Morning Surprise

Most mornings when I get up, I am able to walk into our clean and organized bedroom closet in order to find something to wear for the day without any scares! Not so much this morning! I walked into my closet, and like every other time, I did not scan around the top shelves. Why would I? Out of nowhere something above me starts to move around and of course it scared me! After I jumped back, I saw our cat, Roscoe sitting on top of my shorts. Not only way he just sitting there, but he had managed to move my clothing around in order to accomodate himself! Of course I had to take a picture to share with everyone! This cat keeps us on our toes almost as much as the kids do!

Bigger by the Day

The kittens are now three weeks old! It is amazing how much they grow and change in such a short period of time! Three weeks ago their eyes were closed and their ears were down. They were blind and deaf leaving them to depend on their sense of smell. Now, they can see, hear, play and more! Their ears are up and eyes wide open! When Kevin or I walk into the bathroom and speak, they all perk up and the gray one will run to the door. Her and Lucky will even climb up on the box we have blocking the doorway to keep them in! Sorry if the pictures are blurry. The kittens were pretty active and I had poor lighting. I took the pics on my IPhone, so there was not a flash.

The kitten below is Lucky. She is the one Kevin saved! With that being said, she is also the runt of the litter which makes us wonder if that is why Bella did nothing to save her at birth. A few hours after birth, Bella did allow her to eat and has been taken care of Lucky since!

The picture below is our absolute favorite! Priceless! This is what she does whenever she hears mine or Kev's voice. She will look at us and meow until we acknowledge her.

Getting Bigger

Below are some pictures of the kittens and the past two days. They are so adorable and should be opening their eyes any day now! All the kittens and Bella are doing great!

Two Days Old

Our little kittens are now two days old and very vocal! They have such
loud meows and cries! They seem to crawl around and locate Bella with
no problems! The all sleep in a little pile, very close to one another
when Bella decides to leave their new area. We relocated them
yesterday when we caught Bella in the beginning stage of trying to
move them! They are now in the bottom of the linen closet with a
blanket and towel as their padding. Bella seems to like itthere with
her babies. I cut a piece out of a cardboard box to keep the kittens
inside this area. They have plenty of room but are secluded.
The first week they should all double on size and may even open their
eyes! They start to slowly open eyes between 5-10 days. That's the
average time frame. We shall see though! They won't be able to fully
hear until either week two or three. Kittens are born deaf and very
slowly gain their hearing. They meow when picked up at first. Bella is
doing an excellent job as a mommy to her babies. She let's me and
Kevin pick them up without any worries. However, when the kids get
near them, Bella tends to stand right over the kittens, protecting
them. It's very heartwarming to see how quickly her motherly instinct
has kicked in!

One Day Old

We Have Kittens!!!

Bella finally had her kittens this morning! We now have five new adorable baby kittens in our house! Yesterday I had the feeling that she was at the beginning stages of labor due to the fact she would not remain still for a long time. She was in and out of the bathroom, in the hallway quite a bit, and in our bedroom full of meows and "talking" to us. All in all, she was just restless. Her stomach was rock hard and it seemed as though she had "dropped". As some of you may know, she has taken over our bathtub as her spot to lay the past few weeks.

I woke up this morning around 6:30 and was unable to go back to sleep or even remain in bed. I ended up getting up and watching the news in the living room, a few minutes later to be joined by Kevin. We were watching TV when we heard a high pitch "meow". We just looked at one another, wondering what was going on when it hit me, "Bella had a kitten". Kevin and I walked into the hallway to see where it was coming from to find a little newborn kitten in our hallway with Bella. Okay, so not even the best place for her to choose to have it! Kevin tried to move her to the bathtub then was going to place the kitten in there with her. Everytime he put her in, she jumped out to get back to the baby. We had to end up each grabbing one and move them both at the same time for her to stay in place. She did great with the first kitten, cleaning and removing everything. With the second one, she seemed distracted with the ongoing labor and we had to end up cutting the umbilical cord and cleaning the mess off. She did clean her kittens just did not mess with the cord. In the end, I think she got lazy and figured since we took care of the second one we could do the next three to come! The third one was born with the sac still surrounding it and started to suffocate in it. Scary! Kev grabbed the scissors and cut it off. The kitten, now known as Lucky, took a breath and that was it. It was not moving or breathing, it looked to be dead. I got upset and walked out of the bathroom to get the kids something to eat. They were up at this point but not allowed in that bathroom. Kev walked out a few moments later to tell me the kitten was now breathing and moving around. Thank God! I was so relieved, as was he. Now Lucky is one of the more active ones. Pretty amazing!

At first Bella looked lost and did not really act the motherly part, which had us worried. I was not looking forward to feeding kittens every two hours! However, shortly after the last one, she started to gain the motherly instinct and has been wonderful since! She is very protective, really only letting Kevin and I near the kittens. When we pick one up and move away from the bathtub she jumps out and follows. They are all feeding off of her and moving around a lot. When she moves away in order to eat or use the litter box, they all curl up in a heap of kittens! They will fall asleep for a brief minute together then one on the bottom decides it wants to move to the top. They are all so cute! Hope you enjoy the pics below... they are somewhat out of order but there are captions under each!

Within the first couple of hours

This is Lucky shortly after birth and Kev saving him.

Bella with her babies very soon after the last one was born.

She is such a good mom already!

Lucky this evening.

Mama with the little ones a few hours after birth.

Bella was eating and the kittens were wondering around before forming their "kitty pile".

Bella during after having a kitten, before the arrival of the next.

Bella with a kitten, before arrival of the next.

Bella's Kid Free Spot

As everyone knows, our cat Bella is pregnant! She should have the kittens sometime in the near future! Her choice of sleeping places in the recent weeks has been in the bathtub. Yes, we know how that is the most random place to sleep. However, we also know the cleanup will be easy for us! Good thing we have a seperate standing shower away from the bathtub. I walked into the bathroom to get something from the linen closet and to my surprise she was asleep (at first) on the botton shelf. That has become her hiding spot, more than likely away from the kids. We have set up an area away from everything for her, yet still find her retreating to either the closet or the tub!

Curiosity Could Mean Trouble....

While I was at the doctors office with Breanna, Kevin sent me a picture of our cats just discovering Lily and Jackson. Roscoe likes to watch them from time to time when they get loud and Bella finds it necessary to put her paws into the cage. Of course when this happens, both guinea pigs tend to resort to their igloo... We were worried about Roscoe terrorizing them and have been taken by surprise that it is Bella that wants to be right there when they start making their noises. The girls do get Jackson and Lily out all the time! It just means we have to put the cats in the bathroom. They love feeding them a carrot everyday while loving on them. Jackson is the best at eating a carrot and showing his love with his loud purr. Where Lily would rather be in their cage nibbling on an orange.