Tuesday 17th January
I couldn't believe how active the kittens became yesterday. They turned into little night owls, and at 1am in the morning, I found myself sat at this pc, sorting out photos, with 2 kittens sat on my lap. If they are awake, the minute they hear my voice, at least 2 or 3 of them will start squealing and running/wobbling in my direction!!! They have just started to climb over legs, so the phase where they are climbing ALL over you, in your hair, on your shoulders, up you back.........is almost upon us. That is the phase that the children love!! It is also the phase that leads onto the running jumps onto your legs, and the phase that leaves you covered in scratches!!! If I am honest, I am really looking forward to that!

At the moment, I am having a rare moment of peace, actually, I have had peace since I came back from the school run. They are all in a corner of the front section of the box, fast asleep. You can see them in one of the photos. It is the photo with the babies all huddled up, and Lil just managed to get her nose in the photo from outside the box!

Tomorrow they will be 3 weeks old. That means I will start to offer them some very gentle other food. Just gentle milky products, using baby milk as a base. With the last litter, I crushed up very very finely, some kitten cat biscuits, and sprinkled some of that in with the milk.

Last night, I sprinkled some Royal Canin Baby Cat biscuits in the box ( one way of getting Lil and G to eat them, without trying to bury them, or cover them up with the bedding, little irritating habit they have!). The kittens could then see mum and big sister ( as G does have the same parents) eating up these biscuits. Some of them were taking quite an interest in the smell of them, and a couple of them gave them a little lick. They are very tiny biscuits, so ideal for very young babies.

As they are starting to get more mobile, and 3 weeks tomorrow, I am going to have to decide where I am going to move them to next. It was easy in the last house, as the pc was upstairs. I moved them into Tim's room, as he had a cabin bed, no places to hide. It was ideal for them having space and for litter training them. I may have to use Tim's room again, simply because of the bed being so high, and thus giving lots of open floor space. the trouble is, this pc is downstairs, and I don't like them being far away from me. As soon as they are litter trained, they will be allowed to run up and down the stairs, hallway, landing, and gradually be allowed one other room at a time. Then we will have Galadriel's babies to join us!!

I will attach some photos now, they are still asleep, but I cannot believe they will be asleep for much longer!!!! I am waiting for the squeals in the near future, as they all bundle ( that really is the only word to describe it!) on Lil for milk!

Monday 16th January
Thankfully I am feeling better today. 3 days of not having to go far, and resting, seems to have paid off. It is quite worrying when all you want to do is sleep. This morning I have more energy. And I think I am going to NEED it!!!

All the cats were very good during the night, they all quietened down once the lights went out, and no one woke me up. It was only my alarm that told me it was time to get up. Monday mornings are always a shock anyhow, after the weekend.

I quietly left the room to go to see to the children, breakfast, Percy etc. Whilst doing this, I heard scratching at the door of the 'cat's' room, upon opening it, Lily and Galadriel flew out!!! Up and down the stairs, a quick scratch at the scratching post, and then straight back into the kitten box. So I left them there while I saw to the children.

I came back in about half an hour later, to the sound of lots of loud squeaking. A camcorder would have been good here, to capture the scene!! There were 3 kittens legging it around the room, squeaking their little heads off, Lily and G completely bemused, not quite knowing what to do. Obviously Lily had got into kitten moving mode again, and had started to take them out of the box. Once out of the box, they are enjoying their freedom. Lily had the look on her face, that almost said to me, 'this wasn't quite how I planned it, they were supposed to go where I put them!!!!'.

I confess that I cursed, there is little enough time in the morning as it is, chasing the boys up for school, to find myself catching very mobile kittens!!! I hastily scooped them up, and put them back in the box. Lily jumped in with them, and settled down to let them all scramble for milk. She was giving me a look, I am not sure if it was a look that said, 'thanks mum', or, 'why didn't they stay where I put them', or, 'being a mum is hard work isn't it,' or,'next time I'll have them all out!'. I like to think she was breathing a sigh of relief and was very thankful. I reckon she was looking humble, and realised was a silly girl she was, lol. anyhow, she has not moved them since. I was out for 1 1/2 hours with the school run and stopping by Tescos I was a little worried as to where I would find the kittens when I returned, but they were all snuggled up in the box.

