O Christmas Tree

Some of my favorite Christmas tree accessories this year:
Tate's picture ornament this year. On the flip side:
his hand print. Turns out, you shouldn't use food coloring with plaster of paris. It doesn't work so well. Just passing on that useful bit of information.

Cole's picture ornament,

and hand print.
My favorite accessory has to be this:
Cole made a no sign and put it under the tree so Tate wouldn't open any presents :)

Christmas Letter 2010

Another year has come and gone and we are all another year older. Getting older has come with consequences. I learned this year that my parents are not immortal. *Gasp!* It’s a shocking revelation, I know. I guess it’s something I’ve always known, but this year that fact reared its ugly head. In March my dad had surgery for prostate cancer. I guess in the scheme of cancers it’s a good one to have, but scary none the less. He is cancer free and doing great now. This fall was full of appointments and visits to the neurology department of the Mayo Clinic on behalf of my mom. I enjoy spending time with my family, but I would much rather spend it away from downtown Rochester.

Pat’s parents are doing well. His dad is thoroughly enjoying his new knees. His grandmother has been in the hospital a couple of times this winter, but overall they are healthy.

Outside of hospital visits, the year hasn’t been terribly exciting.

Tate turned 2 in July. He desperately wants to be 4 and has been known to throw fits and even put himself in time out. He’s a much more adventurous kid than his brother. We’ve lost him a couple of times during chores when he’s wandered off to check out something. Thankfully he’s kept himself out of serious trouble, but he requires constant watching.

Cole turned 4 in June. He finished up his first year of 3’s preschool in April. He started school readiness in August. He attends 2 full days a week and recently started riding the bus to and from school. His teacher has learned a lot about farming. Cole still spends much of his time helping Grandpa do chores and learned to drive his Gator this year.

Pat spends his time working on the farm, and attending meetings for the local fire department and grain elevator. Pat and I joined the Young Cooperator’s group through our milk cooperative. We attended the annual meeting last winter and toured our butter plant in New Ulm this summer. It’s been nice meeting other families like us. This summer we also attended the LCMS National Youth Gathering in New Orleans with 5 youth from our church. It was a great trip and a very different experience from attending as a youth to attending as a chaperone.

I am in my final year of school. I start student teaching in January and was fortunate enough to be placed nearby. I turned 30 this year and spent my birthday recovering from out-patient surgery that landed me in the hospital for 4 days. Four weeks later I ran my first competitive race since I was at Concordia. It felt amazing and I hope to pack in more races this coming summer.

We headed to Medora, ND and Theodore Roosevelt National Park in early June. If you’ve never been there, it is absolutely gorgeous. My only recommendation is not to tent camp in NW ND in early June, especially with 2 small children that don’t stay under their blankets. Thankfully the next 2 nights were spent with friends or in a hotel, which was a much warmer way to stay. It was a fun trip and I think I may have finally sold Pat on the idea of camping.

It has definitely been a year to remember, both good and bad. The farm keeps us incredibly busy. We are milking at near capacity (140 cows) and have been calving heavily since October. In fact, we’ve had 10 sets of twins in the last 2 months.

This time of year we remember the Babe in Bethlehem and look forward to a new year and a fresh start.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year.

A Boy and His Dog

Everyone is adjusting well to life with Angus, except me. He is worse than a newborn. He cries at night about every hour. He's not quiet either. I'm not sure if he's lonely or has his days and nights mixed up. He seems to sleep just fine during the day, but lock him in the front entry, and bring out the howls. He's doing pretty well with the potty training, except he doesn't realize he actually has a bladder and can hold it. He goes nearly every time I take him out, but that doesn't mean I won't have a mess to clean up within 30 seconds of being back inside.
Cole is loving having a puppy and I think Angus enjoys him too. Cole was begging for Angus to sleep with him tonight, and I was tempted. Maybe he'd actually sleep, but I'm pretty sure I'd have a mess in the morning.

Cole got to do the All About Me board at school this week. So as part of that, I went to his class to read one of his favorite stories. I also brought in Angus. Cole was pretty darn proud of that puppy.

Angus has been trying out all sorts of spots to sleep. This is where we found him shortly before dinner. Tate walked up and said "puppy died" very matter of factly. Pat and I both got a good laugh out of that.

Santa Day

Santa made his rounds on Sunday. Cole was so excited! He marched right up to him and told him he wanted the crane truck from Runnings.

Tate on the other had was a little less excited. Turns out I caught Santa at the perfect moment. The look on his face says "Really, you want me to put this kid on my lap?" Santa was actually a very good sport about it.
Sunday was a long day. First there was church, then Sunday School Program practice, then lunch, then Santa, and finally going to get Angus. Tate fell asleep on the couch at 6 PM.
I had a hard time taking this picture I was giggling so hard.

Meet Angus

So we did it. We got a new puppy. Meet Angus.

A very happy boy bringing home his new puppy.

Taking it all in.

The perfect place for a puppy, under the butcher block.

All tuckered out. Turns out if you blend in with your surroundings, the kids can't find you.

Total Randomness

A couple of days ago my husband mentioned that we should get a Norwegian Elkhound. It was completely random and out of the blue. The thing is, we tend to make big decisions on the spur of the moment. Like, let's go buy a car, tomorrow. How about let's buy a new couch, but before we measure the room it is supposed to fit in. Side note: yes, my house is always that messy and the couch was supposed to be turned so the part to your left was in front of the window, but then the giant chaise was blocking the door to our bedroom.

