Isabelle Posing for the New Furniture

These are two pieces of furniture we bought from Ikea - just for the kids - one (the one Isabelle's in and has since become her favourite hanging out place) was improvised from a storage box (added a huge cushion covered also in Ikea's suede cushion cover - the brown one).

I was Named After...Isabella of France!

The Story of Isabella of France of whom I was Named after from Wikipedia:

Isabella was born in Paris on an uncertain date, probably between May and November 1295, to King Philip IV of France and Queen Jeanne of Navarre, and the sister of three French kings. Isabella was not titled a 'princess', as daughters of European monarchs were not given that style until later in history. Royal women were usually titled 'Lady' or an equivalent in other languages.
While still an infant, Isabella was promised in marriage by her father to Edward II; the intention was to resolve the conflicts between France and England over the latter's continental possession of Gascony and claims to Anjou, Normandy and Aquitaine. Pope Boniface VIII had urged the marriage as early as 1298 but was delayed by wrangling over the terms of the marriage contract. The English king, Edward I had also attempted to break the engagement several times. Only after he died, in 1307, did the wedding proceed. Isabella's groom, the new King Edward II, looked the part of a Plantagenet king to perfection. He was tall, athletic, and wildly popular at the beginning of his reign. Isabella and Edward were married atBoulogne-sur-Mer on January 25, 1308. Since he had ascended the throne the previous year, Isabella never was titled Princess of Wales. At the time of her marriage, Isabella was probably about twelve and was described by Geoffrey of Paris as "the beauty of beauties...in the kingdom if not in all Europe." These words may not merely have represented the standard politeness and flattery of a royal by a chronicler, since Isabella's father and brother are described as very handsome men in the historical literature. Isabella was said to resemble her father, and not her mother Jeanne of Navarre, a plump woman of high complexion...More

Note: Isabella is also written as Isabel in Modern times.

Happy Birthday Napoleon & Isabelle!

Today is Napoleon's and Isabelle's Birthday. Napoleon is two years old while Isabelle is three (or maybe four...perhaps five?) - We're not really sure as when we adopted her she was already and adult. We assumed she was one or two years old then. Whatever it is, we hope our darling daughter Isabelle and son Napoleon would be healthy and happy forever.

We love you Isabelle and Napoleon!

Isabelle

Napoleon

Isabelle on MODELING INTERNATIONAL

An Update on Isabelle

Of all the children, Isabelle is the most well behaved child. She's not vocal, she's mostly alone and minding her own business. She has never been seen running around when her brothers and sisters are going frantic over a moth or anything that flies around the house (we live on a hill and nearby a jungle, so they're freaky looking insects flying around sometimes resulting to the house being sadistically turned around and about leaving trails of iams kibbles around and knocking off whatever furniture that comes in between their way) but Isabelle never bothers to even barge from her favorite napping places (yes places - many) even if there's a tornado coming, she would still be lying there lazy. The only time she's seen excited is when the time comes for Ayah to feed them canned food (once a day in the evening). This is when you'd see her eyes glow with excitement and sometimes her meows can be heard. Remember the entry I wrote on Isabelle being anti-social? Perhaps it is true after all. Or maybe she is just plain lazy? Hehehe...Here's a latest picture of Isabelle.

Love,
Abah & Ayah

Isabelle: Super-shy or Simply Anti-social?

Heheheh so, is it cruel to call our beloved daughter anti-social? Well, after two months we couldn't find much to write about this one super-shy gal. She's very quiet and obidient. Not that she'd do things we asked her to, but she never gives a damn to what happens around her. Isabelle's favourite place would be her bed (the one bought for Sid and Isabelle took over posession) and the make-do bed created by Abah (made out of a box, pillow and a bath mat) - looks like she just loves to sleep!

Usually when we're watching TV at night, Isabelle would come to us to be pampered and touched. She would come standing or sometimes sitting in front of us so that either one of us would pick her up and stroke her on our lap. Otherwise, Isabelle would drift in her own world and just wake up to eat.

Another distinguished characteristic of our daughter Isabelle is that she doesn't like dry food - we feed our children Iams but for Isabelle she likes her Iams wet i.e. mixed and moistened with water.

One thing for sure is she doesn't like to be disturbed although once in a while she would let Hercules sniff her and lie beside her - our guess is that she thinks Hercules must be somehow related to her (because of the colour or becuase they were adopted together).

So, is Isabelle super-shy or just plan anti-social?

The most important thing is, we hope Isabelle's happy at her new home and with her new fathers.

Love,
Abah & Ayah

More photos of Isabelle (recent) HERE.

