A New Member of the Family

Last year, one of the bloggers I read regularly posted a poll about the features people do and do not like about the blogs they read.  At the top of the DO NOT LIKE list were "blogs that start playing music automatically" and "blogs that have lots of cat pictures."

Sorry, folks, but this blog post has cat pictures!

We added a new member to our family today when we adopted little Bartholomew from the Delaware County SPCA. 

Little Bartholomew and I before an afternoon nap on the couch.

Once we got it in our head that we wanted to adopt a kitten, we have been on a rampage to find one:  lots of trips to the SPCA and various pet stores with adoption programs.  Kittens are a little hard to come by this time of year.  (Apparently they are all born at once, and are about to spring on the world--fully adoptable--in about a week!)  But when we heard that the SPCA had two available kittens this morning after our MOPS Easter egg hunt, we rushed right over to meet them.

The girls had their first experience holding a kitten with little Gaga:

But we ultimately adopted her brother, originally called Yasmine (really?!):

Our youngest daughter was very insistent that we should name him "Mew," so my husband came up with Bartholomew--actually Sir Bartholemew--to accommodate Bayla's preferences and his own sense of the kitty's future grandeur.

We have a 15-year-old cat named Stella who has TRULY been with me through the thick and thin of life, and she is less than thrilled with the new addition.

But I took it as a good sign when she hid behind our ottoman to watch the girls playing with the new kitty, even though she growled low in her throat any time someone came by to give her attention.  (Except me; I was pleased that at least she didn't growl at me!)

It is such a joy to walk in the room and see little Bartholomew there, or to have him run circles around my neck, or to watch Katy run around the house with a piece of plastic cheese tied to a piece of yarn with the kitty running in hot pursuit.  I have to believe that Stella will come around to all this positive energy in the house.  At the very least, maybe she'll just leave the little kitty alone to make his own way in the world.

Now, if I can only teach Bartholomew not to walk across the keyboard while I'm trying to type!!!