Anywhoodle, I've spent the last couple of days searching the internet for the perfect puppy. First up was Elway, but Pat said he would have too much hair. Then there is CoCo, but he apparently found a home as of this morning. Next I found Chrissy, but Pat doesn't want a German Shepherd. Finally, I found Cedar. He was my first pick after CoCo, but the adoption fee is pretty high and the adoption contract is pretty strict. I have no problem getting him fixed, but I don't think it should be a requirement to take him to obedience class. That would be fine, but we are kind of limited with those types of services around here. The internet struck out, so I tried Facebook. A friend pointed me to some local puppies, elkhound/husky mix. Perfect. Pat wants an elkhound, I love my husky. Honestly, if I could clone her I would. I'm waiting to hear back from the owner so maybe we can go look at them soon. They won't be ready until next week, but what a great Christmas present!

We don't need another puppy and now maybe isn't the prime time, but put an idea in my head, and this is what you get.

Thanksgiving=Exhaustion

Seriously, who nominated me to host Thanksgiving???

Ok, so it was really nice to not have to travel, but feeding and housing 11 people for 4 days is a lot of work. Granted, they were also a lot of help so I didn't have to spend 4 days stuck in the kitchen. We managed to have some fun too. Wednesday we went swimming and Tate tried to drown. Thursday we ate. Wait? What? You want to know more about Tate drowning? So here's the back story. Our local Y is nice. We aren't members, but do swimming lessons there. My sister is a Y member, so we headed there for a swim. Only open swim doesn't start until 4 on school days and we arrived around 2. The girl at the front desk claimed it was fine, but the lifeguard wasn't too happy about it. That and her replacement was apparently very late. So while crabby lifeguard was busy telling another boy and his grandfather that he couldn't go swimming, Tate decided to see how deep he could go to reach a ball, only most of us adults were too busy watching sad boy leave and not my 2 year old. So crabby lifeguard had to get wet and Tate was fine. This may sound cold, but frankly the kid could use a good scare once in a while to prove that he is not invincible like he thinks he is.

Anywhoodle, Friday we went and saw Tangled, my first 3-D movie. I could have done without the 3-D. It was a cute movie and guess what? *Spoiler alert* Everyone lives happily ever after, except the bad guy. Who knew?

Saturday everyone left and I slept all day. I managed to catch something and felt awful. I still have a sore throat but am able to eat again.

Yesterday was a much needed day of R&R. I didn't do much and I was fine with that. Today I am catching up on much needed laundry and cleaning. Fun times! Tomorrow, weather permitting, I find out my student teaching placement. I'm anxious and nervous. I've been putting off thinking about it, but it keeps creeping closer and closer and pretty soon I'll have to deal with the reality of having a full time job, even if it is temporary and without pay. Wish me luck!

The Wheels On The Bus

brought my baby boy home from school today. I was a nervous wreck all afternoon. I was a town kid who never rode the bus. In fact, the first time I rode the bus was to a friend's house for a birthday party. I have no idea how old I was, but I was so nervous I tripped and fell in front of the bus on the way off and got a bloody nose. That didn't help my nerves any.

We had been talking about Cole riding the bus home and last week I finally bit the bullet and had them line it up, starting today. He was excited about it, until this morning when he realized he was going to be by himself. I went and had lunch with him today and his teachers were phenomenal in talking up riding the bus. He was supposed to be dropped off at 3:40, so I drove the Ranger down to the end of the driveway to wait, and wait, and wait for what seemed like an eternity. I shouldn't have gone 10 minutes early :) When I finally saw it coming I almost cried. He handled it like a pro, and his driver was very patient with him, and didn't even mind that our dog was trying to get on the bus. What dog wouldn't love a bus full of kids? Cole said his bus was super fast and fun and he wants to ride every day. I think he'll start busing to school next week, but we'll see. I may not be able to handle it.

Who's Paying For This?

Have you seen this add? So there has been a lot of media attention lately, because apparently these ads are paid for by you! Did you know? Only here's the thing, you aren't paying for it, I am. You see, while Dairy Management, who partnered with Domino's to promote cheese, does receive funding from the USDA, that money does not go to domestic marketing campaigns. The USDA does oversee how Dairy Management spends their money, and the money from the USDA goes toward promoting dairy products oversees. So don't fear, we dairy farmers are paying to promote our own products. Ironically, it's the government that decided that a certain amount be deducted from our paycheck to fund our own promotions. So go and eat cheese!

My Love Hate Relationship With Legos

I loved Legos as a kid. I had one of those plastic file folder tote thingies full of Legos. (side note, why is thingies not underlined as a misspelled word?) Anywhoodle, I had a lot of them. I guess I still do, they are just at my parents. When my nephew started playing Legos, I was thrilled. It had been years since I had built something and it was a blast to play with them again.

I hate Legos.

Cole found Pat's popcorn tin full of Legos this summer. I despise Legos. They are everywhere. They are supposed to be kept downstairs in the playroom, but always end up upstairs in the carpet.

Boy Legos are vastly different than girl Legos. My Lego collection consists of lots of building blocks and people and accessories. Pat's Lego collection consists of Technic pieces to build robots and machinery and stuff I don't know how to build because they need some specialized little piece that is buried in my carpet.