Hercules & Isabelle's First Day... At Home

A month has passed since Hercules and Isabelle were adopted from the IPRs. Looking at the photos of their first day at home, I wonder what they were thinking about when they first arrived. Hercules looked scared. Isabelle shedding like nobody's business. Gabby curious to see newbies invading her territories and Troy excited seeing a new bro in the house - meaning he has someone less his size to bully!

We are very fortunate that the kids could easily get along well. There were no need for behaviorial adjustments, just some time to adjust themselves with each other.

A month now, Hercules and Troy are best of friends - the fact that they came from the same foster, Sherrina, made their reunion a spark to a closer rapport.

Gabby too could accept Hercules well. She is always seen licking and grooming Hercules, like she has always done the same to Troy and to the late Sidney.

Troy has grown to be a very responsible brother. He too is always seen grooming Hercules. Our conclusion is, animals, if they grow in a loving environment (like Gabby with Troy) no matter what their gender is, they will end up being loving as well. Wish human beings could be the same.

Isabelle is a bit quiet. She seeks attention in her very own special ways. She has taken over Sid's bed and is loving the place. Isabelle isn't really the socializing type. She has gradually accepted the fact that she is now in a new and a better place. We suspect that maybe she was abused in her previous household that she needs time to adjust and register the new environment she is in. Lately Isabelle would come to us and sit on our lap so that she could be given the well deserved attention for being a very good girl.


To all our kids, we have only our love to give. We Love You Dearly...

Love,
Abah & Ayah

More pictures of Hercules's and Isabelle's first day at home HERE.

Isabelle on Catster!

Isabelle too is on Catster.com!
Visit Isabelle and do leave her some treats! Isabelle's catster ID is 354348.

Love,
Abah & Ayah

Isabelle: The ARISTOCAT!

Remember in my previous entry I mentioned that Sherrina of IPR wanted to give us her sister’s orange cat named Tigger? In the midst of deciding whether it would be ethical to take someone’s cat away even though the owner was willing, we met Isabelle. So we decided not to adopt Tigger. We could imagine how it would be if someone were to take one of our kids away.

Isabelle was one of the cats for giveaways organized by the IPR at Plaza Damas last Saturday. She was adopted on the same day we adopted Hercules. At first it was quite a task identifying whether Isabelle was a male or female cat. Many times we spent checking Isabelle’s wee wee machine – it was a perplexing time for both Ayah and me trying to locate her balls – what seems to look like balls was actually a fluffy part of her pubic area… ekekekek. We even had a name ready IF Isabelle was really a boy – Alexander!

Isabelle likes to be touched most of the time. She would come for us to touch her and if ever we stop – beware of what’s coming – she would hold out her hand and touch us back (perhaps to remind us that she’s still there and waiting).

What’s always making me laugh is that Isabelle reminds us of the Chinese lucky waving cat – the one they put in their business premises to attract customers. Isabelle has this serious look on her face and likes to stare – the brown fur under her chin makes her face curvy – exactly like the Chinese lucky cat. Moreover Isabelle could sit at a spot for the longest time you could imagine, and not move an inch.

There's something about Isabelle that says she is not the common female - she has the flair, the charisma of an aristrocrat. She never really mixes around - rather independent and could live, eat, sleep and play (never really saw her play before) on her own. That's why we call her an ARISTOCAT!

Whatever it is we hope both Hercules and Isabelle like their new home and enjoy the company of Gabby and Troy. Too bad Sidney isn’t here to be with them.

Love,
Abah & Ayah

Two More??!!!

We're pretty sure some people would say "Two More??!!!" to this news.

Yes, two more instant children in our household. Ahahahah it all started when Ayah saw a kitten called 'Tina' in the IPRs blog. After asking Sherrina she confirmed that 'Tina' was still available and asked us to visit Plaza Damas on Saturday July 1st. (See Tina in the picture)

Earlier in the week Sherrina had offered us 'Tigger', her sister's orange cat whom I had seriously enquired about when adopting Troy. Somehow I couldn't bear thinking that I would be seperating the cat from Sherrina's sister. I surely wouldn't want to be seperated from my kids.

And yes, I said TWO MORE but the second one isn't Tigger. Hehehehe.

At the IPR giveaway in Plaza Damas we met Kokila, Karen of IPR and got to meet new friends, Uncle Hanafi and Ilya of the Pets People, a pet shop there. Thank you guys for the discount. We first saw 'Graphite' - she was maginificently pretty, a rare grey coloured female (See Graphite in the picture). Unfortunately she was a bit fierce so we worried about taking her home. Suddenly Ayah saw another cat and fell in love with...

I will introduce the two kids in my next post. But again, thank you Sherrina for the two lovely cats you fostered.

So now the total is FOUR. Hehehehe...

Love,
Abah & Ayah