Thursday, March 20, 2008

Meet McNulty

Meet McNulty, the newest (and smallest) member of our household. We were aiming for sweet and timid, but we ended up with a little hellion with a death wish. This kitten is just freakin’ INSANE. At 8 weeks old and 1½ pounds, McNulty's favorite pastimes are:

1. Playing with string. Any kind of string, including shoelaces, zipper pulls, clothing cuffs, and of course any and all wiring in the house.

2. Trying to escape. He's already made one run for the great outdoors and gotten squashed in the door as a result.

3. Jumping on the treadmill while in use. Twice. (No, there is not a kitten-shaped splat on our back wall. But it was a close call.)

4. Running around the house like a pinball, bouncing off of anything solid, then attacking it, be it a shoe, remote control, tissue box, wall, bathtub, my foot. You name it, he's tried to kill it.

5. Climbing our legs, with or without pants. Summer’s going to be interesting.

6. Wailing incessantly when he wakes up, gets bored, or just wants to talk. And he can reach an amazing volume with those tiny lungs.

7. Snuggling up for a nap. He won’t always think of cuddling, but if you wait until he’s asleep (and, like a toddler, he’ll run for hours, then just drop like deadweight for a nap), then start petting him, he wiggles and purrs, and stretches and snuggles in and it is so cute you think you’re going to melt.

Little Valentine (our 12-year-old kitty—and who knew an 8 pound, petite little girl could seem so HUGE? J’s calling her “Gargantua,” which I’m pretty sure she resents) seems to be coping well with the change. There's been an inordinate amount of hissing (on both sides, which is so damn cute it's ridiculous), but she's also done some legitimate nose and butt sniffing. I'm guessing she'll break down by the end of the week. In the meantime, she's out and about around the house, sometimes stalking him. She's willing to cuddle with me, so she's obviously not horribly traumatized. She did swat him down when he tried to pounce on her, which was pretty funny. Mostly he dances around her on two legs, waving his tiny fists like a featherweight fighter, and she just stares him down without moving.

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On a different note, I feel weird about the fact that I haven’t written or commented in awhile, and wanted to say something about that. I was all blog-all-the-time girl until about a week ago, then it’s like someone flipped a switch and I just didn’t want to. To be fair, part of this is that my husband has been home evenings (unlike previous weeks), which makes it hard to spend private time on my computer, which is in the kitchen. (And my blog is VERY private. I think he knows I have one, but he doesn’t know what its title is or what I say in it.) But part of this is that I think I just needed a break from the whole infertility thing. Anyway, I felt strange about it because I’ve developed this bond with my favorite girls out there, and I now feel like a bad friend. So I wanted to throw out my favorite line for all such occasions: “It’s not you. It’s me.”

Love you all,

Babychaser.

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And now, for his adoring fans, more McNulty:

(Note the protective covering on my legs. Critical gear for this type of hard-core x-treme sport.)

And now he's totally wiped out. Poor baby.

And, of course, my favorite picture of all, just because:


14 comments:

Emily (Apron Strings) said...

Oh... waaaaay too adorable!!
McNulty is definitely McCutey!!

Io said...

GAH! So freaking cute!
And I know what you mean about the blog thing - sometimes I just don't feel like it, but then I feel like a bad bloggy friend if I disappear. I think everyone gets sick of the blogging every once in a while at least. Come back when you're ready. (Assuming the kitten doesn't chew away your internet wires...)

Alyssa said...

Love,love, love your new kitty. Precious! He's all fuzzy-I love it when they are in the little chicken fuzzy hair phase! As for the insanity that is a kitty, you have my best wishes. They are so cute at that age and so very, very bad. :) My orange and white cat is 6 and he's still a spaz. May your kitty calm down nicely with age!

As far as the blogging break goes, we all take them. I've been on one lately, too. Come back when you're ready. We'll all be glad to see you when you do!

MissNoAngel (find me on Twitter) said...

AWWWW!! What an adorable kitty!! Give him a snuggle for me.

Jen said...

McNulty is freaking adorable! Does his name come from The Wire?

Don't sweat it about the commenting/ reading. I think that happens to everyone! Sometimes you're just over it, and that's OK.

the Babychaser: said...

Jen takes First Prize for identifying the source of McNulty's name!

We're just hoping he doesn't end up with a drinking problem. :-)

Shinejil said...

Very, very cute. Love how he wedged himself between sofa and wall, and then somehow fell asleep. I'm glad you have his energy around.

Don't worry about not blogging. It happens. Feel free to keep posting kitten pictures.

peesticksandstones said...

What a treat those kitty pictures are! Keep 'em coming. Though lovable they may be, my old lazy grown-up couch-lump cats are not anywhere near as entertaining to look at!

I totally hear you on the stepping away from blogs thing. I'm never able to do it as much as I probably should. But it scares me sometimes how dependent I become on my "secret world" (my husband also does not really know the details of my blog). It's like jeez, get some sunshine or something.

Anyway -- it's always a pleasure to hear from you, but I'll always be a fan of yours even if you don't write often!

Malloryn said...

Aw, McNulty is so cute! I love the name too. It is amazing how much energy can fit into such a little body.

A lot of folks need a blogging break every once in a while. Don't feel bad about it!

kate said...

cuuuuute. so. effin'. cuuute.
And funny enough, McNulty was the name of my youth choir director back in the day... hmm.

I hear you on the blog thing. I sometimes get so tired of thinking about being infertile and thinking of new ways to write about that experience that it leaves me cold.

beautycourage said...

That is a very CUTE kitten- and to be honest, I don't even like cats that much! Thank you so much for your sweet note on my blog. I know exactly what you mean. I really hope that you don't end up where I am, though. Cautious optimism goes a long way, right? What else do we have, anyways?

annacyclopedia said...

McNulty is cyuuuuu-uuuuute!

I totally get the whole blog thing - I think we all feel that way sometimes. When you're ready, we'll be glad to have you back. Until then, hope you're enjoying life with your little kit.

Ms Heathen said...

There's absolutely no need to apologise for not blogging - everyone needs a break once in a while. The main thing is that you do whatever's most helpful for you - whether that's writing or not writing.

Anyway, I can understand why you're distracted with that little bundle of cuteness to play with!

Joy said...

Oh my goodness, he's ADORABLE.
And he sounds just like my Johnny Cat was at his age. Johnny Cat is now almost 4 and about 14lbs and still JUST as feisty.. We call him "Devil Cat" around here..