The Tale of Two Preemies

Ugh!

2012-01-27T11:34:00.000-08:00

Apparently I spoke too soon last week about how well my calves are doing. That or I should have done some serious knocking on wood after I wrote it. This past weekend I lost not 1, but 2 heifer calves. I'm just disgusted. I hate losing calves, and heifer calves even more so. Especially since we've been really low on heifers. We had something like 8 bulls in a row and finally got a string of 3 of heifers and lost 2 of them. Not good odds.

At any rate, I still don't know what happened. One went off feed Saturday morning, but she seemed fine. Sometimes when we have a cold snap and I increase the energy supplement, the younger calves go off feed. It just gets to be too filling and they aren't hungry. As long as they eat something, I'll let them go without treatment for a feeding or two (and if it's not horribly cold). She did the same thing Saturday night, but she was still getting up. Her ears were still perky (sick calves tend to have droopy ears), and her eyes were still bright. Sunday morning she was dead. Sunday morning I had another one start the same thing. She'd get up and eat, but wouldn't finish her milk. I figured I'd wait her out and see how she would do that night. Same thing. So I treated her. She was a little smelly, which is a sign of scours, but her pen was dry and her butt wasn't too messy, but rather than let her go, I gave her some antibiotic and an electrolyte treatment. Pat and his Dad moved her into the warming hut for the night. We have one enclosed pen that we used to use for newborns until they added on to the maternity barn. Pat had to call to find out which calf was sick because she looked perfectly healthy. Monday morning, she was dead. I spent a good chunk of time on the phone with our vet and our nutritionist Monday morning trying to figure out what was going on and how to fix it. Everyone is pretty stumped. They gave me ideas of things to try. Our nutritionist thinks that because of the mild temps, there may be some bugs going around that normally wouldn't appear because of the cold. I'm just hoping I don't have to experiment with anything.

I once read somewhere that when losing an animal stops bugging you, it's time to get out. All of our animals matter. I may not cry about it, but I spend a lot of time thinking about what I could have missed or done differently and what I can do to keep it from happening again. Death is a part of life, but I still don't like it!

Farm Kids vs. City Kids

2012-01-22T10:33:00.000-08:00

It's no secret I was a city kid. While I like to claim home as a small, rural town, it doesn't even compare to the area I live in now.

At any rate, it is certainly an adventure raising farm kids. While I spent my summers riding bikes all over town, swimming at the pool, and claiming boredom, my kids spend their summers working. Not that we don't make time for fun, but if given the option, Cole will always choose work over play. I don't expect that to last forever.

While other kids will draw pictures of people, houses, cars, flowers, and far off places, my son likes to draw water lines, drainage fields, and his latest obsession: barns with cameras and the wires to connect them to the TV. He was very upset with me when I didn't buy a camera from Menards the other day (why are wireless cameras in the same aisle as phone jacks anyway?).

As a kid I dreamed of becoming a doctor. My kid dreams of being a fireman or policeman. He doesn't dream of being a farmer because he already does that. At this point, I would bet good money that he'll stay being a farmer too.

I wouldn't want to raise them any other way. They may choose someday to leave the farm, but it will never be gone completely. Being farm kids is a big part of who they are and no matter which career path they choose, I doubt agriculture will ever be too far removed from it.

It's Here.

2012-01-20T10:48:00.000-08:00

January that is. The snow has blown in along with sub zero temps. Our cows don't mind the cold. They actually stay pretty warm in the barns. This week was the first time the manure in the barns froze solid. The calves are usually the ones with problems. So far our calves have dealt with the cold pretty well. We've had a few newborns in the last week, but our new maternity barn gives us a nice place to let them dry off before we have to move them outside. We've had one staying in the maternity barn the last few days since it's been so cold.

A few years ago we had a lot of trouble with calves. It seemed like they were fine, then they'd go off feed, we'd try everything, and they'd die. What was happening was they were actually starving to death and we didn't know it. They just weren't getting enough calories from the milk replacer they were on. Adding more milk replacer added more protein, but that just gave them scours (diarrhea). When we finally figured it out, we started adding an energy supplement when the temps dipped below freezing. We haven't had a problem since. Working with animals is kind of like working with babies. They can't tell you what is wrong. The difference is there are a lot more diagnostic tools for humans than animals. But we don't give up even when we are stumped.

Side Effect Central

2012-01-19T11:28:00.000-08:00

The curse of red hair has struck again. I've been told that red heads have a different chemistry than the "normal" population and we react differently to things. That has certainly been true for me. Anesthesia, cold medicine, you name it, I have side effects. My pregnancy has been going well. The progesterone shots seem to be doing the trick and keeping baby inside. However, the last few weeks of shots have given me a horrible itching welt the size of a softball. Each week is a little worse. Turns out, I'm reacting to the shot and if it keeps getting worse, I will have to stop them. I only have 7 more to go, but my doctor is afraid it could affect my breathing. Fantastic! As much as I *enjoy* them, if they keep this kid in longer, I'll deal with the itching. I am so not

ready for this baby to come. We are in the process of remodeling the boys's bedroom. We tore down plaster and lath on Monday, rewired on Tuesday, insulated yesterday, and started sheet rock today. We are now at a stand still until the wiring inspector shows up. This is creating a problem as our sheet rock/mudding/taping guy is heading back south on Tuesday. I can't do anything in Baby Girl's room until the boys are back in their room and that will require trimming, carpet cleaning, and painting (not necessarily in that order) first. I did finally break down and order some new pump parts. I figure if baby does come early at least I will have that ready to go (providing I can find my pump). Although, I think after 6 years insurance may buy

me another one. The one perk of having a preemie! I've been tempted to dig out the changing table so I can figure out what gear I have and what gear we'll need to replace. We did get a new car seat for Christmas (it's PINK!) and I have a handful of clothes. Pat and I are heading to a grain convention early in Feb. which means meetings for him and shopping for me. I probably need to know what we are missing by then. Aaack! I'm overwhelming myself. Must be time for a nap. I will leave you with these:

The blob over her mouth is the umbilical cord. She is holding her foot up on her forehead. She certainly didn't get her flexibility from me.

January???

2012-01-06T08:07:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the bloggy hiatus. I can't guarantee this is the end of it, but I'll try harder!

We had a brown Christmas. To be honest, I would've liked some snow, and so would the boys. However, highs in the upper 50s in January? I'll take it! Yesterday was gorgeous. Normally this time of year it is miserable out, but there are still things that have to get done. Yesterday, Pat and I spent the morning moving and vaccinating heifers. Normally that job would have waited for a rare 20 degree day in January. Instead we were out there without coats, hats, and gloves. It was wonderful! We also weaned some of my baby calves out of their huts and into group housing. I was glad to be rid of them. Our calf huts have seen better days, but are still functional. The fronts slide on and off being held on with joist brackets. Over time, the wood fronts have worn down the the brackets have bent with use. A couple of years ago I replaced a bunch of the brackets, which helped, but because the wood is worn down so much, it still didn't solve the problem. When the calves get bigger, they can lift up the fronts and push them out. We've lost calves a couple of times when they've made their escape (they always come back). One of the huts was so bad that the calf could just push on the front and it would come free. He got his legs and head caught a couple of times and did some somersaults. If you've never seen calf acrobatics, it's pretty amusing. With the weather being as gorgeous as it was yesterday, Pat spent the afternoon fixing my huts! Almost all of them are fixed now, except for 5 that are currently in use.

