I assumed she would return to her home, but each afternoon when I returned home from work, she would come bolting up the stairs ahead of me. After a couple days of this, I decided she didn't have a home, and that I would keep her. I needed to find a name for her. I was reading a magazine and saw the name "Kayleigh" in a story I was reading. I thought it was beautiful name and I liked the spelling of it. I looked at my newly unnamed kitty and asked, 'How would you like to be named Kayleigh?' She meowed and jumped onto my lap and nuzzled my chin. She now had a name!

Several weeks later, I realized that my new cat was pregnant. One stormy night in April, Kayleigh wanted to crawl into bed with me, which was unusual, since the only time she had snuggled in bed with me was during the ice storm. I allowed her to sleep under the covers. Later, sometime after midnight, I awoke to Kayleigh heavily panting. I immediately realized she was ready to deliver her babies!!! I jumped out of bed, to get some towels, etc.... When I returned, I was too late, there was a big wet spot in the middle of my bed and Kayleigh had crawled under the bed and was in the process of delivering the first of SIX kittens! I stayed with her through the entire process, and it seemed that a kitten was being born every 30 minutes. Finally five kittens were born and I waited an hour, and when no more came, I figured she was finished. I changed the sheets on my bed and went back to sleep. The next morning I woke and checked on Kayleigh and her kittens and I counted them and there were SIX....I counted again and sure enough, a sixth one must have been born after I went to sleep. Kayleigh was a wonderful mommy. She and the kittens slept under my bed for at least four weeks. Sometimes at night, the kittens would begin mewing and wake me up and I'd say, "Kayleigh! Quiet those babies!" I don't know how she did it, but the noise would immediately stop and I wouldn't hear the kittens for the rest of the night. When the kittens got to be six weeks old, I found homes for all six.

Kayleigh is so important to me because she came into my life at a time when I felt really alone. I had just moved to Houston from Louisiana for job opportunities. My mom had talked me into leaving with her, my dog Brandon and my cat Cole. I missed them so much and I was so lonely. And then Kayleigh pawed her way into my life. I call her "Mommy's big beautiful girl." Her favorite play thing is to chase a laser dot around the room. She knows where I keep the laser hanging on a key holder and when she wants to play she will stand beneath it and meow. She also has this cute habit, of lifting one corner of her mouth up when she finds something distasteful, it looks as though she is saying, "ugh!" I think she learned it from me.