Tuesday 26th February
I took some lovely photos last night, with my mobile phone, of the kittens sleeping with a 'sick' Richard. I think that they really enjoyed having him home yesterday, someone to cuddle in bed all day! I think they will feel lonely today without him!

I have been struck by just how large they have grown recently, it is almost as if they have had a growing spurt!

When Frankie appeared over the barrier yesterday, I thought, just how big as this boy got!

He is strong and very confident!

Then there is little Shiny, who is going to be called Fifi in her new home, I believe. I managed to get 'shine on' in her pedigree name. She is a darling, naughty, lively and very purry. She is the little girl, I always maintain is on Duracell batteries, as she just keeps going!

Tonight it is the dreaded worming medicine for them, they don't like it, but it is necessary!

They are all asleep now, but when they wake, I will have to take the 'big green monster' upstairs, as it really DOES need a hoover up there!! How much cat litter can they spread around the floor!

And they are eating me out of the home! I fill their bowls, chicken, fish, cat , food, and they hoover it up, with speed! I always have to put food down for them when they wake up, so it is a constant feed, clean and cuddle when they are awake, which will be any time now, so I had better finish this and sort out the photos of Rich yesterday, before they need me again!

Monday 25th February
Well, after a few days since I last wrote, the kittens have grown a lot. They are regularly escaping from upstairs, and yesterday Frankie chased G into the conservatory. I think she was so shocked to see this little chap charging at her, that she ran very fast out of the cat flap!! He is a big lad, and seems to have little fear.

The girls get all 'fluffed' up when they meet these big, new scary cats ( actually, the big ones are the ones that get scared and run away!). They are quite funny to watch.

Lily seems less protective now, and seems to be letting them 'wander off' without getting quite so stressed about the whole process. I think she realises they are growing up, and that she has done her 'bit'.

Richard is off sick today ( can you believe it, after a week of half term!), so the kittens are enjoying having him still in bed and the sun streaming through the windows!

Although I would rather he be at school, it is nice to think that they have company, and it take the pressure off me a little bit.

This week is worming week again, which I will start tomorrow night. They hate it, but it has to be done. And then next week, it is second vaccination time, and then they are off to their new homes!

Rich and Tim are really going to miss them, I can see that. I think they are going to find it harder than anyone.

I will sneak up in a mo, with my mobile, and see if I can get a few sneaky pics, of Rich sleeping with them.

Wednesday 20th February
This will be a short entry, and I should get photos uploaded a little later in the day.

The kittens have all had a really good run around upstairs, and they sound as if they are slowing down now. Lily has settled herself down, so she is just waiting for them to join her.

All the other cats in the house are sorted, fed, and in their various little places that they like to sleep, Fluffy is sat behind me.

I had a little panic a few minutes ago, I could hear this growling whining noise, the noise that cats make when they are 'scrapping'.

Fearing one of the older cats in the house had scaled the barrier, and Lil was about to 'tell them to go away', I hastily made my way up the stairs. Only to find Frankie, with a large piece of chicken in his mouth, growling at the other kittens to stay away, as it was his!

They all have those fluffed up tails. He sounded pretty scary for such a little thing!

I will probably not manage another entry until next Monday. I am sorry for this, but I have a hectic few days ahead of me, with the end of half term approaching. My Internet connection is about to be lost from Thursday lunchtime, through to late Sunday night, so I wont be able to answer any e mails either. How lost will I feel!

Right, all is quiet upstairs, time to go and join them.

Tuesday 19th February
The trouble with half terms is, that I go to bed later, making me get up later and later, which means that by this time of the day, I feel I am running late already!

I seemed to have had some crazy idea, that with the boys being away, I would have heaps of time, to just laze around .........
very crazy idea !

To start with, I have all these cats, who DEMAND attention, food and generally being pampered.

I had this panic this morning, as I realised they were 10 weeks old, and there were things I needed to start to do, to prepare for their departure. It suddenly seemed REALLY CLOSE. !! I made a decision, that in order to concentrate on their departure, going as smoothly as possible, I will only write these diaries until 12 weeks.

The next panic was that I realised how close the end of Feb is. Now the end of Feb for me, sees the Scout Winter Camp, which I am organising. And with temperatures seemingly going to be this cold .............maybe I need to buy some more thermals!
And once my mind had started thinking about all these things.........
So time to stop, and write about the babies.

