Life and Death

So, I am rewriting the original post, sorry.  I got some misinformation yesterday, so I'm just going to write it over.

Remember this post on Dairy genetics a couple of years ago?  Of course you do!  Anywhoodle, that cute little red and white heifer calved yesterday morning.  She even had a little red and white heifer calf.  Unfortunately, the calf didn't make it.  The momma cow is ok (I had originally thought she died), so there is a chance my red and whites will continue, but now we have to wait a whole year and hope she has another heifer.  I was really excited for that little calf.  I thought all hope was lost for my red and whites and then Bean, yes, we named her Bean, came along.  It's been 2 years of waiting and we had trouble getting her bred.  I guess all we can do is wait some more and hopefully a year from now I'll have a happier post to write!

Here is Bean now.  She's lost all of her red except inside her ears, but we know there are red genes in her, so we'll keep trying!

So Long Summer

My baby boy is off to Kindergarten.  People always tell you it goes by in the blink of an eye, but until you experience it yourself, you can't truly understand how fast it really goes.  I remember this picture like it was yesterday.

Now he's off to school and for the rest of his life he will spend more time with others than he does at home.  I'm not ready.  He is, but I don't think I will ever be.  So today I will snuggle my baby girl and breathe in that sweet baby smell because I know the day I put her on that bus to kindergarten will be here all too soon.

The Post Where I Complain About Monday

Yesterday was an awful day.  It started off bad and just went down hill.  It wasn't all bad, but overall, not a good day.

The day started at 7.  Cole got up, came downstairs, stood by his sleeping sister and said very loudly "Mom!"  Which of course woke up sleeping sister who now thinks she needs to eat.  Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but yesterday Shelby had a doctor's appointment at 10, so getting up at 7 means she will want to eat at 10 and I don't have time in the morning to try to adjust her schedule.

After babies were fed (human and bovine), I proceeded to get Tate up and ready to go to Grandma's while I  took Shelby to the doctor.  Only he was mad that Coley rode the new 4-wheeler (that's another post) and he had to ride in the car.  That resulted in a complete melt down.  Normally I would take the time to snuggle with him and calm him down, but there just wasn't time yesterday as I was already running behind.  So I left a screaming Tate with Grandma and booked it to the doctor.

The doctor's appointment didn't go all that well either.  She is healthy, but not growing as well as she should. Our doctor is very good and giving reasonable suggestions.  Our last pediatrician thought the solution to everything was to stop breast feeding.  Of course, during the appointment she was hungry!  I fed her while we were waiting for the doc to come in which actually worked out ok.  She spit up after eating, which is normal and it was kind of nice for someone else to see how much she actually spits.  Anywhoodle, the first thing we are going to try is starting her on some cereal and see if that helps with the weight and the spitting.

The remainder of the afternoon went fine.  I had my cross country meeting and I have 8 kids signed up this year.  Last year I had 6 and of those 8, 6 are new.  My retention isn't good, but we are growing!  This was the good part of the day.

My parents showed up last night.  My mom is staying with us for a few days while my dad attends a conference.  My dad has  neuropathy in his feet, so our stairs are hard for him to manage.  Our stairs are typical old farmhouse fashion and are very steep.  We went to bed a little after 11 and put a sleeping Shelby in her crib.  Only that was apparently her cue to wake up and think it was play time.  After much dancing and singing in her crib, she developed the hiccups.  I picked her up and also discovered poopy pants.  So down the stairs I went.  Only, I slipped on the edge of the stair and went down on my back.  It happened so fast.  The only things I remember are seeing Shelby's head sliding along the paneling and not being able to stop it, and thinking what if no one hears me, so I yelled.  Thankfully, Shelby didn't get a scratch, bump, or bruise on her.  I apparently took the entire fall on myself.  I've got road rash on my ankle, elbow, and hippish area, and my shoulder is killing me.  It made for a long night.  Thankfully all wounds will heal.

I am so glad Monday is over.

Chores

I've seen this chore list for kids floating around facebook and pinterest lately.  Somehow, feeding calves didn't get on there. I'm stumped.  Anyway, Cole has been begging me to get the wagon out for him to feed calves.  I've been giving him a hard time about why can't he just do my chores and he told me one day "if you just get the wagon, then I can!"  So a couple of weeks ago, we did.  He is in hog heaven.  Every morning he gets up and feeds calves.  Every afternoon he goes out and feeds them again.  We have close to 30 calves right now, so I gave him a group of 8 that he is in charge of.  He does a pretty good job too.  It takes him a little longer, but he's accurate.  We'll see how the rest of the summer goes, but I'm thinking he may work me right out of a job!