Which brings me to my next point. I am down to 6 calves! This is the lowest I have been in a long time. Normally this time of year we seem to have about 20 or so. The reason is that we calved heavy in November and only had 4 in the month of December. Weather plays a huge role in reproduction. If you go back 9-10 months, I would guess that February was cold and miserable and January, not quite as bad. I expect our spring calving (April/May) to be light also due to the miserable heat in July. It always seems to go in spurts, but we never seem to run out of calves, or chores to do!

The Best Response to PETA

2011-12-16T06:38:00.000-08:00

I was paging through the Progressive Dairymen the other day and came across their top 25 Most Read Articles. #2 really caught my eye. The article was about PETA's new welfare standards for dairy animals. PETA was proposing an effort to end taildocking and dehorning. The favorite reader response was this: "It would give me great pleasure to place Amber Driscoll (PETA's corporate liaison) in a holding pen with a herd of Ayrshire cows with their long, sharp, horns."

All I have to say is me too!

Santa: Part Deux

2011-12-14T11:25:00.000-08:00

We didn't go see Santa on Sunday. We would have, but I was sick, Pat didn't really want to go, and his parents were gone for the afternoon. We hadn't mentioned it at all to the boys, but I think Grandma did on Sunday morning. They didn't seem to care too much that they missed it.

I've been trying to figure out where Cole stands on Santa. He told me he knows Buddy the Elf (Elf on the Shelf) doesn't go to the North Pole because he isn't real. I asked if Santa was real, and yes, he thought Santa was real. But, if you ask him who fills his stockings, he answers that I do. So I don't really know if he thinks Santa brings him presents or not. At this point, it doesn't really matter. I'm not going to push a lie on him for a couple of years of "magic" at Christmas.

I was chatting with a friend the other day. Her family never did Santa, so for her, she doesn't really get the hype. For me, my first grade teacher sat us all down in the front of the room and told us all that Santa, the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, etc. weren't real. I'm fairly certain she made it clear we weren't supposed to tell anyone we knew the truth because I didn't tell my parents until I was in 4th grade. She was kind of a manipulative person and none of the kids liked her. Anywho, so I don't remember being overly excited about Santa, just the presents.

For those of you wondering about our Christmas chain, here are a few sites with Bible verses. Since we didn't start ours until a few days ago, I kind of pieced a bunch of verses together. We just made a simple one out of construction paper. I let the boys cut the red and green strips, so it definitely has a "homemade" look to it :)

This one has very short and sweet verses each night, which would be great for younger kids.

This one has longer passages.

This one is my favorite. It doesn't have the verses listed, but I may attempt to make a fabric chain for next year.

If you simply google Christmas countdown chain or Advent chain or attach the words Bible verses to the end of your search, you'll come up with tons of them. There are even some ready to print for you.

Santa

2011-12-10T12:22:00.000-08:00

I'm not a huge fan of Santa. *Gasp* I know. I mean, the guy's got all the fun stuff. The fun songs, the cute decorations, and of course, the presents! But he isn't what Christmas is about. We do Santa, but my kids don't really buy it. Not that they aren't gullible enough (Cole still occasionally calls Long Johns, Long Bobs), but we apparently don't sell it hard enough. I wanted to just skip Santa all together, but Pat claimed we do all "my" traditions, so he gets Santa. I relented. We decided that Santa would fill stockings, but the big stuff under the tree comes from us. We try not to go overboard on our kids either. This year, I think they are each getting 4 gifts from us and a few little things in their stockings. I digress.

So what's not to like about Santa? I think he hides the true meaning of Christmas. We try to teach our boys that Christmas is Jesus' birthday and why he had to come as a baby, but they are constantly bombarded with Santa movies, Santa stories, and toys, toys, toys. Suddenly Christmas is about what they want and not about the Baby in the manger.

I'm also a hypocrite. Tomorrow we will take our boys into town to see Santa and I'm sure I'll even post a picture of them (Cole anyway) sitting on his lap. We also do the Elf on the Shelf, although my boys don't buy it. For them it's just a find the elf game every morning. That's fine with me. They have fun finding him and if I forget to hide him the night before I get to hear "Mom, you forgot to hide Buddy!" They don't think for a minute that he's real. I'm honestly not really sure what they think of Santa. Cole started saying things like "that doesn't look like the Santa we saw before" or "how can Santa be over here and over there?" Magic doesn't answer the questions either because magic isn't real. When people ask them if Santa is coming to their house, the boys give them a look like they're crazy and have no idea what they are talking about. I'm ok with that.

I am trying to find ways to phase Santa out and Jesus in. Every year we make a Christmas countdown. This year I added Bible verses to read each night. We are starting with verses from the Old Testament and we'll read the story of Jesus birth closer to Christmas. I didn't start it right away on the first, so I'm improvising and the first week we are actually working on their lines for the Christmas program at church. What kind of things do you do to make Christmas about Christ and less about Santa?

The Chicken or the Egg?

2011-12-09T12:19:00.000-08:00

Raising chickens is not pretty. Anyway you slice it, chickens are dirty birds. A few weeks ago McDonald's and Target announced they were dropping Sparboe Farms as their egg supplier. Why? Well, Mercy For Animals launched an animal cruelty campaign against them. My problem lies in the reasoning McDonald's and Target dropped SF. Do they honestly believe SF is treating their chickens inhumanely? Probably not. If abuse was the norm and not the exception, they wouldn't be one of the largest egg suppliers. Frankly, if their chickens were abused so badly, they wouldn't produce that well. So they dropped SF because Mercy for Animals says they are abusing their chickens and has video proof! Then the media comes in to play and suddenly you lose consumers. You can't believe everything you see on youtube. If Mercy for Animals is really out there to stop animal abuse, why is their agenda so political? Why not report the abuse to the higher ups in the company and then come back to see if anything has changed. If nothing has changed, then sure, release your video. Instead they videotape livestock producers for months, gathering footage, and then smear the companies name. How is that helping the poor chickens, pigs, and cows on the farms they are taping? Suddenly the company has no market so where do you think the excess goes? Not to some rescue farm where the animals live out a happy life roaming a pasture in the sun. No, the excess probably goes to slaughter.

