FOUND

Oh man...what a crazy night! Thanks everyone for sending all the "come home Tiny" vibes. He's HOME!
I am so relieved, I can't even tell you how happy I am that he's home and he's okay.

If it had been either of the other two cats, I wouldn't have worried, I know they would come back - but for TINY to go missing, it was really bizarre. We both kept thinking something must have happened to him. After spending hours outside in the cold walking the neighborhood and calling him and having no luck - we were both very subdued imagining the worst. We put some food out on the porch, and climbed into bed and said some prayers that he'd be okay. Jackson was VERY upset that his brother Tiny wasn't home, and he kept crying by the front door - so of course hubs and I kept bolting out of bed and running to both front and back doors hoping he'd be there....and I was so worried about the whole thing - I think the kid knew it because there was alot of activity and some Braxton Hicks contractions happening throughout the night.
I must say - I'm impressed at hubs...he really pulls through when it counts.
He is such a heavy sleeper that he never knows how much I get up in the middle of the night - all my fussing and peeing and sitting up reading at odd hours, and he's oblivious to it all - but when it counts, he's got superhuman hearing and can be up and out of bed in two shakes. Everytime we heard Jackson crying, hubs would be out of bed in a flash.
At one point, it was 3am and I had gotten up because I heard Jackson crying by the door - I stuck my head out the front door and noticed the food was eaten and I called "hheeeeere kitty kitty kitty - TINY!!" and I heard 3 distinct meows...so I ran outside in my pj's and no shoes and kept calling. Right then, our neighbor next door came home from work and was opening his garage door. I immediately thought maybe Tiny got trapped in his garage...so I ran out there and said "Hey MARIO!" and he turned around and said "OH SHIT! Girl you scared me!" hahahahaha - poor guy...it was 3am after all. I told him about our missing Tiny - and he's the one with the pit bull, so I'm glad I asked, but then he said his own cat has been missing for 3 weeks. I turned and saw another cat in the driveway licking it's chops....and knew it wasn't Tiny who ate that food...so hubs and I trudged back up our driveway thinking "he's gone...he's just gone"
At 5:30am - hubs heard a small scratch...I didn't even hear it - and then Jackson let out a wail - and before I knew it - hubs had jumped out of bed, ran down the hall, and opened the front door. By the time I lugged this belly of mine out of bed, I walked to our bedroom doorway and looked down the hall, and all I saw was hubs standing there in his underwear hugging our Tiny cat and saying "oh thank GOD".
So yeah, he's home and it was a VERY restless night for both of us. His eyes were huge and he was breathing heavy and obviously completely freaked out...he must have had quite an adventure last night, but boy are we relieved!
I commented to hubs about how amazed I am that he was so quick to jump out of bed at every little noise - and he goes "hey, my instincts kick in when they need to".
And he's right - I was immediately reminded of a time shortly after we got married, and we lived in an apartment. Keeley stayed the night with us and she was about 3 years old...we put her in the full sized bed in our guest room and at some point in the night, she rolled out of bed and hit the floor with a loud THUD. Hubs was up and had her in his arms before she had even opened her eyes and realized what happened. So yeah, he pulls through when it counts. And thank goodness he sleeps heavily all the other times or I'd be driving him NUTS as much as I get up at night.

Anyway, that's the good news for now...

Also? Samantha had her baby and he's BIG and healthy and great...big hugs to her!