Today’s entry will probably not be a very long one. I have Sabre’s new family coming along to see him in about an hours time. It is horrible weather, so I hope that they have a good drive.

As I was tidying up this morning, however, my Dyson broke down!!! I am sure that the kittens were willing it to do so, as they hate it when I fire it up!! They all lurk on the stairway looking down at me. Fortunately it broke down just as I had finished this morning. But I have a busy weekend ahead of me, so I NEED it to work!! Arwen’s new family are visiting her again on Saturday. And on Sunday, both Goldberry and Smeagle are going to their new homes. I have visions of me on my hands and knees sweeping the floor at this rate!

The kittens have been in fine form this morning, with heaps of energy! Even Uncle Merlyn was more tolerant of him. They are getting more used to seeing him as he ‘slinks’ through the house. He has now gone back to sleep, somewhere that he thinks is safe. However, what he has not appreciated yet, is that they can now get up onto the cabin bed, so in the not too distant future, the poor lad is in for a nasty surprise, when he wakes up, only to find something small and furry cuddled up next to him!

Today’s photographs consist of a shot of myself last night, giving Sabre a nice cuddle and talking to him all about his exciting new home. There is also a picture of Lily and a few of the babies, taken this morning. And the final two, see our little G and one of Goldberry, looking up as I tap my fingers on the woodwork.

It is just so hard to believe, that it will be 13 weeks to the day on Saturday that this all began. And here they are, all grown up and getting ready to leave us. I am very grateful that we are keeping one of them, it will make it easier on the children.

Well it is a foul, wet and windy day outside. Everything feels dark and grey. Richard is staying with his friend in Aberdeen so I only have Timothy here to keep happy. Fortunately for me, the kittens are in fine form and Timothy is more than happy to be playing with them.

In the photographs today, you will see Smeagle in the wool bag. (Smeagle is becoming quite a character, if something is going on, he is usually in the middle of it!) In one photo you can just see his lovely face resting on the edge of it, and in the other you can see Timothy holding the bag with him in. Kili has also been having a ride in the bag. I know they say never work with children and animals, but sometimes the combination of the two can be just great. They love Timothy and he loves them. Last night he made this comment,

“Mummy, why do we sell the kittens when you don’t sell your own children?”

I explained to him, that if people did not raise kittens as we have been doing, we would never have been lucky enough to have been owned by Razzle, Truffles, Basil, Merlyn and Lily. I explained that by loving them now, and making them big and strong, someone else is going to have the pleasure of loving a pet. He seemed to accept that. I do suspect that he is going to find it a little hard when they start to leave us in a few days time. I am just going to have to give him extra cuddles.

I also took some photos of them eating last night. My apologies as they are a bit blurred. I took the photos because in one, you can see all 5 kittens around the plate with the chicken in. And then you can see Goldberry, eating off the table, where only she eats!!! She also had chicken, but it was disguised in some mackerel!

I took a photo of 5 of them snuggled up in the carrier that Sabre (Fili) is going home in. It reminded me of a caption,

“how many kittens can you get in a cat basket?”

Well, at least when Sabre goes home in it, it will have plenty of the smells of the other kittens.

Timothy has just told me that they are calming down now, and some are sleeping. That is good, as they have been manic for the past hour! They are so big now, that when they are flying around the room and up and down the stairs, you really do have to stand aside!!!! They stop for no one……………….

As I type, the kittens are in boisterous mood. They seem to be everywhere. They can leap on the cabin bed with little problem, they can leap onto the chest of drawers and get into my clean washing. I tried to sit and eat my porridge this morning, one hand on my spoon and the other hand constantly putting kittens down from the table. As soon as I put one down, another leapt up. At one stage I had to go and see to something, and I had to carry my porridge bowl with me, with Smeagle trotting behind. He is the worst offender!! I think that it is the melted butter that they like the most.

Kili has been particularly soft this morning. He and Tim have been having lots of cuddles. He was licking Tim’s ear, which made him giggle. I think he was trying to tell him that he needed a wash!!! Kili has been a very cuddly boy this morning.

Last night I had 2 more Stick Insects hatch out of their eggs, and while I was transferring them to the main tank, Sabre ( Fili) took a great interest. I think if was the Ivy that attracted him, the Stick Insects are too small and too well camouflaged for him to have noticed them. Even I cannot see where they all are. I took a couple of photographs of him having a good sniff.

They all seem to have recovered from their trip to the vets, without any problems at all. I managed to get all the paperwork together last night. Making sure that all their vaccination records, and worming records were all in the right wallets. And I printed up Sabre’s Pedigree Certificate, as he has only a few days to go now before he leaves us.

