  The second night she was here (Sunday), was already a horrible night.  The air conditioning was broken and the house was close to 90 degrees.  We were dying. (First world problems).  Marty had the windows in the bedroom up and we had fans blowing on us, trying to keep us cool.

It wasn't working!

To make matters worse, thunderstorms were passing through the area all.night.long.  We were miserable!  After a particularly loud thunderstorm, we finally dozed off.  Suddenly, we heard a huge "CRASH" and the sound of glass breaking.  We dove out of the bed and ran to check on Jameson.  He was fine and sound asleep.  Then we went looking for Sweets.  We finally found her hiding in the dining room.  We still couldn't find where the noise came from.  After several minutes of looking around, we found the damage:

Don't judge all the dust....it's under the table.  What?  You actually dust under tables?

 Sweets got a little brave and ventured into our room.  She jumped onto the table and ended up knocking the lamp over.  She was scared to death!  She didn't venture back into our room the rest of the night.

She pretty much stays out of our room at night, that is, until last night.  Sometime around 3 am, she decided she was ready to play.  She kept jumping in the bed and crawling around on our heads.  That's not very helpful when trying to sleep.  We keep shooing her off the bed, but she kept returning.  Finally, we ended up just closing the door, after making sure she had plenty of food and water, and making sure Jameson was OK.

Marty left for work around 5 am, and closed the bedroom door behind him when he left.   A few minutes later, Sweets jumped into the bed again.  I don't have a clue how she got into our bedroom, but it scared me to death!  We may have to change her name to Houdini!

Even though the sleep situation is taking some getting used to, we are loving our new addition!

Who would ever think that this family would be learning to live with a cat?