I have attached a few photos. In one of them, you can see a kitten snuggled up to an increasingly growing Galadriel! And you can see a couple of the kittens as they are moving around the box. They are really quite mobile now, and you can see the beginning of play as they roll about with one another. They are cleaning themselves now, and other little social skills. On Wednesday, I will start to offer them some little 'milky' additions to their diet. Hopefully I will have 6 kittens who wont be fussy!! Like little Goldberry ( now affectionately named Miss Binkie)of the last litter, who refused point blank to eat anywhere near the others!!

If the kittens are sleeping now, I am going to put my feet up for an hour, as the rest of the day promises to be quite busy. Fingers crossed they are, they are very quiet behind me so that is hopeful!

Saturday 14th January
A late entry today, Saturday morning means that I do not have to get up early, despite Galadriel's best attempts to wake me up by using the litter tray at 7am! I thought she was trying to dig to Australia!!! Then my camera decided that it was going to play up, and I struggled to transfer photos across to the pc.

Big changes beginning to happen now. The little ones are beginning to branch out. They no longer just sleep and eat. When they are awake, there is a lot of squeaking ( they are a really noisy lot, I am sure the last litter did not make this much noise!!!!), a lot of staggering around the box, and poor Lily looking on bemused. I remember her last time being like this. She is just not sure quite what she should do. When she sees them waddling around she wants to make sure they are safe, being the brilliant mum she is. She is happiest when they are snuggled up to her feeding.

Anyhow, we have put the box extension on now. I keep the towels hanging down (although you cannot see them in the photos) so that they have their cosy secure area, but there is a little gap, so the little ones can explore if they wish. As you will see from the photos, there is also room for the children to sit in with them now. The boys have suddenly taken much more interest in them now that they are getting mobile. I have to be quite firm and tell them that they are not to go in while they are all sleeping.

I was looking at them all again this morning. I have decided that there is one little kitten, the one that I was sure was male, then female, and I have decided today, that I am really not so sure!!! She probably is female, but i will have to keep checking.

One of the kittens is developing a darker nose to the others, so maybe I will get a solid point out of this litter. Also, the photo of the little on in the white towel, on its own, is one of the little boys. The boys are really sweet, gentle little things at the moment. They are so cuddly. As I have mentioned before, most of the girls have much more attitude!!!

You will see from the photo that this room is very much geared up for the cats, towels and other such things everywhere! I just wish that the room was twice the size!!!

Wednesday 11th January
A late entry today. I cannot believe, that after dropping the children off to school, coming home, feeding and checking all the cats and kittens, I lay down, and slept for 2 1/2 hours!!!! I was aware of Galadriel cuddling up to me, and occasionally Lily. I know it sounds very lazy, but my nights and evenings are busy, with animals and children, so I think my sleep patterns have altered to cope!!

Now, the big news today is this.Late last night, I was looking at them all while Lil was out of the room. And I am now convinced that I have 4 girls and 2 boys. The one that I was unsure of, I am now pretty convinced is a girl. The colours however are not being quite so easy to work out.My largest girl, I am beginning to suspect MAY be a Tabby Point, she is showing some signs. If this is so, she has a lovely home to go to. The other 3 girls, I really cannot say. One of the boys this morning, seems to be developing a much darker nose, so perhaps I will get a Caramel Point from this litter after all. With the last litter, they were really around 4 weeks before I was more certain of their colours.

They are definitely more mobile now, and I am able to interact with them better. I am hovering with bringing in the extension to the box.

Lily is so much more settled with the box in this room. She is certainly more settled than she was with the arrangement I had in the house we were renting with the last litter. This box has been a real success.

