Apologies yet again for not getting an entry online for today but I've actually been having a really chilled out weekend in the respect that we are not showing this weekend, nor do we have any kitten families visiting, so I have quite literally spent a very relaxing weekend, catching up on bits and pieces that I've been wanting to sort out. When I went upstairs today to give the babies their second meal of the day (remembering they had been downstairs after breakfast, running in and out of the little kitten door and creating havoc, they still always take themselves back upstairs to their bunk beds to sleep), well anyway, there were no babies in sight! They were not in their bunk beds in the hallway or in their own room, they had all vanished. I was rather confused to say the least. I then spotted the door to the 2nd spare room slightly ajar and I've opened it fully only to discover Tia Lusso asleep on the single bed, one baby on the windowsill, one baby on the television, one baby tearing up and down the bed, one baby climbing in the shelves, one baby behind the bed pouncing on invisible people, and the last baby was climbing behind the video unit! Graham has now been told that we must put a lock on that door asap because this is supposed to be the spare room where visitors sleep when they stay, not a cats' play room. The door doesn't quite catch properly and there is a real knack to it. But the problem in our home is that a few of our girls know how to open doors. They jump up, turn the door handle and hey presto they have access somewhere they shouldn't. So it looks as if Tia Lusso can now be added to the door opening list and oh boy were the Racers having the time of their lives. I felt awful evicting them all from the room but it had to be done.

I thought I'd start today's entry by sharing some weights with you so that you can see how your children are all progressing. Although if I were being truthful, I would just admit that putting the weights in the entry takes up a bit of space and honestly, I have run out of things to write all of a sudden, so at least this way it looks like I'm making some sort of effort :)

Name	Sex	Weight
Red Rum	Female	965g
Kingston Town	Female	845g
Shergar	Male	1067g
Sea Biscuit	Female	972g
Desert Orchid	Female	813g
Phar Lap	Male	1065g

These are all weights I am extremely happy with and I can not forsee any problems when it comes to vaccinations on Monday. Dessie and KT are petite children compared to their brothers and sisters, but I am more than satisfied with both their weights. In fact, I'm delighted :) Pauline and Bev may both need to consider stocking the food cupboards before they take their respective boys home because I have a feeling that both boys will be quite large as adults and even as kittens they will certainly cost their new families a small fortune in food bill ;) Sea Biscuit and Red Rum has surprised me all along because I would never have said at the start that these 2 ladies would be such large girls. This line normally throws 1 particularly big baby in each litter, and that is usually one of the males so to have 2 girls who are also quite big was unexpected.

Late yesterday afternoon when I was taking photos of the Racers, I had no idea I had taken so many! It took me well over an hour just to sort out the photos for today's entry, so to save myself a little bit of time, I did just name all the photos "The Racers". Hopefully by now you will all know which baby is which :) I think you will be pleased to know that our Racers are booked in for the first set of vaccinations on Monday afternoon. That is going to be a nightmare appointment as I am also taking Nocello, Tuaca, and Parsley so this will probably be a 4 carrier job. I'm also certain that our new families will be happy to know that today I sent off the Racer's registration form to the GCCF so hopefully, if I am extremely lucky, the babies' registration papers will be back here by the time you all take your new babies home. I have to say though that I did struggle with the colours as some of our Tabby Points, whilst looking blue, appear to have Seal based paw pads, rather than Blue based, so as it stands, I have registered Sea Biscuit & Shergar as Seal Tabbies, whereas Red Rum and KT have been registered as Blue Tabbies, so as your babies are maturing and their colouring develops, let's just hope that their colours are correct!

