Milestones

It's official! Unless I have this baby in the next 5ish hours, which is not likely at this point, this is officially the longest I have ever been pregnant, 34 weeks, 2 days. It feels good to surpass both boys, but I am starting to get impatient. Everything that needs to be done is done with the exception of installing the car seat. My body aches and I feel awkward and clumsy, but I guess that's a small price to pay for avoiding the NICU and labor-stopping drugs. We haven't reached those milestones yet. They'll try to stop labor up until 36 weeks, so I still have 2 more to go. Two is also the number of shots I have left. One today and one next week. I'm not sure if it's the shots or the lack of stress and infection that's keeping this baby in here, but whatever it is, I'll take it.

Other than that, life is pretty normal around here. I've been busy going through baby stuff and the boys have been super eager to help out. I went through a tote full of old shoes the other day. Tate found a pair of Woody boots that he got for Christmas about 2 years ago. Needless to say, his feet have grown a bit since then. That didn't stop him from trying to squish his feet in there so he could wear his Woody boots again.

It's been kind of fun going through baby stuff and remembering how tiny the boys were. Part of me is a little sad to see our family change. It's kind of nice having 2 mostly self-sufficient kids. Don't get me wrong, we are excited about this baby, but it's been a while since we've had a newborn around. Sigh. I suppose I should sign off and go do something semi-productive. I'll probably just go sit down and eat something instead :)

The sling is off! The doctor gave Cole the all clear yesterday to be free of the nasty thing. He still has to sit out gym and recess for the next 2 weeks, but other than that, no restrictions. I'm loving it as much as he is. He still chose to wear a button shirt today and he's still been using his left hand to eat, but I imagine that in the next couple of days he'll be back to using it like normal.

I don't think I ever posted a photo of him and his sling, so here you go. Here's his (pretend) I'm in so much pain face.

The Sex Talk

There has been a lot of "where do babies come from?" type questions at our house lately. Tate, particularly, has been asking how the baby got in there and how it's going to get out. Thankfully, the boys are no strangers to the miracle of birth, so Pat simply responded "like a cow." Then Cole chimed in with "so it'll come out your butt?" Close enough.

Cole had a good one the other day. He's starting to become private (except for me when I'm changing clothes or going to the bathroom). The other night he was getting ready for bed. As he was coming out of the bathroom he goes "Mom, you know that thing that hangs down from your pee bag?" I couldn't help it, I giggled a bit. Earlier in the school year he had some bladder issues, and I explained his bladder to him as the bag that holds his pee. Guess those things come back to bite you. Anywho, back to his question... I'm assuming he was talking about his scrotum. Of course, the name is never enough, he wanted to know what it was for. One of my many backgrounds is horticulture, so I started with it's the place where he stores his boy seeds and how when he's older they'll be used to make babies. He was so confused. I tried explaining how grapefruit seeds make grapefruit and corn seeds make corn, etc. He just wasn't getting it. He started thinking that's where he stores the seeds he eats. Finally I started talking about breeding cows and bulls, etc. All of a sudden, the light bulb clicked on and he says "ooooh! It's like a bull and the seeds go with the egg and they make a baby and it grows in your belly. Like you!"

When raising farm kids, always use the farm analogies first.

Happy Valentine's Day

Oh, that was yesterday? Meh.

I'm not big on Valentine's Day. Basically it's just a day to be angry at your significant other when they forget to get you something. While Pat and I were dating we were always apart for V-Day. Since being married, we've usually gone out to dinner, which we did last night. Sometimes he gets me flowers. Yesterday morning he gave me an opened pack of licorice, which is not my favorite candy. It's like slightly flavored wax. Yum. Supper was fantastic though. Steak and crab legs!

The boys, however, were big on Valentine's this year. Cole's party was Monday. He had a blast playing games and making crafts. I stayed and had lunch with him and then headed back to his room with him to play while the others went to gym. Dr. says no gym until the arm is healed. We had a good time and it was nice to be with just him. Tate's party was today. I made Pat go. After the Christmas party flop, I refused. I guess today's party wasn't a whole lot better. Tate was super excited though. He had to show me all his valentines and carried around a purple Rapunzel eraser, until he lost it, because it came from his friend Cydney.

Cole even made valentines for just about everyone. It was actually pretty cute. He cut the paper, told me who they were for and had me write a message in each one. Things like "I like when you let me help you do chores" or "I liked the cookies you made me." Of course, when he as finished he looks at me and says "you don't need one do you mom?" Gee. Thanks.

Inspection Time

Part of life on the dairy is being inspected. Since we produce a food product, we have to be inspected at least twice a year by the state inspector. We don't know when he's coming, typically it's in the January and July range, although it varies. This year we were also inspected by a federal inspector. He comes as part of an inspection of our milk plant. We were told he'd be here last Monday. I think he showed up on Friday.