Ugh! I'm so tired of animal "rights". We have to have licenses and permits and inspections for nearly everything we do, but my drug addict neighbor can have gobs of children and no one bats an eye at the squalor they live in (my neighbor is hypothetical by the way). I want to know that my food supply is safe, but we waste millions of dollars on useless programs because of these "humane" organizations. We have to fight for our right to produce America's food supply. These groups don't care about animals. They care about their pocket book. They care about their agenda. I guarantee that the leaders of these organizations have never taken a moment to ask the question "why?" Why do you dehorn cattle? Why do you clip pigs tails? Why do they debeak chickens? It's not fun. It's not pretty, but there is a reason. When it comes to animal production it's not about cruelty, it's about practicality. We don't do unnecessary chores. We've got enough to do without taking time to figure out new and unusual ways to hurt animals. We can solve our own problems. If people would be willing to spend more for locally raised products instead of the fastest and cheapest it would lessen the need for corporate farms.

My parting thoughts. Do you know what free-range and cage-free really mean? Free range: USDA regulations apply only to poultry and indicate that the animal has been allowed access to the outside. The USDA regulations do not specify the quality or size of the outside range nor the duration of time an animal must have access to the outside. You may now dispel any image of chickens running around happily in someone's yard.

Cage free is simply that, they aren't kept in cages. It does not mean they are not packed just as tightly or even tighter into a barn to produce eggs. This is often why chickens are debeaked, so that they cannot peck their cage free neighbor to death.

My final thought: think the HSUS and Mercy for Animals aren't connected? I found this post interesting.

Freemartin

2011-11-18T08:37:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the confusion about freemartins. I thought I'd explained that and I probably should have linked to that post, but I'm lazy. So this Friday, our lesson will be about freemartins.

There is an excellent article that goes in to specifics here, but for those of you who just want the basics, I'll explain. A freemartin is the female of a set of male-female twins. During their development in utero, their hormones mix, making the female infertile. Since over 90% of these females will be infertile, they are typically raised as feeder cattle from birth. Some farmers keep them and check them at breeding age (typically 14 months), but it is rare to get one that can be bred. It is more expensive to raise a heifer than a bull/steer, so knowing that a female is a freemartin saves money in the long run. However, since we are unsure, it's better to err on the side of caution as a heifer makes more money in the long run.

So there is today's lesson! I had no idea what a freemartin was when I was dating Pat.

Sickness, Be Gone!

2011-11-10T15:25:00.000-08:00

Our house has become an infirmary the past week. First Tate ended up with a double ear infection. Probably my fault. I was telling his teacher how he's never had one, so I doubted that's what his cold was. Less than an hour later he was complaining his ear hurt. Thankfully it didn't burst and he's been doing much better, although I think his cold is returning to his eyes. The poor kid looks like a raccoon.

Next up was me. I finally broke down and went to urgent care last night to discover I have bronchitis. Apparently my limit is 4 nights of no sleep before visiting the dr. Let me tell you how not fun bronchitis is. I'm hoping it clears quickly. I'm exhausted. I finally got an hour of solid sleep today, which is the most I've had in about a week. Fun stuff!

Today was Cole's turn. After complaining to everyone else, except me, that his ear hurt, I finally took him in. He too has an ear infection.

My goal is to make it through Thanksgiving with no impromptu visits to the doctor. I do have to go in next week, but that's when we should find out all about #3!

School Daze

2011-11-06T07:32:00.000-08:00

I don't know if I've even blogged about school yet. Sigh, it's November already...

The school year started off a little rough for Tate. I think it was the combo of school 2 mornings a week and swimming 2 mornings a week. For about the first month we were on the go every day. That and me being gone with Cross Country every afternoon and trying to take away the nukkers, was probably not a good combination for him. He was rotten! He threw fits, refused to nap. Ugh! He was less than pleasant. Once swimming lessons were done, he seemed to do much better. He's actually kind of fun to have home alone.

He seems to be doing well in school. I haven't heard otherwise, so I'm assuming he's doing fine. I know he doesn't talk much, but he makes up for that at home. I'm still not sure about his teacher. She seems ok, but I have no idea what goes on at school. That's another blog post though.

Cole is doing fantastic this year. I am so glad we gave him another year of preschool before sending him to kindergarten. He is so much more outgoing and independent. He can name nearly all of the kids in his class. Last year he could barely name one. He even has a little crush on one of our neighbor girls in his class. The highlight of his day is if he gets to play with B~. He answers questions in class where last year he preferred to sit back and watch. I went to his pumpkin party at school last week and it was actually fun. Last year I had a clingy boy that didn't want to do anything if I wasn't right there. This year I got to watch him play the games and his excitement at all his candy and prizes. He's a completely different kid. His teachers agree too at how much he's changed from last year. I certainly don't regret that decision at all!

One of These Is Not Like The Other

2011-11-04T07:22:00.001-07:00

Now that you have that song in your head...

We've had a lot of twins this past year. It's starting to slow down, finally, but twins come with problems. Yes, there are the typical difficult birth, etc. problems, but we've had a couple of unusual problems. Below are 3 calves, in order of birth. The first one was born 2 days before the last 2. First problem? These 3 calves are from 2 mothers. Which 2 would you guess are twins?

Second problem? The last one is a bull calf, which means one of the heifers is a free martin and no good. But which one? Unfortunately, this is the second time we've had this problem within about a month of each other. We'll raise both heifers as heifers and find out in about a year which one is good or not. Welcome to life on a farm!!!

Child Labor

2011-10-14T07:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was paging through the the Farm Journal and I came across an article about proposed changes to Child Labor laws. This is what I read.

"The proposed changes prohitibt children under the age of 18 from working with animals in pesticide handling, timber operations, manure pits, and storage bins. They also prohibit youths at grain elevators, grain bins, silos, feedlots, stockyards, livestock exchanges, and livestock auctions.

Children under the age of 16 would be prohibited from operating most power-driven equipment as well as connecting or disconnecting an implement or any part of the machine. All youths would be prohibited from using electronic devices while operating equipment as well."

Now, I agree that revisions probably need to be made. The last revisions were done in 1970 and the world has changed just a bit since then. Here's my major problem: our country depends on agriculture, yet these labor laws leave us no way to draw interest from a younger generation.

In high school, our youth are encouraged to try out careers of interest. Want to go into the medical field? Intern at a hospital for a summer. Want to be a journalist? Work for the local newspaper. Want to try farming? Sorry, you have to be 18.

In our area, non-agriculture jobs for high-schoolers is pretty limited. Without being able to work with animals or at the local elevator, they are limited to the gas station and hardware store or having to commute to work in retail.

Agriculture can be a dangerous place to be. Large machinery + large animals + teenagers can be a recipe for disaster. However, if taught and supervised properly, it can be a very rewarding job for a high school kid. We've employed high school kids on our farm for years, long before I came into the picture. We have never advertised for help, taken applications, or conducted interviews. We have always had kids approach us about milking cows. Some are better at it than others, and some enjoy it more than others, but every single one of them has stuck with it until they graduated. Maybe they learned that dairy farming isn't for them, but they all learn the value of hard work and the time and effort we put in to caring for our animals and producing a quality and safe product.

