The Lukers~ Life is Lovely: Sister Sasha

I'm a blogging machine these past couple of days! Now that the spurt is over, naps are back in business! I have to catch up from the past month, but hopefully I will be able to stay on track from here on out.

So, needless to say, Sasha was pissed when we got home. She is usually mad when we have been gone a couple of days, and we'd been gone almost three by the time we returned from the hospital. Not only that, but strangers had moved into her home in our absence (my mother and sister in law) and she was not having that monkey business. She went Queen of the Jungle on Meagan and I think scared her half to death. It's hard to convince people how fun and loving your cat is when she's hissing at people. She's gotten a little skittish as she's gotten older. She doesn't like a bunch of people up in her house; she usually goes to her hiding spot underneath our bed. Anyone that moves too quickly to pet her WILL get hissed at. She wants to make this happen on her terms. Stick your hand out to let her sniff, and if you get a lick, you're in. If not, you get a hiss. A harmless hiss, but a hiss nonetheless. Sasha thinks her hiss is ferocious; and incidentally, it does scare the crap out of some people. There are certain people she does like: us (of course. She loves Will. After spending all day with me, she goes to his lap immediately after he gets home from work and stays there the majority of the evening.), my friends Erin and Wendy, and my mom (who is coincidentally has a phobia of cats, but in the last nine years has become as friendly as she's capable of with Sasha. My mom has come a long way as far as Sasha is concerned. A long way.) She hates my brother, probably because he hisses back at her. My dad chirps like a squirrel at her and she takes off for the hills. If you come to our home often, she's pretty comfortable; and she seems to remember people (namely, Erin and Wendy.) Anyway, so we return home and after the oohs and ahhs over the baby and initiating her into our home, we set out in search of Sasha. We find her in her usual place and we let her know we are home and how much we missed her. Will and I can tell she is upset with us. He had brought home an outfit Hayden had worn in the hospital and put it on our bed so she could get used to the smell, so Sasha had some idea something was up. They say that cats (and dogs) can tell when their person is carrying a child. Apparently they can sense and smell our hormonal changes, and obviously notice our changing bodies. She came into the nursery a lot when I was working in there; she knew that the room was changing. However, I do not think any of this prepared her for the arrival of another being taking us away from her. She is a very spoiled kitty when it comes to affection. She stayed away from us for a week. When she did venture out and we tried to love on her, she'd give us the cold shoulder. Finally, after awhile, I think she realized she was hurting no one but herself (even though it did pain me to see her so emotionally upset.... seriously. Cats have feelings, you know.) and she rejoined us on the bed at night. At first she ran when Hayden cried, but she was also very curious and would creep near her and peek at her. Sasha could not figure out what this thing was in this bouncy chair! The first night that Sasha laid with Will while he was holding Hayden was a huge success for us. We were so happy! And now a month in, she is quite used to the baby. Crying doesn't bother her much at all and things are back to normal, but I think she is still dealing with a little less attention than before. (She got a lot of attention. A LOT.) We do our best to love on her as much as possible. Usually one of us takes the baby and the other takes Sasha. She's still our baby, too. I'm proud of her for adjusting. I know she and Hayden will be great friends one day.