The first time out of the nursery...  Mom and Mitzi go first.  Mitzi has her marching orders from Olivia and she follows those orders to the letter.  After a quick pass through the office, Mitzi reports back to Olivia that all is well...  Olivia lets out a meow and the kids come out.  It does not take them long to become comfortable, tails straight in the air, finding new toys to play with.

I came in to the cattery this afternoon for lunch and found Olivia dividing up the duties of child care.  She had two, Prissy was assigned two, and just out of camera range, was Mitzi, at her "guard post", overseeing the whole group.  It really is interesting to watch their behavior at times and see how they interact with each other, especially when kittens are around.  It is a lot of fun to see...

...And they continue to grow!!

Sylvester came over the fence this morning... And the fence came down!  This is typically Olivia's most difficult time and for the next day or so, she will be chirping up a storm, trying to keep on top of where her kittens are and rounding them up for feeding time.  They are still confined to the small nursery, but now have access to the whole room and not just their birthing room.  It is a time for exploring and learning that things can go bump in the night...and all the other things they need to start learning to be well rounded cats.  The "round" part, they already have, at least with their chubby little, round, tummies, but it is all the other things that they will now start to learn.  While Olivia will have a few days to have to adjust...This is the beginning of the real fun, for us. :-)

The "break out" continues!!  A few more images of their great escape the next day...  Pretty soon, mom will have no control at all...something she does NOT look forward to! :-)

The great Break Out beings!!  Olivia moved the kittens yesterday to another birthing room / cage that has a bit more room in it for her, Prissy and Mitzi (her two helpers).  Oh... and with the move, we realized that Olivia was getting hot, so the A/C was also turned on last night!!  Dang, how we cater to these guys!! :-)

Anyway... The break out has begun.  Sylvester was found wandering around the birthing room this morning.  We use fencing to limit their movement (as is seen in the pictures), which seems to please Olivia, so everyone was "confined" and safe.

Let the FUN begin!!

Another week has gone by and as you can see... They can see. :-)  Their eyes are open and they are starting to move around and explore.  Their marking are starting to take shape, or maybe better put, we are starting to make sense of them a bit more.  #1 is not a bi-color, but a black mackerel tabby with white, #4 may be the same.  #'s 2 and 3 are fairly easy... brown patch mackerel tabby's with white, thus girls.  In any case, none of that matters to them, what matters most at this moment is that they are all eating, gaining weight and strength.  By the looks of things, the latter is going to be important, as all of these guys are bigger, at 2 weeks, than any others we have ever had.  We will just have to see what they turn out like.

Stay tuned!!

The Group

Olivia's first foray out with another male (an Australian at that - what woman can resist the Ausi accent?) resulted in a look we have never had before in our Norwegian's.  While we are not the experts in colors, it "appears" to be two Black and Whites and two Brown Patch Tabbies.  All are doing reasonably well..., except Kitten 4, who is being a bit troublesome, but we are working on it and things are progressing.

The kittens were born on Feb., 22, 2009 in the late afternoon / early evening hours (Thank you Olivia!).  Prissy was in attendance and assisted Olivia by cleaning up each of the kittens.  Mitzi was there as well, but as she is far less helpful with kitten care, she acted as the "look-out".