I am glad that Cole is taking an interest in Legos. Today I took him to Target to spend his $11 and he picked out a Lego firetruck. That's a much better investment than something that will end up broken in 5 minutes. I just wish I had the patience for him that I had for my nephew. It's so much easier to just build it myself than have him help. I know that's something I really need to work on.

On that note, I used to babysit a lot. I babysat for one particular family, and the kids loved me. All I did was go over there and play with them. We'd play games, play in the yard, we just did stuff. I remember we'd race around the house. Their oldest boy was convinced he could beat me, so we'd race. The youngest was about 2 at the time, and he'd try his hardest to keep up and he'd run all the way around that house no matter how far behind he was. He went to state track in the high jump last year.

Anyway, I was a good babysitter because I'd play with them. We didn't just sit in front of the TV. We followed the rules about eating and bed time, but we had plenty of fun. When you become a parent, it's not so easy. If I am home I feel like there are a million other things I should be doing and the phrase "just a minute" gets used way too often. I'm horrible with time management, especially with 2 kids. They can just play with each other right?

There is a stereotype with stay-at-home moms. We stay at home and spend all this time with our children, but in reality, I feel like I spend very little time truly with them. I spend my mornings catching up on school work and house work, Tate naps in the afternoon, then it's chores, supper, and bed time. It leaves very little time for play. Everyone always tells you to enjoy them when they are little because they grow up so fast, but you can't ever appreciate it until one day you wake up and you are putting your baby on a big yellow school bus. You wonder "when did this happen?" and you truly don't know.

This really was not what I intended in writing this post. It was supposed to just be a light-hearted post on Legos. Maybe writing this will help me be more aware of how I spend my time and give me the motivation to be a little more patient and maybe, just maybe I'll find some time to just play Legos.

Hard Headed

That is my new description of Tate. Not only does he have a stubborn streak, but he has one hard head! The most common phrase out of his mouth lately has been "Don't want to. Throw a fit!" along with the stomping of the foot. I love how he warns me first that he's going to throw a fit. The fit usually doesn't follow, maybe it's because I tell him "ok" and ignore him, maybe not. He throws his share of fits, which is where the hard head comes in. His favorite thing to do is buck and usually my face is in the way. I'm amazed I don't have more bruises. He caught me right on the cheek bone in church yesterday. The worst of it, he was mad at Pat, not me. My cheek is still sore.

Dairy Update

It's been crazy busy here lately. I'll put it to you this way. It's 8pm on Thursday and here I am blogging instead of watching The Office, because we just finished supper. It's been this way for weeks. The guys have been busy in the field. Our crops are out sans about 3 acres of corn. Pat is busy applying anhydrous ammonia (nitrogen fertilizer). His dad has been working on hauling out the manure pile. We stockpile during the summer when our crops are growing and haul it out in the fall after harvest. Since they are busy doing field work, that leaves the milking chores to me, Pat's mom, and our hired help. That's not out of the ordinary, but it means there is no getting done early!

If that isn't enough, we've also been calving heavily. Our cows calve year round but for some reason we always seem to calve heavier in the fall and spring. You'd think we could time that better! I'm currently at 25 calves, down from our peak of 30. We've had 5 sets of twins since the 13th of October! I've been pestering Pat for an actual calf barn instead of our hutches. We use wooden hutches with 5 or 7 pens in each hutch. A lot of people like the poly domes, but those didn't work well for us. The wooden ones keep our calves cool and shaded in the summer and insulated in the winter. I like our hutches, however, hauling milk to the 24 calves behind the barn gets to be a pain, especially in the mud and snow. My dream is to have some type of building (hoop barn or whatever) with 36-40 plastic stalls and an attached, heated, prep room. Funny, when did that become my dream...

At any rate, it's been busy on and off the farm. I have a 30 minute presentation to prepare fo school and so far all I've done is read the article I'm presenting on. I'm still searching for my motivation but it's not in the carpets that need to be cleaned, or the windows that need to be washed, or the piles of laundry that need to be folded, or the new blinds that need to be put up, or the mud room that's getting redone. I bet it's hiding in the dirty bathrooms or on the sticky kitchen floor. Someone remind me why I volunteered to host Thanksgiving this year???

Election Day

It's election day. Did you vote? I did and in the political spirit, I am posting my favorite political joke, taken from the latest issue of Reader's Digest.

A woman in a hot-air balloon is lost, so she shouts to a man below, "Excuse me. I promised a friend I would meet him, but I don't know where I am."

"You're at 31 degrees, 14.57 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude," he replies.

"You must be a Democrat."

"I am. How did you know?"

"Because everything you told me is technically correct, but the information is useless, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've been no help."

"You must be a Republican."

"Yes. How did you know?"

"You've risen to where you are due to a lot of hot air, you made a promise you couldn't keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it's my fault."

Wordless Wednesday: Halloween Edition

Adventures in Potty Training...Again

It feels like I've been potty training for years. Maybe because I have. Anywho, it's Tate's turn this time. I figured since he wakes up dry, it was time. He does pretty well except that he won't tell me he needs to go. If you take him every couple of hours, he'll be dry. Forget to take him, wet. I think I need a couple of days of him half naked and he'll get it, but I haven't had a couple of days with him lately.

