My little family

Last night, I worked swing shift and didn't make it home until 10:30ish. Joe's back hurts him from time to time, so he likes to sleep on our (firmer) guest bed. Upon gently pushing open the door so as not to wake him, I found him blissfully sleeping...with our two cats, Millie and Leo by his side.

Our cats are basically our children until we brew up some of our own and, like children, love to be by our side. Especially Leo; Millie is our more independent, outdoorsy one. They are with us in the dining room when we have dinner together at night and they are with us when we watch TV afterwards and they are with us when we make our way upstairs to get ready for bed. They curl up on our bed and wait for us to crawl in and attempt to wedge ourselves in between them. Soon, all four of us are nestled in bed and we all go to sleep.

Since they tend to follow us anyway, switching beds was no problem for Leo and Millie last night. After a long, tiring shift, I just loved watching my little family curled up together. Especially my husband. His mouth was partially open and he looked so precious as his chest rose and fell to each respiration. I usually don't like to sleep on the guest room mattress, but I couldn't bear to think about sleeping alone in our room. I kissed each one of them goodnight as I crawled in bed with them. The kitties purred and my husband murmured how glad he was that I was finally home.

I didn't want to ruin the moment by taking a picture; a picture wouldn't do it justice anyway. So here's some I dug up from our files.