I'm afraid that there are no photographs today but I'm sure you will agree that the reason for this is certainly a valid one :) Graham and I have spent a lot of today organising to get the video footage of the babies on the web site. As I'm sure you can imagine, this is very time consuming, particularly as it's the first time we've ever actually done this. Our aim is to spend one day of each week getting footage of the babies, then, each subsequent day we shall put 4 clips on the web site. The idea is that each week there are at least 12 new clips on the site, all taken from one day's footage. We did decide that it would be better if we did not have any audio on the clips although this may change with time (and practice!) So we are rather excited now to be able to point you in the direction of the first four clips of the first ever Schimmel Kitten Videos.

As for the Mel's, litter tray usage is becoming much more common amongst all 4 babies. My only concern at this stage is Lethal Weapon as he is still flat out refusing to eat any food and he will be 5 days old tomorrow which bothers me quite a bit. I have today, made a up a batch of my "Mince Special" which I will also mix a few other ingredients in and hopefully that will entice him. I would love to get him to eat just a little bit by the end of this evening, even if he just eats from my fingers, that would be great. Mad Max, Braveheart and Patriot have no problems at all with the eating department as all 3 of them really do love their food and at this stage, they are not particularly fussy either so this is really great progress.

Both entries are exactly the same today sorry because I've been rushed off my feet doing cat related things and have not really had any time to sit down and think about entries. What might excite you all though is that my darling husband Graham has very kindly set up the video camera for me so as this entry is being typed, the babies are currently being filmed and Graham is going to convert this film so that we can put it on the web site :) We've been meaning to do this for years now but just never really got around to it so look out for Video Footage of your babies on the web site soon. Onto some more exciting news, we have had our first proper "poo" in the litter tray which is really thrilling, so much so, that the first photo contained in both entries is of the "First Nugget". I am sad, I know! The diary entry just had to be paused for Braveheart who just did a spectacular dive from the cat post, straight into the large water bowl below, thoroughly soaking herself and requiring a towel dry! I have just realised that it is now 1405 and I really need to get this entry online with a couple of photos at least. I do apologise for the rather pathetic entry today but I have had some more pressing matters to deal with. Also to save time, the photos have all simply been titled with the same words, rather than naming all the photos individually.

I really do not know where to start with today's entries as there are a few things to tell you about so I will start with weaning. The babies had their first ever meal of scrambled eggs and tinned fish this morning (up until now they have been on mince, chicken, and the mashed up JW biscuits) and the eggs went down really well. The only baby who wouldn't eat them is Lethal Weapon. He has now decided that he will not eat any "real" food at all and will survive only on his mum's milk. I am going to keep tempting him with the usual meals in the hopes that he will change his mind and decide to eat. I will give him until he turns 5 weeks of age and if he still has no interest in anything, it'll be down to the pet shops and supermarkets to buy whatever is necessary to tempt him to eat. The other Mel's all love their food which I am really pleased about. As for litter training, well Patriot and Mad Max have both decided that they are big kids now and they prefer mum's big, hooded tray. I caught them both in there yesterday on more than one occasion although I have to be honest and say that I'm not entirely sure that they are using the tray for it's intended purpose because I think they look at it as a new play area. I have also come to the conclusion that only an insane person would do the ironing in the same room that the babies are in. Yesterday afternoon I set up the ironing board, went and grabbed the ironing basket, and within 2 minutes of ironing, I suddenly had Patriot and Lethal Weapon swinging off both of my legs as they attempted to climb up them. So I stopped ironing, took both babies off my legs and placed them back on the floor. Two minutes later I was trying to figure out why the trousers I was ironing seemed so heavy and when I went to do the other side, the reason became very apparent. Mad Max had seen them hanging over the ironing board and figured it was as good a climbing frame as any so as I was trying to put one pants leg on the board to iron it, I was in fact picking up Mad Max as well so he was having a wonderful ride. By the time I detached Mad Max from the trousers and put him on the floor, I turned around to try and start again, only to find that Braveheart had climbed into the extension reel (I use an extension cord when ironing), and had got herself stuck <sigh>. Let me assure you, trying to get her out was no easy feat and all I will say is that I hope she learnt something, such as not to climb into places where it's not really possible to then get back out. Mad Max is now over the 500 gram mark and I think he will be a wonderful playmate for Joe Byrne who is also rather a large boy. Apart from all this, everything is going rather well and the babies progress is very good for this stage of their lives.