Anywho, yesterday Pat took him in the tractor in the morning. He took him potty twice, but when I got him at 1:30 he was soaked. Luckily Pat had a diaper in his pickup, but no pants. So poor Tate got to wander around the corn field like this:
It was pretty chilly in the morning when they left and Tate wanted to wear his new snow boots. Maybe I'm biased, but I think he's rocking the pantless snowboot look.

Skip to My Lou

We recently made a quick trip to my parents' where my niece attempted to teach Cole how to skip. I didn't get a video then, but I got one last night of both boys attempting to skip. It's definitely good for a giggle.

The Great Fall Flood

So this post is a little late, but here goes.

About a week and a half ago we got a ton of rain. Some areas got up to 6" of rain on already saturated ground. We didn't get quite that much, but we got plenty. Fortunately for us, our worst field had already been harvested for corn silage.

Corn silage was an adventure this year. Our cows eat a variety of grain and forage. We feed them a mixture of ground corn, dry hay, haylage (fermented alfalfa), and corn silage (the entire corn plant, chopped and fermented). Some years we also do wet corn (corn at a higher moisture than typically harvested) or earlage (the ear of corn, husk, cob, and all, chopped up). With all the rain we'd been getting our silage didn't get harvested until later than usual. We ended up having to have a neighbor chop the last bag of silage with his self-propelled chopper since there was no way our pull type chopper would make it through. Fortunately we finished, but our neighbor wasn't so fortunate. He chopped half a bag after we finished ours, but then got rained out. The bag sat open (which drove Pat nuts since silage spoils easily) for over a week until he finished it the other day. Silage is ideally chopped when the corn plant is still fairly green, but some years you don't get ideal.

We didn't get any wet corn or earlage harvested this year, but our cows can do without. The important thing is that they get a mixture of forages and grain and our hay crop this year was fantastic.

After a week of drying the guys have been off trying to find dry fields to combine soy beans. We've gotten out a few fields and so far the yield has been great. They are anticipating a long harvest, especially since one of Pat's uncle's fields went under water earlier this week. The water is receding, but the damage has been done.

Here are a couple of pictures taken about a mile from our house. In our area, we have a series of deep drainage ditches that dump into local rivers. The drainage ditches were full (the one by our house has got to be at least 12' deep) and overflowed into the road ditches and fields. The 6" of rain they got to the south of us also had to travel up these drainage ditches, which caused the loss of Pat's uncle's field.

These pictures are pretty mild compared to some of the flooding to the west of us. I didn't go for a drive out that way when it was at its worst and the couple of times I was out there I didn't have my camera, go figure!

Why I Don't Eat Lipton Noodles

Recently a friend of mine was complaining about having a cold. Normally that would not be cause for a status comment, but every time this particular friend complains about a cold or sinuses it reminds me of a story. When I was in college, the first time around, I was fortunate to have a lot of really awesome friends. One such friend's, we'll call her J, parents had recently moved to Lincoln. Her dad was in between jobs, thus her family was in between houses and living in an apartment. One weekend we decided to head to Lincoln and nab some real food. Keep in mind this was B.C. (before cell phones, or at least before most people had cell phones) and also when being on the internet tied up your phone line. We tried calling her parents to see if they were home, but her sister was on the internet, so we couldn't get through. So we stopped by. Her parents weren't home, but we decided to make up some Lipton noodles. I was never big on Ramen, but I lived off of Lipton noodles for years. Anywhoodle, while we were eating I said something incredibly hilarious, as I usually do, while J was taking a bite. My witty comment forced her to laugh and in doing so she inhaled a noodle. No big deal normally, but this noodle took a peculiar turn and wound up in her sinus. Seriously, you could feel it at the bridge of her nose. It wasn't a little spaghetti noodle either, it was a fettuccini noodle. She was of course in a bit of pain but the situation was so funny we were both crying with laughter. The noodle did come out with a sneeze, and I haven't been able to eat Lipton noodles since without thinking of that story. It always makes me laugh a little.

My Job Title

Recently I spent some time out at my parents' house. Somehow during a conversation my being a stay-at-home mom came up. My dad said everytime he reads that description of myself he laughs. I don't stay at home. That part of the conversation was short, but it got me thinking. Every time I fill out paperwork that requires a job title, I don't know what to put. I guess technically I am self-employed as I do receive paychecks from the dairy, but it's not really my primary job.

My primary job is this: waker-upper, clothes-dresser, diaper-changer, potty-trainer, seat-wiper, mediator, picker-upper, TV-controller, story-reader, school-delivery-driver, nap-enforcer, bath-giver, jammie-putter-onner, teeth-brusher, tucker-inner. I am also the meal preparer, financial manager, gardener, and cleaner (although the last one is up for debate).

When I'm not doing that job I am a calf-feeder, cow-getter, substitute teacher, and student.

So maybe I'm a work from home mom? I don't know. What I do know is this: some days my kids drive me batty. Some days I would like to run away from the "Mommy"s, "why" s, "help me"s, the whining, and the tears, but that is my primary job and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

If I could figure out how to make a little heart, I would heart Penzey's. I love getting the new catalogs. There is always a new recipe to try. The latest issue was no different. Yesterday we cooked, ground, and froze pumpkins. This morning I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins.

