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Getting used to our new 'Normal'

Sometimes I wonder what it's going to feel like to not have much 'change' in life when we get older. 

First, it's childhood. Then it's school and growing up and making college choices, occupation choices, spouse choices, home choices, family choices....

It feels like I am just sitting back and watching my life whir by. Then one day I will look back and wonder what happened to all of those super fast, super fleeting, super PRECIOUS moments and memories.

Like babies. He's over two weeks old. REALLY?? Already? I have a TWO year old and FOUR year old? Since when was I old enough to have three kids? ha.

 Anyway, maybe it's these wacko post pregnancy hormones, but it's been SO SWEET to soak up all of this baby love. I feel like I have to fight over him with my girls. They love him to pieces. They (especially Rhya) charge over to him whenever they hear him cry. 

Brielle is finally starting to get his name down pat. Up until now, a couple of times per day she'll ask to hold him. She gets close, and then requests, "Mommy, hold THIS" and holds out her arms. I laugh and say, "What is THIS' name?" She smirks and says, "CooKAcokeeCOCKOO" I say, "Can you say 'CALL' 'DEN'?" She repeats it and gets to hold him. 

New Life

We are beyond pleased to welcome child number three to our family!

Calden Lewis

9 pounds, 10 ounces, 22 inches long

Born 4:35 PM on Tuesday, May 27

Labor went better than expected, as I woke up early Tuesday morning with minor contractions. Nate went to work and I did chores and other duties as normal, just stopping during the contractions.
I decided to ask Nate to come home from work early. Kristina arrived at 1:30 to watch the girls, and we got to the hospital at 2:15. It was a 45 min drive, so i didn't want to leave too late and have an awful drive in. The drive wasn't fun, but we made it!
To our surprise, the nurse checked for dilation and said that I was fully dilated! Our awesome midwife arrived and I labored in the tub for a couple of hours until my water broke. A few pushes later Calden made his grand appearance. He was a loud one and cleared himself out NO problem!

My parents brought the girls the next day. Brielle didn't quite know what to do at first, and Rhya was full of questions. 

Brielle found Calden to be fascinating. She was super gentle and periodically leaned over to give him tiny little kisses.

Rhya has never once forgotten his name since we called with the news. Her Gpa thought he'd keep her freshened up on it so asked her the name every now and then throughout the first day. After about the fourth time, she responded, "It's CALDEN! Why are you having such a hard time remembering, Gpa?" :-)

Daddy and his boy. We got Daddy with us for the whole first week of Calden's life!

A Morning's View From the Bathroom Window

Of course I had to sneak outside with my camera:

Baby Season- A New Calf

We're adding babies left and right. We welcomed a little (well, kinda little) 88 pound calf to our farm family on May 1. 

All went well. The hooves were sticking out when Nate left for work and the calf was born when I checked an hour later.

Brielle and I got to watch as the calf flopped around and eventually took some steps. She made her way to Clydette's bursting udder and figured out the self serve system in a jiffy!

Brielle watched quietly from her perch on the 5 gallon pail. 

Clydette gladly guzzled down a pail of warm molasses water. We didn't milk her on Day 1, but did a little bit on Day 2, and gradually increased it to full milking by Day 4. 

We were prepared for milk fever (which is more common in the Jersey/Guernsey breed), and sure enough, she did get a little wobbly. The man we bought her from came out and shoved a calcium pill the size of a calk gun down her throat and she got over it with flying colors. He's been SO helpful in guiding us in the milk cow journey. We feel very lucky to have his support.

We let the calf be with her Momma for the first few days, and then started separating them for 8 hours during the day. This way the calf gets tame and Clydette is more willing to come in for evening milking.

Clydette is very gentle during milking. She never kicks the pail and usually just stands calmly and chews her cud. We've settled into a routine. I do the morning milking while Nate is getting ready for work, and Nate does the evening milking. It's so peaceful. We both enjoy it more than we anticipated!

We turned the downstairs bathroom into our milk room. Thanks goodness the calf takes her fair share because we have PLENTY of milk to go around!! The average lately is two gallons a day for us.

Our first try at making butter. YUM

Rhya almost always accompanies her daddy at evening milking time. She knows to sit on the stoop and wait for her turn to milk. She gets some squirts out but they usually go flying in random directions! 

How's this for a cheese press? The real ones are over 200 bucks...

Goats!!

We decided to let Clydette share our pasture with three frolicking Boer cross goats. We found them an hour away on Craigslist.  We made it a Saturday family outing and loaded up the dog crate into our all purpose minivan (love that thing), and headed up to meet our babies.

The poor babies had a big day, as they were only 12 weeks old and never been away from their mommas. We bought two white bucks and one brown doe. 

They were friendly, but afraid to come out of the crate.

Fred decided to show us how he was truly a goat.

Alice, Peter, and Fred, front to back. This pen is handy for keeping goats in!! We put them in here at first while they were getting to know us.

I can't let this video go unwatched! Blogs seems to make lives look picturesque and perfect, so this video is a check of reality. Enjoy, haha (btw this was the climax)

Birthday Party

Birthday parties are a HUGE highlight in the eyes of a four year old! Rhya had so much fun talking about being four, who was coming to her party, what kind of cake she'd have, etc..
The day finally came and Rhya was wondering WHEN people were going to come. It took an eternity for her to wait for the first car to pull in.

The girls are SO lucky to have cousins to celebrate with! We ate cheeseburger soup, cornbread, fruit, and salad. The funny thing about the eating arrangement was the the other kids finished up long before Brielle, but she didn't care. She sat at the table all by herself for at least 15 min. longer, happily munching away!

 Great Gpa Wayne, Great Gpa George, Gpa Mark, Auntie Shanda, Gma Mo, Daddy, Gpa, Uncle Travis

Present time equals lots of excited kids! The girls were greatly spoiled with lots of fun toys and gifts!

The cards were a big deal to Brielle. She loved to look at each one very carefully. It would have been fun to sit back and watch her open each one at her own pace, but somehow the clock ticks very fast during birthday parties!

Camping theme cake. Rhya had campsite number 4 on her cake and Brielle had campsite number 2.

Gotta love Brielle's finger going up to her mouth to feel her teeth just to be sure she was smiling.

All decked out in her dr suit. The kids had a blast fixing everyone up!

Brielle went STRONG and was super happy the whole party. She knew she was was wiped, though, and before the last guests left she crawled to the back of the play tent (that we had set up to go along with the camping theme) and fell fast asleep. She napped for over two hours!

Great Gpa Elmer stayed a bit longer than the rest. Rhya thought he might like to see her new birthday panties! HA! We sure missed Gma Jane this year. She used to be so involved in making the girls' day extra special.

Rhya and Brielle are SO lucky to have so much loving family close by!! Thanks to everyone who came and made their day special.