Let me start this entry by wishing you all a Happy Easter and a safe one if you are travelling anywhere. I'll also remind you for those who aren't aware, that chocolate is toxic to cats and dogs so no Easter Eggs for your fur kids. Another day passes and still no babies from Tia Maria. I had fun and games with the Herbs this morning when I first came downstairs to give them breakfast. Normal routine is to get out of bed, come downstairs, come into the backroom without letting the Herbs escape to the main part of the house and then go into the kitchen to prepare their breakfast. They then eat their breakfast while I sneak the dogs through to the back room to put them outside, whilst still keeping the adults in the main part of the house so they don't eat the kitten food. This did not work this morning though. I had only opened the door up a few inches but they were ready and waiting for me like an ambush, Thyme and Sage were out the door like a shot, as I'm trying to close it, Chives is stuck half in and half out out the door while the 3 Siamese were trying to climb up my legs. By the time I had removed the Siamese from my legs, Amaretto, Cacao and Sambuca had all snuck into the back room and as I put them out, Parsley and Rosemary got out too. At that point, I totally gave up, opened up the door and ran into the kitchen, closing the door behind me, narrowly missing Thyme's nose as I did so. Once breakfast was ready, I opened up the kitchen door, put the plates up while I grabbed a sheet of newspaper to put them on and as I'm doing this, Sage & Parsley have climbed up on top of the fish tank where I'd rested their breakfast while I got the paper. You have no idea of the relief I felt when there were 7 heads around the plates and I had managed to get the adults back out. As soon as the little ones had eaten, I opened up the door and everyone scattered in all directions to the main part of the house, some on the dining table, some under the TV unit and others onto the lounge.

We're still playing the waiting game with Tia Maria so I have nothing to report on that front at all. Apart from a brief foray outside in the cat run, the Herbs have spent most of their day upstairs today (their choice not mine) and have been destroying the bathroom. Last night, we had to remove our toilet paper stand because the Herbs had discovered that if they tug at the paper, it all starts to unravel and they can "do" things with it. They ended up unraveling an entire loo roll! We now keep that up on the window sill so I was figuring what other harm can they do in there. Then this morning, they managed to knock over the clothes hamper, get the lid off it and took turns sitting inside while the others rolled them around the floor. The only Herb who didn't join in that particularly game was Sage because he was too busy strutting up and down inside the bath tub leaving little paw prints everywhere and playing with the plug chain. I suppose I should really be grateful because at least in the bathroom they are confining their mess to one small room :) Amaretto is now screaming her head off in full call and is continuing to look at the stud house where Ice is calling back to her. I did tell her she was wasting her time as I have no intentions of letting her have another honeymoon any time in the near future! Chives is fascinated by her mum's calling and the singing so while Amaretto is wandering around constantly like a lost Arab, Chives is right on her paws, trotting along behind like a shadow which is really funny to see. Apart from that, as you can hopefully tell by the photos below (hopefully), your babies are all doing rather well and are still eating me out of house and home.

Yet another day and still Tia Maria hasn't gone into labour. I'm really tired from sitting up in the bedroom waiting for something to happen and Graham is tired because Tia keeps him awake all night so our house is full of humans with frayed nerves and short tempers and overactive kittens at the moment. One thing about our little ones though, regardless of how manic their human mummy must appear to them right now, they don't hesitate to come running up to me for cuddles and kisses and purrs and it's those moments that breeders remember why we do this. They are so very loving and sweet and are guaranteed to make you smile. The Herbs have now moved out of the kitten room (thank goodness!) and back into general population. My mistake was when I opened the door to let them out, rather than encourage them to come with me back downstairs, I very stupidly just opened the door and they all came piling out and all them seemed to have forgotten that we even had a downstairs. They spent the next 2 hours tearing up and down the hallway, destroying the toilet paper in the bathroom, and creating mess everywhere. My day so far has been spent in the bedroom with Tia Maria, and thoroughly cleaning out the kitten room. At the time of writing this entry, I have the steam cleaner plugged in and turned on so I can steam clean the entire room which should give you an indication of just how much mess those babies can make. They were having so much fun upstairs that I even had to take their food up there on 2 plates because they wouldn't come down to eat. They finally meandered downstairs at about 12 noon. This was good timing because I could then clean the upstairs hallway while our daughter cleaned the bathroom. I lost Tarragon for about 10 minutes and was starting to get a bit concerned. All the Herbs were asleep in the lounge room and I couldn't find Tarragon anywhere and what makes it worse is that if I lose a baby, I now have an entire upstairs and downstairs to search now that the door isn't kept shut any more. Eventually, I did find her, sleeping on my jumper on a chair with another little baby and I was rather relieved to say the least. I did actually make more of an effort with photos today but as the babies are totally zonked out due to their morning activities, I'm afraid that they are only "sleeping" photos. I also even included a photo of the fat lady who is refusing to have her babies!