Lethal Weapon has now joined his sister when it comes to leg climbing and last night after dinner, both of my Blacks were curled up on my lap snuggling away and I was rather happy to say the least :) Lethal Weapon also now eats from the plate which is wonderful progress with regards to weaning. Mad Max and Patriot both now use the litter tray although I had to laugh this morning when Patriot was trying to go about her business when along came Braveheart, thinking this was play time and not toilet time. Patriot had her back to Braveheart and Braveheart crouched down in the pouncing position, ran forwarded and smacked her sister on the back. Poor Patriot was not expecting this at all, and what made it worse was that she was putting 100% effort into her toilet matters. The poor girl rolled forward out of the tray and the look on her face was just priceless. I picked Braveheart up and explained toilet etiquette to her but I truly do not believe that she took in a single word that I said. As it's a bit cooler today, I do have the heating on in the back room, although the babies aren't near the radiator any more so I'm not sure just how much of the heating that they are getting. They certainly seem happy enough though and they do love their new sleeping space, particularly Mad Max and Lethal Weapon because when they want to be mischievous children, they get off the bed at the back, run behind the small filing cabinet and come out the other side because they know full well that the mum's can't fit behind the small cabinet.

I had every intention to do proper diary entries this morning, however, a 2 1/2 hour wait in the doctors surgery with our daughter has put paid to that! So now my day is very much behind as you can imagine.

Braveheart is the first of my leg climbers which is very sweet, although I am sure once the others start it will not be quite as sweet. I was sitting her making a start on the diaries, trying to get them done as quickly as possible so I can get on with some proper work and next thing I knew, I felt someone scaling my legs. I looked down and saw 2 black paws. She got all the way up to my knees and I then gave her a helping hand and picked her up and put her on my lap where she then proceeded to climb all over me. They are just so wonderful at this age when they are learning to do everything. Lethal Weapon has been very busy practicing his pouncing/stalking skills and I have to laugh at his attempts last night. He has a long way to go but he is certainly getting the hang of it. On the whole though, our Mel's are doing very well and weaning is coming along very slowly. I know when they are ready though, they will all pile around the plate for meals and like always, until this time comes, I tend to worry about their weights.

