I am 12 weeks old now!

Again today, there are no entries or photos because for the first time since Amarula's babies were born, we actually took some "time out" for ourselves and we went out to visit family during the afternoon. We were gone about 5 hours in total which is the longest we've been able to be away from the babies. It was nice to actually go out for a little while, and all the babies appeared to behave themselves during our absence. Tomorrow's diaries will resume as per normal with individual photos in each diary.

Again today, Liquorice has spent an awful lot of time downstairs, dividing her time being going into the cat run, sitting on the chair next to me, and playing like a hooligan with the other babies. She really can wear you out when she is at her most active. But then I do get lots of hours of peace in between because she's more than happy to take herself upstairs to bed and curl up with the rest of the babies for some long cat naps. This is when she looks her most adorable. She also spent part of her time today fighting with Ugly Duckling. He is more than a match for her, and is a big boy despite being younger than Liquorice and because they are both Blacks, they are both extremely stubborn, neither of them willing to give an inch in a fight. Liquorice though, in typical female fashion, gets this look in her eyes that makes even Ugly Duckling think twice and I can't say I blame him :)

Many apologies but there is no entry at all for today as it's just been manic here and I've not had a chance to get any entries online.

Yet again today, photos are minimal and for that matter, they aren't particularly good photos either :( My entire day today has been spent alternating between feeding, and supervising matings between our visiting lady, to say nothing of the fact that all babies have been little terrors today and have been all over the house so the only time I could catch them standing still long enough for photos was when they were sleeping! By the time Friday comes around, I'm hoping to do individual photos as our visiting lady will have gone back to her own home by then and I will have a bit more time on my hands so bear with me, we'll get there in the end :)

Liquorice has not been in the kitten room much today at all. She's only actually been in there for meals because she has spent the rest of her day either out in the cat run, or downstairs with her mother. All 3 mothers come and go as they please, although I have to open the door for them because if I open the little kitten door fully, then our adult cats can all go through there which I am trying to avoid because I don't want any of our "spraying" cats upstairs unsupervised. Cointreau has reached the point now where her own daughter is 11 1/2 weeks old and she feels that it's time to take a break from motherhood, or should I say, the kitten room. She is happy to be in there of an evening, but during the day she wants to be downstairs with her daughter and the rest of the family and this is fine. She's done a brilliant job sharing mother duties with the other babies so she's entitled to spend her days how she chooses now. It is lovely though to see her playing with Liquorice because Cointreau has turned into a kitten all over again. She and her daughter spend hours playing chase in the cat run, and pouncing on each other, having a wonderful time.

There are no photos today sorry as we had a friend visit us and we also have an outside queen here to hopefully have a honeymoon with Ashanti so most of my day has been spent doing the syringe feeding, and spending time with the "bride to be" and Ashanti.

Now that Liquorice has found the cat run, she spends an awful lot of time in there, she absolutely loves it and I'm just so pleased that the sun has been shining and the weather has been nice because she is getting so much exercise and enjoyment running about in there. Liquorice will play with anyone who shows an interest in her, it makes no difference whether it is the other kittens, or some of our adults, if they will play with her then she is over the moon. I know that when Liquorice does leave to go and live with Linz and Lulu, the home will seem so much quieter. It is odd I know, but a kitten as happy and "in your face" as Liquorice just seems to be part of the family, rather than a kitten who is on loan to me until she moves on to her new home.

Before I do any entries, I must mentions photos. There are not many photos today and what we do have is rather awful. The reason for this is that we had a vet appointment at around midday for Ashanti to be blood tested as he is having a lady visit him soon and she is not one of our own ladies, and we also had to have Shelley, our dog vaccinated. As well as that we had to go to the tip and a few other places, all within the space of 2 hours so I could be back for the feeds. This morning, all I had time to do apart from the trays etc, put the washing on, cook the fish and roast chicken, then clean the upstairs part of the house, feed everyone, and it was time to go out. Then when we came back the first thing I had to do was go straight upstairs with food for the older litters and I had to syringe feed the baby people belong to Amarula and Tia Lusso. So it has been totally manic and it's actually a miracle that there are even diary entries for today, let alone photos.

Liquorice had her first experience of the cat run today, although she was not the first of our babies to venture into the run. Instead, she actually followed Ugly Ducklings' lead as he was the first to go out into the run. To say she was having the time of her life was an understatement as she climbed on every shelf she was able to, she dove in and out of the 2 small cat houses, and I think her little nose must have covered every inch of that cat run while she explored. It didn't matter to her that our adult felines were all out there as well and she just merrily went on her way, having fun, paying no attention at all to the adult cats. Actually, I think our adults who were sunning themselves at the time were getting a great deal of amusement as they watched Liquorice and Ugly Duckling play games and tear around inside the run. I do have a feeling now that Liquorice has finally "found" the outside world in the form of the run, she may well become a regular visitor out there, provided of course we actually manage to have a few days of decent weather.

There are no kitten diaries today for the Capitals, Tails of Hans Christian Anderson, or Liquorice as it's been a manic day with the arrival of new babies in the home. Entries will resume as per normal tomorrow.