Well, Sweetheart has had her kittens. I swear she waited until today just to give me the maximum amount of anxiety. I was a wreck worrying about leaving her when she was so very pregnant. Last time she had 4 kittens and one was born dead and the others died about a week later--so I had nightmarish visions of coming home to little corpses.

But I was awoken this morning by the unmistakable sound of a newborn kitten screaming its head off. Seems they always do that. Either they will be born in a "wrong" place (had one mama give birth to one in a garbage can, another in the corner of the room behind the door, another on top of another cat...) or mama will step on them or sit on them and they will complain VERY loudly. Nature takes care of newborn kittens--gives them a voice that could shatter glass. No one is going to overlook a wailing kitten.

But anyway, Sweetheart has had 6 kittens so far (and I say "so far" because she is still big and may have more in there, though I doubt it). One, a little yellow boy, was born dead. Tried to get him breathing but no luck. But the other 5 are loud and hungry.

The other 2 mamas in the "nursery/maternity ward" are having a maternal day. Both of them are obsessively caring for their kittens now. Must be the sounds of new motherhood has spurred their maternal hormones into action. Which is a good thing since I was a bit worried about Little Girl's one kitten who is so much smaller than the other. Still worried about him, but at least I have seen her obsessing over him, so I know she is caring for him.

So I picked up the rental car for our trip with a MUCH lighter heart. Was really thinking of not going if Sweetheart hadn't had her babies. It's a cool car, a Toyota Highlander. Should be able to fit all our "stuff" in there. If not, we'll tie Sam to the roof. He'd probably like that anyway. *glares* Scott just said if anyone gets tied to the roof, it will be me. He is reminding me that I am not a good passenger and get obsessive over the map. Well SOMEONE has to--not like HE can actually READ one. And ok, last two times we went I DID make a few comments about his driving. But I have gotten better. I haven't screamed "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" more than once or twice in a long time...