Family Fun

Family Fun

Sunday, June 29, 2014

   Lol, I reread the last post and it is comical now to say that life was definitely moving forward. While I was feeling so down and tired my body had moved forward entirely, and gone and accepted new life. I am now 7 weeks along with a baby that already has a strong heartbeat(122) and has been seen on ultrasound, measuring perfectly. I am due on Valentines Day,2015. I am tired, oh yes, but it is a tired I can relish. I am sick, but I am happily dealing with that as I think of the little being growing stronger each day. With each loss I have come more and more to acceptance that I am very small in this life, that the Lord is truly in control, and even the sorrowful things have meaning and importance. This is actually very reassuring for me.
   I am very happy that Brian and I have come up with a generic plan. Our hearts both long to be back in MI. Our physical reality makes that not possible yet. We are aiming to be back up there in the next five years. Financially we should be able to do it that way with no difficulties. It feels good to have a plan in place to get back "home".
    The oldest three children and Brian are getting ready to leave this week to travel to Nashville for the International Youth Convention. It is a huge meeting that takes place every other year for the Church of God youth. Brian is obviously going as a chaperone, and he has really been feeling led to start working more with the youth. I believe this will be important when we go back to MI, but am so glad he is open to it here too.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

 Moving...forward? More like marching in place.  I gave myself some extra grace in what I allowed myself to eat following the recent miscarriage and as a result went back up a couple pounds. Nothing extreme, but up enough that I am now re losing weight I already lost. My body has not cycled in a clearcut way either, so I am a little uncertain of where I should be. I have been minding other people's children often enough that I feel like the days are a bit blurry due to being exhausted and monotonous.
   On the other hand I have planned and purchased most of the new school year curriculum! Yay! I can hardly believe how close I am to graduating my first, and how fast it will go after that.
   Our garden is a little smaller this year, but growing nicely.
    The animals are doing wonderfully. We have Frogger separated from the girls, so we can control the kidding season a little better next year. The chicks are out in the coop in a birdcage, soon to be allowed free. Our girl bunnies need a male to give them some lovin. ;) The pond regained a bit of water this week, after going completely dry. This drought has been hard.(understatement)
    We went and signed up for the library's summer reading program today. They had face painting, sidewalk chalk and bubbles, and play-do and coloring pages. The younger ones and my 8 year old nephew loved it.The teens and Logan were indifferent. So odd to see them growing up like that. They found tucked away chairs and dove into their books. Gavin was happy to learn that audio books count(he has profound learning disabilities so this is the first year he is excited to do the program).