3 Cups sugar
1 cup oil (I used 1/2 oil, 1/2 applesauce)
4 eggs (I only used 3 because that's all I had)
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon (I love the Penzey's cinnamon)
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2/3 cup milk
1 3/4 cup canned pumpkin (not pie filling). (I,obviously, used fresh pumpkin)
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Spray tins with cooking spray. Beat together sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. In a seperate bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Gradually add egg mixture to flour mixture and blend. Add half the milk and half the pumpkin, mix, repeat. Fold in the chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into muffin tins, about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes until springy and brown.

The recipe says it yields 24 muffins. I made 39 muffins plus 24 mini muffins. Maybe it was the fresh pumpkin, but it made a lot of muffins. Luckily they are delicious.

IUD Follow-Up

I had my second and final follow-up appointment with my OB this week. It went well. I am usually pretty gutless when it comes to asking challenging questions to a professional. I did ask why Mirenas are being put in so soon. My doctor is pretty conservative when it comes to things like that and she was pretty up front with me. Basically, I was, wait for it, the possible side-effects or complications side of things. Imagine that! She's been putting in IUDs since 1979 and I am the first patient she has perforated. Fantastic! People are human. Crap happens. I still like my doctor and I will continue to see her. She screwed up. It wasn't malicious. It was an accident. The breastfeeding thing didn't get mentioned at the initial appointment, which would have delayed my decision, and probably played a part into the perforation. She doesn't like putting them in breastfeeding women. She isn't just leaving it at "oops, sorry" though. She is going to talk to someone at the hospital to review my case and see if they can help out financially. Yes, it's a listed complication, but it certainly wasn't what I expected, or what she expected. We'll see if it pans out, but I'm glad she isn't just forgetting it and moving on. For those of you with Mirenas, I hope they work out well. My advice, if you can't find the strings, get it out!

Preschool Update

Cole loves school! He usually doesn't have much to tell me other than they did stuff and had snack, but every once in a while, he'll blurt out something. Yesterday, for instance, he randomly started telling me how he played bowling ball in the gym. He can name most of the kids in his class, even 2 out of the 3 girls. We had family night at the apple orchard last week and it was fun to see him recognize the other kids. I think this year will be really good for him. Two full days a week hasn't wiped him out like I thought it would. He's got a good group of kids in his class and he seems to be learning something! His teacher sent a note home about how he's such a good helper and listener. When I read it to Cole, I thought he was going to burst. He was so proud of himself!

Fancy Boots and the Missing Calf

Earlier this summer I bought myself some new rain boots. I'd had the same boring pair for about 5 years and our dog used them as a chew toy on about day 2. Luckily he only ripped the top of my boots and didn't compromise their functionality. My left big toe was starting to get wet this spring so I decided it was time for a new pair. I found these super cute polka dot boots. I know there is no point to buying fancy looking boots to go walk in cow crap, but I liked them and why shouldn't I feel pretty while doing chores? So I splurged (I think I paid $25 or something) and bought them. They were way more comfortable than my old boots and didn't eat my socks either. Bonus! Only problem, they aren't made for poop. They are made to go out occasionally in the rain.

I discovered this flaw the other day as I was searching for a missing heifer calf. About a week ago we had a new heifer calf. When I went to the back to feed the other calves, she was in her pen sleeping peacefully, curled up in the straw. About an hour later I went back to give her a bottle of milk, only she was gone. About this time it also started to rain. Now we have around 200 head of cattle on our farm in various places. We've had calves get out before, but they usually prance in front of the other calves or go bother some cows nearby. Not this one. She was completely gone. Our hired help and I wandered back into the grove a little ways, into the dry cow yard, anywhere a calf might have gone, only to find nothing, no sign of her at all. I felt so bad. It was cold and rainy and this helpless little calf hadn't eaten since the night before. To top it off, she's a heifer, which we'd really like to keep. I wandered through puddles, which led to the discovery of numerous holes in my boots, and all over our farm in the rain. Nothing. The story does, fortunately, have a happy ending. At some point she wandered back home and Pat noticed her and put her back in her pen. She wasn't too wet so she must have been protected back in the grove somewhere. She hasn't been out since. As for my boots, they have been replaced by some new, boring, yet non-leaking, rubber boots.

Hey, at Least It's a Post!

While I'm waiting to wipe my 4 year old's rear...

I wish that sentence ended with at Uno, or Phase 10, or something, but sadly it does not.


Tired of looking for blog fodder? Here’s a simple Meme. Tag yourself if you want to!

What I’m reading now: Applied Combinatorics by Alan Tucker, thrilling, I know! and the latest edition of The Reader's Digest.

What I want to read next: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

What I’m watching: Biggest Loser, The Office, and Community, almost religiously, and shows like The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother when I can catch them.

What I’m reading to my kid: Anything with dinosaurs or firetrucks

What my kid is reading: How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends with the help of his Tag Jr.

What I’m listening to: Music from the National Youth Gathering, particularly You are Holy

What I’m cooking from: A Year of Slow Cooking and a few of my fail proof recipes.

What I’m looking forward to: Thursday when I have no where to go and maybe I can accomplish something. I guess I'll keep dreaming...

Good Riddance Stubby!