It sounds as if they are settling down now upstairs, after an hour of leaping around. They will sleep for about an hour ( if I am lucky) and then wake up. The next waking session will go on for anything up to 2 hours. I don't like to be too far away during this time, as litter trays are constantly used, and I like to clean them as soon as they are used, they have fresh food whenever they wake, so that always needs seeing to. They obviously need to have human company, and as I don't have my 2 children ( golly, am I missing them!), that leaves me!

My mother and sister are nagging at me, asking why I am not being sociable and going round to see them, as I must have all this spare time .................I told them to come round here !!! But they wont. They will just get cross with me, because they think I am being anti social. But they don't really understand the whole concept of looking after so many animals.

I want to try to socialise Lily more and more with the older cats down here, so that when the babies go, it will be easier on her. She loves those babies so much.

I cooked them all some fresh chicken on waking this morning, and now I have some fish slowly cooking in the microwave. So hopefully, after that is dished up, they will all have full bellies, and go fast to sleep :) :)

Then I can go and take some photographs, leaving you all with this blissful illusion, that my babies are always quiet, sweet and cute. With no reference to the fact that I found one walking along the top of the door at gone midnight last night !!!!!!

Monday 18th February
My apologies for a lack of diary entries for the past couple of days. I have had a busy couple of days. The children were dropped off at the airport yesterday, as they are staying in Aberdeen for their half term, partly with their dad and partly with friends. I am to fly up to join them on Thursday, but their dad is flying back on the same flight to look after all the cats for a couple of days. Then I have to drive ALL the way back down on the Sunday!

Anyhow, the kittens.

Well, yesterday, they were visited by 4 lovely people. Between them, they are going to give a home to 3 of the girls. I always get a little nervous before new families come to visit, because, just like your human children, you can never know if they are going to be on their best behaviour!

But I need not have worried, because they were all good :) , and I was proud of them.
I have 4 very lucky little kittens here, who all have such lovely people to go and live with. It makes it so much nicer for me, and it makes all those sleepless nights and hard work, so worth it.

As I had the house to myself last night, I confess, I was not brave enough to sleep in with them last night. Usually either Rich or Tim do. But they can sleep through anything, and I can't. And I did not relish the thought of being pounced on my 16 leaping claws at some unearthly hour in the morning !

But when I got up at 8.30, and opened the door, they were all sitting on my bed, basking in the sunlight that was streaming in through the window.

Lily leapt of the bed and said something to me, I suspect it was something rude, to the tune of,
'what time do you call this'
and
'how dare you leave me along with all these children for so long'
or more probably
'I'm hungry, were is my breakfast' !!!!

The kittens all leapt, with great enthusiasm, towards me and the landing and anywhere else they could get to, squealing with excitement.

I hastily made my way down stairs, and got food for them ( all their plates had been licked clean, and I had left lots out last night!).

They all ate enthusiastically, and ran around as if they were turbo charged!!

They sound relatively quiet now though, so I will creep upstairs to check on them in a moment.

I did try to take some fresh photos this morning, I think these words sum up the speed with which they were moving
blur .........
blur .........
in fact every pic was a blur as they flew past me ! I am sure they have invisible wings!!
Scarlett and Gollum are asleep on the chair in this room, in the sun. Fluffy is thinking about joining them, hopefully Scarlett doesn't wake up and twig, as she and Fluffy have 'issues' !

Carrie is asleep on the window sill, in the sun, behind me. I suspect G is in the kitchen laying in front of the heater!

So, I do hope you all have a lovely day, I am going to enjoy just having my cats, in the knowledge that my children are having a lovely time with friends in Aberdeen and probably being spoilt rotten!

Thursday 14th February
Well, I am pleased to say, that last night and yesterday were much calmer! I think I will blame Tuesday night on something that they put in the vaccines!!!

Talking of vaccines, when I picked Rich up from school yesterday, he was muttering about not being able to move his arm. Worryingly, I ask him, 'why on earth not, what happened?'

He then tells me that they had THEIR vaccinations that day, and his arm was very sore and he felt very sleepy!

So after devouring the pastries that we bought in Tescos on the way home, he climbs into my bed, with the kittens, and goes fast to sleep!!

I think the babies love him, well, lets face it, he does not move a great deal, so perfect to attack or cuddle up to!

I asked him this morning, if the kittens had woken in the night. He said that they probably had, but he was oblivious to it......I can relate to that. He is the perfect sleeping partner for them.

