Cats and children: one and the same?

Holly and Kelly: So it's true. They really are similar. At least we think they are. I mean come on, look at those faces? Aren't they cute?!

So the two of us have conjured some thoughts in which our cats and having children are the same. Not that either of us have children, but we've babysat before and many of our friends are mothers of young children and share their children stories...which we are always delighted to hear about! Having said that, here's some of the things we came up with.

No privacy
If you are a guest in our house, please remember to shut the door. Otherwise you might get a nice lap while you're in the bathroom taking care of things. (Yeah...may be a too much TMI, but it's true). In our house when we want a moment's peace, we shut doors....until the screaming and clawing begins. Until the sweeping of feet under the doors start too.

No personal space
None. At all. Pretty self explanatory. The two of us have had computer notes corrupted by random kitty text, or a sudden lap interruption during that really good part in that book or the running of the cats over the couch, furniture, house, laps, etc, causing the occasional spilled beverage or mild heart attack. Or the sometimes tampering of the book, DVD set, or laptop (See below). Get used to bum in the face and swatting your hair/scarf/necklace/any dangling object within their reach.

Wiley's into the Eppes brothers, too. 

Being awakened all hours of the night

Can't remember when either of us had a night of UNINTERRUPTED sleep. Oh, by the way, ever get the feeling someone's watching you? Yeah, it's probably one of them.

Yelling/disciplining/breaking up fights
"GET OFF THE TABLE!" "STOP IT!" "HEY, KNOCK IT OFF!" "PLEASE STOP BODY SLAMMING EACH OTHER INTO THE FURNITURE!" "NO, YOU'RE NOT GOING IN THE GARAGE!" "BE QUIET!" Kitty discipline in our house involves forced cuddling for at least 2 minutes. They hate it.

The teenage years
Cats exhibit blatant passivity concerning your arriving/departing.
"Oh.............................hi.  See you later.  Let's destroy the house while they're gone."

Traveling
2 options. Either take them with you or find someone to stay at the house and take care of them. Lest we forget the Great Traumatic Move of May 2013.  Completely amazed the cops/animal control/the FBI were not called on us due to the excessive wailing coming from Wiley's cat carrier.  We're fairly certain he did not recover.
One last thing: You definitely cannot make last-minute plans.  "Oh wait, the cats..."

Messes
Litter on the other side of the living room.  Yes...the other side.  Downed Christmas trees.  Poo on the floor.  THE BIRD.  A mini-flood in the kitchen.  You name it.

Food 
You were finished with that, right? Because sticking their faces in water glasses/cleaned off dinner plates is the norm. Yoda especially likes eggs, while Wiley is ga-ga for ham. See "personal space"; dinner sometimes gets uncomfortable. Would you like a set of yellow eyes watching with your bowl of soup? Make that 2 sets of yellow eyes...

There you have it! Yet despite the grievances they sometimes bring us, we love our pet babies and we wouldn't have it any other way! And sometimes we use the good times to our advantage in which we get the opportunity to have a little bit of fun.