Plumber

After 2-year-old Madeleine plugged up the toilet by using too much toilet paper she quickly told her mother as she ran off, "I'll go get the plumber!" Knowingly, her mother waited for the plunger to arrive.

Half Deaf

Yesterday I took Ethan to the ear doctor. I had figured out Ethan probably wasn't hearing anything with his left ear. I thought it must have been a somewhat new occurrence - within the past year. I had three theories as to what caused the problem:
1. The no-see-'em bugs that got in his ears last year somehow caused a problem.
2. The clay that Ethan had made "earplugs" out of somehow got deep into his ear and covered up his eardrum. I thought I had cleaned all the clay out, but maybe...
3. Or for some reason wax had covered up his eardrum. You know, maybe a bug got in there, his body was trying to clean it out, but instead accidentally covered his eardrum with earwax.

None of my theories turned out being fact this time. I had really hoped it was something repairable even if it took surgery. However, the doctor said it's in the inner ear, it's a problem connected with the nervous system and Ethan was probably born this way. Ethan's left ear is deaf. He said most commonly parents don't detect a problem like this until their child enters school and said I had done a magnificent job detecting it so young. That's NOT how I feel, though. How could I NOT notice my child was deaf in his left ear until the fourth year of his life??? I keep going over in my head how I could have missed that and I wish I had figured it out sooner, because I'll always wonder if he ever heard out of his left ear.

This doesn't change how we live our life as a family. It simply means we need to pay more attention how we speak to him - we need to face him more often when we speak to him. Also, we need to speak in the direction of his right ear. The doctor said Ethan isn't able to tell where sound is coming from without looking around first. I had noticed that, but hoped we would go get his ears cleaned out and the problem would end. That won't be the case. However, there is still hope in my mind/heart. I believe in miracles and believe Ethan can be healed. So, send faith and prayers Ethan's way if you have a mind to. All will be appreciated.

Spring

It's really spring now. We have five little lambs running around (two were born yesterday) and three kid goats. It's so cute watching all of them play. The kid goats really enjoy jumping on our llama, Oscar's back when he is laying down. They sort of use him as a ramp. They run up onto his back, then jump off. Sometimes they'll throw a little twist-jump in and make it extra entertaining. It sure looks like they're having a good time!

My family is still working on getting over this last cold we caught. Mostly the children are down to coughing a few times a day, but I have such a stuffed up sinus system I've hardly slept the past two nights. I did discover this morning that by adding eucalyptus oil to some very hot water and inhaling the steam you can temporarily clear up congestion.

Well, I hope everyone is doing very well and enjoying the ups and downs of spring weather!

Snob

I sounded like such a snob in my last entry, didn't I? I certainly didn't mean to come off that way, so I hope no one took offense! I hope everyone will give me a little leeway this week - my little ones have a cold for about the fifth time since Christmas (they don't take all those remedies I recommend - yet) and I'm not getting much sleep. It's really amazing how much better I function with a proper amount of sleep.

Being Right

Don't you love it when studies prove what you've been telling people for years? I just found this article on yahoo.com: http://health.yahoo.com/experts/healthieryou/371/skip-the-diet-soda/ I've been saying that for years, but I'm no scientist! Of course, there are other reasons not to use artificial sweeteners and all of those "diet" products. If I weren't so tired I'd sit here for an hour and type it all out. I just wanted to let everyone know there are no good reasons (that I can think of) to drink diet sodas anymore! Oh yeah, and it's best to pick a soda sweetened with good ol' fashioned sugar when you've got a craving.