My question is this: is 18 that much different than 16? So they have 2 more years of growing, but are they as easily taught as a 16 year old? The older they get, the more they know, and the less they have to take instruction from others. It's really not about 2 years as much as it is about common sense. You have to know the kids working for you and what they are capable of. In this day and age everything is about time, but if we slow down just a bit to teach proper safety, to show the proper way to do things, and explain the dangers, maybe we can avoid some of the tragic accidents that happen. Changing the law to 18 is really just about changing statistics. Now the kids getting hurt fall into the adult category and that's not really changing anything.

These laws don't apply to farm owners' children, which is probably where the majority of farm accidents happen. Having 2 young boys, 1 of which would live in the tractor if I let him, safety is very important to us. Our boys have been around cows and machinery since the day they came home from the hospital. That doesn't mean we get lax on safety. Our boys don't go into the cow yard alone. They know to stop and look whenever they hear machinery on the move. Most importantly, we created a safe place for them to play. Our backyard is fenced and they know that they can go play in there whenever they want. We are very lucky. Our oldest child is very cautious and is teaching his less than cautious brother good safety habits. We still try to be vigilant. The moment you aren't is when accidents happen.

I encourage you to comment on the proposed changes. Go to www.regulations.gov and identify your comments as RIN 1235-AA06. You have until November 1st. The whole article is linked at the beginning of my post.

Shocking!

2011-10-07T06:44:00.000-07:00

It's very dry here. We've gotten a few sprinkles this morning so I left my car outside hoping for rain. The dryness has been great for getting the crops out of the field, although they are much drier than is optimal. This is the first year that anyone in the area can remember harvesting all of their soybeans without being interrupted by rain. We finished up our soybean crop on Tuesday and started taking out corn Wednesday afternoon. The combine broke down yesterday afternoon, so they spent that time fixing and headed back out this morning. We're hoping to get our corn out before the wind knocks it all down.

One of the biggest issues here has been fire. In the past week nearly every fire department in the area has been called out for a field or combine fire at least once. The process of combining builds up a lot of static electricity. Throw in heat, dry air, and wind, and you have a recipe for fire. In fact one area dealership called all their customers and told them to start dragging chains behind the combine to dispel some of the static electricity.

A few months ago, I would have laughed if someone suggested we'd be praying for rain this year. Now, we are doing everything we can to get it to rain. We've left equipment and bales in the field. About the only thing we haven't done is wash the car!

What Happened to Friday?

2011-10-02T10:51:00.001-07:00

Oops, so much for my Fridays on the Farm goal. In my defense, it was a very busy day. So busy, I didn't even get a nap. Ya, I know!

So your farm update. This past week brought the start of soybean harvest. With the heat, wind, and no rain, things are drying down very quickly, almost too quickly. When harvesting crops, they allow for a certain percentage of moisture. Too wet, they dock points, too dry, they dock points. Usually too dry is not much of an issue, this year it is. The crop isn't great due to the early September frost and the super dry weather. It is what it is, that's farming!

We crop farm with Pat's dad and his uncle. Last night I was helping them move equipment from one field to the next. We're starting to look like big time farmers with 2 combines, semis, and a grain cart. It sure gets the job done faster.

Weekend Warriors

2011-09-26T09:08:00.001-07:00

We had a busy weekend. We had been talking for months about taking the boys to Chuck E. Cheese. The closest one is in Sioux Falls. So Friday night we headed out, stayed in a hotel and spent Saturday shopping. We don't really need to do an overnight to Sioux Falls, but it's a nice way to get away. Saturday morning we got up. My husband, who apparently was on a strict time schedule, decided we needed breakfast by 7:30. Luckily that's what time the hotel's breakfast opened. My plan was to plug the kids in to some cartoons and sleep in. I figured we'd swim and hang out and check out around 11. Then head to Chuck E. Cheese for an early lunch and do our shopping. That way we could still hang around and have supper at some place decent before heading home. Apparently, Pat was not thinking so leisurely. We did do some swimming and hang out, but I think we were out of the hotel by 9ish.

Our first stop was Target, where we bought $100 worth of stuff that fit into one bag. Talk about depressing. After that, the hunt for clothing was on. Tate has outgrown nearly everything in his drawers and since he and Cole are the exact opposite body type, a lot of Cole's hand me downs don't fit. He also outgrew his shoes, again. Cole was a little upset that he didn't get new shoes, but he survived.

My big search was for a baby book. I got both boys's books from Walmart, but can't find them anymore. I checked everywhere, nothing. We stopped at Hallmark but I wasn't about to pay $50 for something that wasn't exactly what I wanted. Finally at the second Hallmark, I found this...

It's a little more boyish than Pat would like (he's threatening divorce if it's another boy. He's kidding of course, I hope:). I think it's cute. It was a little more expensive than I would have liked, but it's basically the same as the boys's baby books, just a different style. This one is an actual Carter's brand, where the boys's are the Walmart Carter's.

Anywhoodle, that was our shopping excursion. We did look at new computers, and DIDN'T buy one! That's a miracle in itself.

So on to Chuck E. Cheese. The boys were super excited. I think they watch a bit much PBS, but I suppose there are worse things in the world. We ordered our pizza, got our tokens, found one of a handful of tables not reserved for birthday parties (I think there were 6 or 7 that day), and headed off to play some games. Cole wanted to try a game where you pop balls into a red bulldogs mouth. Tate wanted nothing to do with it, so he tried something else. As we were sitting, attempting to eat the most disgusting pizza and breadsticks ever, Tate was freaking out over something. We thought it was the robotic Chuck E. or the noise. Finally we got out of him that it was the red dog. He was absolutely terrified of the game that Cole had played.

It looked something like this, only red and with it's mouth open, but it was terrifying to my 3 year old. We finished up our tokens on games far away from the red dog and left. On the plus side, Tate keeps reminding me that we don't need to go to Chuck E. Cheese.

We managed to kill enough time shopping that we headed for an early supper at Red Lobster. I don't like fish that much, or even shrimp, but I love crab legs and I've been craving them since I saw a commercial for Red Lobster this summer. It was delicious!

Bear with me, one last story. While we were at the mall, we stopped to let the kids play. A woman came up to me and goes "you were in the NICU." I remembered her instantly. She had twin boys about a month after Cole was born. It was kind of neat. Pat didn't really get it, but there were a group of us that were there for about a solid week together, right before Cole was discharged. I spent a week with these women who were going through the exact same thing I was. We all had babies at different stages, but we shared our stories and understood what it was like. I often wonder how their stories turned out and it was really neat to see a couple of the other 5 year olds who were a part of that journey.

Fridays on the Farm

2011-09-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

I realize my posts have been very few and far between. I am determined to do better (at least for today:). In an effort to keep my blog slightly more organized, I am going to try a feature I call:

Wait for it...

Fridays on the Farm.

Bet you didn't guess that!

