"I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat."

After an exhausting day yesterday, both me and Mrs M fell asleep around 8 putting Opeie down to bed. Falling asleep this early never works out well for me and after waking up at 12:30 to turn all the lights off downstairs etc i woke up again at 3:30 after a bad dream and that was me up for the morning. As i lay on the sofa on my laptop i realised what i was doing and started to chuckle. Since becoming a cat owner i have become that guy that sits and watches cute cat videos (much to my surprise).

Polly has become a massive part of our lives and i couldn't imagine not having her in the house now, even though Shes very independent and doesn't like being picked up at all. Shes not the sort of cat that sits on our laps at night and goes to sleep, affection is all on her terms (a little like Mrs M haha), but when she wants some fuss she will come looking for it.

She has no interest in running about outside and even if we leave the back door open she'll step outside for a sniff and then run back in to the warm. Despite not going out she has still made some new friends who visit her regularly through the glass. There's one sitting at the glass as i type this.

Polly has taken it upon herself to be our protector, she will sit on the arm of the sofa with us of an evening and while Opeie is napping she will usually be found close by watching over him. Having Polly about has been great for Opeie, especially as Seth isn't with us all of the time, They have become the best of friends and despite my negative attitude at the start of our cat owning adventure i have come to adore the beautiful yet grumpy little lass.

Now back to my cat videos...

"Time spent with cats is never wasted."

I only wrote about Polly a month or so ago but she's brought us so much happyness that it was only right to give our little cutie another shout out. It's amazing the effect having a cat around the house can have on the family. Although she does seem to get under my feet a little at times and I'm still waiting to wake up to the Christmas tree lying on its side, she has been the greatest gift we've had this year. Despite my reservations on getting a pet i have fallen in love with her, she sleeps most of the day and appears to have a grumpy attitude to go with it but when shes in the mood for a fuss (or hears the fridge door open) she is the most delightful little thing.

"Cats are connoisseurs of comfort."

I often think about what the pitter patter of a new pair of tiny feet would be like around the house and both me and Mrs M are broody a lot of the time. I didn't for one second think that the next pair of feet in the house would actually be two pairs. For the past few years Mrs M has been going on about getting a cat but over the last few months she was bordering on crazy cat lady status.

Every time she mentioned having a cat, text me a picture of one looking cute or explained how she thinks she's part cat (yes she's crazy), I usually just shrugged it off, that or gave her a list of reasons why not to have one. It's not that I'm not an animal lover I'm just not big on pets for various reasons.

The pressure for a feline sidekick was reaching it's peak though and it was clear that it was inevitable we would at some point be getting a cat. The situation multiplied exponentially when I befriended a real life crazy cat lady called Tabiitha (who has 5 cats), after that there was no turning back.

After finding out about Mrs M's 'lack of cat' predicament, I think Tabiitha made it her mission to get a cat re-homed and in to our house and to be fair it didn't take her long at all. Especially after I received this picture message one morning of a beautiful cat that needed re-homing, even I fell in love with her. We called the owner to arrange a visit and a few weeks back as we were travelling back from a weekend in London we took a detour armed with a pet carrier.

The owners were looking to re-home Polly but had already turned two families away as they didn't think they were the right family for their well loved cat. Obviously because of that we were a little nervous/anxious about the visit. Mrs M had fallen in love and i was really warming to the idea of having a new family member. There really was no need to worry though, we all got on great and spent some time at their home chatting about life (and of course cats).

That afternoon we took her back to her new home. The look on Mrs M's face was priceless and having a cat in the house seems to have really changed her for the better. I also think that coming home to her after a busy day at work is quite relaxing for her. Polly was quite scared for the first week or so which was understandable being taken from her home. I've avoided writing this post until now as I didn't want to spend the first week waving a camera in her face.

She's settled in now and she's one of the family, sleeping at our feet and rubbing noses with Opeie. I was so against having a cat but last week I text Mrs M while she was at work to apologise for all the feline negativity before we got her because I adore how she makes everyone in the house smile and Opeie has clearly got a new best friend which is amazing. She was a little dubious at first when it came to the boys but she follows Opeie about now. One of the things that i think is adorable is that when Opeie wakes up sometimes he is a little teary and Polly responds to him crying by finding him and meowing, it's adorable

Not the tiny feet I had been longing for but honestly I couldn't pick a more adorable fluffy child to fill that void. Polly is one of us now and we feel so lucky to have been the ones to re-home this little beauty. Meeeeeoooooooow!