Gratitude

Yikes!! A whole week with no posts. That's just not right. I promise to get some more pictures of Shamrock, the baby goat, up soon. She's so cute.

Today I am grateful for:

• Sunshine
• Friends who don't press me when I say I'm not ready to talk about something
• My kids

What are you grateful for today?

What a beautiful week we had here last week. It was great to lead into spring that way here. Of course they are calling for snow this week, but that's Michigan for you.

Today I'm grateful for:

• A husband who deals with a baby goat in the living room even though it drives him nuts.
• A daughter who cleans up after said baby goat since she is the one who wanted the bottle baby so badly.
• Snuggles from my dog.

What are you grateful for today?

Meet Shamrock

Yesterday Jade went out to check on the goats and see how they were coming along. Leah was the closest to kidding, but I didn't think she was quite ready to go yet. It seems that I was wrong. When Jade got there, she had kidded. One baby was dead, the other only half cleaned. Leah didn't seem to interested in taking care of her.

I knew she was cold and being fast was important. So I got the little doeling in the house and Jade dried her and held her until she warmed up. I managed to get a little colostrum our of leah and fed that to the baby with a syringe.

For some reason Leah isn't bagging up as well as she should, so I haven't been able to get much out of her for the baby. Luckily the friend I bought her from had saved some of her colostrum from last year and gave me that for the baby.

It's taken more than 24 hours, but the baby is finally starting to show some interest in her surroundings. I don't know if she had just gotten too cold or if something else was going on. She was standing by yesterday afternoon, but showed no interest in walking until just this afternoon. Mostly she is just sleeping.

There are other things that make me wonder if she was actually just a little premature. For example, she won't open her mouth for the bottle when she is hungry. Once I manage to force it in her mouth, she can suck on it but it's like she can't figure out how to get it there herself.

While I know that I could probably get Leah to take her and nurse her, Jade is quite excited to have a bottle baby to train up for fair. So I think it's all working out. Even Ruger is being gentle with her. As I type this he's napping right in front of her crate, almost like he's guarding her.

Gratitude

The sun is shining today and that somehow always makes me feel more positive. I think that this remembering to be grateful thing is helping as well. I haven't been remembering to write it in my journal every day, but I find myself thinking about it more and more. Even in frustrating situations where I would have just complained and stewed about it. Don't get me wrong, I still complain when I'm frustrated, but I seem to get over it sooner and remember to be glad it's not worse. Basically I find I'm reminding myself not to sweat the small stuff.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Laughter
• Sunshine
• Smiles on my kids faces

What are you grateful for today?

Baby Watch Starts Today

Goat gestation is 150 days. Today is 150 days since the girls were first taken to my friends farm for an extended stay with their buck.

So now we watch and wait. Since two of the girls are first fresheners (that means they have never had babies before) I have no idea if they will show signs of getting ready before it's time. Some goats do and other done. Leah, our full Nubian doe, is showing signs but doesn't seem quite there yet. Her udder is noticeably larger today, but not really tight like I would expect. Her ligaments are loosening, but not gone. The other two have no signs at all.

While I expect Leah to first, there is no guarantee. Some goats just don't udder up or loose their ligaments until they start labor.

Regardless of who goes first, I can't wait for the babies! There is nothing as cute as a baby goat.

Four Years Old?!

Today is Braden's fourth birthday. I tried to post a picture of him as a baby and a picture of him from last week. For some reason I'm having trouble getting the pictures to load on blogger. Not sure why. *pout*

I almost can't believe he's gotten so big. He's a normal, healthy little boy. You would never know he had such a rough start in life. If you are somewhat new to my blog, you can read about Braden's rough start HERE.

I'm just glad that four is still little enough to give his momma lots of snuggles. I think it's time for me to have one of those snuggles now. Happy birthday, Braden. I love you.

Gratitude

A whole week without posting. Yikes. Maybe this week will be less busy.

Today is a bit of a hard day for me. It would have been my dad's 57th birthday. I miss him just as much today as I did when he died. So in his honor this post will focus on the things I'm grateful for about the time I had my dad.

Today I'm grateful for:

• All the memories of fishing with my dad, even the ice fishing.
• The lemon pledge that made my rusty old Mustang shine.
• The strong work ethic my dad refused to let me grow up without.
  

Happy birthday Papa. I miss you.