So every Friday (or at least every Friday that I get to it) I will post a bit of an update on our farm or tackle some agricultural issue that puts me on my soap box. Aren't you excited? Are there any of you left anyway?

For today, I'll give you an update of what we've been doing the last month around the farm. August and September are always busy months for us. August brings the 4th and final crop of hay for the year. We do 2 things with our hay. We chop it and bag it to make haylage. Haylage is fermented alfalfa. Due to the cows multiple stomachs and complicated digestive system, they like fermented food. That's keeping it overly simple. We bag as much of the first and second crops of hay that we can. We use the third crop of hay to fill our quota for the year and usually bale dry hay from the 4th crop and whatever doesn't fill a bag from the previous 3. The hay is sealed in the bags and needs at least 6 weeks to ferment before we can use it.

These are bags of silage (haylage bags are the same).

We chopped our silage a little over a week ago. Silage is chopped corn, stalk, husk, cob, and all. Silage time is much busier than hay. We get 4 crops of hay to make enough feed for our cows for a year, but silage is done in one shot. It took us about 3-4 12 hour days to get the silage put up for the year. (When I say us, what I mean is 6 guys chopping, hauling, and bagging, and my MIL and me making dinner).

Now that all the hay and silage is put up for the year, the wagons are cleaned, greased, and put away, it's time to focus on corn and soybeans. Pat has been busy working on his new grain storage bin.

A crew of guys came and put it up in about a day and a half. Pat has been busy working on the augers to put the corn in and to take it out. The corn stored in the bin will be used throughout the year for feeding. They will auger it out, run it through a roller mill to break up the corn, and use it for feed along with ground corn, dry hay, haylage, and silage. The goal is to harvest the corn for the bin, starting Sunday.

After that we may get a bit of a break while the soybeans die off and dry down. Of course, that break will be used to haul manure and catch up on maintenance of everything else that's been neglected for the last month.

In the meantime, the 4 1/3 of us will be heading out tonight for a much needed trip out of town. The boys and I are in desperate need of some better fitting clothes. I'm already wearing my one pair of "fat" pants and I think I only have 2 pairs of maternity jeans. Well, I'm off to pack!

A Little Bit of Big News

2011-09-16T15:31:00.000-07:00

I've been exhausted lately, and feeling poopy, but I've got a good reason.

Yep, Baby 3! I'm officially due April 8, so we are expecting the little one sometime in March.

Cole is super excited. I had an appointment yesterday, along with ultrasound, so Pat brought the boys to the ultrasound. Cole was so excited we thought he was going to cry. The tech printed pictures for each of the boys to have. Cole wanted to take his in to Pizza Hut so he could tell the lady at Pizza Hut. He tells just about everyone he sees. He's so funny! Tate is excited, but mostly because Cole is excited. I think it will be a rude awakening for him, but he'll survive. He's definitely got the middle child gene.

We are going to do things a little differently this time. Hopefully the end result will be a full term baby. My next appointment is with a high risk Dr. More than likely that consultation will result with me being put on progesterone shots starting as early as 17 weeks. I'm not excited about that, but I would love a full term baby. (I may regret that when it comes time to deliver a 9 lb baby). I'm not really excited about the high risk Dr. I've met her before, post partum with Cole, and she's very matter of fact. My regular doc is very easy to talk to and to ask questions, and this one is very my way or the high way, this is the way it is, type. Not my favorite.

As for the inevitable question? Yes, we are going to find out the sex this time. We didn't with either of the boys because I didn't want to know. Pat has always wanted to know and he's always wanted a girl. I figure this time he can get his way (finding out, I can't make it a girl :). We are obviously ok with a healthy baby of either sex, but a girl would be nice. A boy would be easier, but a girl would be a nice change! Don't worry, we won't keep it a secret. If Cole found out the secret is blown anyway! As for the name, that we may keep quiet. We've got a girl name picked out, which is odd because we could never agree on a girl's name for either of the boys. We had a boy's name set, but never a girl's. Maybe that's a good sign?

Would You Do It?

2011-09-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

Before I started cloth diapering Tate, I bought my diapers online. I got large quantities and I didn't have to go to the store to get them. It was great. Now I'm just plain lazy and wait until the last minute hoping I won't really need to buy more diapers, but alas the second child is very stubborn.

Anyway, that's not what this post is about. So I "liked" my online supplier (diapers.com) on Facebook. They post a question of the day. About a week ago, the question was "when did you tell everyone you were expecting?" What cracked me up were the posts of "I'm so many weeks but we haven't told anyone yet." Um, you just announced it on facebook, idiot.

That isn't what this post is about either. Yesterday, the question was "If you could buy your child anything, what would it be?" I was surprised that the top answers were a big swing set/playhouse, a house remodel so the kids could have their own rooms, and a college education. Now, I'm not opposed to any of those things, completely, just partially.

The swing set/playhouse I have no issues with. Who wouldn't love a playground conveniently located in their back yard?

My boys share a room. They probably will for the rest of their lives in this house. Our house is set up so that even if they had separate rooms, one of them is far from private. I'm ok with that. My sisters and I shared (rotated every year, so one year alone, 2 years sharing), but only until I was 7. I think there are many benefits to sharing rooms, especially when the kids are young. Privacy is important, but sometimes so is the invasion of it.

Next, a college education. We fully intend to help our kids pay for college. The key word is help. I don't want college to put my kids into eternal debt, but I don't want to give them a free ride either. I know many kids who were given a free ride by their parents and wasted it because they didn't have to pay for it. I hope my kids have a better work ethic than that.

One commenter even remarked that they give their kids everything and how very blessed they must be. *gag* Sometimes denying your kids is the best thing you can give them. Don't get me wrong, my kids have plenty of stuff, way more than they need. The things I want for my kids, money can't buy: a strong faith, a good work ethic, respect, education, etc. That's what I want for my kids. Everything else is just "stuff."

All In A Days Work

2011-09-06T16:42:00.001-07:00

Today we:

went to swimming lessons
picked up vet supplies
watched them start our new grain storage bin
helped bale our 4th crop hay (more Cole, not so much me)
started chopping corn silage (again, less me, more everyone else)
were followed for the feature A Day in the Life for the Dairy Star

What can I say, life is never dull around here!

Houseboat Vacation

2011-08-29T16:56:00.000-07:00

Our houseboat vacation was a blast. It was the perfect weather for a few days on the lake. It was so nice to not have anywhere to go or anything to do.

The kids did a little unsuccessful fishing

and a lot of swimming. Who needs to stop for snacks when you can eat it in the water?

We found a little time for relaxing. Tate was fake coughing in this picture and it cracks me up every time.

Our attempt at a family photo. In hindsight we should have tried this on the first day instead of the last.

My sisters and me on gorgeous Table Rock Lake.Our home for 4 days.

I'm Baaack, For Now.

2011-08-28T16:43:00.000-07:00

I realize I've been on quite the blog hiatus. While I can't promise you my return is permanent, I want to reassure you (if any of you are left) that I didn't fall off the face of the earth.

