And now we have a kitten

It was a dark and stormy night.

And at 12:15 a.m. today, Kit Kat became a momma.

Things started happening yesterday evening after Kates and Leah arrived home from an afternoon at the spa. We had pizza for supper and played outside for a while.

When we returned inside and started getting the girls for ready for bed, we noticed Kit Kat fussing about something. She had enough food and water. She didn’t show much interest in playing. She was pacing around the living room. Something was bothering her.

I did some Internet research and found this article. Kit Kat was showing all the behaviors, and I told Kates I thought we were pretty close to something happening.

At about 9:30, Kit Kat was in the upstairs bedroom pacing outside Phoebe’s bedroom, so I went to bring her back to the living room. As I reached under her belly to pick her up, I felt a drop of blood on my finger.

It was go time.

I led her the rest of the way to her nest in the garage, and Kates and Leah followed to be with her.

Kates was awesome through it all. While I returned to the living room to watch a Crosby, Stills and Nash concert on TV, Kates was committed to staying in the garage and keeping Kit Kat company. Leah stayed with them until turning in for bed around 11:30.

At 11: 55, Kates texted me to come out and relieve her while she took a bathroom break. Kit Kat was burrowed in her nest behind the blanket-towel-sweatshirt bedding we laid out for her. She was breathing heavy and pushing, and it was obvious it wouldn’t be long.

After a few minutes, Kates returned to the garage, and I returned to the living room.

Several minutes later, a hair-raising yowl came from the garage and I bolted there to see what was happening. Kates was sitting next to Kit Kat, who appeared as calm as could be under the circumstances. Simply, she was working through the process.

Bemused by what was happening and the shattering of my No Pet Doctrine in a matter of weeks, I just laughed and said to Kates, “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

Eventually, I headed back inside again. There were three or four more yowls over the next several minutes. Then, at 12:15 a.m., came this text from Kates …

When I got into the garage, Kit Kat was busy cleaning the newborn, which appeared to be in good health and softly meowing. Everything progressed the way God intended it, and it was pretty amazing.

Then, after a while I headed back inside while Kates stayed in the garage to keep an eye on the cats and wait for any others to be born. In the meantime, the thunderstorm we’d been anticipating all day had finally kicked up. Bright lightning flashed and the thunder crashed loudly outside.

I figured Faye and Phoebe would be up at any moment. Faye came down first, rubbing her eyes and clutching her stuffed pink bear. After a failed attempt to get her back to bed, she ended up falling asleep in my arms on the living room couch. Phoebe appeared a bit later and resisted going back to sleep, too. … So it provided an opportunity to show them the new kitten, but they were too worried about the storm and sleepy to show much interest. Finally, I convinced them to take care of each other and sleep in Kates’ and my bed together. That worked and they went back to sleep.

Back in the garage, Kates was still waiting for another kitten or two. Our research suggested we could expect two or three kittens, but by 2 a.m., Kit Kat wasn’t showing signs of giving birth to another any time soon. So Kates gave in, and we headed to bed.

This morning, we awoke around 7, and still had just one kitten. The kitten appears to be nursing well and Kit Kat is proving to be an excellent mother, protecting the kitten in her nest and keeping it warm.

It’s a little funny how, all of a sudden, my research and Pinterest scans have turned from cat tips to raising a newborn kitten. It turns out that one kitten, while not common, is not extremely rare for a cat of Kit Kat’s age and a first pregnancy.

After we got the girls to bed tonight, Kates and I finally were able to get a closer look at the kitten, which we now know is a male. He barely covers the palm of my hand and has beautiful orange and black striped hair. Seriously, he looks like a chipmunk.

We haven’t named him yet, and want to run some options by the girls. Some of the frontrunners include Butterfinger – because, Kit Kat – and Daniel Tiger, which would be a tribute to the resemblance with his stripes – not to mention Faye, who idolizes Daniel Tiger and watched a Daniel Tiger videos on my iPhone while I put her to bed tonight. Other options are Tiger or Tigger.

Stay tuned.

Watch Beatles' Early Concert Footage in Ron Howard's New Doc

Watch Beatles' Early Concert Footage in Ron Howard's New Doc?

Yes, please ...

Phoebe takes the stage

Well, she did it.

Phoebe made her stage debut this weekend with our children’s community theater company, and Kates and I could not be more proud of her.

Ten years ago, our friends Vanessa and Pat founded this little theater company – “on a wing and a prayer,” they say – as a way to expose local children to the arts and the experience of putting on a full production. That little theater company is not so little anymore and has grown into something of a little summer phenomenon in The ‘Ville. This summer, more than 190 children from four states in grades two through nine are participating.

The kids register to participate in the spring. Those who are interested in lead roles audition for them. All of the kids receive books and CDs and are responsible for learning their lines and music on their own – and they’re expected to know it when rehearsals start during the last week of May.

They rehearse every afternoon Monday through Friday for two and half weeks. The curtain annually goes up the second weekend in June, and the production is a high-quality one that rivals some high school productions I’ve seen.

This year’s feat: “Peter Pan.” It’s the company’s biggest production, yet – complete with flying.

