We are now 13 weeks old!

This was a sad day for me as Jupiter and Venus left me tonight to live with Geoff and Lily. The whole day was spent preparing for their departure, clipping claws, sorting out their kitten packs and all of their paperwork. When Geoff and Lily arrived, after having cuddles with their girls, we put them in the lovely carrier that they had brought along and both girls settled down in it straight away, without any problems at all. Amarula, Sheridans, and Cacao were very interested in this new smelling carrier and while we humans were trying to go through the paperwork, the adults were all over the carrier, playing with bits of it and having a great time. When Geoff and Lily first arrived, it did take a little bit of time to actually locate the babies who were running about everywhere and then I had to compare their faces just to ensure that I wasn't letting the wrong babies go. A litter of entire Blacks can get very confusing at times. Fortunately, we did get there in the end and Geoff and Lily took the right babies home with them. It is so sad when our babies leave but I know that these 2 are going to have a great time in their new home and it's wonderful that they are going together so that neither of them will be lonely. The one bad aspect of today was that I've misplaced the digital camera and was not able to take any last day photos of our girls as I normally do for each entry :(

Both diaries are the same for today unfortunately. This was a very hectic start of the weekend for me as there is an awful lot of paperwork to get through, prior to Jupiter and Venus leaving me tomorrow evening. We also had a lovely visit from Marsaili and Ian who will be having Mars, and also from Andrea and Ellice who are having Athos. Then of course, the dryer that we recently bought broke down yet again, and it couldn't have come at a worse time as I had just washed all the lounge cushions, covers etc. and now had nowhere to dry them. Fortunately, all of this had absolutely no effect on our babies whatsoever who just continue to create havoc throughout the house with their fun and games and just get on with life as they know it at the moment.

I'm afraid that photos are very few and far between at the moment and there are only a couple in this entry but that is always better than none at all :) I'm delighted that our Planets haven't created havoc at all in the house today, well so far anyway. They have all been content to play games with each other and when I got the hoover and steam cleaner out, they decided that was definitely the right time to come out to the back room to have a rather long nap. Jupiter and Mars were in a very cuddly mood last night because during visiting time in the bedroom, while the other babies were playing around, those 2 came up onto the bed and cuddled up with us for hours of purrs and strokes. These times of closeness that we have with our babies are so very special indeed. Neptune accidentally got shut in our daughter's bedroom this morning. She went off to school as per normal, closed the door behind her, and about 15 minutes later I was doing a kitten count and found that Neptune was missing. After a thorough search, I went upstairs and heard some pitiful little mews coming from our daughter's room. Sure enough, when I opened the door, there she was, looking rather sorry for herself and extremely eager to get out. Goodness only knows when she even went in there because the door to our daughter's room is always closed, even when she is in it because not all teenagers really want a load of kittens running in and out of the room, destroying things. All I can guess is that as she'd been going in and out prior to school that Neptune must have slipped in unseen and obviously hidden until our daughter left.

There was just no way that I had time today to get even the smallest of entries online, let alone any photos. It really is very hectic here and apart from that, 2 of our Planets will be leaving us on the 3rd. Venus and Jupiter will be going to live with Geoff & Lily which means an awful lot of paperwork to get through between now and then. The Planets had yet another mischievous day today that I was not overly impressed about. I went upstairs at around 1:30 only to discover toilet paper from one end of the hall to the other, to say nothing of loads of it strewn throughout the bathroom floor. At the time, I could only figure that they must have climbed up onto the toilet to reach the hanging roll and obviously played with it until it started unraveling. I do not know how 5 little babies could have done so much damage to one roll of toilet paper. What really made me laugh though (yes, even though I wasn't impressed, I have to admit it was funny), was when Drambuie came walking up the hallway with toilet paper stuck to her back paw and it was trailing along behind her wherever she went. The Planets were not happy with me when I cleaned up all the mess and took their "fun" away. It always amazes me that you can have a house full of cat toys, but they never get touched!

Last night, Venus and Mars were fortunate enough to have a visit from Geoff and Lily, their new owners. Even though it wasn't a long visit, it was lovely to see them both. They actually managed to see what the place was like at this stage of the babies' lives which basically is watching babies and adult cats zoom in and out, past you, all over the place, and never standing still long enough to be admired. I was also relieved that Amaretto was more than happy to oblige for a "claw clipping" lesson and didn't make me look like a total idiot. At about 2pm today I was wondering why on earth it was so quiet and I hadn't seen a single Planet for about half an hour. I had a look throughout the downstairs and there were no Planets at all. When I went upstairs, I was not particularly pleased to see that the kitten room door was wide open (remembering that I only recently cleaned out the entire room) and that adult cats and Planets were darting about all over the place. I saw Jupiter and Mars on the windowsill. Neptune had buried herself under a load of cushions on the chair that was in there. Sheridans and Saturn were playing chase games along the sofa bed whilst Venus was trying to judge whether or not she could jump from the chair up onto the shelf! They had put bedding all over the room, knocked most of the cushions off the lounge and then trying to catch them all and put them on the other side of the door was more fun and games. They are so darn quick and as soon as I was close enough to scoop up a baby, he or she darted off at super fast speeds, leaving me standing there looking for another baby instead. It took about 20 minutes before I could get them all out of the room. Mind you, as soon as they were out I made sure that I locked the door this time. There's no photos today I'm afraid as the camera batteries are recharging and I can't find the spare ones.

Our Planets have been on the go all day long today. The only time I ever saw any of them resting was when Mars and Venus were having a quick nap on the lounge. This only lasted about 20 minutes because Amarula found them and decided she may as well sleep too. It didn't quite work out that way though as when she got on the lounge, she sat on both their heads which they were most unimpressed about. After that, they decided it was much safer playing in the cat run with their sisters and brother. Saturn was again, showing off how manly he is by climbing the tree in the run and looking down at the others, trying to entice them to follow him, which no one did, I might add. It is a rushed entry today and very, very late going online but as per usual, it's been simply manic here and trying to find time to get entries online is not easy.

Our little ones are now 12 weeks old and the time is simply flying by. We seem to have been so very busy here lately and the Planets are growing at a rapid rate. They will be having their final vaccinations on Friday morning but I am sure they will be beautifully behaved. As I write this entry, every single baby, apart from Saturn is sound asleep. He is playing with his mum and Sheridans in the cat run but the others are all chilled out on the office chair. I started this diary entry at lunch time today, it's now 1529 and I'm ready to give up. Every time I think I'm getting somewhere, I either make a load of mistakes or something else comes in that needs taking care of. So rather than not get it online at all, I'm going to put it up now before anything else goes wrong!