I had thought this morning that we were getting back to normal and I was ready to do a proper diary entry with more text than has gone in for the past couple of days however everything went horribly wrong when I had a disaster with my camera software. It took me 1 1/2 hours to get to the bottom of the problem and download the photos, by which time, I lost all enthusiasm.

Both Ned Kelly and Joe Byrne are doing remarkably well and are becoming much more active and alert as each day passes. They are more than comfortable with the sound of my voice now and with being stroked and picked up however, both of them still protest quite loudly when it comes time to get weighed. I really do not know why they have such an aversion to sitting on the scales, especially when they are on them for less than 5 seconds. At the moment, Joe Byrne is a real mummy's boy who likes to stay close to either Amaretto or Drambuie, whereas Ned Kelly really only wants one of the mum's if he is hungry. When he's awake and not feeding, all he wants to do is join in the little games with the Pints and go exploring. In typical Red fashion he will no doubt be a hand full when he is much older but at least his owner, Elaine, is more than prepared for what she will be taking on.

Again, this entry is short and starts of the same for both diaries and today's photos were not particularly great because as per usual, Drambuie wouldn't get out of the way and let me take some photos of the children. All babies had lovely cuddles today with my mother in law who is visiting at the moment which is lovely. I must admit that I do love showing off the babies to mum whenever she is here with us and I know she enjoys it as much as the babies do.

I'm pleased to say that both Bush Rangers weight gains were good again for the last 24 hours so it would appear that they are still getting plenty of milk, despite the older babies now sharing their box. If anything, Ned Kelly and Joe Byrne are actually maturing a bit quicker than they probably should. The reason for this is that they are mimicking everything that the see the Pints do. So if the PInts are climbing out of the box, the Bush Rangers try to follow them. Already, both babies are grooming each other and themselves on a regular basis, just like they have seen their mum's and the Pints do. If the babies keep doing a well as they are, then I may bring them down a little bit earlier than their 3 week stage.

Just like the Pints' diary entry, this one is also very short because we have a mountain of things to get through here over the next few days so many apologies for the lack of text. I was pleased to see that our Bush Rangers weights weren't affected too much by having the older babies in the same box with them but I will still be keeping a close eye on weights as per usual. You can probably tell by 2 of the photos below that Ned Kelly has decided to be one of the "big kids" and he was very fascinated as he watched Caffreys climb out of the box and go for a walk, so much so that he felt he should join them. I was surprised to see that he had no problems whatsoever clambering out of the box, onto the soft padding, to follow in Caffreys paw prints.

At some point during the night while I was sleeping, the Bush Rangers' landlord must have made a surprise visit to Drambuie and the babies who, I am presuming, were behind with the rent. They only had 2 options, they could either get evicted, or, they could take on some lodgers. The most obvious choice for a mother with babies of such a young age was to take in lodgers. Imagine my surprise when I opened the kitten room door this morning to find all 5 babies, Amaretto & Drambuie all in the Bush Ranger's box. I had to smile because they all looked so happy and content there together, although I was hoping this wouldn't happen until Ned Kelly and Joe Byrne were a bit older. I should have been expecting it though because last night, Drambuie was taking an awful lot of interest in the Pints who are now roaming in and out of the box and every time they were out of the box, Drambuie was grooming them all over and talking to them. Actually, this makes me wonder whether or not Amaretto took the Pints into the Bush Rangers box, or whether Drambuie actually stole Amaretto's babies! Either way, it was a good choice as the Bush Rangers box is much larger than the Pints' box and they all fit in there very well and appear to be happy. I do have 2 slight concerns with this, one of which being that Drambuie will wander off about the room and leave Amaretto to the job of feeding all 5 babies although Drambuie is such a good mum that I really don't think that will be the case. My other concern is that Ned Kelly and Joe Byrne will get pushed aside at feeding time by the Pints who are obviously much older and much bigger so I will be monitoring their weights very closely. Of course with only 5 babies and 2 mums it does mean an awful lot of spare nipples to go around so hopefully the Bush Rangers will continue to make good weight gains. The other little problem with this is the darn photos because now, instead of having "Pints" photos and "Bush Rangers" photos, I am now left with photos of all the babies together so it looks like from here on in, both diaries will have photos that have all 5 babies in them. If you are having one of the Pints or the Bush Rangers, then chances are you will find photos of your babies in both diaries and not just one.

As per usual, Drambuie was getting in the way when I was trying to take photos. As far as she is concerned, whenever I am in the kitten room it is solely to give attention to her and no on else. I do think she is starting to get bored being in there, even though she has Amaretto for company because on a couple of occasions now, I have gone up to the kitten room only to find that the door is almost partially open and if it weren't for the hook/lock on it, then she would have opened it and let all the other cats in. Unfortunately, the Bush Rangers are still too young to come downstairs even though the Pints will be old enough in a day or so. I would like to keep them in the kitten room until the Bush Rangers are 3 weeks of age and then bring both mum's and babies down to the back room. This will all depend on whether or not the Pints hold off their exploring. Our Bush Rangers are still making very good weight gains and Joe Byrne is slightly that much bigger than Ned Kelly. Ned was actually the biggest baby born by 2 grams, however, within a day of their birth, Joe Byrne had caught up with his brother and surpassed him in the weight department and that is how it has remained ever since.

Well Ned Kelly's eyes are now fully open and he's been making the most of it by clambering all around the box today. The only time he has been still is when he is sleeping. It's a case of "Look our world, here I come". He is now getting his own back on Joe Byrne because poor Joe was trying to have a snooze this morning and Ned Kelly kept walking straight into him and then on top of him, standing on his head. Joe Byrne gave up his idea of a nap in the end and decided to find his mum and have a feed instead. It's not a particularly long entry today because it is Sunday and I have quite a bit to try and get through today. The other problem of course is that the babies are so very young and really do not do much at all yet so it's difficult to think of what to put in their diary because the last thing I want to do is bore anyone who is actually reading this so I don't want to say the same things day in and day out.

Ned Kelly has finally opened his eyes, although they are not fully open, they certainly will be by this evening. Today's photos are not particularly great because Drambuie was in a bit of a funny mood this morning. She didn't know what she wanted, she was in and out of the box as I was trying to take photos of the Bush Rangers and kept getting in the way. Our babies are a week old now and are coming alone nicely. At the moment, Joe Byrne is the loudest of the 2 babies and he is not impressed with being picked up and examined, or weighed for that matter. Ned Kelly on the other hand is quite different. When I pick him up and look at him, he actually does not protest, nor does he wriggle, he is happy to stay still and examine me while I examine him. Being a Red though, this behaviour will probably not last too long and as he matures he will turn into the typical stubborn, mischievous kitten in that special way that only Reds have. Fortunately, Elaine, his owner, is more than aware of what she will be taking on with him. Our babies' weight gains are excellent and I'm really pleased with their 7 day old weights.

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