I thought I would surprise you with some individual photos of the Charmed Ones. It's such a pity that the babies will never co-operate during photo time, they insist on looking everywhere except at the camera! Our babies will be 6 weeks old today and I'm wondering where the time has gone. Poor Phoebe still has no interest in eating "proper" food. It doesn't matter what I try, she just doesn't want to know. She seems interested by the smell, but as soon as she tastes it, she just turns her nose up. I'm thinking of going back to the beginning with her and see if I can get her interested in some Liquivite. If she will have that, then at least I can progress from there. The girls came downstairs today at 9.30am and Phoebe promptly proceed to squeeze her way behind the freezer and get stuck! 15 minutes later, after moving the freezer and the fridge, I finally managed to rescue her. She never did get out of her habit of exploring places and then crying when she thinks she is lost. Piper is our biggest girl at the moment. She has surpassed Phoebe in the weight department and we didn't think that was at all possible. All the girls now enjoy lovely cuddles with us and they all purr exactly like their mum...............non stop :)

Pru

Pru

Phoebe

Phoebe

3 of the girls made some good weight gains again last night so they're doing really well as a combination of the weaning and still feeding from mum. Phoebe, for the first time ever since she was born, remained the same weight last night as she was the night before. However Phoebe is the one that still hasn't taken to weaning at all and it's still a struggle to get her to eat. Even though she loved the tinned fish, I obviously can't keep giving her that so I will just have to perservere with her until she gets the hang of it. Out of all 8 babies, there are now only 2 who aren't weaned so I'm very happy that things are going along nicely for them. The Charmed Ones now have a very bad habit of climbing up my legs whenever they are awake which, although is really funny, can be rather painful at times! When I went into the kitten room this morning, I caught Phoebe in the wardrobe halfway up one of the long coats that hangs in there, having the time of her life! I can't say I'm particularly pleased as they appear to be using my clothes as climbing posts and ruining them in the meantime! They still aren't fully litter trained yet, however they are getting there slowly but surely.

I think the Charmed Ones had a party in the kitten room last night because when I went in this morning with their breakfast I couldn't believe the mess! Half the clothes hanging in the wardrobe were on the floor, there was litter everywhere, and the box had been moved back! So needless to say, while they ate their breakfast I spent the next 1/2 hour putting the room back together. I now need to use a bigger plate when feeding them as the Orientals are starting to eat from the plate as well and while 4 Siamese fit round the saucer to eat, 4 Siamese and Orientals don't. I caught Paige eating the dry food last night before I took them upstairs to I am really pleased about that because up until now I couldn't get them interested in the dry food. Obviously I had to wait until they were ready and let them just work it out for themselves which they appear to be doing. We've now done away with the large crate in the downstairs room so the babies now have the run of this room which they seem to be much happier with. There's no photos today sorry but I will try and take some extra ones tomorrow to make up for it.

I'm feeling a tiny bit guilty as the Charmed Ones didn't come downstairs today until about 12 noon as we were out this morning. Normally the babies are brought down between 9am-10am and go back in the kitten room between 5pm-6pm as it's very important that they are down here with me during the day to get them used to noises like the washing machine, people knocking on the door, our dogs barking, the ironing board, music etc. On the odd occasion that I am not here, I tend to think that maybe they are missing out on "socialising time". However, we are here the majority of the time and I have been told by friends who are breeders that I need to go out sometimes as well to give myself a break. As I write this, all 8 babies are feeding and it is so peaceful and I'm hoping it will last a little bit longer because they truly are a handful when they are all awake and playing and talking. For the first time every, Phoebe ate out from a saucer last night. Phoebe, who is ahead in everything else, just was not taking to weaning at all, regardless of what was offered to her. I know that sometimes you get one or two babies who take longer but it was starting to concern me as they are now 5 weeks and 3 days old. Anyway, I tried them with some tinned fish last night and Phoebe ate like there was no tomorrow. It was actually the first time that all 4 girls were eating from the saucer at the same time and it was wonderful. Hopefully, they will all continue along these lines.

The Charmed Ones are doing really well at the moment, and Piper has put on quite a bit of weight in the last couple of days, however she is the biggest eater out of all of them when it comes to the kitten food. I tried all 4 on some milk based products to try and see if Phoebe would get interested at all and fortunately we had a bit of success so that's a start. The other 3 still prefer the meat pates though as opposed to milk products. I did remember today to put the litter tray in the same place so that poor Phoebe wouldn't get confused. We cut some holes/shapes in a cardboard box yesterday to amuse the kittens and they Charmed Ones spent ages walking and climbing through all the different holes although at first, Phoebe climbed into it, didn't know where she was and cried until she was rescued (like she always does). Piper, Paige & Pru were enthralled with it. You can't tell me that our babies need the most expensive toys on the market when all it takes is a bit of imagination and they are entertained for hours on end.

All 4 girls made really good weight gains last night so we were very happy with that. The weaning is going really well except for Phoebe who just is not interested at all! I will be going back to another milk based food tomorrow to see if she would prefer that. Fortunately, she is the biggest of all the girls, so I'm not overly worried that it's taking her a lot longer than the others. I know we will get there in the end. Poor Phoebe got a bit mixed up today because I had very stupidly put their dry food bowl where their litter tray normally is downstairs, so Phoebe did a little wee in the food bowl thinking it was her litter tray. The girls were on their own downstairs today as I wanted to leave Cacao's babies upstairs in the Kitten Room so that I could have a break as yesterday was very difficult having both litters downstairs.

Well our girls are 5 weeks old today and the time is flying by. They are really happy with their new play mates in the kitten room. Tia is equally as happy because there are now 8 babies to mother as opposed to just 4. I was really surprised at how easy the move was. Within minutes of the Ori's going in there, Tia was grooming them, sniffing them all, helping to toilet them whilst Cacao was doing the same with the Siamese babies. I did wonder if it would confuse Tia but as soon as one of her own babies made any noise, she went straight to her and she kept constantly making sure that "hers" will still all there. The Charmed Ones are so funny with the Ori babies as there is quite a size difference and our girls are far from gentle! However the little warriors didn't seem to mind playing rough and tumble with the Charmed Ones. Our girls climb all over the place now. When I went in there first thing this morning, one of them was swinging off the curtain, whilst another was on top of Cacao's box. I hope their new owners understand what they are taking on here! Our weaning has gone forward in leaps and bounds over the last 24 hours and I must give a massive thank you to 2 breeders who both gave me some very good advice and tips, both of which I put into practice with astounding results, so thank you to Val and Donna.