There were tears rolling down my cheeks as I stared hard at that box -- a box which contained the memories and what was left of the little one I loved. Somehow, after 8 previous little burials, I thought that I would have grown up, gotten used to it, and be ready to move on. But today's little one was very special to me. I can't even begin to describe why it would be so. As I remembered the moments I held her and kissed her, my eyes welled up and my heart sank. She was just so much of a darling.
It is so easy to shed tears for the one you love most. So easy to cross out all weariness and complaints, and simply love -- because that one is so lovable. Then wherefore goes the love for ones who are not so lovely?
I wonder why. I really wonder why God would choose to be bothered with us at all. Or for that matter, with me -- the worthless wretched being that I am. He doesn't need us yet he wants us. We need Him, yet so often, we reject Him. Just great.
I overheard a conversation today between two ladies on the train, who were probably in their early 30s or at most, late 20s. One was telling the other about how awful her ex-boyfriend is. The more I listened to her, the more I wanted to tell her that actually, it seems to me that she never knew what love meant. Not that I claim to know it all -- I obviously don't. But I do know that true love is not one who keeps records of wrongs done over years ago. Nor is it one which boasts in the self, and turns unreasonable -- "because he was unreasonable first", she said.
Now that their relationship is over, she grumbles about how he tells others that he was the one who dumped her -- when it was she who initiated it. And she is upset that he's telling everyone that he's seeing someone new... Then she says "Praise the Lord, I finally got rid of him."
Agreed that I don't know the man and perhaps he really was a jerk. But aren't we all just as imbecile, unpleasant and so unworthy? How can one be so in love one moment, then turn around and thank God it's over the very next?
If God had dealt with us the way we are so prone to behaving, we would have been eternally condemned long before our time.
Remember baby Provolone, the first little one to open his eyes?
Yup, that's him in the first photo and the second (taken on the day when he first opened his eyes!) Look how much he has grown! :)
Today marks another chapter of his life and of Phinehas'. They officially complete their weaning and now live in a separate cage from their sisters, mommy and aunties. Just the two of them. :)
I went to Serangoon North to gather my supplies to ensure my little boys have all they need for their "new" home. This must be the first time I bought so many things from there too! Actually the only thing I bought for them specifically is a new wheel. The other stuff are for all my miceys in general... new bedding, new potty litter, new food, new vitamin drops... oh! I bought a roll of twine! I had long wanted to buy one of those bird toys for my mice. I know they would love them too... but a simple ropey thing costs at least $10!
So I bought twine for $2 and plait it up just like the bird toys. Hehe. I tied a treat to the top and Phinehas caught on immediately! He's a darling. At first he was just sniffing at the rope and biting it... then he starts his ascent. Hee. He's my super boy. :) Meanwhile, Provo was contented with running frenzily on his new wheel.
I hope the two brothers will enjoy each other's company and not fight! But considering they're still young and have lived together all their lives, I think it's okay.
God is sooooo good. He gave me soooooo many miceys!
I fixed new tubes to my cages (not really new tubes, but new arrangement) and my little babies are so cute. They squashed themselves together to sleep in the tube! Hehe.
So adorable little fellas. And Phinehas wins my Most Curious baby award. He's the only one who would perpetually run to me when I put my hand into the cage. The Most TImid baby is Bianca! She's really skittish - but she's much better now. I hope she won't runaway from me all her life! Oh dear. :(
See how my babies have grown! They're just that weeeee bit smaller than the adults! Tiara, of course, is the smallest of the 3 adults but not much smaller than the babies' mommy, Tabitha. :)
They've begun nibbling on all sorts of solid food and Bianca (below) even attempted the wheel! But this wheel is way too big for her to maneourve. Although it really didn't stop her from trying her very best! Look her persistent she is - her hind legs are raised and her limbs are all spread apart for optimum power. Hehe. So funny. I bought a bone meant for dogs for my miceys. It's got peanut flavoured stuffing! I read from a website that mice love these doggy bones because they can burrow through it as they eat up the stuffing. I thought it would only attract the 3 adults but it turns out, the babies love it too. See how Blithe is devouring it!
By the way, mice are omnivorous - in case, you're wondering why I'm making them eat meaty stuff. They're not herbivores. :)
My babies!!! Can you remember they were still all pink and frail just days ago? Look at them now. If only you could see them run too. They're super sonic mice. Scurrying around like there was no tomorrow. Haha. :)
They look tame in this photo because they have finally finished surveying this travelling cage that I placed them in. It took them 20 mins to settle down! Once they're comfortable, they would rest their little selves and take a nap.
