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.

London had a visit from her new mum today and it was really lovely to see Coral again. I was relieved to see that London was more than happy to cuddle up with her mum and give her some attention because Little Tuk had no intentions of being polite today so it was just as well that one of Coral's children was happy to spend time with her. Our Capitals are turning into little piggies when it comes to food time now and they are so funny when they eat because out of all the babies, it is always the Capitals who are first to the food tray and they eat with such enthusiasm that throughout the entire meal, it's not unusual to see bits of fish, chicken, or kitten food on top of the babies' heads as they are around the plate. But hey, much better that they drop food on each others' head than drop it on the carpet :) Now that our Capitals are approaching the Week 8 stage, they (like the other babies) all have a vet appointment now for their first set of kitten vaccinations and that will be on July 23. At the same time, Cointreau and Sambuca will also be having their annual boosters. As I type this entry, Washington is running about underneath my chair and Canberra is in the "big kids" litter tray and it's probably really time to finish off this diary as it's the last one for the day and it's already 1618 and I still have to go to Tesco!

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 :)

I am delighted to say that our darling Canberra now has the perfect home to go. Graham and I could not be happier about her new family, we are delighted and I know Canberra is going to have a fantastic life, even though she will probably drive her new mother to insanity in typical Tortie fashion. Despite being so much younger than the other 2 litters, our Capitals are extremely independent babies in that for a few weeks now they just go wherever they like in the home. They are all incredibly brave children, even Whingey Bum aka Washington, but I swear if Canberra and London keep running into the kitchen where they know they are not allowed to be, then harsh words are going to be spoken. On four occasions today I've had to remove both girls from the kitchen. As soon as I open the door, they go rushing in and they know I can't stop them, it's just not possible to move that quick. But if that isn't bad enough, Port-of-Spain is desperate to meet the new arrivals and 3 times today the little minx has just gone running straight into the 2nd kitten room to see who is in there. Now each time I enter the 2nd kitten room, I have my hands full with towels, bedding, milk mixture and syringes so there is no way on earth I can stop her getting in and she knows this. So thanks to her, I have to open the door, dump everything straight on top of one of the posh boxes, and then try to grab Port-of-Spain before she makes it to the box where the Nuts and the Detectives are. And if my life isn't complicated enough, I have just heard the sounds of a queen vomiting behind me and now is the time that morning sickness should be kicking in with her so it's entirely possible I can confirm another pregnancy. And on that note, I'm off to clean up cat vomit and then will try to start the remaining diaries!

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.

Canberra was in fine form today and more than happy to show off to a very special friend, just how much trouble she is going to be when she matures. She didn't hesitate to let herself by handled by our friend and I am delighted, particularly as I'm trying very hard to talk our friend into having Canberra ;) But really, all the Capitals are so incredibly special. Washington continues to be a Whingey Bum bless him and he fully expects me to attend to him the moment he opens his mouth. Actually this could be why he is a Whingey Bum because each time he screams at me, I pick him up or play with him. The Capitals have spent time upstairs and downstairs today and they really do get under your feet. They're such tiny, active little children and they refuse to move out of the way if I'm walking up or down the stairs. They stay exactly where they are, or, worse yet, the dart in and out of my feet as I traipse up the stairs.

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.

In all of yesterday's "excitement", we totally missed celebrating the Week 7 stage of our Capitals' lives. They did have a special treat though (along with the other babies) as they had pilchards in tomato sauce which they absolutely loved. They've not had it before and I think it's safe to say that the Capitals loved it. Drambuie is really giving me grey hairs at the moment. She insists on sitting on about the 3rd step from the bottom of the stairs and she feeds her children there. They stay there for hours and it's impossible to get up and down the stairs without falling over Buie or the Capitals. This has been going on for a week now and I can not stop her from feeding them on the stairs. Then yesterday, after I had finished all the hoovering in the upstairs part of the home, Drambuie promptly went and threw up all over the flippin' carpet <sigh> and I'm not talking just a few small drops of vomit, I'm talking mega vomit. Fortunately all of the babies saw fit to walk around it, and not walk through it or worse yet, eat it! Something else I must mention that happened a couple of days ago and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry but poor Port-of-Spain got a bit of a shock. Some of the babies were downstairs running around, the front door was open (we have screen wire doors courtesy of the fantastic Tony) and Port-of-Spain was behind the front door. Along came Ashanti, in typical manly fashion, aimed his bum at the front door, lifted his tail, and sprayed all over the door. I suppose it was just very bad timing that as he started to spray, then was the moment Port-of-Spain chose to come out from behind the door. Can you see where I'm going with this? Yep, Port-of-Spain got the shock of her life when hit in the head by a shot of cat spray. Ashanti had no idea and carried on as if nothing had happened. I wiped down Port-of-Spain with some warm water and a minute amount of Hibiscrub because I don't keep cat shampoo in the home, obviously couldn't wash her with bleach, did not want to spray Urine Off on her, so it had to be the Hibiscrub. To say she was most unimpressed was a huge understatement. I was telling Teen about it on the phone and I'm not sure which one of us was laughing the most :)

Day 49 - July 8, 2007

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.