New kids in the neighborhood

This morning some of us went down to check on the goats around 6:45ish and nothing was happening. Next time we checked on them, around 15 minutes later, Susan had had 3 babies!! All alive and well. They are all does, which is pretty rare. There is a tan, a black, and a spotted fawn. It is amazing how fast and well the birth went. AMAZING!!!

There is such a big difference in these births. Padme had to go to the vet and is still recovering from her c-section. Luke and Leia are doing GREAT but took longer to learn how to walk and lie down. While Susan just had her babies without a squawk or anything and is just fine. And her babies are walking wonderfully, but aren't quite as cuddly or eat from a bottle quite as well, not to mention they bleat all the time. Luke and Leia rarely ever do. But anyway, on to the good stuff...

As I said before, there are three does. The tan one's name is Nasira, the black one's name is Yoshiko, and the spotted one's name is Rochel Bambi (she looks like Bambi). We are so very excited to have them here, alive and well.

Yoshi

Bambi (can't you see the resemblance?)

Nasira

Susan, the mama
All three asleep

we've been poisoned

where it all started...
(be sure to read to the end, that's when it gets interesting! ;)

Whew, what a weekend! One of our goats, Padme, went into labor on Friday, but after 24 hours of it, we decided that something wasn't right, and we took her to the vet. After 2-3 intense hours of pulling and pushing and 1 c-section later... we ended up with 2 adorable babies who we've named Luke and Leia. The reason that Padme was having such a hard time is because there was an extremely deformed baby that was stuck in the birth canal, and there was no way that he could have gotten out since he was the size of a medium dog (no wonder Padme was so huge!). He was born dead, and had one eye, a cleft palate, bumps all over his body and no hair on his belly... and... well, I'll spare you the gruesome details. :) Watching the birth was amazing and reminded of my lifelong passion to become a midwife... birth is the most awesome thing ever!!!

well, now on to the explanation of how I got poisoned... it really does tie into the above story, I promise you.

Since Padme had a C-section, we have to bottle feed the babies which has been SO much fun, yet tiring... they choose the most inconvenient times to eat (like 1 in the morning!). SO anyway, Padme's milk isn't fit for human consumption, but we have to feed the babies it and they are perfectly fine to eat it. WELL... someone forgot to label the bottle of Padme's milk in the crazy morning we had with everyone going 3 different directions... AND well, that when this story get's interesting...

I was eating some cookies today, and the only way to eat newman-o's (organic oreos) is dipped in milk of course! So I searched all over the fridge and found a partially filled bottle of milk in the back. I thoroughly enjoyed my cookies and when my younger sister asked where the cow's milk was, I assured her that it was on the top shelf, right where I had left it. About an hour later another sister came in and asked who had used the goat's milk (contaminated, might I remind you). I ran into tell my sister (who was sleeping) that we had better reserve our plots at our local cemetery... because we'd been poisoned!!! My mom hurried and called the vet to see if we were near to death. She was sitting there on the couch, and Mac. and I (partners in crime) were sitting awaiting our fate. She sat there and said "oh dear" and then went into another room to speak in private. Come to find out, the milk was full of tranquilizers from Padme's C-section. Since I lived to tell this tale, you can tell that my drink wasn't fatal... BUT the funny thing is that the tranquilizers still had effect, and my right arm, cheek and tongue went to sleep and I felt like I had just been to the dentist for a root canal (not that I've ever had one though).

It certainly made for a day full of laughs... I'm pretty sure that my family will never let me live this down. Hope that this story made you smile, and maybe even laugh out loud... it still makes me giggle!

The kids are here!!!!

Wow!!! It's been such a long day! Here's the story...

After no progress went to vet stop deformed dead baby stuck stop two kids pulled out alive stop emergency c-section stop deformed dead baby pulled out stop Padme alright stop kids doing well and eating stop named kids Luke and Leia after Starwars stop we are all doing well but very exhausted stop thanks for your concern and have a nice day stop.

Leia

Luke

Together...sleeping

Just Kiddin'

False Alarm!!

Padme did not have her kids last night. We check on her every once in a while, panic because she is having contractions only to have them stop a little while later. So anyway...
We just got a call from some very knowledgeable people who are very experienced with goats and they told us that all is well and that it's all totally normal. So, nothing to worry about.

We were just "kiddin' " yesterday!

More Baby Watchin'

Just thought it would be fun to blog the text messages that we sent to each other as we were waiting for Padme to give birth...

Cast
Kid's cell (those down at the goat barn)
Me (at the house with mom's cell)
Dad (at work)

Kids - Mom, this is how much Padme moved (with a picture showing that she had moved about a foot to the right).
Ali (at the house) - Thanks for showing us, keep us posted!!!!! :)
Kids - Mom have you called Sister W. about flute? (some of us were supposed to take flute lessons today)
Me - She is going to do that now!!! How is Padme?
Kids - She moved just a little bit. And i think they (the contractions) are closer together.
--- some time passes ----
Kids - Mom they(the contractions) are really hard now.
Me - They are coming right now!! Or at least very soon...
Kids - Very soon. I may not have time to text you.
---- later they called to ask me to boil water ----
Kids - Hows the water?
---- they came up to get the water ----
Kids - Will you boil more water? :-)
---- a while later ----
Dad (around 11:30) - Any baby goats yet?
Me - Not quite yet. We will keep you posted.
Me (around 1:30) - Matt [someone who knows goats well] came and checked Padme. He said that they usually always give birth at the same time of day as they did before and that it was all good. So she'll probably give birth tonight around 9. We'll keep you posted :D

So anyway, I'll post later tonight.
Have a great day!!!

Baby Watch (padme)

Padme, our queen goat, is in labor. At about 8:30 this morning my sister came in to tell us that she was having contractions. We have been on the watch ever since. They just ran down because the contractions are getting closer together. We'll keep you posted...

Last Saturday we made bee boxes with a marvelous family!!! It was such a fun filled day! As our dads made the boxes, the rest of us played, ate and rode horses. Such a wonderful day to spend with such a wonderful family!!

Riding the horses (and the mule)

My Grandpa has a mule and it was a big hit!!!

Sometimes it got really crazy but I think everyone enjoyed themselves!

Building the beehives

The almost finished beehives!!

Note to the wonderful family:

Thanks for all the fun times!!
We enjoy your company immensely!!! :D

An update...

Just thought I should update since it's been a while...
So, here is just a little bit of what has happened in our WAY too busy life.
1) Matthew got his 1 (may I reiterate - 1) wisdom tooth out and so there were days of lounging, watching movies and some eating.
2) We got a rather small egg from a newly laying hen.

3) We have been working out in the yard. Pulling weeds, mowing lawns, planning gardens - that sort of stuff.

(sarcastically) Aren't dandelions just lovely??!?

4) We planted some seeds last year hoping that they would come up and, well, they didn't. But this year we have a few up. They are Caraway (just for anyone who was wondering).
5) We have been playing, having fun and just enjoying life.

Dotty just lounging on the lawn

Gilbert in the Lilac trees...

Again...

And yet again!

6) Then last but definitely not least - daily, there are the chores and house work to be done. Mind you, this is no small task.

So now that you know all that has transpired in our VERY busy life, I hope that you have a most marvelous day!!! :D