3 weeks old!

Alice has taken the first step of letting go. She has pushed her babies out of the igloo and will go in there by herself, I'm sure, for a little break. Occasionally a couple of babies manage to get in there with her but mostly it's a nice haven for her. Can you imagine having 12 babies...all the same age...all nursing?? You might as well just forget wearing clothes for several months. Don't worry about losing those extra "baby" pounds because you will lose them as you will never have a chance to get yourself something to eat. Peace and quiet and your body as your own...forget about it!
It's probably a good thing that mice don't have the emotions that we do, they don't carry grudges or feel resentful. I'm thinking the mortality rate of all male mice would be really high.

Poor Alice, She's got 12 blind little mice that catch her scent when she scurries by and they all just lunge at her and drag themselves underneath her trying to nurse. She literally just sprawls out on top of them and they treat her like the rock star who has jumped into the crowd to be passed around from one fan to another, above their heads and they just move her this way and that. She looks like one of those parachutes the kids play with at school, where they raise it up and the kids run underneath....yep! That's Alice! Not much longer little one!

I've been trying to tell if we've got boys or girls and though the "experts" say you can tell by this that and the other...I can't tell the difference. I'm thinking I either have all baby boys or the "experts" are wrong. (which you know happens all the time) Nothing like a little experience to upset a theory - - - can't remember where I heard that - - - but it's true!

So those are Alice's babies up there. They still haven't opened their eyes and yet some of the "experts" say that they should start weaning at 3 weeks! I, however, am not going to remove them from their mama until they are able to eat regular food on their own. The mama is shelling peanuts as big as her babies right now.