The baby sleeping closest in front is Bethany. My lovely Bethany is the friendliest of the lot! Remember I told you about the baby who was the last to open her little eye? Yup, same little baby girl! When I place my hand into the cage, a few of them sniffed me and place their front paws to check me out but only Bethany and Phinehas actually climbed readily onto my hands and sat there. Bethany also climbed up my hand, arm and onto my shoulder! She such a doll! Phinehas tried to climb too, but he didn't quite go pass my watch on my wrist before I took him down. I was worried he might fall.
Provolone attempted something else though. He climbed up my chest while I was standing upright! Vertical scaling! Mice are really really intelligent little creatures. He must have used his little paws (and tail for support) to cling onto the fibres of my t-shirt to perform that amazing vertical climb. Haha.
But I was rather sad... Bianca didn't seem to like me much. She behaves very much like Tania. Very skittish. So skittish, in fact, she jumped off my hand and disappeared under the table. Fortunately, there was a long paper towel tube which I left there and she crawled in promptly - almost by instinct. Mice love to tunnel. :) I'm going to try and spend as much time as I can with her to let her feel comfortable with me! Please Lord, let her be!
yeah. I love my little miceys - very much, very very very much!
Wow, time really flies. More than counting days and weeks, now my babies can be counted with months! At 15 days old, they're an amazingly active bunch! Scurrying around the cage from end to end, corner to corner... they have even invaded the other cage too. But I hope they don't stay there because the bedding is some woody thingy which I had to use because stupid pet shop ran out of bedding for me. :( I hadn't the time today to buy it but I will tomorrow. :)
It's becoming increasingly difficult to take photographs of them although I must say, they are extremely tame when on my hands. They sit quietly, sniff around and sometimes close their little eyes to rest. :) They're so much at ease with me, I could have never been happier!
Having said that, here are two photos of them in their little hut - where they were originally born in! :) I also took a video, which as usual, is taking forever to process. :P
I waited all day before youtube finally proceessseddd the videos. So here they are! (There's one more still processing. Can you believe it? It's only a few seconds!)
Baby Provolone on 13 May, when he first opened his eyes. He's really comfortable in my hands! I'm so glad I started handling them early so they're not afraid of me. He's so at peace that he was actually sleeping in my hand. :) So cute, isn't he?
Sorry this is a bit dark. I had to stick my camera into the cage, so the lighting was bad. And it's just a digital camera, so it doesn't quite come with "flashlight" for video. Heehee. Or maybe I just don't know how to use la.
2 weeks old! My babies have all opened their eyes. Yesterday it was just Provolone and the right eye of Brielle. Today, it's everyone! Well, almost. Haha. I got home and checked all of them one by one. All except baby Bethany had both eyes opened! She was just like Brielle, a one eyed pirate. But it wasn't long before she opened the other eye too. In fact, it took less than 10 mins. I was so happy I was around to watch it happen! :D
So this shot was taken when I finally could clean up their dirty bedding. For the past 2 weeks, I didn't want to disturb their nest much, so I only cleaned the other cage. But now that they've all grown up, I decided to clear up the mess and the stench. Thankfully for the Timothy Hay which gives off a really fresh and fragrant aroma, the dirty bedding didn't smell as bad as it should have smelt - going for 2 weeks without cleaning. EEuurrrggh. The really hilarious thing about these shots was that the babies was absolutely reluctant to step out of their nesting outpost or this connecting tube and onto the bare table! Because I had the dirty bedding tray removed, the cage was sitting on the table. No matter how far each baby attempted, none seemingly dared to step onto the table! But when I placed the bedding tray back in, they all plonked off the tube and starting running amok - almost like it was an amusement park arena! It was such an adorable sight; I wish I had videotaped it for you! But I didn't. So like I was telling Liwei, I'll be the only priviledged one to witness such a delighful sight! Hee. :)
Jo used to tell me to feed my mice egg tofu but my old late mice were never fond of it. Thus, I had my doubts. I thought perhaps the egg tofu was only a treat to hamsters. But I tried it again anyway, because of the good proteins soya beans and egg can provide my sweet little mommy Tabitha. And you know what? She loved it!
