Introducing: The Jasp!

This time last year, a small, furry bundle of joy came into mine and Nathan's lives. We adopted a kitten!

Nathan's sisters and cousin were visiting his grandmother on the Eastern Shore of Maryland when they found a little kitten running around outside her house. They called his mom, asking if they could pleeeeeeease bring it home, it was so cute! She relented, and the kitten came to live at Nathan's house. Somehow, this kitten got Nathan wrapped around its little paw, and Nathan decided that he would adopt and take care of it. I wouldn't say that that's the kind of thing Nathan would typically do, so there definitely must have been something special about that kitten!

His sisters and mom thought that the kitten was a girl, and wanted to name it Jasmine. I, however, was pretty certain that the kitten was a boy, and I thought that the name Jasper would fit him perfectly. As it turned out, when Nathan took the kitten to its first vet appointment, the doctor said it was a boy! My chosen name stuck and thus, he was named Jasper.

He was only about two months old when we got him, and he had some kind of upper respiratory infection that made him so sick and sleepy – it was easy to fall in love with him when he fell asleep in my lap! But after his doctor’s visits and some medicine, we soon discovered that underneath his sneezing and gooey eyes was an extremely energetic and mischievous kitten. Should I have expected anything else from Nathan’s cat? :)

In the past year, we’ve really enjoyed getting to play with him and watch him grow – he has gotten so much bigger!

We’ve come up with several nicknames for him, but the most frequently-used nickname would have to be “The Jasp.” I guess I should say that Nathan comes up with nicknames, because he’s much better at that than I am.

We celebrated his first birthday in June, complete with a hat for the birthday boy!

Nathan’s parents joke all the time about how the Jasp would like to visit his other grandparents (a.k.a. my parents), and how he just can’t wait until he can live with his mom and dad (Nathan and I). It sounds like we’re stuck with him, but he really has captured our hearts, and I think he makes a nice addition to our little family. So I’m not complaining. :)