My "girls"

I know, those who have followed this blog over the many months are thinking, didn't Beth already write a post dedicated to her girlfriends? Yes, yes I did. These are not the girls to which I am referring. I am instead dedicating this post to my furry children - our cats Taylor and Pippin.

Life with these cats is quite simply, never, ever boring. And sometimes, they are just as much work as a child would be! In all due serious though, I love them both so much, I'm not a crazy pet "mom", but my life would definitely not be the same without either one of them.

Both Nate and I grew up with cats in our parents homes. I remember being just thrilled to finally get Cleo, my parents cat. I was 11 years old when they brought her into our home and I am amazed that she is still with us, even after a bump in the road a couple of years back. So because both of us grew up with cats we knew when we got married we'd want to adopt a cat. I found Taylor through a rescue agency about a month before our wedding.

Taylor is a sweetheart, though she has overtime shown she has some special needs. We believe she was taken away from her mother too young. Her litter box habits are good for the most part, but she will sometimes urinate away from the box if she is scared or upset with us for some reason. We've really worked at combatting this over the last six months and I'm happy to report she's doing much better.

Taylor half in the window, half on my dresser

She has mellowed out quite a bit in the last six months as well and that is probably due to the addition of Pippin to our family. Pippin was a foster cat our friends Laine and Ilon had taken in, and we met her at Ilon's graduation party. I fell in love. She was this tiny, cartoonish looking thing and similarly marked to Taylor. Black and white tuxedo patterned. Nate and I talked about it and figured, with him going back to work full time, perhaps it would be good for Taylor to have a friend.

Pippin sitting in her favorite spot

It was a bit of a shaky start, but introducing cats isn't always sunshine and roses. We took our time and got them acclimated to each other. They eventually got to a point where they will play nicely together, cuddle with one another and Taylor will even give Pippin a bath every now and then. They don't always love each other, but what siblings do?

They really couldn't be different than night and day. Taylor is a long hair, but under all that fur she is quite petite. Pippin is short hair, but definitely has a little more to love around the middle. Taylor will lick you like a dog as a way of showing affection. Pippin will just nuzzle you with her nose. Taylor curls up and cuddles you when you pick her up. Pippin holds on like a chimpanzee would - we joke that she's our monkey cat. Taylor has never really been interested in the fish, Pippin loves them. Taylor loves to lounge in the windows looking outside, Pippin could take or leave it.

They both do love to play fetch and chase games. They both love food, catnip, treats and cuddles. But otherwise they are quite different in personality and that is definitely part of the fun.

Cuddling together, something they often do now

Nate is clearly Taylor's favorite in our house, Pippin tends to choose me. They also cause a fair amount of trouble together, but they have brought us alot of love and enjoyment. So, I don't care if my readers like cats or not, but I just had to share about "my girls" because they are an important part of my life and they definitely help make our house a home!