We are 12 weeks old now!

Great news! At last the camera works and I have been able to retrieve the photos that were on there. The new usb cable that I ordered yesterday arrived this morning and to say I am over the moon (and relieved) is an understatement. I can't be without the camera and you really have no idea how frustrating the last few days have been for me. But all is well again in my little world now :) :) :) I have now added the photos to the Day 76 entry, as well as Day 80 and Day 81. Today I didn't take any photos as I have spent hours sorting out over 100 photos that I retrieved from the camera and as you can imagine, that was rather time consuming. I had some visitors this afternoon in the form of Loo and Steve. It was lovely to meet them both and Loo is just as nice in person as she is via email. Thanks so much to both of you not only for the fantastic bottle of Frangelico, but also for such an enjoyable time. I always love showing off our feline family and today was certainly no exception. Fortunately, all of our adult cats, and our adolescent kittens were quite well behaved which really does make a nice change :) The Racers only ventured downstairs for a very brief period of time and that was when Loo and Steve first arrived. Mind you, they had been creating havoc all day downstairs so they figured they would take themselves back upstairs to bed this afternoon and they have been sleeping since 2pm!

I was totally horrified early yesterday evening when I went upstairs and saw what the Racers were doing................................it was about 1815 and I was taking the ironing upstairs to put away and as I approached the top of the stairs, to my surprise, there were 3 Racers walking along, and balancing on, the stair banister at the top of the stairs. Phar Lap, Sea Biscuit & KT. Red Rum, on the other hand, was standing on the top frame part of the triple bunk (the top bed isn't in there as I think it's too high for babies) and she was about to join the others on the banister. I tell you, I do not need shocks like this. I very quickly remove the 4 offending babies, put them in the bottom bunk of the bed whilst visions of babies with lying at the bottom of the stairs filled my mind. Panic and stress levels were running pretty high, even though the babies were all fine and having the time of their life. It is my own fault due to the fact that the triple bunk bed is located in the upstairs hallway right in front of the banister. Not for one moment did I ever think that the babies would be daft enough to just climb out of them middle bunk, onto the bunk frame, and from there onto the banister. This now means that during the day, the bed is moved to the other side of the wall, or as far away from the stair railing as possible. The Racers' way of expressing disapproval at having their "stair banister" games halted was by shredding an entire roll of toilet paper throughout the upstairs bathroom, the hallway, and their own kitten room. I have today ordered a new usb cable for the camera in the hopes that this will sort out the problem but I really do have my doubts.

Absolute bedlam and chaos! There is no other way to describe our home at the moment. During their waking hours, the Racers spend all day long tearing up and down the stairs, creating havoc downstairs, while our adolescent kittens and adult cats spend half their day running upstairs and creating havoc up there. I have totally given up trying to keep the adults from going upstairs, it really is a waste of my time. Some of our adults are allowed up there whenever they like but a few of our more "troublesome" felines are not allowed up there due to their spraying habits but honestly, there's no way to stop them. I can walk into the kitten room at any given time of day and discover adult cats up there with babies, while the babies are downstairs with the adults. KT decided that she would be the first Racer to venture into the great outdoors i.e. make use of the large cat run. I was sitting at my pc when I spotted KT on the windowsill, about to step out onto the ledge and the ramp and I watched her feeling rather proud as she took her first steps into "fresh air". I am certain that her new mummy to be, Zoe, will be very proud of her little girl. She was soon followed by Phar Lap and both of them just looked in wonder at the rest of our cat family who were lazing around on the shelves enjoying the sunshine. I really am so pleased to see that at long last the babies are starting to use the cat run. Naturally I grabbed the camera, took a couple of photos, before realising what a waste of time it was as I still can't download them! I'm hoping that as the days pass, if this lovely weather continues then the rest of the Racers will follow suit and also start to make use of the run. Yes, I think it's fairly safe to say that life is extremely good at the moment :)