It has all gone a little bit quieter now, so hopefully the little terrors have worn themselves out just a bit. They seem to sleep less these days, and they seem to have lots more boisterous energy………

Well, it has been a very busy morning, and weekend. This morning I had to take them all to the vets. It was time for their second vaccinations. It was also time for the kittens to have their microchip put in. This meant that we were at the vets for a long time.

They were very good really. There were a few squeals of protest, but nothing too much. Arwen and Little G were very keen to try to investigate the room, so I had to keep rescuing them! The vet said that they had been very good and he was very impressed with them. I think his comment when the first two were taken out of their basket was, ‘gosh, they are big kittens’. So are their claws I muttered quietly to myself, as I nursed the claw marks on my hands, where they had been trying to escape in the waiting room! They were all given a clean bill of health, and given the green light to go to their new homes.

It feels quite an achievement to have brought them this far, I feel very tired, but I feel happy for them.

When I got home from the vets, I was cross when I received a letter from the GCCF, telling me that I had forgotten to put my Certificate of Mating in with the application form. Cross with myself that is. I have hastily just put it back in the post. It means that the registration forms will not be back in time for the 3 that are going this weekend.

Over the weekend, they have learnt a new skill. That of getting up onto the cabin bed, that place that used to be my refuge and also that of Merlyn. I took quite a few photos. In one you will see Arwen, as she crawls over the bed towards her mum. You will see some of them all on a cat basket looking up, and wondering how they were going to get there. You will also see a photo of a few trying to climb the ladder( apologies, that one is a bit blurred). I think the preferred route up, is to climb the radiator, onto the window sill and then onto the bed.

I have also had to fold all the curtains over the curtain poles! They have discovered how to climb curtains and think it rather fun. I don’t!!! My house looks like something from a war zone. And in just over 3 weeks time I have to effect a move to our more permanent home. It is little wonder that I forgot to put the Mating Certificate in with the Registration application.

Little Goldberry has been eating really well. She is just so cute the way that she will sit outside the kitchen door and yell her little head off. You cannot ignore her, so when she asks, she gets!!

Oh yes, one last comment about the photographs, Sabre ( Fili) is the one who is stretching up to reach the rod that I was teasing them with in one of the photos. He is a good 1 ½ Kilos now. Kili is also 1 ½ Kilos, so I can no longer rely on their weight to tell them apart. So today, as it was microchip day, Kili was subjected to some blue food colouring, so that there was no room for error!! They really are so alike those two. Kili has a slightly smaller face, but I just didn’t want to risk getting confused.

Well, the kittens are asleep now, recovering from their ordeal at the vets. I have a mountain of Pet Log details to fill in on the forms, then back to the vets. Ahhh, the bill, the time has come!! When I think of everything that I have to pay out for, it is going to be a touch painful!!! But these little ones are worth every penny, and their safety and health are far more important than anything else.

I would also like to announce, that Sabre’s new mummy, has set up a website, dedicated just for him. You can find it at this web address: www.sabre-siamese.co.uk

There is not too much to write about today. I know that this is tempting fate, but there have not been any major disasters with the furniture etc. Or maybe I have just got so used to it all, that I no longer notice, and what used to feel like chaos now feels the norm. How quiet this place is going to feel when they start to go to their new homes, that is just a week away now.

I have put a stop to the ‘porridge stealing’ (there was a rather large crash as I wrote that, I think that I spoke too soon!). The litter trays were starting to suffer as a consequence. So I have told the children, NO MORE PORRIDGE!! This morning, I had 4 sets of eyes on me, sitting on the chair, watching me eat my porridge. Smeagle was yelling at me to ‘hand it over’, but I stood my ground, and they went without. But those, ‘begging’ blue eyes almost made me weaken!

I have just been down to investigate the source of the crash. I use the lid of one of those plastic storage containers/toy box, to stand Merlyn’s dry biscuits and water over night. One of the little darlings has just landed in the middle of it, sending the water everywhere! There are now lots of soggy biscuits. When I went to investigate, they all gathered round, I could almost hear them saying, ‘it wasn’t me, was him….’

In the photos today, there is one that shows a kitten ‘standing’ up against the bath. I had to look twice as it looks just like Merlyn, and it looks so huge in that shot. But it is a kitten, and I suspect it is Smeagle, going by the size and colour. He is standing on a ledge, so he is not as tall as the shot makes out.

