And so finally, here are the much awaited photos of our little bundles of joy. Taking the opportunity to photograph them when Maman Fleur had popped out from underneath our bed for some food, these photos were taken three days after birth. In a way it’s a pity no one took a photo showing two doting adults laying flat on their stomachs wriggling around to take photos while holding a spotlight and making silly cooing noises at the same time. Nigel’s photos, using his Kodak wide-angle and zoom, were the more successful. To the left of the photo is our first born, in the middle and the slightly darker marked kitty is our second, our third born is the dark little bundle being used as a lovely soft pillow by our last born.

The photos show the kitties with eyes tight shut and little ears slightly folded. Since then they have doubled in size and their ears are now perked up. We’ve also noticed that our little black kitten is actually flecked with tiny sploges of orange and thus we know she’s a little girl so have decided to call her Fleurette. For the moment we’ve named the three ginger kittens George, Bradley and, yes, you’ve guessed it, Ginger. Mind you, this might all change when we finally get to hold them.

The second photo is when Maman Fleur called Time Up! and returned to her babies posing kindly for a family photo. After the mad, almost demonic look on Maman Fleur’s face for the first couple of days, she’s now returned to her normal self as her look on the photo shows. She’s also taken to leaving her kittens in the late afternoon to go outside for a little while (I imagine for some stimulating cat talk with our other lot) but it is noticeable that no one, apart from her brother Graham, has ventured into the birthing room (our bedroom once upon a time).

Nigel and I (and the rest of the household) have decamped to another bedroom. Its double bed is much smaller than our normal one and with a rather soft mattress too. Due to this Nigel and I found ourselves repeatedly falling out of it as the three dogs settled comfortably in the middle (Archie kindly sleeping downstairs in the office). In the end we decided to make do with sleeping with the mattress on the floor and dragging in a single mattress to give us that much needed extra space. This has proved a great success with the dogs as they are now able to stretch out full length while Nigel and I cling to the edges . . .

As for Bertie, my goodness me! Has he ever settled in well. Do you know I’m still receiving emails from people saying that they’d take him if ever Nigel and I found we didn’t want him anymore? I think it’s wonderful that he has so many admirers and that there are still people who care very much about the welfare of animals.

But I must be honest and say that he’s stolen our hearts and there’s no way we’d let him go. Bertie is now definitely part of the Barker family - after all, with a surname like ours a barkie dog fits in perfectly! In fact to give him credit, Nigel and I have noticed he’s barking far less than when he arrived and only chimes in if Archie or the others may have missed something to yell across to the neighbourhood dogs. What is nice is that he doesn’t bark during the night anymore leaving that job for Top Dog Archie. Instead Bertie is cozy and warm, snuggled upside down with four paws up in the air and dreaming doggie dreams.