Day 90 - April 17, 2006

Caffreys now has a "thing" for clothes which is amusing me. I had some clothes hanging on the clothes last night and the babies were tearing through the home playing on the airer (it's much better than any cat climber according to the babies), and I was just coming through the room with a water bowl in my hand about to replenish it and next thing I know, Caffreys streaks past me at top speed. Nothing unusual in that of course, but what was rather amusing was the fact that he had managed to remove a bra from the clothes airer, put his head and half of his body through the strap and he was tearing around with the bra attached to him and trailing behind him. He was most displeased when I finally caught him (after chasing him through the house for 2 minutes!) and took my bra back. Then this morning, I had taken the washing hamper out of the bathroom and sat it near the stairs in order to take it down and start the washing, and I had just finished emptying and bleaching the upstairs litter tray and when I came back to the basket to take it down, here was Caffreys, in the washing hamper, having the time of his life playing with the clothes. Fortunately, the sun has been shining today so the clothes airer has not been inside at all and all the clothes were safe on the clothesline, far away from Caffreys. XXXX and Guinness have been rather well behaved today although poor XXXX had a bit of a tumble on the stairs because her rather naughty sister was sitting by the stair banister to see who would come up the stairs next and when she saw XXXX trotting up the stairs, Guinness crouched down, waited until XXXX was level with her, she then stuck both paws through the banister, giving XXXX a huge fright and therefore making her tumble backwards. XXXXX was not hurt at all, mind you she does have a lot of padding bless her, and she came running back up the stairs again to have some games in the bathroom with her brother.

Day 89 - April 16, 2006

Our Pints have been rather lazy for the last few hours and when I went to take photos of them, they were all sound asleep near the radiator, along with the Bush Rangers. All except for XXXX who has been sleeping on the kitten bedding here in the back room. Caffreys and XXXX spent an hour or so this morning playing in the bathroom and jumping in and out of the bath tub, leaving wet paw prints all over the bath because prior to them doing this, I had been bleaching the litter trays. Guinness decided that the toilet was a much better place to climb all over so she stood on top the toilet, calling out to Caffreys and XXXX, telling them to look at her as she was higher up than them. From the toilet, she then decided that she may as well check out the windowsill as well so she walked up and down the length of the windowsill, peering down at her brother and sister who were in the bath tub and they weren't 100% sure just how she got onto the window sill. The babies have so much energy first thing of a morning and their games last for quite a few hours. After that though, they all settle down and sleep for a good 3-4 hours with their mum's.

Day 88 - April 15, 2006

As I write this entry, the Pints are all upstairs asleep in various part of the hallway. Ned Kelly is in the corner as the hot water pipes run straight under there. Guinness is now asleep on the ottoman, along with Caffreys, and XXXX is asleep in the bathroom near the radiator. This of course means that I have a bit of peace and quiet and can finally sit down to write today's entries. Late yesterday afternoon, for the first time ever, all 3 Pints were out in the cat run. We had some lovely sunshine here after lunch and the door leading into the run was wide open. Joe Byrne made the most of this as per normal because he is the one baby who has always made use of the cat run and he had been playing pouncing and chasing games in there with Cointreau. I tell you that when he leaves here Cointreau is going to be absolutely devastated because she thinks he is her best mate. Anyway, XXXX and Caffreys had been sleeping on the kitten bedding in the back room and suddenly woke up and noticed that Joe was outside playing in the fresh air. Caffreys bounded straight out into the run as well whereas XXXX went much more cautiously, however once they both were out there, they started having the time of their lives exploring ever blade of grass and stalking each other. Guinness then meandered down from upstairs and once she saw that her brother and sister were outside, she went flying out to join them. This was the first time that all 3 Pints had been in the cat run. Caffreys and XXXX spent the better part of the morning playing with each other in the hallway upstairs while poor Guinness was trying to have a snooze which was virtually impossible as her brother and sister felt that if they were awake, then she should be as well. She was not best pleased at having her tail pounced on over and over until she was forced to wake up.

Day 87 - April 14, 2006

Before I forget, I must tell the owners of our Pints and our Bush Rangers that I totally forgot to send off the babies' registration paperwork. So I sent it in at the beginning of the week and the GCCF have confirmed that the received it on April 12, so now it's a case of hoping and praying that they can get the papers back to me before April 28th which is when the first of our children leave us. This doesn't allow much time but I'm going to remain hopeful that we'll have them back in time. I actually thought I had sent them in already but when I was sorting through a mountain of paperwork that was on my desk growing higher and higher, I discovered the partially filled in registration forms at the bottom of the pile. Today's entries are not long one at all and there are no photos as we have family visiting and it is Good Friday after all.

