1 + 1 = 8

Yesterday afternoon I watched The Biggest Loser with DD. The episode featured all the contestants that had been eliminated during the season making a comeback to the ranch for weighing in. The surprise element was that the man and woman who lost the most weight were absorbed back into the programme, joining the remaining six contestants to vie for a spot in the final. And lost lots of weight they all did! It was amazing to see that they continued their battle to lose weight even after they were eliminated from the show. For a while, I too got motivated.

Anyway, after watching the show, I went to check on the hamsters. Foodie was resting in the house and Scaredy was sleeping in the sand box. Nothing unusual.

And then I saw a tiny blob in the food container. On closer inspection, I noticed four legs protruding from the blob. At one end of the blob, a pair of eyes remained shut. My eyes were then riveted to another tiny blob lying on the floor of the cage.

I called to DD in excitement. She looked intently at the two tiny babies, not knowing what they were. Even after I told her that they were baby hamsters, she kept asking whether I was sure. Exasperated, I exclaimed, "What else could they be?"

Just as DD was getting excited with the new discovery, Foodie's movement in the house caught our attention. Lo and behold, we saw four more babies snuggling beneath her!

I began to panic. Six babies! What do we do with six babies? Scaredy's rough manner with the babies got us scared. DD made attempts to get in touch with her friend, Amelia, to seek advice. But her numerous calls went unanswered.

Amid the flurry of phone calls, I went to the bathroom for a short while. When I came out, DD was screaming because one baby had been thrown outside the cage. No one witnessed the incident so we still don't know how the baby got out.

The immediate problem was how to get the baby back inside the cage because both of us felt geli (icky) to touch it. After a lot of pushing on my part, DD used a tissue paper to roll the baby onto another piece of tissue paper. Then she lifted the tissue paper with the baby on it and practically throw it in the cage!

Then DD alerted the maid about the new additions to the hamster family. Together, the two of them watched the babies in awe. And then suddenly the four babies that were in the house with Foodie fell from the first floor (of the cage) to the ground floor! The maid decided to move the house to the ground floor. It was a good thing that the maid had no qualms about touching the babies. Satisfied that the hamsters were in safe hands, I left it to DD and the maid to look after them.

Later on DD sent DH a text message to tell him of the (good) news.

That evening after DH got home, he commented, "So the hamster survived yesterday's ordeal." You see, we received two groups of visitors the previous day, my dear niece Ummu Auni Afif and her brood in the morning, and my dear brother M and his family in the evening. During the visits, the kids (M included) played with the hamsters. Of course, no one knew that Foodie was expecting.

My initial thought when I saw the six babies was to offer four of them for adoption. But when I mooted the idea to DD, she refused vehemently. She insisted that the whole family be kept together. But later on after watching Foodies taking care of the babies, she commented, "Susahnya ada 6 babies" (It's tough to handle 6 babies). So I told her that the option to give away the babies will always be open.. until she and the hamsters are ready. Whether it will happen or not, only time will tell...