Day 41 - May 8, 2005

The Three Musketeers weren't particularly happy yesterday because the Planets had visitors in the form of some of their new owners and the Musketeers didn't have any visitors at all so they had extra cuddles from me to make up for it. I had another look at them yesterday just to make absolutely certain that I did have 2 boys and 1 girl and while it did look that way, I wasn't 100% sure about one of the boys, however, Graham also confirmed it with me and we do still have 2 boys and 1 girl thank goodness. Athos managed to climb on to the chair and then onto the work surface yesterday where he was promptly removed by me and put back onto the floor. I have so much paperwork lying around at the moment that I really can't afford to have the Musketeers destroying it.

Day 40 - May 7, 2005

Today is fairly busy as one of our Herbs is leaving and we are having visitors this afternoon which is why there's no photos in the entry today. Just like the Planets, the Three Musketeers had a shock when I hoovered the back room. Up until now they'd only ever seen and heard the hoover from the safety of their room but today I thought they really should be introduced to it. I'm afraid to say that the Planets put the Musketeers to shame by their reactions. The Musketeers were horrified at the sight of this monster and started running everywhere in the room to get away from it. I was rather proud of Tia Maria though as she does not like the hoover, and runs when she sees it, but she didn't run this time, all she did was gather all her babies together and make sure they were safe. She was doing well and had the Planets and 1 of hers, when Aramis & D'Artagnan ran to opposite ends of the room, crying very loudly and poor Tia didn't know whether to save them, or remain with the 6 babies she was already protecting. I felt very sorry for her so I picked up Aramis & D'Artagnan and placed them back in the bed with her. She then kept them all there, trying to placate them as I continued the hoovering. She really is the perfect mum. Apart from this little episode, the Musketeers have had a fairly uneventful day and I'm pleased to say that none of them have had any little accidents or destroyed anything which is a nice change :)

Day 39 - May 6, 2005

Poor little Aramis fell off the work surface today, but fortunately, fell onto the chair first and then onto the floor so she wasn't hurt. This did not stop her climbing straight back up there though. That girl is definitely going to be trouble! The Musketeers are teaching all of the Planets their bad habits and they are so active now that it won't be long before they have access to the whole of the house. I don't see the point in keeping them confined to the back room when they are obviously more than ready to venture throughout the downstairs area. All three of them drink from the 2 water bowls and I'm really pleased to say that not one of them has tipped the bowls over.........yet. I think their absolute worst habit at this stage is climbing into the CD rack and knocking the CD's out onto the floor. Before you ask, no I can't move the CD tower as it is very heavy and there's nowhere else to put it anyway.

Day 38 - May 5, 2005

As stated in the Planets diary, there is no photos today because I'm running behind on everything after taking the day off yesterday. The Three Musketeers are now at that very naughty stage where they absolutely have to get into everything and we now have a daily battle with the kitchen door, particularly after dinner. The babies seem to have worked out that when I go in the kitchen, it means that they are getting fed. What they don't realise is that I also go in the kitchen to do washing, make coffee etc. so now as soon as I go to open the kitchen door, they all come running over and run straight into the kitchen where they are not allowed. Then as I put one baby out and go to close the door, another has gone in. At times like this, I could really do with more hands. When they used to try to go into the kitchen before, Tia Maria will be right behind them dragging them back but she seems to have given up on this now and is no help to me at all. Athos has now taken over again in the weight department (no surprise there) and D'Artagnan is still the smallest of the 3 babies. They all have excellent appetites and loads of energy, much more than I have and I was amazed yesterday to find Aramis (who is always getting into something she shouldn't) sitting up on the 2nd office chair in the back room, surveying her world proudly as if to say "I'm a big kid now because I can reach the places my mum can". At this point I start to groan because if she can get up there, the others will soon get up there and then my work surface will not be safe.

Day 37 - May 4, 2005

Apologies for no entry for this day. It was my birthday so I actually took part of the day off which was quite nice. Tomorrow's entries will resume as normal but will be done much later in the afternoon.

Day 36 - May 3, 2005

There's not actually a lot to say about our Musketeers today as they haven't really done anything out of the ordinary. They have have a lot of fun playing with the Planets who now getting much more adventurous. Now that the Musketeers are older, it's much easier to distinguish who is who which does make life a little easier. All three of our babies now drink from the water bowl. I put a smaller bowl down as well for them next to the large water bowl and they do seem to prefer the smaller one. As they are also nibbling at dry food here and there, they now have 2 dry food bowls to feed from also. At the time of writing this entry, they are all sound asleep so I do have a little bit of peace here at the moment to get some work done for a change.

Five weeks old and driving their mother barmy. Tia Maria is still spending every waking hour (when she isn't feeding) chasing babies all around the room. Not just her own, she also goes after the Planets and picks them up and takes them back to the bed. Actually, she is picking them up far more than her own babies now, I think because her own are so much larger and more difficult to carry :) Surprisingly, Aramis has now overtaken everyone in the weight department and yes, she is definitely still a girl! She is now bigger than Athos which is no mean feat as he's quite a large boy. This does please me though as I do like our Siamese queens (remembering of course that Aramis will be remaining with us and will be part of our future breeding program) to be well balanced, big, healthy girls and she certainly is that. D'Artagnan surprised me yesterday by tucking into the kitten mixture for the first time ever. I didn't even need to dip my fingers in it to try and encourage him. He saw his brother and sister gobbling food at the plate and it suddenly dawned on him that he should be doing this as well. Up until now he has had no interest whatsoever in weaning so I'm really thrilled. Of course this does mean that from now I will have to start using 2 saucers as some of the Planets are also eating from the plate now and there's just too many big fat heads to fit around one plate.