Day 27 - May 30, 2007

It is becoming increasingly difficult to take photos of our Tails of Hans Christian Anderson because the little buggers won't stay still long enough. All apart from Ice Maiden that is as she refused to wake up and move from the cosy bedding in the box. The rest of the were a different story. It always amazes me how the babies suddenly turn into proper little kittens, almost overnight really. The problem is of course that once they realise they can do exactly what they want and go where they want, there is no stopping them at all and there is not a single corner, or piece of furniture in the room that is safe from the Tails of Hans Christian Anderson. And talk about move, these really are little "zoom" babies because they run so fast in and out of everything, that I simply can not keep up with them. Little Tuk showed me what a clever girl she was this morning by drinking from the water bowl, but naturally, she had to stick her paws in their first to make sure that it would be safe to drink from. I did smile because normally when kittens put the paws in the water bowl, whether accidentally or not, they then shake their paws and look horrified, but not Little Tuk. She didn't mind at all that her paws were wet and once she'd had a drink, she continued to happily play. I do have to admit here that at times, I find it extremely hard to tell Little Tuk and Ugly Duckling apart, aside from the obvious of course if I lift their tails because then there is a huge difference as one is a boy and one is a girl :) But when I look at them in photos, and sometimes even in person, I do have to concentrate as it is so very easy to mix them up. I don't have that problem at all with Snow Queen or Ice Maiden, both of whom have such very different features. I'm not the only one though, as Snow Queen's new family, Viv, has no difficulty telling them apart in photos either.

Day 26 - May 29 2007

There's no photos in today's entries, and the entries are all the same for each of the 3 kitten diaries. I spent most of this morning doing the normal cleaning chores etc., and this this afternoon, we had a lovely visit from our mates, Teen, Tone, and Val of Maroochydore Siamese & Orientals. Tone had made us another new "posh box" which I am totally delighted with. That guy really is a star and it's not often that you find someone so generous with their time and hard work and Tone is one in a million :) We had such a fantastic visit with our mates, as we always do, and Teen and Val were able to have cuddles with all of our babies. The babies did enjoy their visits and did not mind at all when they were picked up and cuddled and examined, and the mum's were delighted to see some new faces in the kitten room and were all vying for attention, particularly Cointreau who is back in full blown call, her 3rd since Liquorice was born! It was so nice to be able to show off the babies and to chat with Teen and Val about colour, show potential, the "cuteness" factor, future possible matings for our girls and for the Maroochydore girls. Of course it was also lovely to be able to show off our darling Ashanti who is sister to "Sheep" who shares the Maroochydore home, and make comparisons between the 2. I was also really pleased to hear that our little Nocello is not really that little at all, and according to Teen, she is not much smaller than her sister, Dingo, who also shares the Maroochydore home. It really was a wonderful afternoon and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Day 25 - May 28 2007

Some days, it's really difficult to come up with something new for the diary entries, and today is one of those days. But there is one thing I keep forgetting to mention about the Tails of Hans Christian Anderson and that is their wonderful little purrs. The babies have purrs like Ferrari engines and all it takes is a few strokes and some soft conversation and the purring begins. It really is such a lovely sound and very gratifying for me to know that the babies like me enough to contentedly purr when they are in my company. I think at the moment, Little Tuk is the most exploratory of the babies although she wasn't quite sure what to make of Drambuie as Buie is a total stranger to her so she got rather a shock when she was having a wander and she noticed Drambuie at the feeding tray so she went over and spent a good 5 minutes sniffing her before wandering off to go and tell everyone else that she just discovered a new being in the room.

Day 24 - May 27 2007

It has taken me so long to sort out the photos today that I have run out of motivation to write an actual diary entry! I took 133 photos when I was up in the kitten room today and that was an awful lot of images to sort through for each separate diary. As you can see though, our Tails Of Hans Christian Anderson are becoming bolder, and more active as each day passes. In short, they are turning into little monsters now because they are all over the place, but what adorable little monsters they are :) Little Tuk has taken to trying to run out the door now if she is awake and running around when I'm in the room. It took me a good 3 minutes trying to move her away from the door, with my foot, as I was trying to get out of the room with my arms filled with bedding I had just changed, syringe/milk, and food for mum's. She was very determined though and had no intentions of moving because the babies know that when that door is opened, suddenly there is an entire new world out there. I do think that in a weeks' time, they are going to be an absolute hand full and I may have to look at opening up the kitten room door and giving them all access to the upstairs part of the home as well as the stairs.

Day 23 - May 26, 2007

There's not many photos today as the camera batteries died after I took the Capitals' photos. The Tails of Hans Christian Anderson have not done a great deal of exploring today and I think that is because it is a little chilly so they have spent a lot of the day curled up together in the box snuggling up with each other which is very sweet. There is still no interest from any of the babies in their mum's food yet but as their weights are still so very good, I'm not really that bothered because I know that when they are ready, they will start to eat. Ugly Duckling was not very popular with Sambuca today because poor Sami was lying down feeding some of her children and Ugly Duckling decided that this was now a good time to pounce on, and attack, mum's tail. Poor Sami wasn't sure what to do as she knew if she got up to discipline her child, then the ones who were feeding would all be disturbed. Being the wonderful mum that she is, she chose to put up with Ugly Duckling's attacks rather than upset her hungry children.

Day 22 - May 25, 2007

Our poor Tails of Hans Christian Anderson really are in a confused state at the moment because they have the choice of their kitten box, and the choice of the big bed and really, babies of this age shouldn't have so many choices in life where beds are concerned because they don't really know where they should be :) They go from one bed to the other, have a sleep in one, then go back to the other and it is amusing to watch them. Snow Queen definitely has a preference though for the kitten box, rather than the big bed, although she has been exploring it. Both mum's want the kittens in the box but it doesn't always work that way. Of course it doesn't help that some of our babies will follow Liquorice' lead so if Liquorice leaves the box, some of the other will follow suit. I'm just praying that she doesn't start leading them up to the top of the scratch/activity centre!

Day 21 - May 24, 2007

It seems like it was only yesterday that our Tails of Hans Christian Anderson were born, and I can't believe that already they are 3 weeks old. The time really has been flying by. I do wish that they would all get back out of the box and find somewhere else to sleep because as you can tell by today's photos, it's really difficult to take "box" pictures. At least when they were on the bed on the floor they were much easier to photograph. I'm actually contemplating whether or not to put a massive bed back on the floor, put everyone in there, and see if Sambuca and Cointreau will be satisfied with that. Snow Queen has been in a funny mood today because none of the other babies have been safe from her wrestling matches. Whenever she was awake, she would choose the baby closest to her, then she would lie on top of them and try to stop them getting up. She may be the smallest of our babies, but she has an awful lot of determination. Speaking of weights, I'm very pleased with the Week 3 weight gains of all 4 babies and I've put these below for you to have a look at:

Baby	Colour	Sex	Week 3 Gain
Little Tuk	Oriental Black	Female	103 grams
Ugly Duckling	Oriental Black	Male	112 grams
Ice Maiden	Chocolate Point Siamese	Female	95 grams
Snow Queen	Chocolate Point Siamese	Female	81 grams

I am more than satisfied with these gains and it's fairly obvious that our Tails of Hans Christian Anderson are all thriving. As their weights are so good, I am not going to commence weaning until Week 4 at the earliest. If any of the babies choose to help themselves to mum's plate in the meantime, then that is fine, but I won't push the issue.