Cows have miscarriages just like humans do. While it's not common, it does happen. Just like humans, it's not a good thing. However, one of our cows aborted the other day, and I was thrilled. A couple of posts ago, I blogged about a girl who was attacked by a bull. Thankfully, she's now home and recovering. Anywho, I wrote about trusting animals. Stubby is one of those cows that I don't trust. She's fat and mean. We have cows that are skittish and if you surprise them, they'll kick and run. Stubby (her real name is Anna, but she lost half her tail somehow and Anna is much too nice of a name for her) will kick and run without being surprised. In fact, she'll kick back when she knows you are there. She's not the kind of cow I want around my kids, or me for that matter. When I heard she aborted and weren't sure if she'd be bred back or not, I put in my two cents: Get rid or her. So good bye, Stubby! Unfortunately, she could milk for a good long time yet. When cows aren't bred back we keep milking them until they aren't giving much milk (about 20 lbs per milking is our cut off). Sometimes they can go for years. I'm not sure what our longest cow was, but I do know she milked for over 2 years before we got rid of her.

We had another strange thing happen on our farm yesterday. When Pat got up in the morning a cow had calved, which is not unusual. The unusual thing is that there were 2 calves and one had wandered out of the maternity barn and was causing quite a raucous with the late lactation cows. We aren't sure if the cow had twins or if 2 cows calved. In fact, we still aren't sure. The other cow that we suspect, was checked but either she calved of the calf is lying very low and can't be felt. Nobody was really sure what to do until I suggested milking her. Milking her will make her come into labor, if she hasn't calved already. If she has calved, not milking her will cause her to get mastitis and potentially kill her. I'm not really sure why I'm the only one to think of this. They gave her some medication that will induce labor this morning and if she hasn't calved by tonight, we'll start milking her and hope for the best.

School Readiness, Here He Comes!

I sent my baby to preschool today and I didn't shed a tear. In our district it's known as School Readiness and he goes 2 full days a week. The day has been going pretty fast for me and I'm anxious to see how it went for Cole. Only 45 more minutes of quiet....

As much as the kid annoys the snot out of me some days, I'm not quite ready for this milestone. It seems like just yesterday I was carrying him and his stupid heart monitor around and now he's in school, all day. (Now I'm starting to tear up.) Time can slow down any time now.

Without further ado, the proud preschooler:

It was also picture day today but I wasn't about to send him to school in church clothes. This was one of 2 non-stained plain shirts the kid owns. The other is in the hamper. Oh well, we already had professional pictures done this summer so I don't really need school photos.

As I was leaving school today I ran into one of the kindergarten paras. Mrs. R also has done a lot with the ECFE program so we've known her since Cole was a baby in his cranial helmet. She's gotten to watch him go through the special ed programs, physical therapy, and ECFE to become the short-legged, lime green backpack toting, preschooler he is today. She told me today what a role model I am for sticking with all the early intervention and was truly amazed at how far he's come and what a great job I've done with him. I was completely flattered and had no idea what to say. I feel like I rag and nag on the kid constantly. I know he's a good kid and I know how far he's come, but I certainly don't feel responsible for it or feel like I've done anything out of the ordinary. Wouldn't most parents do what they could to keep their kid on track? Anyway, it was still flattering.

A Bunch of Bull

I've mentioned before that all of our breeding is done via artificial insemination. One of the biggest reasons we do that is this: 2 days ago, the younger sister of a college friend of mine was attacked by their Holstein bull. She's in high school (I believe). She raised the bull herself from a calf and treated it like a pet. It attacked her 5 times, broke her shoulder, ankle, and severely damaged her liver. She's lucky to be alive. If you are a prayerful person, please add the Brown family to your prayers.

My dad and I just had a conversation last week about trusting larger animals. He was saying how it makes him a little nervous watching the boys in with the cows. It makes me nervous too. I did not grow up on a farm. When I first started milking, I hated bringing in cows. I was afraid I'd get kicked or squashed. My boys have no fear, and that little bit of fear usually causes a person to err on the side of caution. Can you really trust an animal that big? Cows? Maybe. Bulls? No. There are cows I trust, and cows I don't. Some tend to be more skittish than others and working with them day in and day out, you learn which animals to watch out for. Cows in heat are even worse. They tend to be overly friendly, and I don't know about you, but I don't really want to snuggle with a 1500lb animal. Bulls are another story. I've never raised one, but I don't know a person who was gored by a bull and expected it. The story is always the same. "He's tame. I KNOW him. I trust him."

I hope and pray the Brown's story has a happy ending. No one deserves that. Bulls have a place on this earth, it just sure isn't on our farm.

Why Mirena Isn't For Me

First, for any male readers out there, this post is mostly about my lady parts. If you would rather not read about my lady parts, then this post is not for you. This post will contain details that my husband would consider "yucky" and he would rather not know, but I tell him anyway.

Anywhoodle,

The last few months I have turned into this horrific monster about 2 days before my cycle. It's awful when you blow up at your 4 year old, knowing he isn't purposely trying to annoy you, but you can't stop. You know it's wrong, but you do it anyway. That's what made the decision for me to get my Mirena removed.

I didn't really like it from the beginning. I had it put in about 2 months after Tate was born and regretted it the day I had it done. The regret came from my doctor, choosing to tell me that day, that IUDs have a tendency to migrate more in breastfeeding women because their uterus hasn't thickened up yet. Hmm, that information would have been helpful 2 weeks prior. I would have gladly waited until my uterus thickened up properly. At any rate, I had a friend that had had problems, so she was the 1 in 1000 right? It works for most women, so I should be fine. Boy was I wrong. When I went in for the followup, they couldn't find the removal strings. So I went to my first non-pregnancy ultrasound. It took 2 techs and the lovely vaginal ultrasound to find what they are pretty sure is the IUD. Ok, no pregnancies, so it's got to be in there, no problems. My lady check up this winter was fine, no worries.

