Lethal Weapon shocked me yesterday afternoon by eating something from a plate that was not chicken! The babies all woke up and were hungry so I mashed some Hi Life and Denes in with some turkey mince that I had cooked. Six babies all went to the plate and started eating, however Lethal Weapon remained in the bed. I went into the kitchen and opened up the tin of a/d (yes our prescription diet finally arrived), put a little on a saucer, put it under his nose and he just did not want to know. Instead, he got off the bed and went over to the plate where everyone else was and he started eating just like the rest of them. I stood there in total disbelief. As he doesn't like the a/d though, I have been syringe feeding it to him because it's very important that he starts to make weight gains as he is now falling behind everyone else. Lethal Weapon also ate from the plate again this morning which is a relief. He and Patriot have been little terrors this morning. Everyone else was happy to sleep and feed and be good little babies, however Patriot and Lethal Weapon (along with Pepper) had no interest in sleep whatsoever. It was far more fun to run around the room and fight with each other.

I had to laugh at Braveheart this morning because the little minx was climbing all over my work surface as she does but she suddenly spied a reflection of herself in one of the computer monitors and it startled her so much that she turned into a bush baby and ran behind the monitor, where she then decided it's much more fun playing with the computer leads. Then of course, Patriot spotted what her sister was doing and thought "ooh, that looks like fun" so next thing I know, Patriot is up on the work surface as well and she and Braveheart played "Hide n Seek" with the monitor. It was all going rather splendidly until Patriot fell off the work surface and straight onto the floor! Having then lost her playmate, Braveheart thought that the time had come to mimic Toussaint and she got up on my shoulders which is really something I could have done without because unlike Toussaint, Braveheart has yet to learn that tiny little claws, when dug into one's neck, cause a lot of pain. Mad Max is just coming along in leaps and bounds and this boy has a cast iron stomach I think. Even now, it doesn't matter what I put down in front of him, he will eat it and when he's finished eating, he then goes to the kitchen door, sits down, looks up at it, and then talks to me, asking me what I am going to feed him next. I must admit that yesterday, out of a moment's desperation, I did put down 2 different plates of food with every meal so that the babies who wanted chicken could have it, and the babies who suddenly decided that they don't like chicken, could eat some mince with some Hi Life mashed into it. Now for Lethal Weapon, well very little has changed with him, and the prescription diet still has not arrived. He is still eating the chicken though which he certainly seems to enjoy. However he will not touch anything else, other than his mum's milk. At this age, chicken and milk only really are not substantial enough for him. As I write this entry, I have just turned around to look at him and her is on the kitten bedding desperately trying to take as many chunks as possible out of Vinegar's tail. Needless to say, Vinegar is not impressed!

Well the good news for the day is that yesterday afternoon, Lethal Weapon surprised us all by eating some freshly cooked chicken straight from the plate. He really loved it. This is such a huge relief because both Graham and I have been incredibly worried about him. We still have a very long way to go with regards to his weight and his eating, however, the fact that he wants to eat willingly and will eat from the plate is a major breakthrough. We're currently waiting for some Hills Prescription Diet to arrive as we have ordered a case of it in the hopes that it will assist in building him up. Chances are he won't like the taste however, the food can be syringe fed to him. As you can tell, I have gone totally overboard with photos yet again but I just couldn't help myself. Some days, the babies look much more photogenic than others and yesterday afternoon was one of those days. When I came downstairs this morning, all the babies and both mums were all sleeping on the little activity centre and no one at all was sleeping on the bed. I could not understand why everyone had stuff themselves on such a small place to sleep but it soon dawned on me. Someone had had an accident or two overnight on the bed and it was wet so no one wanted to sleep on it which is fair enough. As soon as I changed the bedding though, everyone went back to bed as per normal. Our Mel's were in very feisty moods yesterday afternoon and again this morning and they have had lots of wrestling matches and pouncing battles which is always so funny to watch.

