i knooooow! cah-uuuute, right?

well, be prepared to melt a bit more. because there are more photos to come. the above photo, along with a few below, were taken on the first day in his new home – almost 3 weeks ago…

don’t let his apparent size fool you – he was only 2 pounds in that photo! and sadly, not in very good shape. he arrived with a GI infection, a respiratory infection (a human’s version of the flu, basically), he was practically skin and bones, and his coat was a matted mess…

but that did not keep us from totally falling in love with him. that very day, no matter how badly he smelled, he was smothered in love by our 3 kids…and my husband and me too!…

he also quickly received a lesson in how to read a book…

he has barely rested between exploring the house and being awakened by children that can’t resist the urge to snuggle up next to him…

he doesn’t seem to mind being woken…he loves to play and he loves the attention…

to give you a better idea of size, here he is in my arms on night #2….

(excuse my appearance – it was a long day at home with 3 kids.)

so tiny and sweet. loving and gentle. and now over the top playful as he gets comfortable in his new home with his forever family.

we love charlie! his name was chosen by our 5 year old – we collected names and took a family vote.

i could keep the photos coming and gush on and on about him, but there is an organization component to this post. 🙂

charlie has a little “pet station” in our laundry room. the upper drawer is where we can find his wet cat food, flea treatments, nail trimmer, hair brush, toothbrush, cat nip, treats, and more…

(i shared all about how i organized this drawer for free by re-using boxes here!)

the cabinet below the drawer holds his dry food in a plastic sealed container, a small bin full of his toys (found at bed bath and beyond for $5 with a coupon), and the litter box liners (cat litter is out in the garage)…

it has been so convenient having all of his needs located in the laundry room. his food/water bowls and litter box are also located in the laundry room because the tile floor makes for easy clean up. the bin of toys is a great catch-all and has been helpful when i ask the kids to help me walk around the house to gather everything he has scattered.

if you haven’t been reading my blog for very long, about a month ago our previous cat went missing. you can read more about it here. charlie is definitely not a replacement. we are just a family with a lot of love to give and can’t go very long without a pet. we are still holding out hope finn will one day return. but charlie has definitely healed our hearts a little bit and given us something to smile about.

when finn went missing i shared a few ideas on how to be prepared in advance. with charlie, we are prepared in advance. charlie is an indoor cat, but to be on the safe side, i printed out the forms and a couple current photos of him. i added them to a new charlie file…

i’m in the process of creating a family household binder, so in the meantime his file is located in our desk filing drawer…

inside the folder is…

*his most recent vaccination information
*receipts from the shelter and our vet office
*his home link computer chip info (the shelter implanted one as part of the adoption fee!)
*the missing pet forms i created
*and a new pet info form i created….

most of the printables i have shared on the blog are free, but this one can be found in my etsy shop – for just $1.00!

the form is a list of important pet contact information. numbers you need at your fingertips – like the vet office, an emergency after-hours vet office, a favorite pet sitter, etc. the form has already come in handy for me as charlie has had several vet office visits for his little bugs. the first round of antibiotics didn’t work, we are on round 2. he also has a vaccination schedule to keep up with. both require me to have numbers quickly available. you would think i would have the vet office number memorized by now. 🙂

i snapped these 2 shots of him this morning while he enjoyed his cat tree…

in the 3 short weeks he has lived here, he has gained a good amount of weight…but more importantly the love of 5 people who adore him…