At my lady check up I was going to bring up the irregularity, heaviness, and length of my cycle, but it had actually been pretty good 2 months prior to my appointment. So I thought it had finally straightened out. I was wrong. The whole first year of irregularity I blamed on breastfeeding hormones. I kept telling myself to give it time, it would get better. It didn't. In fact, it has actually gotten worse. My average cycle is 21 days, I spend 10 days with cotton shoved up my whooha and then spot in between. For those of you doing the math, that's 11 cotton free days sprinkled (cuz we all know periods are filled with sunshine and rainbows) with intermittent panty liners.

Yesterday I went to have an ultrasound to find the IUD so I could get it out. After about 20 minutes the tech looked at me and says "I can't find it." Lovely. So she calls the Dr. who says to just come in for my appointment tomorrow. I went in today and they sent me for an x-ray right away. Luckily the x-ray found the IUD, but they aren't sure if it's actually in my uterus or behind it. So my option involves surgery to find and remove the stupid thing. I've lived 30 years, given birth twice, and have never had a broken bone, stitches, or been hospitalized for any major illness. I have to have surgery to remove a little piece of plastic that got lost.

I realize that I am not in the majority, and that IUDs work wonders for most women. My recommendation is this: if you want to get an IUD, wait until you are done breastfeeding. Your success rate is much higher. If you are unsure if you want an IUD, don't get one and don't let your doctor convince you to get one. My doctor is fantastic, except for that little bit of info she left out and I couldn't find in the information packet. I was convinced that I wanted an IUD. It's easy and I know lots of people that it works well for. Unfortunately, I'm now that "rare" case that's becoming more and more common.

Dairy Genetics 101

This is Rosie.
Pat bought her from a neighbor* when we started dairying full time 4 years ago. She is my cow. Apparently all beings that are considered to have red hair have a special bond that none of us know about and "go" together. At any rate, Pat bought her as a bred heifer**.

This is Rita, Rosie's daughter.
Dairy farmers take breeding very seriously. We have a professional come in and mate cows. We artificially inseminate our cows (well, Pat and his mom do). We choose bulls based on many characteristics, like production, demeanor, feet and legs, udder characteristics (and I actually mean udder, not other), calving ease, etc. After Rosie had Rita, I started picking the bull she was bred to. Her second calf: bull. Her third calf and Rita's first calf were born a day apart and were both bulls. Rosie actually laid on hers and killed it. One reason we remove calves shortly after birth. Holsteins tend to be poor mothers. Semen companies actually offer sexed semen. It's more expensive and there are fewer semen per straw so on our farm, we tend to stick with the regular stuff and take our chances. Our company had offered a semi-sexed semen. Meaning they removed the males, but kept in the unknowns so there was more semen but not as high a percentage of female sperm. Recently, they decided to go with straight sexed semen so we got a few straws of the semi-sexed stuff and tried that. Nine months later, Rosie's fourth calf, and Rita's second calf were once again both bulls. Very pretty, but bulls (that's actually Rita's calf in my header).

Meet B, (she doesn't have a name yet).
B gave birth to this beautiful girl today.
So your genetics lesson for today: If you want red and white bull calves, let me pick the sire. If you want a red and white Holstein, breed a nearly completely black heifer to a black and white bull.

I thought maybe the mother heifer came from a cow that Pat had bought. We had gotten a red bull calf from a black cow out of a purchased heifer, so I thought maybe it would be somewhere from that line of genetics. Turns out this is the great-granddaughter of Pat's fair cow, Buck. A genetic family that has been on the farm since the 70s. I'm thrilled. Rosie's body is failing and there is little hope of getting a heifer calf from Rita. While the bull calves are nice for building up the boys' college funds (all the red bulls are sold for the boys), more heifers=more babies.

So once again I need names. We typically don't name cows until they calve, but I like to pick out the names of my red and whites. We keep track of family lines by keeping with the same first letter, so our little calf and her mother need names that start with B. The family line has names like Buck and Bambi, so any deer or hunting related names that start with B would be great. Leave your suggestions in the comments and the winner once again, gets bragging rights!

*neighbor refers to anyone in a 10 mile, or more, radius.
**bred heifer means she hadn't had a calf yet, but was pregnant. Cows are considered heifers until they have their first calf, but we usually refer to them as heifers until they are pregnant with their second calf.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Tate!

My baby is 2 today! It's amazing how much he has changed in the past year and how much fun he has become. He's certainly not a baby anymore! He loves to run, ride bike, play in the sandbox, and push his brother's buttons. He's full of bumps and bruises from trying to keep up with his big brother, but he doesn't seem to mind.

My bubble baby at birth.
First birthday.

My 2 year old monkey,
and his monkey cake.

Update

Whoo! It's been a while since I blogged. This summer has been crazy busy. Here's what we've been up to the last couple of weeks

• Tate finished up his swimming lessons. He did great. He started jumping in without holding hands, which Cole still won't do. The last day we got to go down the water slide. He loved it. Cole has always been nervous of the water gushing at you from the top, but Tate just started laughing the second we sat down and continued laughing the whole way down. He's a lot of fun in the water. I wish we could make it to the pool once in a while.
• Other things we learned in swimming lessons:

1. We are related to our instructor. Her father-in-law and my father-in-law are first cousins.
2. When parent child lessons involve water slides, that's when fathers fill in. Granted we did that with Cole, but I was 7 months pregnant and didn't feel like holding a 2 year old while traveling down a water slide. I like water slides and going with Tate was actually a lot of fun. I guess I should have seen it coming though. I was the only parent that helped out for Cole's class when they went down the water slide.