As I type, Galadriel is sitting watching, while Lil rolls on her back and attempts to feed 6 growing kittens!!! In a weeks time, I can start to offer them a little supplement to their feed, ( the fun really starts then!!!) I shall be glad to be able to offer Lily some help with keeping these babies fed.

The photos that I have taken were taken last night. The kitten on her own, was the largest girl.

Galadriel is progressing through her pregnancy now, I can see her tummy gently growing. So I am really hopeful that she will not need to be told where to have her babies!

Tuesday 10th January
You will see from today's photographs, that the kittens are just starting to take a little more notice of their surroundings. They are reacting more to my voice, and other stimuli. Their little legs are getting stronger as each day goes by. I would suspect that by the weekend, the box extension will be in place, so they will have plenty of space to wander around. Tomorrow they will be 2 weeks old! How that time has flown by. As far as their colours are concerned, there really are lots of little Lilac tails here, some of the ears look as if they may have thumb prints, so there is the possibility of Lilac Tabbies. But it is still very hard to determine, as their points are still very pale. But I am now sure that I have 3 females and 3 males.

Last night, both Lil and G were a little naughty!!! They got all the kittens settled, but as soon as I went to bed, they decided that they were going to come and terrorise me!!! Then they would go into the kitten box, wash the kittens and start them off squeaking!!! By 3.30am I was considering going to sleep somewhere else!!! But then they settled down. And fortunately my alarm did go off properly this morning!!! They are all snuggled up in a cosy bunch in the corner of the box. The very corner where I want to change the bedding!!! I tend to do half at a time, and the half that I now want, they wont let me have!!!

In the photos you can see the little girl that I tenderly call 'spotty', she is on the right, and you can just see a tiny, tiny mark on the top of her head. This is disappearing rapidly now.
Ahhh, but they have such cute faces now, you could just look at them for hours.

Monday 9th January
I am a little late with my diary entry this morning. Firstly, my alarm on my phone did not go off properly this morning, so I was off to a bad start. Lily, G and the kittens were cosily snuggled up in their box just opposite me, so they were in no hurry to wake me up!!!

Confess that I was not feeling too well this morning, so after dropping off the children, all the cats were sleeping and peaceful, so I snuggled back down in the room with them,and slept for 2 hours!!! I must make the most of this, because it will not be many weeks before they are running around creating havoc!!!! Entertaining times ahead to look forward to.

I am only weighing them once a day now. I like to check them each over, and it takes only seconds to put them in the little hat and weigh them. They are all over 200g now, apart from little spotty, but she is almost there!!! 196g now, so I am proud of her. And mum has done all of the feeding. I have not topped any of them up with kitten milk, apart from that first day. So well done to Lily!

They are starting to waddle a little more around the box now, I have just taken one of a kitten waddling over the little heat pad. I think she was looking for mum, but was going in the wrong direction.fter taking the photograph, I gently put her in the right direction!!!!

They have now gone back to the feeding frenzy, so I am leaving them, snuggled up, clean bedding ( I am changing it twice a day now that they are getting bigger), in a cosy, dark little place. It is very peaceful lying in this room with them, so easy to fall to sleep also!!

Saturday 7th January
I am very tired this morning, although this is partially due to problems with my parents, which I had to deal with very late last night. I tried to sleep in this morning, but Lily was having none of it. By 7.30 this morning she was doing a very good job of a feline alarm clock!!! I kept telling her to be quiet and go back to her kittens, she just kept telling me to get up. I stuck it until 9.30am, but by then both children had also been in, with cups of tea and queries about whether or not they could go on the pc.

So I have been up for a few hours now. My mother is currently now staying with us for the weekend, so she has been cooking cakes with the boys. Lily has been doing a very good job of a fog horn all morning! She wanted me to sit with her, all the time. Every time I left the room she created!!! Poor kitties, just as they got settled for a feed, she would leap up and leave them squealing.

