Only a week to go now thank goodness. The waiting is driving me mad. There has been no change in Amaretto's demeanor at all. She sleeps an awful lot however when she is awake she is still relatively active. She hasn't put on a great deal more weight since the last entry although one thing which surprises me is that she is very, very heavy. I would go so far as to say she is as heavy as either Tia Maria or Cacao were at this stage of their pregnancies yet Amaretto is nowhere near as big. Perhaps they are all just very tightly packed in there. I felt the babies move last night which I was pleased about because prior to that, I hadn't noticed a great deal of movement in there at all so it is a relief to know that at least one or two babies are alive and kicking. She's still very moody with the other cats in the house and her appetite has increased yet again. In a few days time, I'll be moving her into our bedroom permanently and will have the kitten box set up so as to give her time to get used to it and hopefully she will realise that is where I want her to have the babies.

Well Amaretto is still gaining weight thank goodness, however, she is nowhere near as big as my other queens are when they are at this stage of their pregnancy. I would be very surprised if she had any more than 2, maybe 3 babies. Although as hubby and I have been saying, we'd be perfectly happy with 2 healthy babies and an easy birth for Amaretto. She has certainly taken her pregnancy in her stride and as still quite active, even at this stage. She now spends her days upstairs in our bedroom (along with Tia Maria) because now that the R's have access to the whole of the house, unfortunately it's not safe to leave Amaretto running free with the babies due to her hormonal moodiness. I am sure that once she has her babies, like our other queens, she will go back to being her normal, loving self with the rest of the furry family members. For the last week or so, Amaretto has been getting more clingy with the human members of the family and she is constantly purring which is really lovely to hear.

I'm pleased to say that Amaretto is finally starting to show her pregnancy slightly now. It is probably only apparent to those who know her well but she has definitely gained weight in all the right places so I'm very happy. She's still eating quite a bit but is also sleeping a lot too. She prefers her own company now as opposed to the other cats in the household. Quite often, I find her upstairs in the hallway sleeping at the top of the cat furniture where she knows she won't be disturbed. Unfortunately she is still really moody with our Oriental girls and poor Drambuie gets so upset because Amaretto hisses at her. As she's due in just under a month now, I'm starting to get incredibly anxious because this is her first litter and I will be praying that it goes smoothly for her with no problems. In a way I'm glad that it's taken this long for her to get pregnant because she does seem so much more mature now and I think will handle it very well. Like all expecting queens, she has this very serene (or even smug) look in her eyes and is rather attention seeking at the moment.

I've been a bit slack in updating darling Amaretto's diary because our other 2 litters have been keeping me very busy. I'm going to try and get back into the routine though of weekly updates. Well I'm happy to say that Amaretto has definitely pinked up now, however she has also become a very cranky, hormonal queen. Whereas prior to being mated, her best buddies were Drambuie & Sambuca, she now growls and hisses at them if they come near her. It looks like I'm going to go through it all over again. It's so unusual for Amaretto because she is such a sweet tempered, placid girl and I'm putting her temperament change down to her pregnancy. She is still as active as ever and continues to spend time out in the cat run whenever she can. Her appetite has also increased quite a bit but she's not really gaining any more weight so it will be interesting to see. She appears to be in very good condition and health at the moment so I'm really very pleased with how everything is going so far. She has become a bit more clingy and a lot more vocal as well.

This honeymoon has been really hard work in comparison to the others. Unfortunately, it came at the same day that I had decided to wean Tia's babies for the first time, so I spent the majority of the day making up kitten mixture, scrubbing my hands and arms constantly, going from the kitten room upstairs and back to the temporary honeymoon room downstairs. (Even managed to wash both cars in between mating's and feeding). Some of you will be aware that we thought Amaretto may have been pregnant a few weeks ago, however I was never 100% convinced that an actual mating had taken place. Once she came back into call a day or 2 ago, I knew it was time to try again. As I couldn't use the Kitten Room for the mating due to the fact that Tia's babies in are in there, I set up the pen out in the back room where my pc is. I penned Amaretto overnight and left Ice in the room with her. The reason I penned Amaretto, is because I don't like to just let the honeymooners "run" together as I want to fully supervise each and every mating. This way, I know when they are mated, and exactly how many times. Ice knew straight away what he was there for and spent hours calling to her through the bars. The following morning, I opened the pen door, let her out and she spent ages rolling around on my chair which Ice took as an invitation to "climb aboard". Rather than interfere at this stage and move them off the chair, I stood up in a corner of the room for about an hour, watching her roll, him get on top, do nothing, then jump off. This went on over and over again. Near the end of the hour, Amaretto was incredibly frustrated and getting quite annoyed with him. Ice however, knew that trying to mate her on my chair was just not viable as there was no room. I then had a brainwave and went and brought the "Shag Mat" into the room and placed it on the floor. Instant success! Within minutes, Amaretto was rolling all around on the Shag Mat which is quite large, and Ice was much more confident now that he knew he couldn't fall off the chair and he had so much room to move her around where he wanted her. It was over within minutes and by Amaretto's screams at the end, and by her reaction once it was over, it was fairly obvious that no previous mating's had ever actually taken place! Thank goodness Ice is so quick at reacting because had he been any slower, chances are, he'd have no ears left by now because Amaretto was out for blood after each mating. I then let her roll a bit more, penned her again where she promptly groomed herself and went to sleep. Bonking is hard work for cats! Ice then spent the next 2 hours circling the pen like a shark, putting his paws through and trying to wake her up. The odd growl from Amaretto soon made him back off. I then let her out of the pen a bit later and they were at it again. I'll be letting them mate a couple more times tonight, and again tomorrow morning then after that, Amaretto will be put in our room, far away from Ice for a few days and hopefully, within 3 weeks time, we'll start to see signs of her pinking up. Must admit by the time the 3rd mating took place today I truly don't know who was more exhausted, Amaretto or myself! If Amaretto does take this time around, her babies will be due approximately August 5, 2004.