World, meet Gracie!

I am so in love....

With this little 1 lb ball of sweetness:

Dear little Gracie joined our family yesterday, coming to us from the Capital Area Humane Society.

J holding Gracie at the CAHS

I can't remember if I have mentioned this previously in the blog, but for my wedding present to J, I made a donation to the CAHS to buy two cat beds (in honor of his love for animals, and our love for each other). J told me after the wedding that as his present to me, we would adopt a kitten. Needless to say, I was thrilled. I am not ashamed to say that I perused the CAHS "adoptable cats" at least once a day (including some days while we were on our honeymoon-- iPhones are wonderful inventions!!) -- but I wasn't thinking we would go and "DO IT" until late October at the earliest (However-- I am realistic... I knew that when we went, we would find a wonderful kitty, I would fall in love, and we would bring home a new family member that day.)

Me and dear little Gracie
(Pardon my squinty eyes and the bad lighting... picture from the iPhone)

So yesterday, when J suggested that we go and "take a look", I was really excited. I knew (and J kept reminding me!!) that I shouldn't set my heart on any of the cats that were listed online, because there was no guarantee that they would still be there when we visited, but I still though I had a basic idea of what kind of cat I wanted. Namely: black and white (like Baron), orange, or gray (there were some beautiful gray kitties that I saw in the weeks before our trip!)

And then we arrived, and my heart went out to a tiny, shy tortoise shell marked kitten. Her name was "Wags" (gak... some of the names these kittens were given were awful...) because she has a short stubby tail-- which I am completely in love with. As soon as we got her out of her cage and took her into the "visitation room", she snuggled right up. She was quiet but inquisitive-- and had the sweetest face I had ever seen. As soon as I held her in my arms, I was completely gone. As I told J tearfully (whew. I'll blame that on the hormones.... but I digress...) when we were filling out the paperwork, I was absolutely sure that this was the kitty I wanted, and I knew she would haunt me if I let her go.


30 minutes (and copious piles of paperwork) later, we walked out the door with our new baby. Gracie sat in my lap and talked with her the whole way home. When we got home, J and I set her up in the guest room with litter box, food and water, and let her out. What a sweetie! She excitedly raced around and looked at (sniffed) everything! She loved (as I told her she would!) the large windows with the view out to the fountain, and sat for a while and watched the ducks swimming.

The only stress came when we brought Baron (the resident cat of the house-- now "big brother") to meet her. But to be honest, that really went very well. Baron definitely got in his fair share of growling and hissing, but Gracie acted admirably. She was quiet and submissive enough to let him know that she recognized him as "the man of the house"-- but by the end of the night they were chasing each other playfully-- and she was in heaven! Things aren't perfect yet (Baron is still having some jealousy issues, and he hisses at her occasionally for no apparent reason)-- but we were able to leave both cats out last night, and I think they are well on their way to becoming best friends :)

All right, I need to get scooting (haha... dinner time, and I need to play the good wife and get something on the table for J.) I can't get enough cuddle time with my sweet baby girl! (More pictures to come, I promise!!)

Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday, and I wish you the blessing of an inspiring and productive Monday!