They are settled now, she is lying down in the box with them, and it is all blissfully peaceful. I am now almost convinced that I have 3 of each. The 2 largest being girls. The largest girl is really quite big now.

The kittens are really very beautiful, with their little red eyes ( they don't turn blue until a few weeks) gazing at you. They are getting more mobile moving around the box, their little legs gaining in strength. They are lovely and soft to stroke, with their little round bellies.

Thursday 5th January
This morning I was some what tired. I had really intended in getting to bed early, but somehow time just slipped by, and before I knew it, it was midnight. I think both the children and I are finding it hard to get out of the habit of late nights, which we were having over the Christmas Holidays. The trouble is, now we have to get up early!!!! I was terrified I was going to fall asleep driving them to school, so I have had a mid morning kip!

Another reason that I am so tired today, is because Lily, in her wisdom, decided that it would be fun to move the kittens during the night. She did not bring them into the bed, but put them in a small cat bed next to my bed. Trouble was, there was not enough room in it for all the kittens, plus mum, so every time she tried it, large amounts of squeaking broke out, and I woke up!!!! In the end, I picked the cat bed up, and put it in the box. Whereupon Galadriel obligingly got into it, forcing Lily to sleep with her kittens at the other half of the box. I think this evening, I may attach the extension to this box. That would give Lil more room, and hopefully me more sleep!!

Lily looks so much better now, after the trials of kitten birth (I was about to say childbirth!!!). She is a very good mum, and obviously loves the kittens to bits. Galadriel loves them also, such a relief, as it gives me confidence that she will be a good mum. I have been looking at them more closely now, as they are getting older. I still wrap them in the little fleecy hats. I am pretty sure now that I have 3 girls, the largest of the bunch is almost definitely female, so I can no longer call her Mr Claws!!! I think that I may let their new families choose their pedigree names, that would make it more personal for them. My little girl, whom I now call Spotty, instead of Holly, was weighing 150g this morning, so I am pleased with her. She has really made up ground, catching up rapidly with the others. She reminds me of Arwen from the last litter, small at first, but full of fight!!! She certainly has plenty of character!

I am including some photos that I took last night. I have not had chance to look at them properly yet, so I am not sure which ones I will attach, but I did try to get some individual shots.

Well, we are into the second week now, and they are starting to get more mobile, their little legs are getting stronger, it wont be long now before they are on a mission to create mischief and mayhem!!!!

Wednesday 4th January
This morning was a bit of a shock, as not only did I have to get up to get the children ready for school, but I also had to do the driving ( it is about an hours round trip). I confess that when I got back, I sat down and went to sleep for 2 hours!!!!

I have just weighed the kittens. The largest one now weighs 198g!! I am beginning to think that this kitten is infact a female! In which case, it is going to be a big girl. Infact, looking at them closely this morning, I am starting to think that I have 4 girls here and 2 boys. There are also quite a few little tails that look like they may be Lilac.

So far this morning Lily has not tried to move any babies, so hopefully we have sorted that out for a while. I am letting her have a wander around parts of the house, she needs to get some exercise now, from time to time. She doesn't leave the kittens for very long, but they are all lying asleep together, so her time to explore. Galadriel is sleeping in the box with the kittens, so their older 'sister' (I call her that because they have the same parents), is keeping watch.

They are 1 week old today, it is hard to believe that this time last week, we were waiting anxiously for Lily to start the whole process off. Only about another 4 weeks now, and we will be expecting the arrival of Galadriel's kittens.

Tuesday 3rd January 2006
Today saw the children go back to school. I hate that, we have to get up early, I have to nag to get them going and I miss having them around.

Lily decided that today was the day she was going to start to move her babies!! Well, so she thought!!! After baby number 2 started disappearing out of the room, I decided that enough was enough. She left me no choice but to close the door to this room. I share it with them most of the time. She tried a few more times to take a baby as far as the door, and when I gently removed the baby from her mouth, and put it back in the box, I have a feeling she was swearing at me!!! By lunch time, I was really, really tired, but beginning to think that I was winning the battle.