And yes, here they are. Well, not all. Just 4 little ones snuggling up after that crazed run around the cage. :) From left to right: Bethany (yes, the babiest one!), Brielle, Bianca & Blithe.
My so-very-delightful little baby Provolone has opened his eyes to the world! :D He's the first and only one to open his eyes so far. I'm still waiting for the others, which I'm sure won't take long. Maybe by tomorrow when I get home from work, they'd all have "eyes wide open"! Hehe. Provo's eyes are really small still. I think he's still getting used to it. After taking a few photos, it suddenly dawned on me that I might be hurting his eyes with the flash. :( But nothing turns out if I don't use flash. It gets all blurred! EEeesh. So I took a video, instead. And then did a screen capture. Look how lovely my handsome baby Provo is :)
By the way, his name - Provolone, is a type of Italian Cheese. Pronounced as Pro - vo - low - nee. I named him after one of the characters in Psalty the Singing Songbook. Specifically, Provolone is a churchmouse found in the Charity Churchmouse's "On the Front Line" cassette - one of my favourites in my childhood. And yes, I was already deeeeeeply in love with mice when I was very young. Mickey Mouse was the king. Mighty Mouse was the one true hero. And Charity Churchmouse was my inspiration. Haha. I'm not kidding.
And here are two videos with bad ambient noise but extrememly adorable mice.
Look how pretty Brielle is in these 2 shots of her! And my lovely Bianca, is the most obvious little baby in this litter (beside Provolone who is so very brown, and most like mommy!) for the 3 little patches on her back. The others generally have their patterns in a "striped" format. Provolone seems like the really curious sort. He's always sticking his head out somewhere. Haha. I love him to bits.
And nope, that's not mommy. That's big nanny, Tania! If you could watch them, you'd see how Tania is such a loving and wonderful nanny. She's constantly sleeping with and grooming the babies. When they fall out from the nesting area (the outpost, pictured in the photo), she would quickly catch them back! Now that the babies are bigger, stronger and more active than ever before, they don't just fall out anymore. They CLIMB OUT too! Haha. But I never need to do anything about it. Nor does their mommy, Tabitha. Because nanny Tania would be that pronto!
It's true! I'm not exaggerating!
Made with lotsa love by Zong Ren, the cages are now mesh-ed up to prevent the teeny weeny babies from escaping in between the wire bars. At 11 days old, they can fit themselves through the wire mesh, of course, BUT they're not tall enough to climb and reach the wires yet. So this is made in preparation for the days to come, when they grow bigger and have the ability to climb their way out.
We took hours to get them in the mesh! No easy peasy task here! We got these BBQ wire mesh from the hardware store and Zong Ren had to measure and cut it to fit exactly. Plus, it has to have space for the door, the water bottle and the wheel!
No, I didn't quite baptise my baby mice. But I did give them their names - for the first time since their birth! And yes, I have abandoned the silly names like Pecan and Peanut and Button because however cute they may sound, they don't quite go in sync with how beautiful these babies are growing. They deserve beautiful names :)
If you can't see clearly, the names are Bianca, Phinehas, Provolone, Brielle, Blithe, Brianne and Bethany!
I was so worried I couldn't sex them but then I finally realised why. There was only 2 little boys and so every little baby I picked up had the same underside as the other. It took me a lot of effort to finally realise that these two little boys didn't have dots on their bellies - no nipples!
So the two names in purple (Phinehas and Provolone) are the two lovely little boys :) And here they are:
I tried to photograph them one by one for you but it was almost impossible. They're getting far too active! These two boys and two girls were all I could manage from the gazillion shots I tried and failed. Haha. Brianne looks like she's dancing, doesn't she? Hehe.
And if you're wondering how I tell them apart? It's the same way how mothers (or even good friends) tell twins apart. :) Takes time, acquaintance and observance.
With the addition of the 7 little babies, I have a total of 10 little miceys! Makes me wanna sing "one little two little three little miceys..." Haha. And yes, my babies are 10 days old and their tails are growing longer and furrier. Their bellies have turned white too! Unfortunately, I still can't determine their gender so I still can't give them names. But I'm contemplating a few names already - yet they might just not work out. I match names to how my mice look, so the names I have right now might not work because my babies are growing up so quickly - they are barely like the pink little squirmies they were just 10 days ago! It is becoming increasingly hard to take photos of them so I think I wouldn't be able to keep up with these daily records soon. They're becoming so agile - like miceys are supposed to be. Once they had problems standing properly and fumbling their way as they walked. Now, they can hop a little! Very soon, they'll be jumping all around! And I would need my cage ready for them. Eeeeks! Because it was so difficult to get a nice shot of all of them, I separated them into two teams. This team was especially orderly! (except for the one curious baby) And this team was so adorably impossible to photograph! But I did manage this one that captures their faces too! Their eyes are still closed. They're still little babies for now. But soon, they'll be running all around like they're supposed to.