So Phoebe and Kates have attended the shows together every summer at the university’s performing arts center since we moved to The ‘Ville. Last summer, Phoebe became eligible to participate, but she declined despite our gentle encouragement.

This summer, knowing Phoebe would benefit from the experience if she just tried it, Kates and I signed her up without her approval. We signed her up and told her a few days later when it came up in conversation. As we might have suspected, Phoebe burst into tears and stormed to her room to process the whole thing. … Knowing our struggle to convince Phoebe to participate, Vanessa relayed the reaction in her house when they received Phoebe’s registration. Her husband, monitoring the names online as they came in, said, “We got Phoebe!” Vanessa replied that, no, they had Kates and I.

But Phoebe did come around. The next day, in fact, she realized one of her school buddies also was participating and came home from school that afternoon bubbling with excitement. Phoebe was assigned to the pirate chorus. And it’s been all good since.

As the school year wound down, Kates played the CD for the girls while they traveled to and from school each day. I loaded the music on Phoebe’s iPod, too.

Even Faye got into it, begging Kates to stay to watch when they dropped off Phoebe for rehearsals. Faye learned the songs just as well, and Kates would tell me each evening about how Faye literally sat on the edge of her seat, watching the young performers as they rehearsed.

When rehearsals began, Kates took Phoebe each afternoon, and I picked her up on my way home from work, often catching the last 15 minutes or so of the rehearsal. I can’t even describe how joyful it was to see Phoebe on the stage, rehearsing and listening to the director’s instructions. Even the daily communication from the company – which, I should mention, is all volunteer-based – in emails, texts and social media posts was exciting to read and view.

This weekend was the real deal. The entire cast and their families were invited to a company picnic to coincide with the final dress rehearsals Friday evening. Then the company performed at 2 and 7 p.m. yesterday, and again at the same times today.
Though Kates and Faye had seen the whole show in rehearsal a couple times, Friday night’s dress rehearsal was my first time to see it in its entirety.

It was amazing. … After watching Friday night’s dress rehearsal, I said to Kates, “I could watch this a couple more times this weekend.”

The joy and pride of watching Phoebe aside, the lead cast was so charming and talented. That includes the actors playing Wendy and Peter Pan, with whom we attend church and have had the pleasure of watching them grow and develop their talents. And the diminutive third grader playing Tinkerbell was an adorable scene-stealer.

When they flew, it took our breaths away. In Friday night’s dress rehearsal, after the big scene when Peter Pan teaches Wendy and the boys to fly, and the music crescendos and the audience breaks into applause, I leaned over to Kates and just said, “Wow.” I get chills thinking about that moment again now. It was so magical. And during Saturday’s and Sunday’s performances, the scene made me well up. … In the run-up to the show, Vanessa had expressed her anxiety about the technical aspects of it all. They had professionals come into work with the kids and totally pulled it off.

After Friday night’s rehearsal, Kates, Faye and I headed for the wings of the performing arts center to meet Phoebe. When she came out from the dressing room and spotted us, she was beaming and fell into my arms for what goes down as the most memorable hug I’ve shared with her to this point. It was a wonderful moment.

To mark Saturday night’s big performance, we met Phoebe’s request for a Subway supper. And we enjoyed a family treat of Sonic limeades and slushis afterward. … On Sunday morning, Kates had to teach Sunday school but I ceased getting ready for church when we decided to let the girls sleep because we exhausted them the night before and they showed no signs of waking up. Phoebe woke around 9:15, and Faye stumbled out of her room at around 9:45. Church started at 9, Sunday School at 10.

At the conclusion of each performance, the house lights came up and Vanessa joined the kids on the stage for some recognition of the company’s volunteers, sponsors and the kids. On Saturday night, each child received a certificate and participatory medal – when Phoebe’s name was called and she accepted her certificate, Vanessa looked at her and exclaimed, “You did it!” Another cool moment in all of this.

After the final performance Sunday, the tears were flowing. Vanessa’s parting words to the cast were this: On your worst days and lowest moments, don’t forget about all those people out there who were cheering for you and clapping for you. Remember that you are loved and you make a difference in other people’s lives.

Amen.

USA TODAY exclusive: Hundreds allege Donald Trump doesn’t pay his bills

Well, this is interesting ...

"Donald Trump casts himself as a protector of workers and jobs, but a USA TODAY NETWORK investigation found hundreds of people – carpenters, dishwashers, painters, even his own lawyers – who say he didn’t pay them for their work. ... 

(H)e has been involved in more than 3,500 lawsuits over the past three decades — and a large number of those involve ordinary Americans, like the Friels, who say Trump or his companies have refused to pay them.

At least 60 lawsuits, along with hundreds of liens, judgments, and other government filings reviewed by the USA TODAY NETWORK, document people who have accused Trump and his businesses of failing to pay them for their work. Among them: a dishwasher in Florida. A glass company in New Jersey. A carpet company. A plumber. Painters. Forty-eight waiters. Dozens of bartenders and other hourly workers at his resorts and clubs, coast to coast. Real estate brokers who sold his properties. And, ironically, several law firms that once represented him in these suits and others."

Meanwhile, the Democrats are coming together and digging in ...