She slept all afternoon in her box, with the kittens and Galadriel!!! I was so pleased. She had at last settled down.

She has tried a few times to leave the room, but hopefully, because she is a very clever girl, she will soon get the message. This will not stop her complaining to me (as she is doing now), but I can handle that. What I can not handle, is seeing her disappear up the stairs with a kitten in her mouth!!

So once we got that little issue out of the way ( one of the few times when I have been in charge!!!!!) she settled down to being a really good mummy, tending to her babies, and cuddling her older daughter.

And I am delighted to say, that the little one I was worried about yesterday, has since put on 20g, and my largest kitten has just weighed in at 168. I thought this was a boy, but having just looked at it again, I am no longer so sure!!!! But they are so very sweet, now that their eyes are opening. When I weigh them in their little hats, their faces are just too cute.

The extension to our kitten box was finished last night, so when my little darlings start to move around, I can extend the place. It is hard to believe that they will be a week old tomorrow!!! Where did that time go to!!! Well, if I am honest, most of it went, sitting in this room, either comforting Lil, drooling over the kittens, watching the television or typing on this pc !!!!

I will close this entry, as it is 23.16, getting late, but no point going to bed yet, as I want Lil to be nice and settled so that when I do get into bed, I am not joined by lots of wee furry ones!!!! And 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep has to be better than intermittent hours!!! OK, maybe I should go to my own room and leave them to sleep. But I have to be honest, I LIKE sleeping in here with them. And if I am really tired tomorrow, I can curl up and sleep after dropping the boys off at school. The washing up can wait!!!!

Monday 2nd January
I am glad to report that Lily is looking heaps better today. She has been out of her box a lot more, coming out to ear, rather than relying on me to take the food to her. She is certainly looking more like her old self, which is really pleasing to see.

I had am amusing thing the other night. Lily takes her antibiotics, quite simply, but eating and crunching them off the palm of my hand, she really loves them!!!!! It was about 2am, and I was kneeling in the box, offering her the tablet, but she would not take it!!!! I couldn't understand this, and began to think that I was going to have to administer it another way. At this point, Lily walked past me???!!! I did a double take, and then realised I had been offering Galadriel the tablet!!!! Now that G is pregnant, and Lil is not, they look soooo alike, especially in the darkened box!! Needless to say, Lil then crunched the tablet happily,then looked at me, as if to say, 'thanks mum, that was tasty'.

The kittens are starting to open their eyes now, so with the twice daily weigh ins, I am also making sure that I wipe their little eyes, to keep them clean as they open. They are so small and so sweet. And my little heated fleecy hats work wonders for doing all this.

5 of them are making really good weights now, my large and very piggish kitten, has put on 10g over night, he is now 154g, he is a right little white and pink barrel at the moment!! I am however, worried about the smallest little one. She was the smallest at birth, and her weight had been steadily going up,although never as big as the others. But this morning it had not moved as much as I would have liked it to. So I have spent a long time on my knees making sure she is firmly latched on, despite many efforts from some of the bigger ones to push her off. The get so cross with me, it makes me laugh. I am sure that in amongst their squeaks, there is some very suspect and angry language going on!!!

I will weigh little Holly again mid afternoon, and hopefully the scales will have gone up a bit more.

I have attached today, some photos that I took last night. You will see them snuggled in the fleecy hats, nice and warm, after weigh in and generally check over.

As to the sexes, well, I know there are 2 boys, and one little girl, but I really am not sure at all about the other 3!! It is so difficult to tell at this early age.

Tomorrow morning I must ring my vets again, hopefully he will come to give Lil another check up, I have a feeling he will be really, really pleased with her. I know that I am.

