I am 13 weeks old now!

Liquorice is still rather despondent about not being able to go in and out of the cat run, although the window to the run has been open, the weather has just been diabolical. It's actually so wet and miserable that we have the central heating on throughout the home which the kittens certainly appreciate and they have spent a lot of time curled up in their beds where it's nice and warm. I think if I didn't have 2 hourly feeds and early weaning to do, I'd be joining them! The older they get, the more difficult it is becoming to tell Liquorice, Ugly Duckling, and Little Tuk apart. We had friends visiting today and they have a particular interest in Liquorice and when we were in the kitten room, they had asked which one she was, and I did have to check, and double check, all 3 Black children just to make sure I actually had the right one! When they are all sleeping, our older Black kids look identical and there is not a great deal of difference between them in the weight department either, although Marcelle, Jim, and Caryll agree with me that Liquorice is going to be a big girl when she is all grown up.

Liquorice isn't speaking to me today because she wants to go outside in the cat run, despite the rain and I have the window to the cat run fully shut because the flippin' rain has come straight through the run, through the window and into the darn room. The poor girl keeps climbing up the scratch post, onto the windowsill and then sits there at the window, peering out, with a yearning look in her eyes. I do feel sorry for her but I really am not prepared to have a wet room just so she can use the cat run. I did wonder this morning if she would take out her frustrations by creating havoc in the home but she eventually took herself back upstairs and climbed into the bottom bunk bed with her grandmother, and Ugly Duckling and would you believe she went right to sleep and remained that way for about 3 hours!

Today's entry is not so much about Liquorice herself, but instead it's about her parents. I was upstairs in the kitten room, I'd just taken photos of the Tails of Hans Christian Anderson and the Capitals, I was about to start taking photos of Liquorice, when I heard the unmistakable sounds of cats mating. I dropped the camera, (missing Dublin's head by inches I'm sure), flew downstairs with my brain working overtime trying to figure out who the flippin' heck Ashanti was trying to mate. Ran into my room, had a look in the cat run and here he was, on top of Cointreau, starting to really get into the swing of things. My mistake was running into my room because I already knew that the "event" was taking place in the cat run because that is where the sound came from. So then I had to run out of my room, into Graham's room, out the back door and go into the cat run via the door, I pulled him straight off her, much to both of their total and utter horror, grabbed her and carried her back inside through Graham's room, through the front hallway, and back up the stairs. She fought me the entire time because she hadn't finished "playing" with Ashanti. Now up until today, Sambuca and Cointreau have both been spending quite a bit of time downstairs (remember they can only come downstairs if I open the door to let them because they are too big to fit through the tiny kitten door that the babies go in and out of), and I know for a fact that he certainly won't be mating Sambuca, not now anyway! and Cointreau had been showing no signs of calling at all. Not even the smallest hint so I had actually thought it was safe letting her roam about, particularly as she had been doing this for the past week and there had be no incidences. Honestly, that boy has just one thing on his mind, and Cointreau is nothing more than a tart. I will now hope and pray that they didn't quite make it "all the way" and that we will not be expecting any children as a result of this dalliance. I really do think it is time for Ashanti to go and have a little holiday with his other grandmother, Marcelle! When I came back upstairs with Cointreau, the first thing she did was start all the rolling around, grooming certain parts, whilst looking rather pleased with herself the entire time. While she was doing this, Liquorice thought her mum was playing some sort of game, so she ran out of the box she had been playing in, over to her mum, was about to pounce on her and her mum smacked her on the head because obviously it wasn't games with Liquorice that Cointreau was interested in.

Again today, all entries are not particularly long and there are not too many photos. The reason for this is that we have a vet appointment today for one of our due ladies to have an ultrasound as she is due in a couple of days' time and we can not feel any movement at all. So that will be a double appointment for the scan, then we are also taking Amarula to the vets with us as we are still not happy at all with her condition and we need something to be sorted out asap. So between, and a few bits and pieces of running around, then it's going to be a busy day.

Further to this..........I was planning on taking photos for our remaining 3 diaries when we returned from the vet, however, we were quite a while at the vet, and when we came home, we very hurriedly had to make some massive changes with regards to Amarula and as a result, I just totally ran out of time so I will make sure there are photos in tomorrow's kitten diary entries.

Today, Liquorice has decided it is time for another "independent day". By this I mean she has not relied on any of the mothers at all, nor has she relied on any of her siblings, instead she has just got on with what she wants to do. As it is such nice weather, just like some of the other babies, and most of our adult cats, she has been spending her time in the cat run, either playing, chasing, pouncing, or snoozing on one of the shelves. She really does get so much enjoyment from the run and there are times when I look at her out there briefly and think she is Nocello. It is scary because I am starting to think of her as part of our own family and I know that she is only here on "loan" because I will have to give her up, yet she does just fit in so well with everyone else in the home. Sometimes it is as if she has always been part of the family.

I think a certain young lady is rather excited about collecting Liquorice because I received an email this morning, letting me know exactly how many days it is until Liquorice can go and live with Linz and Lulu. I must admit that I didn't realise it was such a short amount of time, although obviously to all of our kitten families, the waiting is the hardest as it seems to take forever, but for me, the time passes by way to quickly. So I reminded myself today that Liquorice still has to get through 2 sets of kitten vaccinations before she leaves home which means I have her for at least a month which is probably not something that Linz wants to know :) :) One thing for certain and that is that Liquorice and Lulu are going to create a lot of entertainment for Linz when it comes to playing chase on the laminate floors. I have heard tales of how much Lulu enjoys skidding on them so when Liquorice moves in, I can imagine that Linz will be hearing a lot of loud thumps as the girls chase each other into doors and walls. I really am so pleased that Liquorice is going to have feline company at Linz's because she is such a playful, energetic young lady that there is no way she could have gone to a home where she was the only cat because she is way too social.

I had very good intentions of getting diary entries online yesterday, however, problems with my computer put paid to that! I had no connection so that was a nightmare, but if that wasn't bad enough, my monitor(s) also died. Today, genius husband solved the problem for me so I'm back on track for the time being.

Upon reaching her 12th week birthday, Liquorice decided to surprise the heck out of me by being a perfect angel all day long. Now this could be because she knows her new mummy will be visiting her in a couple of week's time and she is practicing being on her best behaviour so that her new mummy will still want her ;) For 12 weeks of age, Liquorice is quite a large girl and I'm pleased with how well she has sailed through the first 12 weeks of her life. She has been such an easy baby with regards to weaning, litter training, etc. in fact, she never needed any assistance from me to turn into the beautiful, confident child that she is today. Her temperament is identical to that of her father's and I couldn't be more delighted and I know she will fit so well into Linz and Lulu's home. One thing I must mention is that when Liquorice' diary reaches the 13 week stage, then the diary will temporarily come to a halt. Normally our diaries finish around the time the babies turn 13 weeks of age because that is when they leave us, but when we have babies who stay longer, if we only have one or two diaries on the go, then we will extend them, but with 5 diaries at the moment, very soon to be 6, it's becoming an awful lot of work to keep them all going. So although this kitten diary will cease when Liquorice turns 13 weeks old, it will remain open until that special day when she leaves us and then it will be closed off.