Our little ones were rather subdued for most of yesterday afternoon following their vaccines but that is fairly normal. I was pleased though that they were eating their meals again within an hour of being back home from the vets. As usual, Andy has done a great job with their vaccines and there are no lumps or sore parts on any of their necks and to look at them, you wouldn't even have thought that such a major event had taken place. By dinner time however, they were up and about and destroying the kitten room because while we were eating dinner, all we could hear was a herd of elephants thumping about over our heads. Obviously, their quiet time after vaccinations was well and truly over. I do think though that they hate being in the kitten room and I don't blame them, particularly after they have had the run of the house for so long. Today's photos (what there are of them) are truly dreadful. It's difficult to try and take photos in the kitten room because as soon as I open the door, the babies all come rushing over to me thinking that they are being set free. Since yesterday, they have become rather attached to their carrier again and are using it as another cat bed, even though they have their own sofa and armchair in the kitten room to sleep on. My time is still being divided between the Herbs and our own bedroom where Tia still hasn't gone into labour yet. I am hoping it will be sometime today though or even tonight.

Still nothing from Tia (just thought I'd mention it). Never before have I had so many problems putting babies in a cat carrier. Today was first vaccination day! A day that I always dread even though we've never had any problems with the FeLV vaccine with any of our babies but I still worry for the 24 hours following the vaccines. Anyway, the little ones were all tearing around the loungeroom this morning so I took the carrier out, sat it on the lounge and started putting them in one by one. That was all fine, 3 of them were in there when Sambuca decided to peer into the carrier, and smacked the baby closest to her which happened to be Rosemary. Rosemary growled, went into "Basil Brush tail mode" which naturally scared the other 2 who were in the carrier. Then when I put the next baby in, they all reacted because they thought that Big Bad Sam was coming after them again <sigh>. It was a real drama to get them all in. Fortunately, when it came time to putting their mum in her carrier (she was also due for vaccines), she just slipped straight in with no problems at all. In the very short car journey there, the little ones were wonderful, no crying, no trying to get out, they simply just settled down and were great. It was their mum who was actually making all the fuss. They were also as good as gold when Andy was vaccinating them, and darling little Parsley was even purring as the vaccine went in! Thyme, despite her size, was given a check over by Andy and had her heart listened to again and is still fine and normal so she was vaccinated also and I was pleased about that. Unfortunately, the Herbs will now have to live in the kitten room for a few days because we can't risk having newly vaccinated babies near any other kittens we may have, or near our pregnant mums so when I came back from the vets, I had to set up the kitten room with bowls, litter trays, toys etc. and as I type this, they are all up there exploring their new temporary home. Yet again, this isn't a long entry as I have to get back up in our bedroom with Tia Maria in the hopes that she will decide to go into labour sometime this year!

So far this morning, the babies have been absolute terrors, running riot throughout the house again. Tarragon, who is often the "sweet" one in the litter, showed her true colours today by climbing the CD rack until she could reach the cassette tapes which she promptly proceeded to knock all over the floor. Our Herbs had a lovely visit yesterday with Vicky, Charlotte and David although Chives would not pose for David at all so that he might get a decent photograph. It was really lovely to see Vicky and Charlotte again and I know that all the babies were very appreciative of the great toys that Vicky brought with her. Rosemary was extremely funny as she claimed one of the mice as her own and growled constantly, with the mouse in her mouth, trying to warn off any other babies who were thinking of having a look at it. That girl really does not like sharing at all! Tarragon was happy to have some cuddles on the lounge with her new mum and spent the rest of her time being very sweet and showing how angelic she could be. Speaking of toys, I must mention for Linda's sake that sadly, one of the octopus toys that she brought over for the babies is now minus an eye! I noticed something odd near the food bowl yesterday and when I was a bit closer I realised that it was an eyeball from an octopus. I have absolutely no idea who chewed it off, nor do I even know today where the eyeball is. I feel rather sorry for the poor octopus actually as he does look rather odd now. I actually managed to get some photos in today's entry, although not great ones I must admit. Right at this precise moment, I have Thyme on my lap having a sleep and a cuddle and it's making typing rather difficult as I keep having to stop to play with her. My day today will be spent running upstairs and downstairs with part of my time in the bedroom with Tia Maria waiting for her to go into labour, and the rest of my time devoted to the Herbs. Goodness only knows when I will manage to fit "housework" in!

There's no photos today unfortunately as yesterday was very hectic and today is more of the same. We do have quite a lot going on here at the moment and getting entries done is very difficult to say the least. The back room looked like a bomb had struck when I came down first thing this morning. I couldn't believe the mess they had made overnight. There was litter and dry food everywhere, to say nothing of the foam from my chair! Vicky and Charlotte will be visiting this morning which will be really lovely and I know that Tarragon and Chives are going to enjoy the extra attention they will get during the visit. Our Herbs have been all over the table and in the lounge/dining area this morning creating absolute havoc but so far, they haven't managed to drag the tablecloth onto the floor. Sage was practicing his acrobatics this morning (I'm sure he thinks he is joining a circus when he leaves me) and he has been taking flying leaps off the top of the fish tank, onto the small table and then onto the floor. It's rather funny because he's not the most graceful of babies sometimes. The little ones all had a run around in the cat run again today which they really enjoyed although Rosemary did appear to be looking for the clothes airer to climb and was rather perturbed about the fact that she couldn't find it (I hadn't put it out).