Thank goodness that photos of the Three Musketeers turn out much better than the photos of the black blobs (Sami's babies). The babies have now lost their kitten box as I removed it from the room today as they really don't need it any more. The Three Musketeers are walking about all over the place now and they are a very active, very noisy litter to say the least. Unlike Sambuca's babies, I can now tell Tia Maria's babies apart simply by sight. It's only taken me 20 days to get to know them well enough to be able to do this. Surprisingly, D'Artagnan is no longer the largest baby. For a few weeks he was the biggest boy, however now Athos is the largest, followed by Aramis (our girl) and D'Artagnan is now the smallest. There is only a few grams between them all though so it's entirely possible that this will change again over the next few weeks. It's very funny to see Tia's babies in comparison with Sami's because Tia's are great big chunky kittens and it's always poor Jupiter and Mercury that get stood on by the Planets who have no manners at all really.

Our Three Musketeers were still sleeping on the sofa for most of yesterday and didn't appear to be interested at all in climbing back into their box. However, there was some cause for concern when I was in there last night and the Musketeers were walking all about the sofa, way too close to the edge. I ended up moving their box from where it was and placing it at the other end of the sofa so that the babies could only go so far and weren't in any danger of falling off. Just as you would expect, because their box was in a different place, they obviously thought it was a brand new home and all promptly proceeded to climb in there, as did Tia Maria and they have been there ever since. Tia was a bit put out with Sambuca yesterday afternoon as well because when I was doing a "baby check" in the afternoon, I was bemused to see that Tia Maria only had Siamese with her, Jupiter was missing. I looked in Sambuca's box and yes, she had gained an extra baby. I returned Jupiter back to Tia Maria who was very grateful because Jupiter, at the moment, is our 2nd largest baby and as I've said before, I don't want too much strain on Sami whereas Tia Maria can feed 5 large babies quite comfortably. After that, there was no more kidnapping at all however this morning, Sambuca upset Tia yet again by climbing into Tia's box and lying down trying to feed Tia's babies. I eventually made Sambuca realise that she had her own babies to feed and suddenly she seemed to remember so she went back into her own box to feed hers while Tia climbed into her box to feed hers. The Three Musketeers and Mercury and Jupiter weren't bothered at all by the sudden appearance of a new mum I might add. So long as there was milk there, they couldn't have cared less.

Due to having lost Pluto last night, I'm not really up to writing a diary entry today as I am so incredibly sad. I will simply say that our Three Musketeers are doing very well and Tia Maria has moved them, and the 2 Planets out of the box now and onto the sofa instead. When I went into the kitten room this morning all 5 babies were on the sofa feeding from her and perfectly comfortable. If Tia doesn't move them back into the box at all during the next few days, then I will probably remove the box from the room altogether.

If you look at the photos below of Tia Maria feeding the 5 little ones, you will see what I mean when I say what a great mother she is. The scene in her kitten box is one of total and utter contentment and Tia is in her element. She only ever comes out of the box to feed, go to the toilet, or when I take the babies out for weighing. Her Three Musketeers are the delight of her life, and mine. When I think back to what we went through to get Tia pregnant this time around, the months of tears and worry, the constant emails and telephone calls, the endless vet bills, I can honestly say that it has been totally with it because the Three Musketeers are beautiful, happy, healthy babies and Tia Maria is in the best of condition and health. All 3 are daring little babies and whenever I'm in the room, if mum leaves the box, all 3 will come over to the opening and if they think mum isn't looking, they will start to climb out. It doesn't last very long however as Tia is always watching them, even when it appears she isn't and as soon as 2 front legs are out of the box, she's back in there like a shot and herding them all back into bed, tempting them with milk bar which quite naturally works every single time :)

When I re-read these entries, I can't help but think that I should have lots more to tell you about the Three Musketeers but at this age, it's so very difficult as they still don't do an awful lot. I look at the size of them and because they are so big I'm expecting them to be running around which obviously they won't be doing as they are only just over 2 weeks old. Having said that though, they certainly crawl/scramble/walk around and are quite active when they are awake. I have discovered that all three of them love having their little tummies tickled and will roll over and pat you with their paws as you tickle them and I swear that they smile at me. They really are such happy little babies who at this stage are enjoying learning how much they can move about and explore before needing another feed from mum, how to play fight with each other and how to groom each other. When I am in there and sit on the sofa next to the box, I put my face up to the box and start to talk to them and they all come over to me and try to climb out of the box but once I stroke them under their ears, they simply stop and start purring which is a lovely sound.

There's actually not a great deal to say about our Musketeers today. They are just happy little babies who go about doing their own thing and are not phased by anything at all. I can sit there and talk to them and stroke them and they all respond by looking up at me and trying to listen really hard, or I can take them out of the box to weigh them and they don't batter an eyelid which is very typical of Tia's babies. All 3 are still very happy with their new adopted littermates and actually think that the spare 2 babies were put them as pillows for the Musketeers. It's quite common to see Sami's 2 babies at the bottom of the pile with the 3 fatties lie on top of them, not that Sami's babies seem to mind. Tia is being a wonderful mum to all the babies still doesn't differentiate between her own 3 and Sami's 2. As far as she is concerned they are all treated equally which is really lovely.