I Don't Like Where This Is Going

Since the birth of the twins, our cat Chloe has been seriously getting the short end of the attention stick. In a few short months, she has gone from being the spoiled queen of the household to being something we sometimes accidentally trip on while running to tend to the babies. At first, she seemed to be taking this whole baby thing in stride, but the honeymoon is definitely over.

It's been kind of a slow progression.

During the first month, I think Chloe actually thought the babies were pretty cool. The babies kept Kathy and me up at all hours of the night, which meant much more night-time entertainment for her. She would climb on the bed at night as we fed the babies and sniff their heads. She would follow us up and down the hall as we prepared and washed bottles. She would get special middle-of-the-night feedings, too. I think she was thinking this whole baby thing might not be so bad.

During months 2 and 3, you could tell the novelty was wearing off for Chloe. These babies were definitely stealing attention from her. There were these creatures always lying or sitting on the laps that previously had been her domain. Chloe was definitely miffed at this turn of events, but didn't really protest too much, other than the occasional plaintive meow for attention.

During month 4, Chloe started getting pissed. She would pace angrily back and forth on the couch while we fed the babies, trying in vain to lure attention away from those small humans. When that didn't work, she finally resorted to throwing up or pooping in random areas around the house, figuring that these protest poops and barfs would be the way back into our hearts. Somehow, that didn't work so well either.

During month 5, Chloe kicked it up a notch to Homeland Security Level Orange. Since throwing up and pooping around the house was clearly not working, Chloe has recently decided to be a bit more targeted in her attacks. She started throwing up and pooping in baby-specific locations like under their cribs and on their favorite hangouts like their playmats. She still paces back and forth on the couch, but now we actually have to keep an eye on her so that she doesn't actually step on the babies, which she actually has done about three times now. (Although the babies don't even notice when she does it because Chloe weighs nothing.)

We are now about to begin month 6, and I have to say, I'm kinda worried, because as I see it, the natural next step after pooping and barfing on the babies' things would be pooping and barfing on the babies themselves. And that wouldn't be very good. Trust me, as one of the primary poopy diaper changers of the household, I can attest that Leah and Riley get enough barf and poop on themselves without any help from anyone else.

I wanted to end this with a picture of Chloe with the babies, but apparently we haven't taken any pictures of Chloe over the past five months. Sorry, Chloe. Instead, more baby pictures!



I'm writing this on Kathy's last night before going back to work. If anyone has any words of wisdom or pep talks for Kathy as she returns to work after six long months away, feel free to comment!