Timothy, however, wants to sleep with them tonight. I am not so sure about this, as I suspect they will keep him awake. But it is Friday tomorrow, and the last day before half term, so a promise is a promise, even if it maybe a misguided one!

I think I have temporarily put a stop to them leaping over the barrier..........just for the moment.

I have opened up all the bedrooms upstairs for them to play in, so they have plenty of room, and places to climb and places to run and investigate.

I have also ..............put a little vaseline, on the top of the board, so that when they leap up, they can't get a good grip, and slip back down ............it wont last for long, but as long as it does, Lily is happy!!!

I took some photos this morning. They had all fallen asleep on the scratching post, just before we left for school. I also took a shot, which showed how they had managed to 'unmake' my bed !!!!!!!

Nothing better for kittens than to attack a nice duvet .........

i will post photos later, as normal, I don't want to creep up and get the camera just now, as when they see me, they will all wake, and I do so want to have something to eat first!

Wednesday13th February
Well, I must start by saying that the kittens all past their health checks, my vet told me 'well done', and they squealed quite a lot when the needle went in.

I attempted to leave Lily at home, but I could see she was getting quite agitated at the thought, so I carried her out to the car and put her in the carrier with the kittens, where she was much happier. She is a wise old girl, and she knew what was happening!

Later in the day, I had a stressful evening, a combination of factors. But I thought the best way of conveying this, was to copy part of an e mail that I sent to a friend last night. My house does not always degenerate into this level of chaos, but last night it did, a factor of trying to deal with my 2 boys and all these cats, when one child is not being helpful! Read on.........

ok, the day was moderately busy and stressful for one reason and another,
taking kittens to the vets, is never a smooth operation, but we got there, and got it done.

I executed some of the garden today, with a view to Tim chopping it up, and saving the kindling for fires for scouts...

They come home from school, which is where it all really fell apart.....

rather than helping me break up the wood and store it, I wonder where Tim has gone,
I find him on the patio, having lit a nice fire........right NEXT to the lovely wooden cat run ............accepting that it is easier to chop the wood myself, I allocate Tim a safe place for him to build a fire, amongst a few bricks.

I walk round the front of the house, to find Richard, firing cherry tomatoes ( left over from his cooking), on the end of a bamboo stick, from his bow ..........

having told him off, I turned my back, only to hear Tim whining that Rich was then throwing said tomatoes at the windows including my car.........

Time to get REALLY cross ........

he grumbled that I was being moody and unreasonable...................grrrrrrrrr

X Box is banned, we get through tea, R being a bit lippy, to say the least, but I am still maintaining superiority ( I can still be scary when needs must)

I go upstairs for a little quiet time, only to become aware that Rich is talking to his friends on the X Box........
................
No point in shouting or getting steamed up at this point, too tired. So I just calmly and quietly went in the room, smiled at him, turned it off, took the Scart plug, and explained why he was now banned until further notice.

He seems oblivious, comes upstairs, lays on my bed, dressing gown on, watches my tv, and gets the hair straighteners out, admiring himself in the mirror........

I laugh ........and wonder where I went wrong !!!

The kittens meanwhile, have learnt tonight, how to leap over the barrier at the top of the stairs, and are at it like lemmings.

I shut the others in the kitchen etc, as Lil does not take kindly to sharing her kittens..........!!!

Scarlett, doesn't like the others, so she has to go in the lounge ............she goes up the chimney again .......black......lots of washing...........and a cross Scarlett.

I put kittens to bed in with Rich in my room, only to hear Scarlett calling ............

I hear Rich grumble that he let her in the lounge.......

She is BLACK ...........covered in soot..............

well, I have given her as best a wash as I can without traumatising her, but tomorrow I must secure the darn chimney !!!!!!!!!

Timothy has been a star ..............

...............Rich is laying on my bed, with the 4 kittens cuddled up to him, telling me how lovely and cute they are ............

and yes, they are very very lovely ............BUT ...........I have run out of energy !!!!!!!!

Phew, sleep will feel good tonight !!!

Today has seen much more calm so far. When I got out of bed, I let them in that room, where there is heaps more to explore, that seemed to deter them a bit from leaping down the stairs. Apparently one did, only to come face to face with a horrified Fluffy, before being whisked back up by Timothy!

Scarlett, I believe can no longer get up the chimney, it is well boarded off !!!

I will post photos a little later on today, as I really must get into town to visit the bank, bills still have to be paid, even when I have a house full of activity!