Well, as the week draws to a close, they are on their second course of worming paste, vaccinations and microchips on Monday, and then I need to start preparing Sabre (Fili), Smeagle and Goldberry for their big move. Arwen and Kili have a little longer to wait before they start their new adventure. I am going to try to be strong and not get upset! I am focusing on the wonderful places that they are going to.

It will soon be time for the last diary entry. The kittens will be 12 weeks on Saturday, which means that they soon start to go to their new homes. The time has really gone by so fast, and yet it feels as if this has all been going on for ever!! I will continue with the diary until they are 13 weeks. After that, I hope to be able to add updates on how they are all settling in with their new homes.

This morning I went to stock up with more kitten food. I often wonder what the girls at the checkout think when I put my goods through. This morning there was a pile of value chicken breasts, numerous tins of Princes, low salt, healthy eating sardines and mackerel, whiskers kitten pouches, heaps of Sheba………….and then a small amount of human food at the end.

When I got back from shopping, they really did make me smile. They were all sitting on the windowsill, looking for me as I walked up the path. As I went into the front porch, they moved so that 6 eager little faces were perched on the armchair, straining to get a better look through the glass door. When I actually battled my way through the door, there followed the usual session of ‘mobbing’, purring and then demands for their food bowls to be replenished! So I lay out a buffet of, Whiskers kitten food in gravy, Sheba Beef and Heart, diluted with cooled boiled water and mixed with some of the Royal Canin pouches for sensitive tummies, freshly cooked cod, mixed with some of the sardines that I use and the usual arrangements of biscuits. They have all eaten well, and by the sounds of it, are settling down for a sleep, with very full bellies! Lily has come upstairs for a cuddle on my lap. I think that she is going to be ready for a rest when the kittens start to leave for their new homes. They are all going gradually, with quite a few days in between. Arwen is staying until May 4 th and Little G is staying with us. So hopefully she will not really miss them at all. I have a feeling that Uncle Merlyn ( as we call him) will be very happy when the numbers start to reduce!!!

This afternoon I start their second course of worming. That is always something to look forward to! I find it easiest to do this while they are asleep. This way, when I gently lift them up to administer the medicine, they put up much less of a struggle. Then next Monday they have their final vaccinations, plus their microchips. Then I have to settle my vets bill…………….!

It always has to rain in school holidays!! When I picked the boys up from football yesterday, it reminded me of a song that I used to sing to them when they were really young, ‘mud, mud, glorious mud!!’ The kittens thought that they smelt very interesting when they came in! I had to wash and dry everything, ready again for today, with no tumble dryer, just radiators. The trouble with radiators, is that as soon as you put the wet washing on it, the kittens think it a great game to pull them off again!!! They also thought it a great game to try to knock the football boots off the emersion heater!! I had to use a golf club to fish one out from behind the tank.

But I won the battle in the end, as the children went off this morning, with clean dry clothes. Although judging by the current weather, the whole process with have to be repeated again this evening!

Lily has decided that as it is 2 weeks since her last call, it is time to start again. Poor Merlyn has taken refuge in Tim’s room, and I have had to shut the door on him. The racket they made this morning between them made my poor ears ring. Thank goodness it is only about 4 weeks now until we move to our new place. More room!

Well, I decided against porridge this morning. I thought that toast would be safe. Unfortunately, the kitties have learnt that children at table, means something worth investigating! I come into the room, and Richard is complaining that he can no longer eat his toast because the kittens have licked the butter off!!! So I have to make another piece. Timothy got up later, and duly sat down to eat his toast, no problem. However, once he had finished what he wanted( which invariably is not much) he left the plate on the table and went and joined Rich on the PC. Cue kittens……….5 minutes later I come downstairs, only to find the kittens, like ants, swarming all over the plate, eating bread, butter……you name it, they were trying to eat it. I yelled up the stairs, enquiring why Timothy had not removed the plate into the kitchen. He told me ,” I couldn’t carry it through the door mum”….it is at times like this when you just admit defeat, and look forward to the next bout of cleaning litter trays!!!! Tim probably does have a good excuse. He only has one hand, so carrying tray and opening up the door is not so easy for him. Especially as he has to also make sure the terrors do not escape in front of him into the kitchen.

It has occurred to me that this is all about food these days. I suppose I should be grateful, it means that they have healthy appetites, even if not for cat food. When I returned from dropping the boys off this morning. I sat at the PC, with a few crisp breads and melted cheese. MISTAKE!!!! Kittens LOVE the smell of melted cheese. They were literally throwing themselves at me to get at it!! 100 scratches later, I reminded myself NOT to do that again!

In the photographs today, you will see Merlyn all stretched out in the airing cupboard, and Smeagle taking an interest in my glass of wine last night! Needless to say, he was NOT allowed to put his head in that one. 