I had good intentions of getting a kitten diary entry online today but it wasn't to be unfortunately. We had already planned to do a few jobs around the home today, one of which was to lay the decking tiles out in the cat run. We went to B&Q, bought some large tiles, came back home, and then got caught up doing other bits and pieces. We did eventually get as far as laying them in the cat run so that's fine. But I didn't get a chance to treat them with the timber stain so that will have to be tomorrow's job. But at least now, the cats will not be tracking mud throughout the home because prior to laying the tiles, the cat run was grass. Nor will I have to collect countless poo's on a daily basis from the cat run because as there is no grass there now, they will not go to the toilet outside. Anyway, the Racers are continuing to run and down the stairs and go wherever they want and as each day passes, they are becoming bolder and bolder. I did take some photos late in the afternoon today, but I will include them in tomorrow's entry.

"Phar Lap, I know you love me sweetheart, but please stop winding around my legs because you may well end up getting squashed."
"Shergar, you are a great big wuiss. Come out from behind the scratch post right now and stop being such a big baby. The other cats will not eat you."
"Toussaint, Phar Lap's bum is clean, leave him alone and let him run about."
"Dessie, you got yourself up there, so you can jolly well get yourself down. You're a big girl now"
"Tuaca, if you growl at my babies just once more, I swear I will turn you into gloves. Now get into Graham's room and leave the kids alone."
"Phar Lap, please..............get out from under my feet."
"Sea Biscuit, you are so daft, the door is at the other end of the perspex! Do you have a headache now? If so it serves you right. Next time, look for the door before running straight at the perspex. Oh okay, let me have a look at you, nope, not even a tiny little bump. Try opening your eyes once in a while."
"Red Rum, in case you hadn't noticed, by standing half in and half out the door, your brothers and sisters can't go anywhere as you are blocking the gap with your big bum, so make up your mind and either go in, or go out. I don't care which, but will you please stop blocking the doorway."
"Phar Lap, this will come as a huge shock to you but I have things to do! I can not stop every 5 seconds to stroke you while you purr at my feet and try to trip me up, will you go and play somewhere else please."
"Now Sea Biscuit, you didn't really want to do that did you? And do you think I can just drop everything to find a towel to dry you off? Honestly, they are water bowls, not kittens' swimming pools."
"KT do NOT bite everyone on the bum, there is no need for it at all"
"Ice, the babies do not need baths, they are clean, leave them be."
"Lusso, since when did these brats become my responsibility? Get your head out of that biscuit bowl and control your children."
"Graham, I'm going to Tesco, the babies are running around so keep an ear out for any problems."
I then close the front door behind me, breathe a sigh of relief to be out of the nuthouse for at least 40 minutes.

As I have not taken any photos for a few days, I thought it would be a nice surprise for our Racers' families if we had some individual photos again :) The only problem of course is that the individual photos take forever to sort through etc, so by the time I get them all done, I have just about run out of motivation for any type of diary entry. Of course it doesn't help that Cointreau's Pregnancy Diary had to be updated today as well. Our Racers are doing extremely well and they have spent half the day upstairs today and the other half downstairs. I must admit that I did "cheat" this morning and rather than bringing them all downstairs in their bed, I just opened the little kitten door on the stair barrier and the babies made the decision to come downstairs on their own which was really nice. Of course they then spent a few hours running up and down the stairs, through the door, and back again and they really do sound like a herd of elephants when they are tearing about. Today, I realised that I really do need to get a bit organised and get the first set of vaccinations done, as well as fill in the litter registration form so that the Racers can be registered. To be honest though, I probably wouldn't have given this any thought had the James Wellbeloved kitten packs not arrived today.

Apologies for not getting an entry online today, however, we spent a wonderful day in Bristol with Teen & Tone of Maroochydore Siamese & Orientals. This meant of course, that from 1100 until 1900 the Racers were left to their own devices and had the run of the upstairs part of the home. We had such a fantastic time and Teen and Tone's, despite Tony's warped sense of humour concerning candles and kitten boxes! :) When we arrived home, the Racers all informed me that they were starving (which they were not I might add) and they didn't hesitate to tuck into a meal of cooked lamb mince with some Natures Menu mixed in. By the time we did arrive home, there really wasn't the time to get an entry online but I must admit was amazed to realise this morning that our Racers are already 9 weeks old!