There's no photos yet today as we had one of the Oriental babies new owners visiting us. I have put some pics here that were taken yesterday and I will try and take some tonight to add here tomorrow. As I write this, the Charmed Ones are sound asleep and it's very peaceful here. I can't believe how much the babies have changed in the looks department over the last few weeks. The only thing that hasn't changed is their temperament which is great because the babies are still very naughty and very cuddly. Now that they are growing up a bit, they are becoming quite demanding. First thing in the morning and last thing in the evening, they know they are going to be fed, so they either coming running over to me squealing for their food, or they sit there calling out until the food is given to them. Phoebe actually talks more than any of her sisters at the moment so it will be interesting to see if that will change or not.

Phoebe has now picked up the hang of this eating business. I no longer have to sit with her on my lap and get her to lick the food off my finger. She now joins the others around the plate as soon as it's meal time. There's actually very little to report today which is a good thing as I have quite a lot of housework to catch up on. All 4 girls are still making very good weight gains and a couple of them are now eating dry kitten biscuits quite a bit. The babies now climb anywhere and everywhere and they respond very well to people which I'm really pleased about. They love cuddles and they thrive on human attention, just like their mums.

Earmuff time again. Tia is calling for what I think is the 3rd time since the babies were born. Phoebe is still making great progress as she gained another 20 grams last night! When I weighed Paige & Pru last night, they again weighed exactly the same amount. I was beginning to wonder if I had weighed the same cat twice and not realised it :) Just to make sure however, I picked them both up at the same time and weighed first one, then the other and they truly have been the exact same weights for 2 days now. Feeding Phoebe was a bit difficult last night as I was sitting on the floor with her, encouraging her to eat, and the whole time, Piper and Gabriel were climbing up my back and over my shoulders. At least I know Gabriel wanted a cuddle, however Piper just wanted to use me as a climbing frame. Poor Paige got in lots of trouble from Cacao last night. Cacao was lying down feeding some of her babies and Paige came of and started biting Cacao as on the ears and on the nose, so Cacao just growled at her and then grabbed her (as mothers do) and wouldn't let her go until she had severely reprimanded her. After I fed the girls this morning, I suddenly noticed that Paige had climbed all the way up the clothes in the wardrobe and was walking very carefully on the top of each coat hanger, clinging on to the clothes as she went. I do not have any idea how she was planning on getting down. Needless to say, I rescued her and put her back on the floor. Pru fell off the top of the cardboard box this morning, straight into the bed and on top of the Orientals and Tia was annoyed with her. Pru got out of the bed and started walking away so Tai went after her and herded her all the way back into the bed. Tia is a regular little mother hen and worries every time her babies do something. Poor Pru got the shock of her life today thanks to Gabriel. Gabby was sitting behind the water bowl and Pru thought she would go up from behind and scare her, however, at the last minute, Gabby turned around, tried to swipe Pru who promptly jumped in the air, coming straight down into the water bowl!!! Needless to say, I had to spend the next 10 minutes drying Pru who was feeling rather sorry for herself. Phoebe is getting slightly spoilt now I think because today she refused to eat her food from the plate on the floor. The only way I could get her to eat was by putting her food, into the bed, where she was quite happy to gobble it up.

Great news!! The "Glop" seems to be doing the trick. When I weighed Phoebe last night she had put on 16 grams and when I weighed her again this morning she had put on another 6 so I am over the moon. Feeding her now takes 1/2 hour each time but it is worth it. It starts off with her on my lap, licking the glop off my fingers and once she realise's she likes it, I then put her on the floor in front of the saucer where she we happily eat it. This morning, she only licked it off my fingers for a minute or two and then she wanted to eat straight from the saucer so we've made real progress and it's such a huge relief. I'll be continuing to do this with her throughout the day and once I'm complete happy that she will eat from the saucer, I will then try her on other mixtures. When I went into the kitten room this morning the babies were chasing each other all round the room. Both mums were at the door and couldn't wait to get out and I can't say I blame them because it's like 8 little hurricanes going at full force. Piper is the real "pig" in the litter and she now weighs a good 40-50 grams more than any of her litter sisters. Paige and Pru both weigh exactly the same amount.

Whilst Pru, Piper and Paige are coming along really beautifully and making excellent progress, Phoebe is causing me nothing but grief and worry at the moment. She was always the "porker" in the litter and weighed far more than anyone else. Now however, the other 3 have all overtaken her in the weight department and she still won't wean. I got her to have some Liquivite last night, again she spent ages sitting on my lap, licking it off my fingers and then eventually lapped some up from the plate, but it's nowhere near enough. It's worrying me terribly because she is not making any decent weight gains at all. She is still as active as the others, and still uses the litter tray, her coat is fine and her eyes are bright, her teeth and gums are all fine, but she just won't wean. It wouldn't be as bad if she was still feeding from mum (which she is) and was gaining every day. I have tried almost every possible weaning food or mixture I can think of and she doesn't want to know. She also won't allow me to syringe feed her (I have tried over and over for days now) and again, there is no interest at all. I made up a weaning "Glop" recipe today that Donna told me about when I rang her for advice last night. It's rather messy and but is full of nutrients and protein and so I will be trying to entice her with this later on this afternoon as well as this evening. It doesn't matter what she is offered, and I have bought every type of kitten food imaginable, and have tried all the human foods that I can safely offer her and it's all to no avail. Even little Calisto, our surprise Oriental baby is now weaning so out of the 8 kittens, it's only Phoebe that is dropping behind. As the kittens should be fully weaned by 8 weeks of age, I still have 2 weeks to play with, however this time period is only dependant on her weight situation.

Yet again, within 10 minutes of being downstairs this morning, Phoebe went behind the freezer (reminding me I hadn't blocked it off properly) and promptly got stuck yet again! Tia soon realised and was going berserk as she couldn't get in to rescue her baby. I finally caught Phoebe, gave her back to mum and made sure the gap was fully blocked off. Lo and behold, after another 10 minutes, Phoebe went back to try again and was most distressed to find she couldn't get through. Either she likes causing trouble or she really is just that little bit dumb! We finally made some weaning progress with her this morning. She was half asleep by the radiator in the kitten room when I went to feed them first thing this morning so I picked her up and put her on my lap. Then I dipped my finger in the plate of Liquivite and held it under her nose. The smell woke her up enough to have a few licks, and then a few more, so for the next 15 minutes she sat there on my lap licking it off my finger. After that I moved her down to the plate and she got the hang of lapping it off the plate so it's a good start. She ended up being a lot cleaner than my shirt did afterwards. The girls are becoming little terrors day by day now. Nothing and no one is safe from them any more. The minute they see me go into the room now they all come tearing over and as usual climb straight up my legs. When they are downstairs now, one of two of them climb my legs so they can sit on my lap as I work on the computer. All 4 girls now do acrobatics around the room, they leap and bound and climb on anything in there path (including the Oriental litter) and it's no surprise that Tia is starting to get quite cross with them at times. Both her and Cacao are often seen to be "having words" with the babies.