I actually cheated with the photos in today's entry because they were taken last night, before I went upstairs for the evening. The babies surprised me this morning because when I opened up the door to the back room so everyone could have full house/cat run access, they didn't go running off to the loungeroom so seek comfort away from the other cats. Instead, they both remained in the same rooms with everyone else and even continued to play up on the dining table while our other cats were wandering around and doing their normal things. This really pleased me, because whilst Blackberry hasn't really had an issue with the others, Loganberry has, so she is slowly starting to come round and realise that our other cats are not a threat to her.

Apologies for not getting the entry online until the following day but yesterday was quite busy for me. Yet again, my Berries have vanished for most of the morning although they seem to go to the same spot which is in the lounge room. Goodness only knows what they do there, probably curl up and sleep knowing them. They are getting more used to our own cats now, although Blackberry has been much better with them than Loganberry is. Out of the 2 babies, Loganberry is much more reserved than Blackberry and tends to follow her sister's lead. So if Blackberry is happy to stroll about and meet everyone, then Loganberry will follow closely on her heels.

Trying to take photos of the Berries is almost impossible these days for 2 reasons. The first reason being that as they have full house access, they are zooming about everywhere and move too darn fast. The other reason is that half the time, I have absolutely no idea where they even are! The best bet is to go looking for Sambuca because she follows them around like a hawk and if they're playing in one part of the house, Sami will sit close by and watch them to make sure no other cats scare them. When I was looking for them to take photos this morning, Sami was sitting on the end of the lounge but I couldn't see the babies so I was looking behind the lounge and under the coffee tables and then suddenly spied them up on the windowsill playing hide and seek with the curtains. The game was going really well until Loganberry fell off onto the floor. Within 2 minutes though I saw 2 Seal Point paws appear on the scratch post and she climbed up and went straight back onto the windowsill to play again. It's really odd for me because I keep looking around behind me, expecting to see them because they've been with me now for so long and it's a bit of a shock when I realise that they aren't even in the same room as me. Yet again it's a fairly busy day today because Buttons is leaving us tonight which means getting all his paperwork ready.

Many apologies to Jason and Mandi for getting such a late entry up, as well as no photos. It's been so manic here today. Our Berries had their first set of vaccinations this morning and so far all is well. Loganberry is such a wally as I put them in the transparent carrier on the way to the vets and the silly girl kept head butting the plastic shield. I have no idea if she was just confused, or if she truly thought she could break through the carrier and escape. Blackberry on the other hand was as good as gold and cause me no problems whatsoever. She sat up in the carrier like a good girl, watching her sisters' antics. They were both well behaved during the actual vaccination itself and neither girl put up any fuss at all so I'm really proud of them both. When we came back home, the girls were put into the back room with their mum and both of them promptly went to sleep. Now I don't know if this is because of the vaccines, or if it was due to the fact that they both had been running around like lunatics prior to the vet visit and were tired out anyway. After lunch, I opened up the back door so that the rest of the household could come in and explore which didn't impress the babies a great deal although they weren't scared by the older cats, more curious but still tentative. Things were going quite well until Grandma Cacao came in, plonked herself down on "their" bed, and then proceeded to growl at both babies and smack them on the head. It was no surprise that they then decided to go out into the main part of the house. As I write this entry, they are sitting on a dining table chair, I think because Tia Lusso is on the highest tub, Cacao and Amarula are on their bed, and their mother is eating. Just before dinner though, they will be put back into the back room because of an evening they will still be sleeping in the room with their mum, separate from everyone else in the house.

Last night, after dinner, all of the adult cats etc. were in the upstairs part of the house (they go up there when we humans eat our meals), and so I opened the door to the back room so that the Berries could come out and explore the downstairs part of the house. At the time, we were watching the Tri Nations game (being an Aussie, naturally I am a huge Rugby League fan) and it's the first time ever that I remember missing parts of an important match due to the fact that the Berries were tearing around on the table, behind the fish tank and climbing in the CD rack. They were so incredibly amusing and I found it very difficult to concentrate on the game because my eyes kept being drawn to their games. Watching young kittens play with each other is so entertaining because they are very uninhibited. This morning, our Berries have been tearing around the back room, climbing all over the desk and running in and out of the cat run and it's safe to say that they have far more energy than I do today.

I can not believe our house is so quiet now as we only have 1 Dancer and 1 Chocolate Bar left, both of whom are looking for loving new owners. At least, on Monday, our Berries will have 2 new playmates when they are given the run of the house and I'm sure they will enjoy that a great deal because up until now, they've only had each other to play with. When I first came downstairs this morning, I actually had to move my office chair to the other end of the room and move the other office chair up to my work surface because both Berries, and Sambuca were sleeping on my chair and were not prepared to move at all. They left me no room to sit down on my own chair. Naturally, I could have moved them off but they looked so content and peaceful that I couldn't bear to disturb them. Trying to take photos of Blackberry today has been extremely difficult because as per usual, whenever I pointed the camera at her, she walked towards me for cuddles, whereas Loganberry is content to sit there looking beautiful for the camera.

I think it's fairly safe to say that Blackberry will also be pleased when her mother has finally finished being on call. (yes she is still screaming her head off relentlessly). On 3 separate occasions this morning, Sambuca has been rolling around like a tart on the tubs and on each occasion, she has kicked Blackberry in the face with her back paws and pushed her off the tub. When I watch the Berries play, it's actually very easy to believe that they are 9 weeks of age because not only are they quite large babies, they are now at that stage where they are behaving exactly like older kittens do. This is why I can't wait until Monday when they have had their vaccinations and can then join the entire Schimmel household. They will also have Tango and Buttons to play with as they will be remaining with us a bit longer so that is lovely. It's not a very long entry today as for me, this is a sad day because more of our Dancers have gone to new homes.