Thursday, April 17, 2014

  With much sadness I lost this pregnancy this week. I was seven weeks, and so filled with hope and desire. I am very thankful, though, that physically it has not been nearly as hard as my last loss(which was 3 years ago,also during Lent). I have not hemorrhaged, and because of this chance to compare I now realize how bad last time really was.  I have placenta pills left from Lucian's birth and they have helped balance me out so well. I was very weepy on Sunday and after taking two a day since then I have been much more even and able to see things without feeling so depressed.
   We have finished with our kidding season now. On Thursday I looked out the back window and saw a little red goat laying at the back fenceline. Then I saw a big red goat laying next to it. We only had one red goat! I ran out and sure enough Calhoun had a red buck on the ground, all fluffy and adorable. My heart sank a little as I spotted a second baby laying lifeless in the dirt, a gorgeous red/paint buck. I picked him up and he was cold,but breathing. I toweled him vigorously, and squirted some colostrum in him, but he wasn't really perking up. I brought him in the house and blow dryed him until he was warm and he started doing much better.  We gave him colostrum from his mama, bu he couldn't suckle. Long story short...we bottle fed him and cosseted him for three days,but he died. I feel rather guilty for even interfering in some ways, as though I prolonged his death, but at the same time I would do it again because he had a 50-50 shot of making it. His brother is doing wonderfully, strong and growing. That same day Vanellope had twin bucks(I was out there for this one). Her boys are both traditional red head white body Boers, and are hearty and big.  I thought we were good for a month or so, I could swear Seamus wasn't bred until later, but she had twin bucks yesterday! I looked out the window in the morning after they had been fed and she was laying apart from everyone else. I knew what that meant, and booked it outdoors in time to clean baby 1 and a few minutes later help her with a malpositioned(minorly) baby two. The first one got her wattles, the second is traditional, both big and healthy. While I was marveling at all our gorgeous babies I noticed one of the triplets is in fact a boy...I think I must have checked one girl twice!!! So we now have 8 bucks and 2 does that made it this year, 16 goats all together.
   Lucian is turning two tomorrow. I am not sure what we will do...normally we go to the zoo on Fridays but to be honest I don't feel up to it. My sister is having voluntary surgery so I will have both my nephews all weekend.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Spring time! I love it!!!
   Things are turning green outside. The white and purple buds on the trees light up the background. Our pear trees have a new little companion, we planted a nectarine tree between them. It is self pollinating, so we only need the one, but I would love to get another next year just because they are so pretty! Also, I love nectarines. ;)
    The five wee goatlings are adorable and energetic. The two boys are super sweet and friendly, while the three girls like to play together and ignore people. There are two more does who should be kidding soon(the next two weeks?) and one more who I believe has two months to go.
   And...my bit of happy Me news...I am pregnant! I tested positive on day10, and have tested throughout, pleased to see darkening lines! It is really real! I am 5 weeks now, due the beginning of December. I am so hopeful, so excited. I am trying so hard not to worry, or think of how devastated I was with the miscarriages, because I don't want it to go that way. I have not had any November or December births yet :D so that will be fun. I am still doing Trim Healthy Mama as a way of eating, so hopefully I will have a decently controlled weight gain this time around. I am starting 20+pounds heavier than I ever have before. :/  Squeal...so excited!
    I have been watching my nephew full time(he arrives Sunday night and stays until Friday night) and my whole system is skewed. I am trying to get back on track, reorganize and come up with some new ideas. Having two one(almost two) year olds is tricky!!! They do not play well at all together.

Friday, March 14, 2014

I can't believe it has been almost a year since I blogged. :(  I just lost my mojo...but it is spring and I feel good so I'm back!
   So much has changed, while still being basically the same. The kids are all doing well. Trinity is weeks away from getting her license...a somewhat daunting idea, but she drives very well. Christian has a new little dog who adores him, and he feels very much the same. Her name is Gizmo.She is the first small dog to be a part of the family and she is sweet and so good for Christian to have. She sleeps with him, he bought her a jacket. He works now with a paintball company, so he has money and I think she is the only one he has spent it on! He is fantastic at saving. Gavin has been seen, and diagnosed officially. We are in the process of finding some curriculum that really suits him, and rethinking what will best help him on his learning road. Logan is really blooming and coming out of his shyness. He is such a clown! He will be joining the youth group this fall, that seems so odd. Griffon is doing really well in all he endeavors to...he loves to draw and write and is addicted to Minecraft. Jubilee had a thumbsucking deterrent put in her mouth, and will have that in until July. I am glad she will be over that, although she has a hard time talking with it in. She is going in for a diagnosis as well. :/ I guess it is not that unusual for multiple children to have issues, but it is hard!!! to go in for so many kids! I feel like I contributed faulty genes, irrational though it sounds. I am working through it, and the kids are really all thriving so it is more of a mental block. Epiphany is an amazing girlie. She is 4 now, and so smart, funny, and vivacious. Her long brown curls stretch down her back and she picks out the funniest outfits for herself. Lucian is 22 months and such a sweet boy to those of us he knows. He tends to growl at strangers, which is funny but completely not ok, so I choke back the giggles and try nto teach him to be a nice kid lol. He has a heart melting smile(even with the big chip from his front tooth >:{  ) and is quite the mischievous boy .
         We had triplet does born yesterday, 3 weeks to the day after a set of Strong bucklings! We already have more kids than last year, and still have three does to go!!!The bucks are so handsome.
Here are the twins meeting the rest of the herd.

Here are the triplet doelings right after they were born. When the first one was born I immediately knew it would be triplets because she was a bit small for how big mama was, and sure enough there were two more not long after. Both times the mamas had good straightforward births that I was able to be at and all the babies have been healthy(Praise God!).
   We have a few chicks and keets in my room to squee over until May when we will get our Murray McMurray order of 50 birds.
The kids on a recent zoo trip.