Nine years ago today this teeny tiny little kitten came into my life unexpectedly and stole my heart.  At the time,  I was teaching Kindergarten in Hawaii and was enjoying having no responsibilities-especially the responsibility of having a  pet.  One day after school I saw a group of boys walking towards me.  One of the boys had something furry in his hand, and me being an animal lover went over to find out what these rascals were up to with this animal.  What I saw made me want to cry!  The boy had a tiny newly born kitten that looked very close to death cupped in this hands.  I quickly asked them where they got the kitten and their guilty glances at each other clued me in to the fact that they had probably snatched him from his mom.  Without a thought, I took the baby kitten from the boy, and walked off claiming Kai as my own. 

I never imagined caring for a newborn kitten would be very similar to caring for a newborn baby, but it was!  Kai was so sick when I first got him that he had a hard time eating from a bottle so he had to be fed kitten formula from a syringe every 3 hours.  I woke up in the middle of the night to feed him and snuck him to work with me so I could feed him on my lunch break.  It was quite an undertaking and at the time it felt overwhelming because I was very sleep deprived.   But now looking back it was so one of the best experiences of my life and totally worth it! 

Happy 9th Birthday Kai Kai!  You have shown your love for me in so many ways and I will always treasure your snuggles in bed at night, your loud purrs when I rub your ears and our lap time together WHENEVER I sit down! 

This is my absolute favorite picture of Kai and his milk moustache!  He was always such a milky mess after I fed him!