Saying Goodbye to a family member

I had a really tough weekend with Gizmo missing...but Monday was the worst!

Just so everyone knows - you can stop looking for our cat, we found him...usually this would be a happy thing to say but it's not.

After spending 2 days praying and looking for Gizmo he finally showed up Monday afternoon. I had just gotten home from searching out a cat (my wonderful neighbor and friend thought might be him) who was hiding in a drain down the street. I had a feeling to go into the backyard before I went back into the house. I went to search out something I saw earlier that morning. I saw one of our black labs laying by something outside on the grass, it looked gray and I just figured it was the golf towel they had been playing with the past week. But when I went to check the figure I found my beloved "ki-ki" lying motionless on the ground.

My heart broke and I began to cry. My first thought was the dogs killed him...but after my mother and mother-in-law showed up we decided it wasn't them. He didn't look like he had been played with or chewed on at all...and there was only a tini, tiny trace of blood but none on the ground. My father showed up to wrap Gizmo in a blanket and put him in a box for me. My mother buried him in her backyard (since we have dogs that like to dig). I will be planting some flowers on top to remember him by.

I have gone over every possible thing that could have happend to him...and I still have no clue - I will never know. Aaron thinks he might have gotten into something like anti-freeze and he came home and died. But who knows. We really don't think it was the dogs. When I found him he was laying perfect on his side, like he just laid down and passed away.

So as you can see yesterday was a tough day for me.

Many of you are probably thinking...wow, it's just a cat? But Gizmo wasn't. He was part of our family. Aaron brought him home for me on our first Valentine's Day right after we were married. I remember being so mad at him because we weren't allowed to have pets in our apartment. But I fell in love with him right away! He was the cutest kitten! So playful and loveable! He loved to chase bouncy balls and would play fetch.

Our friend Brandon was the one who came up with the name Gizmo...

As you can see it was very fitting. When we first got Gizmo he had a problem with stepping in his own poop when he was in the cat liter so we would have to bath him a lot. (he learned not to step in his poop quickly because he didn't like the baths) When he was wet he looked like a Gremlin...and when he was dry he looked like Gizmo the cute fuzzy Gremlin. I never really called him Gizmo...I would always call him, "Ki-Ki" don't know why but it was my little nickname I called him by - and he would always come running with his little bell ringing as he ran towards me. :)

He was such a great cat so loveable! He even sat with me on the couch and put his head on my belly when I was having my contractions while pregnant with Austin.

He was very curious when we brought Austin home...

They quickly became buddies! Sometimes Austin would love on Gizmo to much but Gizmo never hurt Austin. They discovered so much together....

And they played well together...

Gizmo even taught Austin how to climb up the stairs. Gizmo would run up the stairs so Austin could get him - until the day Austin followed him up!

When Austin started to talk he couldn't say Gizmo so he would call him, "ki-ki" like I did when I would calling for him. He keeps saying, "ki-ki go bye-bye"...breaks my heart!

I don't have any pictures with Mylee but she loved that cat as well...I think he was the reason she started crawling. She couldn't wait to get her hands on him. She would lay on the ground and watch his every move, just smiling and laughing at him. One day she just started to pull herself towards him.

We will all miss him dearly!!!!

I know you are in a better place "ki-ki" but I just want you to know we love you and miss you! You were my first baby! :) The part I will miss the most is how you would cuddle up and sleep by my side EVERY night....sometime you'd try to sleep on my face. :) Things won't be the same without you here.

Saying goodbye to a family member, even if it was a cat, is never easy...

WE LOVE YOU "KI-KI"