Sunday 1st January 2006
I had a much better nights sleep last night. I insisted that both of my children went to their own beds last night, this got me off the mattress on the floor and onto the bed settee. I felt much more relaxed about leaving Lily and Galadriel to care for the kittens without my constantly peering into the box. I have learnt to be more relaxed, they seem to organise their own feeding better if I stay away from them and leave them to get sorted!! They all seem to know which nipple they want, they just like to do a lot of squealing to get into place!

They have all been weighed this morning, along with their daily change of bedding and general check over. This is heaps easier with this litter. I bought two fleecy hats, with little heated pads at the bottom, from The Old Style Siamese Cat Club. They are BRILLIANT. Just set the scales to 0 WITH the hat on, put kitten nice and cosy in the hat, and then get an accurate reading, without kitten squealing and moving around. It also makes it easier to check them over, as they are cosy and feel more secure. Our little girl who weighed 76g at birth, weighed 100g this morning, and our largest boy weighed in at 136g. I think he is going to be a big lad! The others were 106g, 106g, 118g,130g. So we are making steady progress.

At the moment, they are tucked up in the box with mum, Lil has wanted lots of fuss this morning, she has been more active, still eating plenty. She looks much better in herself. She took her antibiotic like a little star, crunching it off my hand. So I feel much happier this morning. I just need to continue to keep a very close eye on them all.

Galadriel doesn't go far from the box either, she is currently sleeping on top of it!

With my photos today, I took one of the kitten box, you can see that I have a cosy room in here with them, the pc is in here also. I also took one of all 8 of them snuggled up together, their way of seeing in the New Year.

Which leaves me to say,
HAPPY NEW YEAR to those of you reading these diaries.

Saturday 31st december
Today has been a hard day, after the events of yesterday afternoon. Shortly after I had submitted my diary entry for the day, it started to become obvious that Lily still had a few pieces of after birth left inside her. She was losing her appetite,and it was obvious to me that I needed to get the vet to her quickly.

I am very lucky with my vets, and within an hour, I had a home visit, and Lil had a good check over. He said that it did indeed seem that she had something left, but it did not feel like a whole placenta ( I had thought I had checked them all out), but was obviously causing a problem. She had a temperature which indicated and infection was starting. So she was given Oxytocin, to help expel any remaining pieces and some anti biotics.

There was some evidence of placenta pieces being delivered, but as Lil ate anything that arrived, it was hard to monitor it too closely, but definitely no whole placenta. The antibiotics seemed to work quite quickly and after just over an hour, she was tucking into another feed, what a relief. It is the most horrid feeling in the world when one of your cats is ill in this way, I have been so worried for her, as I love her to bits.

Anyhow, this morning, 31st, she ate some breakfast, quite a bit, and there was no more discharge, so after talking with my vet, we are going to carry on with medication,and if she stays as she is, he will check her over again on Tuesday morning. Any other developments and I have to ring them straight away, and someone will see her.

As for the kittens, well, despite their poor mother suffering, they show her no mercy, milk, milk and more milk!!! They are still working out which nipple belongs to who, and we have a fair few fights over the same nipple!!! Lil hates it when they do this, and looks to me,as if to say, 'sort them out please'!!!!! I do my best, but they are strong willed little fellas!!!

The smallest girl who weighed 76g at birth, weighed 98g just now, so I was pleased with that. The larges boy, is now weighing 125g.

I must go now, as Lil is calling to me, I think she wants some moral support again.

Friday 30th December.
I stayed up till about 3 in the morning, keeping a watch over the kittens and mum. Thank goodness for News 24 and the internet late at night!!! They were all quite active last night, squeaking and demanding mum. Galadriel has been great in helping to clean them. Both mum and Galadriel are sitting in with the kittens now, while the little ones sleep. Lily has shown much more energy this morning. She has been up and had a run around the house. I think she suddenly realised that she could make those big jumps again, relishing in the new found agility she has, without carrying all that weight!! She is eating well at the moment, lots of cod, tuna and cat biscuits.