Prologue: This is a combined post of 4 photos. Haha. Anyway, I've decided to post this one up first because it's my granny! :) with my 2 aunts, uncle and niece (my cousin's daughter), and also the camera man from RTM. They are doing some segment on former sports personalities and no, my granny wasn't one - although my late grandpa was a fantastic badminton player in his time. As it was, his skills were passed onto his children (which includes my daddy who still plays badminton every week, without fail, at a good age of 66 this year!).
Uncle Roland, Uncle Billy (right, in grey) and Aunty Eng (right, in white) were in the Malaysian national team. I must have mentioned this before sometime back. My aunt was a Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist and a Asian Games Bronze medallist - and that is amongst many other medals and trophies she's won. My uncles are no less, but I don't have all the details. My late Uncle Robert was also in the team with them, but unfortunately passed from cancer at a young age.
Onto something totally irrelevant, my mice have turned from pink to furry baby white! :D They're so very lovely I could kiss them all day! Now they are able to cling on tightly to my fingers and refuse to slide off! Do you see the baby right on top? He looks so funny like that! haha.
My lovely lovely so very pretty babies on their 8th day. Their fur is growing thicker and they're really getting more active! Just barely 8 days ago, they were all pink and frail and had problems moving about. Now, they're squirming out of my hands and clinging onto my fingers! Hehe.
And so I decided to show you a close up. Fuzzy-wuzzy-oh-so-lovely! :)
My little bundle of joy! Their pigmentation is getting so obvious and in a lovely shade of brown - just like Tabitha, their mommy. Oooh. So lovely. Their fur is beginning to grow longer too. The pigmentation however, is not really their fur. At least I don't think so. It really is a pigmentation of their little naked skin. :)
And I had them arranged for individual portraits. I'm having problems differentiating the babies in the centre row because of similarities in their markings. It's like playing "Spot the Difference"! Haha. So funny. :)
Look! You can see their patterns! Their fur is begining to grow now and they're just a little bit fuzzy - just like velvet! I love my babies so much! :)
Their pigmentation is showing! Can you see the different shades in their skin? The darker areas will most likely be brown like Tabitha's and the lighter areas white. Looks like they're going to be very pretty mice indeed!
And now I can handle them on my hands. I was told in the mouse forums that we have to start handling the baby mice at Day 4 to get them accustomed to humans (to me!) so when they grow up, they would be more comfortable with human handling.
This was taken on their 3rd day. I didn't take any today (4th day) because of some new changes. I came back from cell and found 5 babies shifted to the outpost area - where Tabitha created a new nesting area; leaving 2 behind in the little hut! I don't know what she's up to but I'm afraid to shift them around, in case there is a good reason to it. :( I'm praying she doesn't intend to forsake the two (or the five for that matter!)
I managed to take better photos of the little pinkies. They're about 1.5cm in length and they look like they've this layer of pink skin stretched over their little faces and bodies. So funny!
I can't wait to see their pigmentation showing through, then I'll know what colours they'd be! So exciting! I'm going photograph them everyday!
I had an incredible MayDay surprise! I found little pinky things wriggling inside the little hut of my micey's cage. I couldn't believe my eyes! I have babies!!!
At first I thought they were Tania's - descendents of Theodore. But that didn't make sense. Theodore was too old. Then I thought they were Tabitha's because I thought her tummy was a little odd shaped when I held her two days ago. But no! They are Tiara's! My baby Tiara! I saw her nursing her pups! She's still such a puny little love and she's a mommy already!
Updated: 01 May, 10:30pm They really are Tabitha's! I thought they were Tiara's but I was wrong. Tabi's odd shaped tummy was really a case of pregnancy because I saw the babies suckling and refusing to let go. There must really be milk and so she really is Mom!
And so, Tiara really is still a baby afterall. :)
She must have conceived while she was still at the pet store. And to think I was still playing with her not knowing she was pregnant.