Very late yesterday afternoon, our Racers discovered that there is no better surface to play paper football on than a newly polished floor. When I opened their little kitten door yesterday they were falling over themselves to get out into the downstairs part of the home and I had to laugh as I stood there doing the ironing, watching the Racers skid across the floor at top speeds, jumping on top of each other and growling like lions if another Racer tried to take "their" paper football. I did take some photos but as you are probably aware by now I can't download the flippin' images! None of them were reckoning on Ice joining in though and when he came running through the room into the hallway to join in, there were suddenly babies scurrying everywhere for cover. Bless him, Ice loves playing paper football and he loves nothing more than playing with the little babies. I did try to explain to the children that this grown up man, is in fact, their own grandfather and that he is a very gentle soul but it was a good 10 minutes of carefully watching him before deciding that yep, it was safe to carry on playing. Lucy no longer feels the need to hang around and be protective of them when they are downstairs. Instead she wanders off and does her own thing, but the moment one of the babies cries out or growls, she appears from nowhere ready to take on the world in order to protect her family. She is like every other mother in the world, be they feline or human, always on alert and ready to defend every single one of her family members against any possible predator or "evil doer". Of course once she realises that they are in fact growling at each other because they are disputing who owns the paper footballs, she soon vanishes back upstairs or out into the cat run. Today I waited until the Racers had wandered upstairs to their bunk beds to go to sleep before putting another coat of polish on the floor. Fortunately the polish dries very quickly so they were only "banned" from downstairs for a half hour period.

The next problem we really need to try and solve is the darn "camera" problem. It is driving me to the point of insanity not being able to post any photos. As it stands, I finally uploaded the text for our 3 pregnancy diaries as I couldn't wait for photos any longer. The Racers have been creating absolute havoc upstairs and on the stairs today and the poor children still can't understand why, up until now, they've not been allowed downstairs. I'm currently waiting for them to wake up and come down the stairs because at last I will be able to open their little door and let them join in the family as per normal. I still have loads of DIY to finish off (and in some cases..........to start) but at least the worst of it is over, I hope :)

I'm really beginning to hate the term "DIY" as our normal daily routine has totally gone out the window for the time being. The one and only saving grace for today is that half an hour after I had put the first coat of varnish on, some very good friends popped around for a visit and fortunately were able to get through the door........................barely! Had they arrived an hour earlier I would have been talking to them through a window! Still we are getting there. Fortunately our Racers are so independent now that they really only rely on me for food and lots of cuddles and chats and they are happy to get on doing their own thing. I'm hoping that by late tomorrow afternoon, they will at least be able to come downstairs again.

Yet another day passes with almost no kitten diary entry. We have spent the entire day until late afternoon, doing yet more DIY and the Racers very kindly chose to stay upstairs and play for most of the day, rather than risk getting in the way of electric sanders etc. etc. It's not uncommon now to find our adult upstairs along with the Racers, or the Racers downstairs along with the adults. We're at that stage where no one really knows where they want to be so they divide their time between the upstairs and downstairs part of the home. Ashanti and Sage are the 2 adults most likely to be seen in the kitten room. Ashanti loves being up there watching the babies and trying to entice them to play. He also seems to find that Lucy is a wonderful sleeping partner and it's not uncommon at all to find both of them curled up in the same bed together having a snooze. Unfortunately all of our Racers have now learnt a very bad habit from our own adult cats and that is: When mum opens the kitchen door, run in quick. Now they KNOW they are not allowed in the kitchen. It really is the only room in the home that none of our cats or dogs are allowed to go into so quite naturally, as soon as any of them see my open the kitchen door now it is a race to see who can get in there first. They think it's a great game because naturally they win every time. For example, I open the door to bring a cup of coffee out, baby runs in, naturally baby moves much faster than me, I put coffee down, pick up baby, laugh and then give him/her a kiss and cuddle, put him/her on the other side of the door, pick up coffee, try to get through the door, and it starts all over again. Sometimes, it can take me a good 10 minutes just to get out of the kitchen! Now as for photos, because of the fact that we have been "DIY'ing" all day long, the camera has not even been looked at yet, so bear with me, eventually we will get it sorted out..................I hope ;)