Day 69 - july 11, 2007

Wonders never cease! After me saying yesterday how well behaved Ice Maiden and Snow Queen were, and the fact that they seem to "stay out of the way", well today they have made liars out of me. Not only have both girls been downstairs getting under my feet, more surprisingly they have both been out in the cat run! This is the girls first visit into the run and I am very proud of them. They started off by sitting on the window sill ledge, then they watched their brother go straight down the ramp and they realised that was the way to do it, so off they went and they then spent the next hour in the cat run exploring. So that is all of our Tails of Hans Christian Anderson now who visit the run when they feel the need, although it is Ugly Duckling who spends the most time out there. It is very easy to believe that tomorrow our children will be 10 weeks old because they do actually seem much older than that, I don't know if it's because they are very good size babies, or if it's because they are so confident, but at least I know that I will still have them here for at least another month by which time, they will probably be creating total and utter chaos and I'll have their little suitcases packed :)

Day 68 - july 10, 2007

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.

Ice Maiden and Snow Queen have been remarkably well behaved today. They have both been downstairs off and on, however, unlike the Oriental babies, our Siamese girls just don't seem to have that same knack of getting in the way when I'm trying to do things. They are just happy to play with all the other babies and wander about at their own leisure and at the moment, they don't feel this incessant need to demand attention from me. The only time they do is when they are in bed sleeping because if I'm sitting next to the bed chatting with the kids, they fully expect me to stoke them and cuddle them. They also both love having their tummies tickled and waving their paws in the air. They really are such very sweet children and such a contrast to Ugly Duckling and Little Tuk who are definite terrors. There is no doubt about it at all. Loveable terrors, but still total mischief makers.

Day 67 - july 9, 2007

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.

At about 8am today I went out the back to take the first load of washing and put it in the dryer and as I was walking out there, I glanced into the cat run where some of the adults were sunning themselves and enjoying the nice weather, I then realised with horror that our darling Nocello had shrunk. I put the basket of washing down and had a closer look, only to discover it wasn't Nocello at all. In fact, it was Ugly Duckling! He was having the time of his life running around in the cat run with the "big kids". I couldn't believe it. I knew he had been downstairs because I saw him climbing the large scratch post at some point this morning, but I had no idea he had actually been brave enough to venture out into the cat run. He's only 9 1/2 weeks old. I didn't mind that he was out there though because the fresh air will be good for him and he was obviously having a great time so I left him to it. It's not as if he could have come to any harm, particularly as Cointreau was out there as well. It will now be interesting to see just how long it will take for his siblings to join them, if they do. Everyone else is doing just fine with no problems at all and they have all been quite active for the past couple of days. I think it has finally dawned on them that now they are 9 weeks old they are no longer babies and don't need to sleep quite as much as they used to. I must say though that it is really lovely to see the Tails of Hans Christian Anderson all over the home at various times throughout the day.

Day 66 - 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.

Day 65 - july 7, 2007

Again these are not the longest of entries with many photos because my time today has been split between washing, cleaning, syringe feeding, litter trays, and spending time with one of our ladies who is thinking about going into labour within the next 24 hours so I do have time constraints today unfortunately.

I am really pleased to say that our Tails of Hans Christian Anderson have been eating the kitten biscuits and from the look of them, they have been doing so for a little while now and it has gone unnoticed by myself. In the past 2 days I have seen each of the 4 babies chomping away on the biscuits as if they had been doing it all their lives and I am really relieved because at 9 weeks of age, they should be at least showing an interest in the biscuits and the last thing I want is to send babies who will only eat wet/cooked foods to new homes. I'm delighted with the weights of all 4 children, they have extremely healthy appetites and bundles of energy. They don't spend quite as much time downstairs as the Capitals and Liquorice, but more and more, I am seeing them running about down here, particularly Snow Queen and Ice Maiden and I did smile today as I was walking through the hall to the kitchen and saw Ice Maiden sitting on the bottom step checking out Sage and Ice, both of whom were enamoured with this little white being. She wasn't phased at all that they were both looming over her and she continued to sit there perfectly happy with the world and watching the adult cats wander about. Considering this was Sheridans' last litter, I can safely say that he has done us proud. We have 4 beautiful, big strong children who are outgoing and happy. Out of the 4, Snow Queen is the girl who most resembles her daddy, she's the spitting image of him. Little Tuk and Ice Maiden look like their mum, and as for Ugly Duckling, well I'm not sure just who in the family he resembles but he does not look like either of his parents at the moment.

Day 64 - july 6, 2007

Today Ice Maiden has been feeling too "posh to play" and she actually has spent the majority of her day sleeping, grooming herself, or following her mum's around. Snow Queen, on the other hand, has been kept very busy refereeing the play fights and wrestling matches between the Capitals. No matter which ones of them are having playing, Snow Queen feels the need to either go and sit/stand beside them and watch, or join in but then that doesn't always work out well because experience has taught me that Orientals stick together and when she joins in their games, the Oriental babies just gang up on her and she becomes the victim. Not that she is much of a victim considering the size of her :) Little Tuk and Ugly Duckling are not very "good" babies today because I caught them with a roll of paper towel, or what was left of it, totally shredding it and putting it all over the floor. How on earth a roll of paper towel, when unraveled and torn to shreds can take up so much of the floor I really do not know. What was funny though was the look on their faces when I took it off them and picked up all the mess. They couldn't understand why I didn't want them playing this new game. They are such energetic little babies (even Ice Queen when she wants to be) and I think it's so nice that they have the company of Liquorice and the Capitals because there is always someone for them to play with when they're in the mood.

Day 63 - july 5, 2007

I must admit that with everything going on with our Nuts during the past few days, I totally lost track of time and was shocked to see when I started the diary today that our gorgeous Tails of Hans Christian Anderson are 9 weeks old today! How on earth did this happen? I tell you, it wasn't that long ago that they were miniscule little beings who barely resembled kittens and look at them now! Such beautiful, beautiful children, so big and strong, so naughty at times and each one special in their own way. To celebrate their 9 week birthday, the Tails of Hans Christian Anderson have been extra good, extra well behaved little children, they have been angels in fact. Not once has any of them tried to trip me up as I go up and down the stairs, nor have any of them been climbing on places that they shouldn't be. Despite being such grown up children now, they still continue to suckle on the 3 mum's and even though they have very good appetites when it comes to their cooked meals and wet, commercial foods, as of yet they still are not as interested in the JW kitten biscuits as I would like them to be. So far, the only baby who has definitely been eating the biscuits is Ugly Duckling, so I am going to start sprinkling some of the biscuits in their cooked/wet meals to try and encourage them to eat the biscuits from the bowls. I don't know if this will work but it will be interesting to see.