Snowflake and Farm Life

Well, it's spring and with spring comes busyness on a farm. A little over a week ago our favorite milk goat, Snowflake went into labor. It was an exciting day. I kept going out to check on her, wanting to be sure to get to see the kids born. I had never actually seen a kid born. I tend to always show up just as they've been born and are all wet and sticky. As evening arrived and still no kids I began to worry. I wasn't sure how long goats were normally in labor for, but I knew that it seemed quick since I don't normally even notice them in labor! I talked to another farmer on the phone, then decided Snowflake was probably okay. I kept checking on her until about midnight, then went to bed and set my internal alarm clock to 2:30 a.m. At 2:30 a.m. I got up, put my jacket and boots on, grabbed my flashlight and went out into the night. I don't like going out into the night/dark ever. You know I loved that goat since I was willing to do that. I always figure a mountain lion will pounce on me in the dark or I'll run into a grizzly bear or a rabid raccoon. None of those happened, though! I climbed over the fence after grabbing a long stick (for keeping the big ram, Alex at a distance in case he wanted to get friendly or rough with me) and crept into the goat house. Snowflake was still laboring, but now the kid was in the birth canal. I had brought my oil and poured some of this on my clean hand, then worked my hand in to check the position of the kid. That's when I heard a loud noise right above and behind me. I quickly turned my flashlight towards the sound and got to see my llama's tail lifted as he, Oscar, passed gas right by me! How rude! As soon as I realized it was harmless (so to say) I turned back to Snowflake, who I was pretty sure had been in labor a little too long now. As I checked for the kid's position I found what seemed to be a bottom with no tail. It couldn't be a head, I decided, because there was no nose, eyes, mouth, ears... nothing like that. I tried to find something to grip so I could help pull it out, but didn't find much. After struggling with it for awhile I decided I had to wake Brad up and ask for help. After getting him up he came out and was able to pull the kid out. It was awful to watch. I coaxed him to go slow and easy as I petted Snowflake and told her how good she was doing. It looked painful. She had to be stretched more than normal to get that kid out. As Brad pulled the kid out I saw what the problem had been. It had had its head between it's front, bent legs. Apparently it had been in the birth canal too long and was dead. It was the biggest kid ever to be born on our farm, which made me believe it must have been overdue - just as I had suspected. Brad went in the house and Snowflake began cleaning up her kid. It didn't take her too long to realize it was dead. She looked so sad and depressed as she laid back down. I was pretty sure there was another kid in her, but hoped she would be able to birth that one out naturally. I knew that if it wasn't born within 45 minutes it wouldn't be alive. I figured it was probably already dead since its sibling had been stuck so long, looked overdue, and things weren't going well. I felt pretty sad for Snowflake and began crying as I looked at the sky full of stars. After my little cry, I went in, and went back to bed. The next morning Brad came in to tell me Snowflake hadn't birthed the second kid on her own, that its head was partially out, so he had just pulled that one out, too. It, too, was dead. They were both females. Snowflake was really depressed, but I was glad she was alive. If we hadn't helped her during the night she would have died with that kid stuck in the birth canal. I had seen that happen to my husband's buddy's goat and I would have felt awful if that happened to one of our goats!

As the days passed after the horrible night with Snowflake we noticed she wasn't eating or possibly drinking. Early on the fourth morning we found her dead. Maybe there was a complication we couldn't detect or maybe she was just so sad over the loss of her kids. Whatever it was, we lost our favorite, best milk goat around here. That was a really sad day for me. It's still hard for me to believe she isn't out there in the goat pen. She was our first milk goat, the goat Brad and I learned how to milk on about 4 years ago. We also had my sister, Kara learn how to milk on that goat. She was a great beginner goat. She had a great personality, a great build for milking, great genetics, and great mothering instincts. She'll be missed.

On the same day Snowflake went into labor our younger goat, Cocoa had her first kid. I still haven't come up with the perfect name for this little kid, but it is probably the cutest kid born on this farm (besides Cocoa last year)! Here's a picture of her:

It isn't the best picture of her, but I don't usually go into the pen and bother them until they're over a day old. This was taken on the day she was born. That's Cocoa standing next to her.

Now, the other thing I mentioned was 'hides'. We've been wanting a Scottish Highland cowhide rug. We told the man who we buy beef from that we would like to get one and he kept promising us he would get one made for us. I guess the butcher kept either giving the hides away or throwing them away, so finally Brad volunteered to go pick it up on the day the steer was butchered. Last week he went to the butcher the day they butchered some Highland steers and he ended up bringing home three wet hides. I helped him carry each of them downstairs (they weighed about 100 pounds each) where he "fleshed" them (scraped off the bits of meat the butcher didn't get off), laid them out flat, and salted them. The salt helps them to dry out quickly. It took about 200-250 pounds of salt to cover those three hides. It was, as you can imagine, a messy job. Pretty gross. As much as I try to be a good wife, I couldn't make myself volunteer to flesh those for Brad! Ewww! However, the following day when we found blood all over the place I did mop it up. They're now dried out and ready to be sent to the tanner. They should come back as nice, hairy rugs. I'm sure glad I'm not a butcher or tanner after this little experience! :)

Fun Times

Although my children are still on the tail end of a cold and Robby is teething in four new teeth all at once, I was still able to find time last night for a night out with three of my girlfriends (and Robby). We all had a great time and several laughs watching, "Dancing With the Stars," then made some greetings cards before ending our evening with a yummy cranberry nut bread.

I've always loved watching some good dancing. I sure wish I could dance like some of those ladies in that show! My sister, Mariah can and I hope someday I'll be able to, too! I realized last night that I probably like watching figure skating and dancing because of it being an expression of music. I usually like the dance or skating routine so much more if the song is one I like! I know I can't sing and getting good at figure skating would be a long shot, so I hope that someday I'll be able to dance.

Robby was so cute last night. He has entered the clingy stage where he won't let me out of his sight, so he mostly quietly sat in my lap smiling at everyone and acting shy. He is such a cuddly, hug-y baby! It's hard to believe he is nearly 10-months-old already. How time flies!

Well, when I get a chance I'll have to update everyone on farm life. Things to do with hides that need to be made into rugs, birthing goats, and death. I hope all is well with you and yours!