What can I say, it was a busy summer. I was hoping for a relaxing one, but I should know by now that such a thing does not exist.

At any rate, summer is over and the kids are back to school. I for the first time, since I was 4, am not back to school. At least not back to taking classes. I didn't want to feel completely left out, so I picked up a fall coaching job. I'm coaching our local cross country team. It's been fun, but tiring and frustrating at the same time. I am anxious for our first meet this week.

I will try my darndest to give you a few summer recap posts, but for now I will leave you with this. My boys started school last Friday.

Birthday Cakes

2011-07-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

Growing up, my mom always made us a special birthday cake. I remember having a Winnie the Pooh cake at some point. I'm sure there Strawberry Shortcake cakes and who knows what else, but every year it was something special. If I had a picture from way back when, I'd post it.

Anywhoodle, birthdays just aren't birthdays without torturing myself into finding a little creativity and making a cake for my boys. This year, Cole wanted Spiderman. I talked him out of a Viking cake because I had NO idea how that was going to materialize. Spiderman has his own special cake pan with instructions.

The second child is always a little more difficult. He likes what his brother likes but I wasn't about to do Spiderman twice. Instead, he came up with an airplane cake. Should be simple right? It wasn't actually too bad, thanks to google. I found a bunch of different ideas, and decided to try some fondant. It could have been better, but it looks like an airplane right?

At least I can take a break for another year. That's one nice thing about having birthdays close together!

The Belated Birthday Post

2011-07-17T06:21:00.000-07:00

My baby is 3! Don't worry, I didn't forget his birthday. Blogging has just taken a back seat to just about everything else for a while.

Hard to believe that 3 years ago we got to meet this guy, 6 weeks earlier than expected.

But he grew and grew and loved to show his personality right from the start.
He loves to push the limits and get into trouble,
but it's been so much fun (mostly) watching him go from baby to little boy!
Happy Birthday, Tate! We love you!

Happy 5th Birthday, Coley!

2011-06-10T12:17:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday, Coley!

It's been an amazing ride. From a rough start...

and another bump in the road...
to a pretty awesome 5 year old!
Happy Birthday, buddy! We love you lots!

If You Marry A Farmer

2011-06-09T17:44:00.000-07:00

I read this on Facebook today, courtesy of my SIL. It's originally found here and is too good to not pass on.

Be patient.

When he tells you to go to the Lone Tree Quarter and you go to the quarter of land that has the one tree on it and he tells you that he meant the quarter of land that had one tree on it when his grandfather was farming ... well, that's just how farmers think.

Be flexible.

When he says he'll be in the house in 20 minutes for supper and then two hours later he walks in the door ... well, maybe he should be the flexible one. That way he can duck when you throw the plate at him.

Be willing to laugh.

When he's mad that the 3-year-old had “helped” Dad by putting all the parts he needed in the handle of the floor jack ...well, that's just plain funny. Even if he doesn't think so.

Be willing to change your view of norm.

Walking into church 10 minutes early, enjoying the prelude music and visiting with a few people is no longer a normal part of life. Walking into church 10 minutes late, realizing your 4-year-old is still wearing his “rubby” boots and wondering if anyone else smells cow, is.

Remember that he relates to new situations by connecting them to ones he knows.

For instance, when you're having a child and the doctor says he might need to assist in the delivery and he says something like, “But where do you hook the chains?” Well, he's just trying to relate. Or if your children are on the bigger side when born, and he calls the Select Sires rep to try to figure out what his calving ease score would be but isn't feeling too bad because he's not breeding heifers any more anyway ... well, he's just trying to relate.

Throw out the calendar.

Yes, it may be your anniversary, your birthday, Thanksgiving ... but since the weather is perfect for ______ (fill in blank) you might need to celebrate tomorrow or next week ... or maybe three shindigs in one. Happy Anni-birth-giving!

Keep your temper.

When he calls - as you're feeding four children, giving one a bath after eating, trying to get some laundry done, washing dishes and trying to find the cat that someone let in the house - and he asks you if you're “doing anything” ... well, just count to 10 ... slowly. Then backwards. Breathe.

Remember that cows and children are different.

When he comes in the house covered in manure, yet the smell of baby poop makes him gag ... well, isn't that just sweet?

Be willing to love - whatever life throws at you. With a farmer it will be a lot. You can't change the weather, the conditions, the fields, so you might as well look at it with a light heart.

Thank God for each day.

It's not always easy, but even the tough times can be good experiences.

GPMS

2011-06-03T05:49:00.000-07:00

Last fall we received a "free" GPS from one of our seed dealers. I think it actually cost us about $2000 in lost yield compared to the other brand of seed we bought, but I digress. I was super excited. I was hoping to have it in time for our trip to New Orleans last summer, but that didn't happen. Since then we really haven't gone anywhere we didn't know how to get to, until this spring.

A few weeks ago we headed to a wedding in Nebraska. Now, we both know how to get to Nebraska, it was just a matter of picking which route to take. We decided, since we had plenty of time, to take the scenic route, against the GPS's wishes. Normally she calmly recalculates and moves on. Apparently GPS's have limits. After a couple dozen recalculations, she, like many women would, started giving us the silent treatment. Despite her silence, we made it to the correct location without a problem.

She's not always moody. Yesterday, the boys and I headed out to stay with my mom for a couple of days while my dad is gone. Instead of stopping for fast food, I decided to pack a picnic lunch and stop at a park. Wouldn't you know, she found the perfect park for us. Just off the highway, with a bathroom even! The equipment left something to be desired, but that was ok since that meant my boys wouldn't want to spend forever there.

So maybe she's redeemed herself from her silent treatment. I'm hoping she'll guide us to our houseboat vacation without incident :)

A Little Slice of Heaven

2011-05-27T06:40:00.000-07:00

I am kid free until tomorrow night. I am also a farm widow unless it rains today. It's like a vacation without having to leave home!

The boys took off with Grandma and Grandpa for a wedding in St. Louis. I would love to have gone, but such is life on the farm. I am thoroughly enjoying being alone. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and will be happy when they are home, but everyone needs a break.

So what did I do on my first night off? I mowed the lawn (heavenly, I know). Then I sat down and read a book, WITHOUT interruptions! That's a very rare thing.

My plan today is to run errands, BY MYSELF. I have to go activate my new phone (thanks Sam!) and I thoroughly look forward to going to Verizon without having to corral my kids every 30 seconds. I'm also washing sheets since I don't have to worry if Blankie will be dry by nap time.

Speaking of washing sheets. I went up to strip the boys' beds this morning and discovered the Farm Industry News in my son's bed. I guess if we keep with those kinds of magazines as he gets older, I'll be a happy mom ;)

Myth Busters: Dairy Edition

2011-05-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

Myth #1: Only bulls have horns.