The inspectors check things like the cleanliness of our milking equipment and parlor and a whole host of other things that you would think wouldn't matter, but do. They go through all our medications and make sure everything is labeled and that we don't have any medications in our barn that could be given to a lactating cow that shouldn't. We have to keep those medications (for steers, calves, etc.) in another location. Then of course there are the nit picky things like is the window on our screen door between the parlor and milk house closed? That's the one we usually get written up for. We typically leave it open for air flow reasons. Anywhoodle, we scored a 99 out of 100 which is as high as you can get. They will always find something to complain about. Our 1 point deduction actually came because the lean-to over the part of our bulk tank that is outside, was dirty. It used to be outside, but we were having water issues, so we covered it. Now it's random storage and is technically not part of the inspector's area to inspect. Oh well. If that's the worst he can find, good! My father-in-law actually cleaned it the other day.

We take a lot of pride in the cleanliness of our dairy. We've had a lot of people tell us it's the cleanest one they've seen. Our parlor and milking equipment gets cleaned after every milking. It takes time, but it's an important part of producing a quality product.

What Next?

So as you could see in my last post, Cole's right arm is a little tied up. About 2 weeks ago, he was helping Grandpa feed calves. The boys always play on the small square bales while Grandpa feeds and that night was no different. As Cole was climbing down, a bale gave way and he fell with the bale on top of him. Pat noticed that something was wrong and went to investigate. I was in the garage painting the trim for the boys' room when they came in. The plan for the evening was to head to dinner with Pat's parents, sister, and her husband. I figured he was coming in to tell me to get ready to go. Then I looked at Cole's face. He was fighting hard to keep the tears at bay, which is nothing new. He tends to be a little over sensitive. Then Pat started taking off his coat and telling him to tell me what happened. Cole would not move his arm. We decided a trip to the ER was in order since he wouldn't move his arm and it looked a little blotchy. We figured we'd head to the hospital on the way to the restaurant instead of our normal hospital. They were very good there. They got him in for an x-ray fairly quickly. We were expecting that he popped it out of joint or sprained it or something. Nope. He broke the growth plate in his shoulder. Fantastic! Since it was his shoulder there isn't much they could do except put it in a sling.

The following week we met with an orthopedist to see if he would need surgery or not. Good news: no surgery! Apparently he broke it just right and kept everything aligned. The hardest part has been trying to convince him he still needs to keep it still even though it feels ok. He has 2 more weeks in the sling. Then if the orthopedist says it looks ok he can take it off and by 4 weeks it should be completely healed. He's been such a trooper. He has to sit out recess and gym at school, which has been hard as those are his favorite parts of the day. His teacher has been great and takes him for a walk during gym and has him help set up centers during recess. He's getting pretty good at writing with his left hand too.

I am so very thankful that he's such an easy going kid. I just wish this stuff didn't happen to him. His first few weeks of life were spent in the NICU. Shortly after he turned 1 he had surgery to close his PDA. Shortly after he turned 2, he broke his femur. We made it through ages 3 and 4 without incident. I was hoping that meant we were done. The worst of it is, he's my cautious child. He doesn't push the limits or jump in with both feet. He's always careful, usually too careful. I guess all we can do is hope and pray this is his last trip to the ER for a very long time!

My New Favorite Waste of Time

Pinterest is going to make me fat and crafty!

We got a new computer for Christmas. Our laptop is still alive and kicking, but I wanted something to load my music and pictures on without bogging it down. We bought an all-in-one, and it is fantastic. The boys love it because they can play games with the touch screen (when I'm not hogging it). I love it because it's in the same room as the train table, so I don't feel like I'm completely ignoring my children :) Win Win for everyone!

I usually check my email and facebook in the morning on my phone, but I didn't peruse the internet very often because Pat uses the laptop in the morning and my phone is too small for that. Then some of my fb friends kept commenting about pinterest so I thought I'd check it out. At first I didn't get it. Just a bunch of random pictures posted about anything and everything. Then I discovered the recipes and the super easy crafts.

Today for example, I was waiting for my lunch to finish cooking and I came across a recipe for peanut butter cake. I had all the ingredients and it looked simple enough. So for dessert I had warm peanut butter cake by myself! It was heavenly and I didn't even eat the whole pan (sadly I cannot say that about the rice krispy treats I made last week. I think the boys each got half of the last one, because I'm generous like that).

The other thing I love is the craft ideas. I am not a crafty person. I make a sad attempt at scrapbooking and sew things like pillowcases and curtains, but that's about as far as I go. However, there are some super cute and easy ideas that I've found. My first big pinterest project was a chalkboard. Here are the boys and their inaugural drawings...

Cole with his AMPI and MN Milk. Not too bad for his left hand! (that's another post I'll get to soon, hopefully)

Tate and his drawing. I think it's a milk pipe, but I honestly don't remember what he told me anymore.

We've also made ice balloons, although the boys are a bit confused by the fact that we aren't doing anything with them. Like we aren't throwing them or putting flowers in them, so what could they possibly be for?!?

Right now I'm working on some baby shower things for my sister-in-law. One of these days I'll actually start working on Baby Girl's room and attempt to be ready for her. That's my goal for the week, to at least get the room to a place where I can start painting. Let's just hope she doesn't show up before then! We're at 31 weeks and counting!