today is a special day. not because it is my birthday. in our house we are celebrating another very special girl. i don't think i've blogged about her at all. i know i've posted quite a few pics on instagram, but i haven't told her story yet. this is pandora's story :)
about a year ago hubs and i decided we had room in our house for 1 more cat. we weren't in a hurry to find a cat, but IF one came across our path that we loved, we'd bring her home. we woke up on my birthday, exactly one year ago, and decided to go to petsmart to meet the cats at the adoption event with 'cats in need' rescue group. we ended up doing more than 'meeting' the cats ;) this is kinda cheating... but, because i don't want to retell/retype the story, i'm going to copy a portion of the 'update' email i sent pandy's foster mom this past summer.
"...Here's some (of the HUNDREDS) of pictures of my favorite little girl! These range from her first day home up until last week. She is such a treasure. We can't imagine our lives without her. It seems as if she's been a part of our family for years, but in reality, it has only been 6 short months (we adopted her Nov. 6, my birthday!). My husband and I often laugh when we think back to the day we were standing outside of PetSmart, debating whether or not we should bring a kitten home. We woke up on Nov. 6 and I said "Lets just go to PetSmart and look at the kittens. I'm not saying we HAVE to bring one home 'cause it's my birthday... but let's just go look". We walked right up to our girls cage, and she was in there with about 4 or 5 siblings. I said "Oh my gosh!!! Look at this one!" and took out another cute female kitten. Right then another young couple said "Oh, sorry, we just adopted that one!". I was a little disappointed, but then I spotted our girl curled up in the back of the cage. I immediately grabbed her and felt something special. I didn't even have to say anything to my husband... he knew where this was going! haha He said, let me hold her. He held her for a second and said "alright, fill out the paperwork!". Sheila stepped forward and said "are you interested in her?". We both said "YES!!!". Sheila then informed us that our little girl, who was named 'Sandy' back then was a favorite of everybody's. It didn't take long for us to realize why. I'm SOOOOO glad that the other young couple had already adopted that first kitten I picked up, so that we were able to see our girl in the back of the cage. I'm sure we would've fallen in love with any kitten we brought home... but Pandy (whose full name is Pandora!) is irreplaceable. If we searched for 100 years, we'd never find a cat as special as she is. She has brought us more joy than we could've imagined.
Some updates on Pandy (or 'Tiny' as we usually call her):
-she is still very tiny, hence the nickname. As of this morning, she weighs exactly 7 pounds. Tiny's brother is twice her weight!
-even though she's around 8 months old now, she will still try to suckle our earlobes... or eyebrows... or cheek... or hand... or anywhere she can put her mouth!! haha
-she still has the most dainty, squeaky, high pitched meow we've ever heard. most of the time she tries to cry, no noise comes out.
-she LOVES her older brother and has brought new life into him. He's 8 1/2 years old, but she has turned him into a kitten again! He's the fittest we've ever seen. Tiny keeps him running up and down the stairs all day (when he's not taking a 5 hour nap!).
-she will throw a fit anytime I am in the bathroom and the door is shut. She slides her paw under the door and cries. We now take showers with the door open! (what a spoiled girl!!!!!!!)
-she loves to play fetch, catch bouncy balls, and chase any sort of feathery toy attached to a rope. It's hilarious to watch... but sadly, she'd starve out in the wild! ;)
-and lastly, she has a habit of sleeping draped across me. I've referred to her as my 'cat scarf' that i wear to bed (you'll see it in one of the pictures attached). She can also be worn as a 'cat belt' or 'cat hat'... but she chooses how she'll be worn.
She's growing into the most beautiful cat we've ever seen! Anybody that meets her, or sees pictures, compliments us on what a stunning girl she is! She no longer has the fuzzy kitten fur and her mane is filling in quite a bit lately (and we've just purchased a Furminator that will come in handy this summer!). I can't wait to see what the next 6 months brings!..."
that was her 6 month update. not much has changed. she's still tiny at only 7 pounds. she still sleeps draped across me. she still throws a fit when i'm in the bathroom. she still tries to suckle on my face. she's now been with us exactly 1 year, and we love her more than we loved her 6 months ago... heck, i love her more than i loved her yesterday. it's ridiculous how much i love this little girl. never in my life have i loved an animal sooooo much. she's made me laugh sooo much over the past year, she's made me smile every day, and she's made me cry too... but only 'cause i love her so much. although we never call her by her real name, it's interesting that the greek meaning for pandora is 'all gifts or all giving'. i'd say her name suits her perfectly :) she's given me more bright days than you can imagine. as it goes in our house, we have a ton of nicknames for every pet we know. here are some of pandy's: tiny, tiny girl, tiny bubbles (that's what my mom calls her), princess, pincess, pince, little princess from the land of tiny... and the list goes on and on... but here are her 2 main names... get ready for this... 'littles' or 'the littles'. yeah, it sounds weird, but somehow it just rolls off our tongues, and comes very naturally to us. "hi littles!!!!". "have you fed the littles yet tonight?". "i took the cutest picture of the littles today". "are dobsie and the littles asleep upstairs?"... see, it just somehow works. haha so, here are some pics of the littles. i think she's the most gorgeous girl in the world, and have taken several hundred pics of her over the past year. it's hard to dwindle down the amount of pics i want to post, but i'll try not to make it too long ;)
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| 2nd day at her new home :) soooo tiny. |
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| 1st week home, and she's already my screensaver |
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| the princess likes to watch jared leto sing ;) |
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| wishing she could go on the balcony with her big brother and dad. |
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| too little to see out of the window. this melts my heart. |
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| whiskers |
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| the littles and her dad |
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| love the reflection |
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| "let me in the bathroom!!!!!!" |
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| cat scarf |
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| sleepy head |
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| 1 year later, she still sleeps draped across me |
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| how is that comfortable?! |
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| bug huntin' with dobsie |
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| grown up reflection |
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| happy halloween |
and finally... this is us this morning. the birthday girls :)
if you're wanting to add a cat/kitten to your home, i recommend going to Cats in Need rescue group. they hold adoption events every weekend at the petsmart in temecula (on temecula pkwy). sheila was littles' foster mom, and she is a super sweet lady, who will help you find the perfect cat for your home.