Ok, so I'm going to embarrass my sister with this one. She was under the impression that only males have horns. In fact, all Holsteins, male and female, are born with horns. However, we dehorn them at a young age. Horns can be very dangerous, to us, and to the other cows. Dehorning isn't full proof, and occasionally you'll get a cow with a bit of a horn or two, and they know how to use them. That is why we dehorn. There are breeds of cattle that do not grow horns, but most Holsteins do.

Myth #2: We have a calving season.

I get a lot of comments and questions about how our calving season is going from family, friends, etc. Those who raise beef cows typically have a calving season in early spring. However, in the dairy industry we need to supply milk year round which means we need to have cows calving year round. There are a few dairy farmers that can time their calving so that they have time off from milking, but it's tough to do. We tend to calve heavier in the spring and fall, but we have baby calves year round. Ideally, you milk a cow for 10 months after calving. We try to breed them 2 months after calving, so they should have a calf every year. That's ideal. Of course, like humans, cows don't always get pregnant as planned. It takes some longer than others and some cows we decide not to breed anymore. Once a cow is pregnant we milk them up until 2-3 months before their due date. Then they get a vacation where all they have to do is sleep and eat. We've had cows that we didn't breed back that have milked for years before they dried up. So we always have calves and we always have milking cows. That way you always have milk to drink!

Random Ramblings

2011-05-17T07:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here's our life update, in bulleted form:

I finished student teaching and it's been really nice being home, mostly.
I did not pass my licensure test, so I have to wait until July to retake, which means I won't be able to get my license by the beginning of the school year, so no teaching job for me next year (I wasn't planning on getting one anyway, but I was hoping to go through the interview process this summer). I missed by 9 points, which is like 2 questions.
Tate is potty training. Any suggestions on how to get a kid to poop in the potty?
Cole is super excited for his birthday (June 10) and the houseboat. He tells EVERYBODY about it.
We've had way too much rain, so much that our sewer backed up in our basement. Fantastic! It also means we need a new septic tank, to the tune of $10,000. Just when I thought we were starting to catch up again with $!

I've been in kind of a pessimistic mood lately (if you couldn't tell). It's not been a fantastic couple of weeks, but the sun is shining. The boys and I are heading up to help plant the rest of our garden. Maybe a little dirt will lift my mood!

Nebraska...the good life

2011-05-01T15:57:00.000-07:00

If you've ever been to Nebraska, that is the sign that greats you as you enter the state. I always loved that. Nebraska is where I really found myself. Sounds cheesy, I know. The 2 years I spent in college there are the years when I came out of my shell and met some of the most awesome people.

This weekend, we got to go back. Ironically, it wasn't for friends I knew in Nebraska, but for a wedding of one of Pat's NDSU buddies. It was a blast. As is typical of Farmhousers, the wedding party consisted almost entirely of FH guys, nearly all of whom are married with kids or expecting kids. It's kind of nice that we are all in the same place in life. One thing that struck me this weekend is that of all the FH wives of Pat's pledge class, I've been around the longest. Apparently, as usual, I'm the trend setter :) We got married first, and had kids first. It just strikes me as odd for some reason. At any rate, it was a blast to be together, dance, drink, and have fun.

This morning we headed to church nearby. The pastor there was my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade teacher. His wife also taught with my parents many years ago. It was fantastic to catch up, even if it was brief. They have a very friendly church and I'm sure we could have spent all morning visiting. Instead, we had to head for home. Getaways always seem to be too short. Such is the life of a dairy farmer. Off to chores...

Surprise! It's Triplets!

2011-04-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

It's Monday. I only have 2 more Mondays left! The weather is finally a little nicer out. When I got home today I asked Pat how his day went. His response: "you'll see when you feed your calves." So I wandered back to feed my calves and discovered these:

Not just one...
or two...or even three...
but four new baby calves.

Two sets of twins, or so I thought. Turns out, we delivered our first set of live triplets today. Two bulls and a heifer, so not quite Dairy Star newsworthy, but still exciting.

Here they are, about 5 hours old.

My Perfect Child

2011-04-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

I often wonder how God decides to give us the children He gives us. Sometimes I wonder if He was so unconfident in my parenting skills that He gave me Cole. Then I look at Tate and think He must not think we're total failures and decided to challenge us a bit.

For instance, how many of you have children that put themselves down for a nap?

The boys have had a little more (ok, a lot more) screen time than I would like. Cole is constantly asking to play the iPod and Tate knows way more cartoons than he should at age 2. I'm trying to limit it, but sometimes it's just hard.

Sundays are typically nap days. For me that means a nice long nap curled up in bed. For Pat that means sleeping in the chair in front of the TV. We've tried the whole "go play downstairs" thing, but Cole will typically hide behind a chair and sneak a peak at the TV. If the TV is on, he cannot focus on anything else. He's starting to be able to tell time (the hour anyway), so we're working with that. Last Sunday he was watching cartoons while Pat was sleeping and I was ready to head in for a nap myself. We typically make him lay down for an hour on Sundays. I realize this won't last forever. So I told him after his cartoon was over to go lay down until 3, and HE DID IT!

I'd love to say it is all due to my phenomenal parenting skills, but I'd hate to make you laugh so hard milk comes shooting out your nose and ruins your computer. All 2 of you are drinking milk while reading this right? Anywhoodle, I do not know where this kid came from. At times like these, it's fantastic raising a 60 year old in a 4 year old body :)

Goodbye March!

2011-03-31T18:46:00.000-07:00

Look! An update! From me!

Amazing, I know.

How is it that time can seem so slow, yet go by so fast? I only have 4 weeks of student teaching left. 4 weeks! I'm still teaching a full load, but am hoping to drop a class next week. I am so ready for life to return to "normal."

I've missed being home. There are days when I wonder if I really want to work full time and at this point, the answer is no. I enjoy teaching, but being a farm mom is a full time job and one that won't go away just because I have a "real" job. We shall see what life brings down the road.

My farm chores have gotten a little bit easier. My Kubota calf feeder is up and running. We're still working out the kinks and trying to figure out the most efficient way to feed calves, but so far, so good. Right now my biggest time consumer is washing my pails. That used to be the quick and easy part of feeding calves. Once I'm done student teaching, I'm hoping to adjust the routine a little bit more.

The boys are doing great. We had Cole's parent teacher conference last week. He's made steady improvement throughout the year, which is great. He loves going to Mrs. O's room. She's the special ed teacher and pulls out 5 kids from his class. He does well in the small group and they also see it as a special treat since they get to go during rest time.

Tate is still 2. He's full of stories, most of them not understandable. His favorite phrase is "but, Mommy..."

March Mudness

2011-03-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I stole the title, but it was too good not to use, especially with what I woke up to today. Last night's storm brought in a big nasty mess. Snow on top of slush on top of mud. It would have been really handy to have my Kubota this morning, but someone buried it in the shop this morning and then someone else caused a few more issues (that weren't totally his fault) so I can't use it tonight either. My wagon doesn't work very well in this junk.

