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there was Timi, with her tail high in the air.

By the time spring came, Timi and Emily had come to tolerate one another. Timi fit right into the family. She was a good, affectionate kitty.

Then seemingly all of a sudden, Timi began to misbehave. She forgot the purpose of her litter box. We grew weary of laundering bedding every day. Just as we began to ponder what to do about the situation, Timi decided for us. We noticed a screen on one of the windows in the sun porch was gone. We found it lying on the ground. Timi escaped. I was afraid we would never see her again. Then I caught glimpses of her in the woods. She never really went very far from the house. In fact, she was almost always within view. And when we sat on the front porch, she sat with us. When we went for walks, she walked with us. We had never had an outside cat, but we decided that was our only option with Timi.

It didn't take long to realize why Timi snuck out. It soon became very clear that Timi was going to make us grandparents. On July 11, 2007, I was in my home office, at my computer. Again Timi startled me. She jumped up onto the window next to my desk, as if in a panic. She embedded her claws deeply into the screen and looked like she was holding on for dear life. She began to meow, as if to tell me it was time. I knew exactly what she was saying.

I ran outside to help her down from the screen. She followed me to the front porch where her birthing box was waiting. It was just a cardboard box lined with newspapers. I put a baby blanket inside. Timi had even taken to lying in it the last few nights. Within a few hours, Timi gave birth to five little kittens. As she finished taking care of the first one, she let me take it from her. After a little human to kitten bonding, I wrapped Timi's first born into a towel to keep it warm and placed it in another box with the baby blanket while Timi concentrated on delivering the second kitten. That was the routine until there were five. I was so proud of Timi. I wasn't sure she would know what to do, since she wasn't much more than a kitten herself. I did a little Internet research about cats giving birth, so I would know how to help her if she needed it. She didn't. She did great.

She was pretty exhausted, but when I put all her kittens back into the box with her and they began nursing for the first time, she looked so satisfied. I fell in love with all of them.

We decided Timi had to come into the house with her kittens. We converted our sun

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