• A couple of college friends came for a visit last week. We had 5 boys under the age of 5 between the 3 of us. It was a lot of fun. The kids got to run around the farm and we got to visit a little bit. I forgot what it was like to have babies around. Not sure if I really want to go there again. Babies are so much work!
• Saturday, my Father-in-law hosted a family reunion for his mother's side of the family. They had a good turn out and they all had a good time. I didn't do much other than make a pan of bars and try to help. It was hot and windy and I forgot to take my allergy meds. I'm still paying for it.
• I also started going to the chiropractor. He did some amazing stuff for my sinuses yesterday and I ran to the barn this morning without any pain in my back. There goes one excuse for not running!
• I got to go shopping by myself on Sunday. It would have been more enjoyable if I hadn't felt like I had been hit by a truck, but it was nice anyway. I bought myself and iPod Touch and am still feeling a little guilty about it. I had looked at getting one earlier for our trip to New Orleans, but thought I could wait. I went to look at getting a better MP3 player for the car since the one I have has horrible sound quality and it is going to get me in an accident. I decided that there wasn't much point in wasting $60 on and MP3 player I would replace with a Touch anyway. I should have ordered the bigger one earlier. The 8 GB isn't quite big enough. I'm still trying to get all my music uploaded which is part of the reason for the lack of blogging.
• We leave bright and early Friday morning for New Orleans. I've been so busy I haven't really thought much about leaving the kids. I have a ton to do to get everything ready and I have very little motivation to do any of it now. There's always tomorrow!
• If you need a good laugh, here is what Cole told me today... "I will poop, then you will wipe my butt, and then we'll make Tate's birthday cake." followed by "Mo-om, I'm done! It's a funny one."
  

Behind the Scenes of Cattle Feedlot - From a Vegan Perspective

I found this link on a dairy blog. Seeing how there is so much negative press for agriculture right now, this was a nice change of pace. I was skeptical to read it at first, but I was pleasantly surprised. The author did a fantastic job of dispelling a lot of myths and keeping it honest. So read it here.

I Got A New Car! Whoohoo!

Isn't it pretty? I really didn't want gray, but our options were pretty limited. They had a very nice blue one, but it had 11,000 miles on it and to me that's not really considered new anymore. If I'm going to pay the price of a new vehicle, I want a new vehicle. But that's really here nor there. I got a new car!

We had been talking about getting rid of the van for a while. Pat absolutely hated it. I liked it, but there were things I really didn't like and I'm willing to bet that by the end of the summer we would have had to put a new motor in our power doors. That was our main reason for sending the van down the road. Power doors and gravel roads don't mix.

We did a little shopping around, online and at the lot. For us it has to be a short process. We are limited to Chrysler and GM dealerships anywhere close and those vehicles are not an option for me. So we have to drive 2 hours to get a decent selection. I know, I know, "buy American!" I'll buy "American" when I can buy a vehicle and not have it depreciate faster than I can pay it off. I'll buy "American" when after a year or two it doesn't sound like I'm driving a convertible when I'm not. I say "American" because what does that really mean anyway? I don't think 100% American really exists.

So here you are, my car reviews.
What I didn't like about my 2007 Honda Odyssey EX minivan:

• no auto headlights or DRLs
• The second row middle seat was pointless unless you know someone who is only 6 inches wide.
  
• Only 3 latch plates - in a minivan! Aren't those supposed to be geared toward families?
• No MP3 port

What I will miss:

• The storage! I was packing the Pilot and I miss the center floor storage, the second glove box, and the middle dash storage.
  
• the radio controls on the steering wheel. ( We got the bare bones model Pilot)
• the window shades for the kids.
• My kids being able to climb into the van and their seats on their own
• Being able to open the doors with the push of a button
  

What I love about the Pilot:

• The auto headlights
• The 4 latch plates
• The evenly split 2nd and 3rd row seat. No 6 inch humans required!
• The MP3 port! I'm so excited to listen to my music without static from the radio!
• Not worrying about dust in the doors
• It looks a whole lot cooler than the minivan, and I'm all about appearances! :)

We also test drove a Toyota Highlander. I really liked it, but there were a few things I didn't like. It had the mini seat like my van had. The 3rd row didn't have a split so it was all up or all down which left no room for storage. If we have a 3rd kid, family vacations would be interesting trying to cram 3 kids across the 2nd row so we could have room for luggage. It only had 2 latch plates which I just don't understand. Everything else we loved so we were nearly sold on the Highlander but needed to go try out the Pilot first. I'm glad we did. The Pilot is bigger than the Highlander but not huge. Price-wise they were about the same. The Pilot isn't terribly powerful, but I don't plan on towing much more than a paddle boat, if that. Our other vehicle is an F350, so it's not like I need a towing vehicle. Although, Cole keeps saying now we need to get a boat. At any rate, I'm glad we went with the Pilot, cuz it would have been stupid to buy something we didn't like. I'm hoping we'll keep this more than 3 years. My van was just starting to get good gas mileage...