We are 5 weeks old now!

Day 34/35 - June 23/24, 2007

We have had an absolutely horrendous weekend (not cat related) which is why there were no kitten diaries online. They will resume as per normal tomorrow.

Day 33 - June 22, 2007

I did manage to take individual photos again of our babies as I hadn't done that for quite some time and it was long overdue. Some babies were more compliant than others during the photos session, others were pleased to pose for the camera. This is the start of a very busy weekend for us, going into next week, as we have a few different things on the go at the moment, one of which includes monitoring a honeymoon that commenced today between Ashanti and one of our ladies, then there are a few other major events happening, so please do bear with me if diaries are short, or few and far between over the next few days. We also have a girl who is due in approximately 1 week's time so everything really is up in the air at the moment. My one bright spot in our very hectic schedule are the babies. I tell you, when there is so much going on, it is such a pleasure to be able to go upstairs and just sit with the babies and play with them and chat to them.

Washington is turning out to be a little terror! Yesterday morning, and this morning, I was brushing my teeth, in my dressing gown as you usually are, and Washington now thinks what a fun game it is to come charging up to mum, taking a flying leap, land on mum's dressing gown, scare the heck out of mum and make her choke on the toothpaste, and then swing back and forth until he falls off. He walks away, gets yet another good running distance and starts all over again. Now the obvious solution to this little problem would be to shut the bathroom door when I brush my teeth but how cruel would that be! He loves this new little game and the small risk of swallowing my toothbrush would be a small price to pay to keep him happy :) At last, Dublin understands what the word "weaning" means. I am delighted. For 48 hours now I have not had to sit down with her on my lap and encourage her to eat. I now simply pick her up, plonk her in front of the food tray, and she tucks in straight away. This is making a big difference to her weights and she is no longer fussy at all and will eat anything that is in the tray. She was the only one of our children who was really struggling with weaning. The rest of the Capitals picked it up very early on and they have been so very easy to wean. As for going down the stairs, well there is no stopping these babies once they set their mind on something and so far Washington, Dublin, and London, are definitely getting the hang of the stairs. In fact, Washington has been seen all the way at the bottom of the stairs, sitting on the bottom step, desperately pleading with me to let him out to "play". In case you can't tell, I am delighted with our Capitals' progress. Despite the size differences between our 5 Capitals, they are just doing beautifully. Such a happy, loving, confident, annoying bunch of babies. I must say that out of all the babies we currently have in our home at the moment, there are 2 that have well and truly touched my heart, one of which is our Dublin obviously, but the other, is little London. This girl is so loving, so "in your face", and so attention seeking which is exactly how I like Orientals to be. Every time I go into the kitten room, or walk about upstairs, London is right on my heels, talking to me, screaming at me, and she is just an amazing little fur child. She and Dublin both have identical personalities which really does surprise me because normally in any litter, whilst babies have the same personality traits, there is always one or two things that are different in their personalities, but so far, that is not the case with these two children.

Day 32 - June 21, 2007

Many apologies for missing an entry today however we had a number of things to sort out yesterday and there just wasn't time to get an entry online.

Day 31 - June 20, 2007

I went upstairs last night, can't even remember what for now (says it all really!) and to my surprise our bedroom door was open and the Capitals were under the bed, in the en suite, behind a shelf unit. I couldn't believe it. Our door is always shut during the day because we do have some adult cats who won't hesitate to pee on the bed if they are feeling so inclined. I asked Graham if he had left the door open and he hadn't. This meant one thing only.................Drambuie had decided to help herself, and the Capitals, into our room. Drambuie is one of our "door openers" which can be irritating as we do have to put locks on the doors just because of her. Anyway, do you have any idea how difficult it is to try and catch tiny Capitals as they run under the bed and throughout the room. I'm sure they thought it was really funny to run away from me because they knew darn well I was trying to catch them to put them back out. Sure enough, when one was caught and put out, that same baby would run straight back into the room while I was putting another baby out. It took me a good 20 minutes to finally evict everyone from the bedroom. As they do come in and visit us of an evening in the bedroom, they must have felt it was perfectly okay for them to be in their during the day as well.

Day 30 - June 19, 2007

One thing I must mention is that because the babies are always altogether and all over the place, it is difficult now to get separate photos for each diary entry so it may be worthwhile checking the other diary entries as you will probably find some photos of your babies in the other diaries as well.

Dublin is the only one of our Capitals who is an extremely fussy eater. As it stands at the moment she will not eat anything at all, other than roast chicken, and Hills a/d. She will only eat the a/d if I offer it to her on my fingers first and then encourage her to use the plate. She's going to be a stubborn little girl so perhaps it is just as well she is remaining with us. I know she is only 4 1/2 weeks old but I would like to get her trying a few different foods, particularly as the rest of her siblings all come running straight to the tray at feeding times and they just help themselves. The only time I step in is if I feel one of them is being pushed aside by the older babies. Which reminds me, I must look for a larger tray I think. All of our Capitals have very good appetites although Washington's weight, compared to the rest of his siblings is quite remarkable! This boy is gaining weight rapidly, every single day. He is now over 230 grams bigger than Dublin. He has even left Canberra behind now and is about 70 grams more than she is and Canberra is not a small girl. At some point this week, time permitting, I will share the weights with you because there is such a huge difference between our smallest child and our largest child.

Day 29 - June 18, 2007

I am afraid that these babies are going to be trouble. I have no doubts about this because even at this very early age they are constantly getting in the way and making a nuisance of themselves. No matter what I try to do whether it is change bedding, hoover, or change litter trays the little buggers are in my way. I can not move in the kitten room without them wanting to "help" me bless them. It doesn't matter how many times I pick them up and put them somewhere else, they come running/wobbling back to me as fast as they can. The words "No" and "Can't" do not exist in the Capitals dictionary which doesn't really surprise me considering that they are Drambuie children. I couldn't even say that one was worse than the other because they are all equally as bad. I don't know if this is because they associate me as being one of their mummies due to the fact that I have been going through the weaning process with them, or if they actually just want to try their level best to get in my way. The problem is of course that they are so adorable and funny that each time they try to help me I have to pick them up and cuddle them so it is taking so much longer to get anything done in the upstairs part of the home now.

Day 28 - June 17, 2007

I've not really had a chance to do any photos because I'm behind on the kitten diaries and I also have 3 pregnancy diaries to update.

London had a visit from her new mummy today. This entry is sort of split in half as Coral was also visiting Little Tuk, so there is part of this entry in the Tails of Hans Christian Anderson diary just to make matters even more confusing. London was perfectly happy to show her new mummy just how inquisitive she was and how much she loved cuddles. In fact, she was doing her level best to take the attention away from Little Tuk whom Coral was also visiting. Jill who is Coral's friend, was a hit with our Capital and they were extremely curious about her and were more than happy to climb on her lap and have cuddles. The babies were all so very funny as they ran around the room. At this age, they are entertaining because their limbs don't move as fast as they want them to and they are still trying to grasp how to climb on everything and as they totter around the room, wobbling as quickly as they can, they do look as if they are drunk :) It was really great to spend some time with Coral and with Jill and both London and Little Tuk are going to have a wonderful home with their new mummy and I know that Coral will spoil them and it is very obvious to me that as these babies mature, they are going have Coral wrapped around their little paws. Of course this is exactly how it should be when you share your home with Orientals and Siamese.