This morning entries should not have been starting off exactly the same again, however, due to recent events this morning which involved both mums and all babies, the entries must being the same way. Got up this morning, had a bit of a sleep in, everything was fine. I went out to the garage to sort out loads of washing and drying and when I came back in, I was absolutely stunned to find that not only were the mothers not on their bed, there were no babies in sight, not on the bed and not behind the tubs. The door leading to the cat run was open but I knew the mum's would not have taken the babies outside into the run. I looked on the spare office chair and here were all 7 babies babies and both mums. I very quickly took all the babies off the chair, replaced them on the bed, and then took both mum's off the chair. Naturally, the babies took this as a reason to start running about the room. I picked up the spare office chair and put it in the main part of the home. The mum's then started picking up the babies who were walking around, but instead of placing them back on the bed, they just kept walking in circles, underneath the work surface and behind the filing cabinet, still carrying the babies in their mouths. They would not take them back to the bed at all. They started dumping them on the floor under the work surface where the chair used to be, and then they would grab another baby and do the exact same thing. I just could not believe it. Then it finally dawned on me that this was the mum's way of telling me that they were not happy with their kitten bed where it was, for whatever reason, so I quickly scooped up all the kitten bedding and stuffed it inbetween the large and small filing cabinet under the work surface and sure enough the mum's started picking up their kids and putting them on the bed, totally satisfied with their new situation. I also started collecting the babies and putting them on the bed as well and within 2 minutes, both mum's were lying down, content with the world and feeding their children. For the life of me, I have no idea what was wrong with the bedding where it originally was as that is the same place I have always put the bedding when the mum's and babies first come downstairs as it's right next to the radiator and up until this point in time, it's been an ideal spot. Tia Lusso and Amarula had other ideas. This then meant that the mum's large hooded litter tray had to be moved because I couldn't have the babies sleeping right next to the litter tray as it would be unhygienic to say the least. I then also had to move the food and water bowls so that they were placed closer to the bed. As you can imagine it's been a fun morning. (Of course one of the jobs which now must be done today is to move the power board that is on the wall because the thought of what might happen with that just horrifies me!) The photos up until the sleeping area changed were taken last night whereas the photos with the bed in the new sleeping area were all taken today. I must also say that it was really lovely to see Lynda and Peter, and Laura and Dan yesterday afternoon as well. Lynda and Peter are having Patriot, Braveheart, and either Salt or Pepper and whilst we have seen Lynda and Peter before, this was the first time they have seen their new family members and it was really lovely for their babies to have some cuddles with their new mum and dad. Laura and Dan will be having some future babies from us next year, one of which will be a baby from Tia Lusso's next litter and it's really nice for them to visit to get an idea of what their future children may look like. It was unfortunate that the babies weren't really awake for very long which meant that we all really had to sit there just watching them feed and snooze but I know that there will be lots more visits and the babies will be awake for much longer periods.

Patriot is definitely the ring leader for all 7 babies and if Patriot goes running somewhere, everyone else follows. So very typical of the Havana nature to be bold, outgoing and fearless. Between her and Mad Max, I really do despair. Patriot is also the first of our children to do a wee in the kitten litter tray. She went straight in there and knew exactly what to do. Mad Max watched her just the once and then he copied her. It is going to be a long way to go though before we stop having little accidents, which are the bane of my existence at the moment at their bedding is being changed and washed about 6 times a day!

These are not very long entries today and they are both the same really, as we have an afternoon full of kitten visitors which hopefully will go well as some of our one family has not been here before and they are considering having a baby from Cointreau's first ever litter. But at least I managed to take some photos, although they are not wonderful as the majority of them were taken late yesterday afternoon with the sun shining right into the room. I do not know if the words "Pitt Street in Sydney" mean anything to anyone other than me, but let me assure you that overnight, our back room is now like Pitt Street in Sydney. In other words traffic coming and going from all directions, road rage like you wouldn't believe, little accidents here and there........................this is a very apt description of the back room now. When the children are awake and not feeding, they are absolutely all over the place like you simply wouldn't believe. They all come and go in totally different directions, their mothers have the most tremendous "kitten freedom rage" that you could possibly imagine, and within the space of 3 minutes, there were to little "wee accidents" in different parts of the room. I know that I have been really looking forward to the time when our children were out and about and running around, however, I have rather quickly changed my mind I think. Absolutely nowhere is safe, not even the kitchen which is an "out of bounds" area for the cats and kittens in our home but obviously the Mel's and the Condiments are not yet aware of this house rule. The worst offender is Patriot which does not surprise me, followed by Braveheart, again no surprise, followed by Pepper (a bit of a surprise) and boy can these babies move. Such tiny little creatures but they are super fast zoomy babies!

Mad Max LOVES his food. I think that apart from exploring, eating is now the highlight of his life bless him. He is actually so greedy that he puts his paws in the mixture to make sure that no one else can take his share. It hasn't yet dawned on him that the only other baby who eats from the plate so far is Vinegar so there is definitely plenty to go around. As the weaning has been going to well I made up a huge batch of my special home cooked mince today which is currently cooling in the fridge as I quickly type this entry. I am hoping that this will go down well with the babies because so far, they are not particularly keen on the chicken at all.