I weighed them all this morning, with the daily changing of the bedding, pleased to see that they have all put on a little weight. Our smallest little girl, whom we have named Holly, is weighing 84g, and our largest boy is weighing 110g.So today, I must watch them carefully, make sure that the smaller one is eating ok, make sure they are all warm and clean, and make sure that mum is eating well.

Wednesday 28th seemed like a very long day. tigerlily was really agitated, she was trying to get into all the rooms, look in all the cupboards, go under beds. I was worried that she would try to have the kittens somewhere hidden from me, so I decided to keep her in the room downstairs, which was prepared for her. I shut myself in the room also, and sat and watched the television for most of the day, while trying to keep Lil calm. Little G was in with us also, as were the children. I tried hard to get her to rest, but she found it very difficult to settle.

Finally, at 4.45 precisely, Lil made her first sound of labour starting. She was very good at this point, in that she lay in the box that was prepared for her, lay on her back for a lot of the contractions, while I rubbed her tummy. I find this part quite upsetting, having been in labour myself, I just feel that I want to give her something to make it easier, but all I can do is be there for her, make her comfy and rub her tummy.

After 1 1/2 hours of this, there was little sign of baby number one, and I was beginning to worry at this stage. Lily moved to another basket, and at last something began to present itself. It was then that I saw one leg and a tail. Deep breath now, as I realised that first one was coming out breech, which was probably why it was taking so long. Lily was getting stressed, so we needed to get kitten out. Lesley Williams ( Spireshadow Siamese) was on the phone at this point, because I felt I needed some advise ( Lesley was Lil's breeder, so she was also anxious that things went ok). She talked me through helping the first one into the world. WHAT a relief when that one arrived!!

After that, we moved everything into the birthing box, and over the next 45 minutes, Lily delivered another 5!They came very fast, and I felt quite exhausted afterwards, so goodness knows how Lily felt. She managed to cut 5 of the cords herself, half cut the other one, I helped her to finish it. She ate most of the placentas, and did everything that she should have done. But she was tired, she seemed more tired than the last time, I suspect this was because she had not slept much in the daytime.

The box was all cleaned out, kittens checked and put back in with Lily. The rest of the night ( and I mean night!!!! Sleep did not really come to me until about 10 Thursday morning!!) was spent getting them latched on, making sure Lily was ok and comfortable. Her daughter, our Galadriel ( Little G), wanted to get in on the whole process, and she slept in the box with them, giving them a clean also. I was really pleased to see her take to the babies so well, as she is also pregnant, babies due in February. I have to admit, that I am hoping for a modest 3 from that birth!!! The main difficulty with 6, is making sure they all get to latch on, as Lil rarely presents 6 nipples, usually it is 2 or 3, so I have to work a juggling act, and try to get her to lay so that we have access to more nipples. She also, bless her, has no idea when it comes to getting back into her box, she will sit on kittens, and look totally bemused as to why there is something squealing very loudly!!! She gives me that look, 'what is going on?', until I extract kitten from underneath her. So you will appreciate that every time I hear a squeal, I wake up to check!!!

I have shown 3 photos from the birth, 2 of them are just after the kittens were born and the third is on one of the little ones being given a brief cuddle.
Today, Lily has stayed in her box. I have taken food to her, and water. Little G has stayed with her also, neither of them have ventured out of the room. Lily constantly looks to me for reassurance at the moment, hopefully when her milk comes in tomorrow, she will settle more. I have topped up feeds with 2 of the smallest ones, and we are trying to make sure that they all get the chance to latch on and suckle. We have one boy, who seems to be a bit of a character!!! He will happily hang onto Lily's nipple while she stands up and moves away!!! I have to gently prize him off. he also makes a lot of noise! We are thinking of calling him Mr Claws, a play on Santa Claus, as we can almost imagine him waddling round the box saying 'ho ho ho'!!!!

I will finish here, and go back to kitten watching. The children think they are in Heaven because for once in their lives, I am letting them watch as much tv as they want!!!!!