I must leave a special message in here for May as well (May will be Guinness' new family) and some of you may remember me saying how Guinness might remain here a few extra weeks as I had rather large doubts that she would be a kilo in weight prior to leaving here and I was not prepared to let her leave unless she weighed at least that much. I am positive that May will be absolutely delighted to hear that Guinness is right on target for her kilo and should reach that weight very soon so that being the case, there will sadly be no reason for me to enjoy my beautiful girl those extra few weeks. As for Caffreys and XXXX's weight.....................well they are just little porkers really bless them and will probably be eating their new families out of house and home. Our children have enjoyed their visit today with Graham's mum and they all had lots of cuddles and attention which they all love so very much. They are such happy, personable little babies who will go to absolutely anyone and everyone without a moment's hesitation which is exactly as it should be.

Day 86 - April 13, 2006

Well my morning started off with me desperately trying to get into the bathroom to use the loo whilst trying to keep a certain Havana baby out. It took me 10 minutes just to get in the darn bathroom because I had to keep picking her up and putting her away from the door and then try to shut it but she is so quick and I was petrified of closing one of her paws, or worse, her tail in the door which would not bode well for any possible future show career she may have. She really is a little minx and so incredibly determined when she wants something. Eventually, I made it into the bathroom and what should I then see but some little Chestnut coloured paws creeping under the door trying to reach as far as possible. When I opened the door back up, she had also invited her mates around because there was Joe Byrne and Ned Kelly right beside her and as soon as the door opened, all 3 ran in like a shot. I had to stand totally still and not take a single step or else I would have collided with one of them. I tell you that living in a home with kittens is like a war zone sometimes. As for Caffreys, well all he wanted to do this morning was help me sweep and mop the upstairs hallway bless him. I wouldn't have minded so much if he had actually been useful, however, darting in and out in front of the broom does not constitute as giving a helping hand. By the time I got back downstairs to actually have some coffee and make a start on the entries, it was time to go back upstairs into the kitten room to feed the new mums and weigh the new babies. You will notice that today I actually managed to take some photos of the babies somewhere other than in the back room. It occurred to me that lately, most of the photos were of them sleeping on their bed so I figured that I'd better actually provide some proof that the children do make full use of the home so I managed to get a few (not very good) upstairs and downstairs photos today :)

Day 85 - April 12, 2006

At first I was thinking today that the Pints have been much quieter than normal but that is not the case at all. I realised that while I have been downstairs getting some work done, they have been upstairs creating havoc because all morning, amidst the sounds of screaming girls in full call, we have been hearing lots of thumps and bumps coming from upstairs which the babies have been responsible for. One small change we have now had with all of the babies is that they no longer have breakfast first thing in the morning and they made the decision to cut out this meal, not me. The routine used to be that we would come downstairs in the morning, I would open up the door to the back room and the babies would not leave the room but instead would clamber around the kitchen door waiting for breakfast. Now when I open the door to the back room, they all go tearing out the door, they run throughout the home to see what has changed overnight. So breakfast now doesn't happen until about 1130 when they all start to meander into the back room to hint that it's time for a meal. When I went up to feed our new mum's and weigh their babies, Caffreys and XXXX were on the vet bed on top of the ottoman having a rather ferocious wrestling match and it was all going in Caffreys favour until XXXX got underneath him and with one swift kick, he fell off onto the floor. This did not deter Caffreys though and he then chose to pick on Guinness as she is smaller than XXXX and he figured that he would have a fighting chance, however she knew what was coming and was out of there before he got anywhere near her.

Day 84 - April 11, 2006

Yet again, another week has passed by totally unnoticed by me. I didn't realise until I started today's entry that our Pints are now 12 weeks old and was rather startled to realise that they will not be here with me for that much longer. All 3 of our Pints are doing really well and they are just so much more in dependant now. Apart from needing me to change their litter and feed them, as well as cuddle them and have chats with them, they now think they are big enough to act like the rest of our adult cats in the home. They quite literally just go wherever they want and they do whatever they want. No longer do they all want to stay together as a pack, nor are they even bothered whether or not their mother's are in the vicinity. They have now began that process of settling into the home as part of the family, rather than being baby kittens who seek comfort and protection. XXXX has been in such a naughty mood this morning and has been attacking poor Guinness and fighting with her at every given opportunity. Guinness has not been much better though as she has been climbing up the ironing board, trying to climb up the clothes airer (no we still have not replaced our dryer yet!), as well as running in and out of the kitchen because the door is open as Graham and our daughter are spring cleaning the kitchen today. Caffreys on the other hand, spent most of the morning upstairs in the bathroom with Ned Kelly creating total and utter chaos.