Little Goldberry had a gorgeous little Pooh Bear arrive in the post today from her new mummy. It was so sweet, I wanted to ‘bear nap’ it! I am so glad that my babies have lovely places to go to in a few weeks time, it is going to make it so much easier to say goodbye. I hope that it wont be goodbye forever, I hope that I will get to see them again when they are all grown up, even though they wont remember me, I will never forget them.

Well, I am late writing this today, for a number of reasons, and for a change nothing to do with kittens! The children are off school for Easter, so I had to get them kitted out for 4 days of football. On returning I find that my pc has decided to take a holiday too, and does not want to work properly!! I eventually get it sorted, and manage to get the paper all jammed in the printer. Thankfully at the moment, all the furry ones are being sweet, and are sleeping somewhere in the house ( that is however, their cue to wake up!)

I took a few photos last night, mainly of them playing on the stairways. You will see Goldberry fighting with an old shin pad!! They were all wrestling with it at one point, but she seemed to take a shine to it. A new design in cat toys maybe? As you can see, there really is no need to buy expensive toys, anything that they can steal will do! I also took a nice on of Smeagle, sitting on the chest of drawers on the landing. Just before I had taken that one, I had walked up stairs, only to find, 6 pairs of eyes looking at me from the banisters. I rushed down again to find my camera, but guess what, as soon as I came back up the stairs, the little darlings leapt down!!!

Earlier in the evening, some of them had a bit of a feast! We were late in, so I quickly rustled up some Birds Eye fish fingers. Now I know that Lily likes these with the batter off. Well, my kittens like them, batter and all!!! They were like a swarm of ants over the table, no sooner had I put one down, than another would jump up!! Sabre ( who was Fili), our Little G and Smeagle, also liked the peas and sweet corn that went with it!!! I think there is a opening in the market for a fish finger flavoured cat food!!

And they say never work with animals and children ( and here I am trying to juggle both!). I duly made my human children their porridge, before a wet day of football. I left them to eat it. Upon coming downstairs, I find Richard with 3 kittens with their nose in his bowl!!! I had to pull rank here and tell him to take them away. He apologised to the kittens, saying that he was sorry that mum was a grumpy old thing!! I was thinking more of the effect it was going to have on the litter trays, and told him that if he wished to keep sharing his porridge with them, he could clean up the results!!!

Well, I need to fill in my registration forms now for the kittens. So I will leave you with the scene, Merlyn is asleep on the top bunk ( the higher the better for him!!!) Lily and the kittens are scattered in various beds downstairs, my children are out on a football course getting wet, and I am warm and dry up here, filling in registration forms, the Stick insect population is growing by the day ( Stick insects free to new homes ????) and Annie, the crazy Dwarf Rabbit, is staking out her territory in the shed part of the garage……………

The weeks are passing by so quickly now. It is hard to believe that in under 2 weeks time, the first kitten will go to it’s new home. We seem to have come such a long way since that Saturday evening, when the little things made their first squeak and made their appearance into the world. They have grown so much, in size and personality.

I have taken a few photographs of them. I took 1 of them, all lined up on my bed, waiting for me to get in!!! I think not, they had taken over half the room. They all looked so innocent, and the fact that they had all arranged themselves into a neat line, made me smile.

I also found my wool bag. As Smeagle loves wool so much, I decided to get it out and let them have free access to it’s contents. I took a photo of them investigating it. I left it out overnight, and when I got up yesterday morning, there was wool wound round EVERYWHERE!!!!! Unfortunately, I was so sleepy because of the clocks moving forward, that I forgot to photograph the scene. It was one of those scenes, where you groan, and your first instinct is to run back to bed, hide under the duvet and hope that it will magically sort itself out!!

The children have been playing chess, school holidays, so they get bored. And being a mean mother, I only let them have limited time on their computers. Smeagle took an interest in the chess set, and decided to make some moves of his own! Later in the evening, when the children were in bed, I sat and watched all 6 of them trying to get the chess pieces out of the box. It was quite amusing. I did try to take a photo, but as soon as I got my camera ready, they all scampered!!

As I type this, we are having a slow morning. Timothy is only just eating his porridge, and by the sounds coming up from the stairway, Little G is trying to eat it. They have already tried to hoover up Richard’s porridge. I had to stop them as he would happily have let them have the lot!!!

Children and 6 kittens, it is hard to know just who is the worst behaved??? But put the two together, and I have no chance……………….

Timothy has just come upstairs and told me that he was in fact eating Rice Crispies, so the kittens have found a new addition to their diet!!