Mad Max has been in one of those moods today where he feels that it is totally necessary to create as much mess in the room as possible, as well pouncing on, and wrestling with every single baby that he sees. No one has been safe from him today at all. It might not be so bad if he did this while they were awake but the fact that he also does it when they are asleep is not making him a particularly popular young man. This boy definitely has way too much energy but with the amount that he eats, it really is no surprise at all I guess. We are still not getting anywhere with Lethal Weapon (or his weight) and at the moment it's a constant battle of trying him with every brand of food possible, as well as syringe feeding him. Graham has been doing quite a lot of the syringe feeding and he's developing a really good rapport with Lethal Weapon as a result. Ironically enough, Patriot doesn't actually weigh that much more than Lethal Weapon, however, she eats constantly and like her brother, Mad Max, she is always on the go. She is still the fastest baby out of all of them. Also, like Mad Max, Braveheart is creating quite a lot of work for me today in the respect that this girl does not look where she's going. She just rushes about like a bull at a gate and so far she has scattered the biscuits in the food bowls twice, dug half the litter out of the small litter tray and climbed up onto my desk and started knocking all the paperwork off. All in all, the Mel's are keeping me very busy today and I'm going to look forward to the day when I can open up the door to the back room and they can all go where they like and create havoc throughout the rest of the home :)

I actually started today's entries at approximately 1130. It's now 1437 and I have gotten absolutely nowhere with them as I've also been busy trying to sort out honeymoons that are going absolutely nowhere! But at least I managed to take some relatively decent photos for a change! Patriot's much happier now that she has come to terms with the "new" sleeping arrangements and the new home for the litter tray. She was the most confused out of all babies yesterday but today she has it all sussed. Lethal Weapon has eaten a little bit from the plate today but still nowhere near enough, so as well as that, I am syringe feeding him some Liquivite as it is a complete balanced food. Some babies are just extremely stubborn when it comes to weaning and he is certainly proving to be one of them. Everyone else is eating just fine without any problems at all and none of the other 3 Mel's are particularly fussy.

Not much of an entry today for either diary as it's rather hectic here. I'm currently trying to get some honeymoon's underway and even though it's very early days, nothing is going as planned yet. In the kitten room I have a rather keen young lady who is tarting it about all over the place, and a novice boy who is really not sure at all what this is all about or what he is supposed to be doing. Then in the big stud house I have a very keen novice boy who can't wait to start his first honeymoon and a girl who has no interest whatsoever, other than to smack him in the mouth when he tries it on. So my day so far has been spent going from one honeymoon suite to the other, as well as keeping a close eye on the babies. It's going to be a long weekend I think.

Can you really believe that our Mel's are 5 weeks old already! The really flies by so quickly. We do have some good news though and that is that Lethal Weapon has finally decided that he will give this whole "eating business" a bit of a go and since yesterday afternoon, he has been eating home cooked mince from the plate, along with everyone else. This is brilliant news and a huge relief as I have been worried about him, although some babies will show no interest at all in food until they are 5-6 weeks of age, so even if he hadn't started eating, we'd still have some time with him before things got to a dire situation. At the moment, he doesn't eat as much as the other babies, however, already it's making a difference to his weight which I am very pleased about, as I'm sure Kerry is as well :) Mad Max can still eat for England and that boy really loves his food. He is also sooooooooooooooo much quieter now. I remember when he was a baby and used to squeal constantly if he was picked up and handled. Now, he climbs up my leg constantly to sit on my lap for cuddles and chats and it's such a big difference to what he used to be like. He is a darling and has the most beautiful, expressive blue eyes. Just like Mad Max, Braveheart is a real people lover and once she's finished her meal (again she has a very good appetite) one of the first things she does is find the closest pair of human legs and climb up them for cuddles, as Marcelle found out today when she and Jim came over to drop Bailey off for me. During their entire visit, Braveheart was more than content to just snuggle up on Aunty Marcelle's lap and have a snooze. As for Patriot...............well nothing ever changes with that little minx. She is just so full of herself, as most Havana's are. She goes where she wants, she does what she wants and she is such a determined little girl. She is also extremely intelligent and incredibly pretty. Patriot and Braveheart had some lovely cuddles today with heir new mum and dad. It was really lovely for Lynda and Peter that the babies were actually awake and playing today so they got to see their children in action and were also able to see them have a meal. Although poor Peter had his chair taken over when the mum's and all the babies decided it was good place to sleep and eat, apart from Mad Max and Vinegar who battled on with their play fights while everyone around them tried to sleep.