I'm hoping this is winter's way of saying farewell, but you never know around here. Today was by far the worst commute I have had all winter. That's saying something compared to some of the junk I've driven in. Today was so bad I actually came back home. I drove through roads flooded with slush (not smart, but there was no way to turn around), a highway that felt like a field, a county road down to one lane of tracks. The best part of the trip was the gravel roads back home, and they were no picnic either.

This is what our farmyard looks like. There really isn't a way to clean it. The snow/slush is so heavy it's hard to move. Underneath that is soft gravel/mud.

Come on spring! We need a little heat and a whole lot of sun!

The Kid Who Failed Preschool

2011-03-21T03:54:00.000-07:00

I remember talking about that kid and just this week my students were talking about it and asking how do you fail preschool?

Cole is going to be that kid. Kindergarten round-up was a couple of weeks ago, and we didn't go. I feel awful knowing that some day he may be teased for it, but on the other hand, it will be so much better for him in the long run, and that is what is important.

I've had a lot of people question our decision. Most of them try to do the "but he's smart!" comment. It's not about being stupid or smart. It's about being ready, and he is not. I've answered the questionnaires and we've gotten his spring progress report, and according to all the standards, he's ready. But he's not. He still struggles and I don't want school to be a struggle. I want him to be challenged, but I don't want him to struggle.

I'm sad to see this group of peers move on without him. He's not particularly attached to anyone, but I've known a lot of these parents since our preschoolers were babies. Some of them we'll meet again with Tate, but others will move on without us. It's the right decision, but a sad one too.

My New Toy

2011-03-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the bloggy break. What can I say? I've been busy.

School is going well. Only 6 weeks of student teaching left. I've been teaching all of the classes for the last 2 weeks and will probably give up a class in the next week or so and work my way back down to nothing. It's been exhausting, but I'm having fun.

Life on the farm is much the same. I get up, feed calves, go to school, come home, feed calves, feed kids, sleep, and repeat. My calf barn is still a no go, but today we did go shopping for a new farm toy, for me! I never get any farm toys. So since they gave me a big NO on my calf barn, we've been coming up with other ways to make my job easier. Not that my job is tough, but there has to be a more efficient way to do it.

Currently, we mix all of our milk replacer in individual pails and haul it in a wagon to our calves. My wagon holds 13 pails, so it usually takes a couple of trips. The wagon was a new feature just a couple of years ago. Before that we carried everything, 4 pails at a time. That worked until I ended up making 5 trips and my fingers were calloused and sore, hence the wagon. The wagon works, but the plan is to move all my calves to the back side of the barn. Currently we have 8 pens in the front. That means up to 34 calf pails, or 3 trips with my wagon. I don't mind the exercise, but when there are a million other things that need to be done, time becomes an issue. Which brings my to my new toy: the Kubota RTV. The plan is to build a tank so I will mix up all of my milk replacer in the tank and then fill pails at each individual calf pen.

We had discussed this plan earlier and my father-in-law currently has a Polaris Ranger to drive back and forth. We thought we could just use that, until my FIL realized that it would mean losing his Ranger. Suddenly getting a new vehicle was a brilliant idea! Amazing how that works. So today Pat and I went shopping. We tested out the Kubota first, and then headed to check out the new Rangers. For our purpose, the Kubota was the better option. We aren't planning on doing a lot of off-roading with it, although in the spring, it sometimes feels like it.

The down side to our new toy is that we are getting rid of some of our other toys. Pat sold our 6-wheeler, which isn't a huge deal. It was only ever used for spot spraying and rock-picking. He's also trying to sell our snowmobile. We're both having a tough time with that. On one hand, we hardly use it, but on the other hand, the boys really love it. I imagine another one will be purchased in a few years.

At least this week I have something to look forward to on Monday: a new toy!

Spring?

2011-02-28T15:45:00.001-08:00

The first sign of spring on our farm is almost always kittens. Unfortunately, I think our cat, Peanut, jumped the gun a bit this year.

These 3 greeted me with lots of crying early Sunday morning. It was not what I was expecting as I rushed to feed calves and go to bed after chaperoning our church lock-in. Digging them out of the calf hut and moving them inside, to a safer location, slowed me down a bit, but they are still living! It took Peanut a bit to settle down in her new home, our vet supply room, but she's adjusted now. We certainly don't need to add to our cat herd, but I feel bad just letting them die. Their chances may not be great, being born so early in the year, but at least now they have a chance.

My Beat Up Babe

2011-02-20T16:40:00.000-08:00

After a trip down the stairs that ended with the train table, and discovering how hard a school cafeteria floor really is, this is how my baby fared.

What the HSUS Is Good At

2011-02-18T04:14:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine recently forwarded this interview to me. If you don't have time to watch it, the article is most of what goes on. The interview itself is fine. The president of HSUS is very good at his job, which is to be a smooth talker. He really doesn't say anything of substance other than he wants to sit down with the agriculture community and talk. You see, that's worked really well for them in Ohio.

When I think Ohio and the agriculture community, my mind immediately goes to the Ohio dairy abuse video that perused the web last year. Now, the HSUS wasn't behind that video, but like-minded individuals were. I'm not about to sit down and have a calm conversation with anyone who treats their animals like that, or stands by and watches it. After negative media what choice do you have but to sit down with the most notorious group and try to redeem yourself? To me, it feels like blackmail.

There's been a big push for the agriculture community, particularly the dairy industry to fight back, promote ourselves, and assure consumers that our animals are well cared for, and our products are safe and healthy. That's easier said than done. We aren't just selling a product, we are selling ourselves. Our product is our life. It's what we do from sunup until sundown and beyond. We don't leave the office at 5 or take Sundays off. Most of us prefer to mind our own business and keep doing what we've been doing, but suddenly we are pushed into the lime light and have to answer to people who have no idea what a farm looks like, let alone the work it takes to run one. The industry hasn't had to defend itself before and isn't quite sure how to react. I'm not saying people don't have a right to question where their food comes from. Everyone has that right, and should question it, but you should also think for yourself.

I don't think we should have to sit down and have a conversation with the HSUS. If legislation on animal and food safety is going to be made, it should be made by the people who know what it takes on a daily basis. That process is happening. The CEO of our milk cooperative is currently sitting on a board in Washington, D.C., that is trying to figure out what is best for the dairy industry and our consumers.

So to the HSUS, we don't need to sit down with you because we don't answer to you. You are not the one who should decide what is best for our animals and our products. That is our job and I think we do it pretty well.

A Letter to Your Legislature

2011-02-16T15:54:00.000-08:00

So if you've read my blog at all, you know I feel very strongly about a few issues; organics, car seats, and breastfeeding. So today I will once again be standing on my breast feeding soap box. So Michelle Obama is trying to promote women to breast feed as part of her health initiative.

I have never had an issue with weight. I've never been past 34 weeks of pregnancy, so I never gained a ton of weight with either of my boys. What I can tell you is that my oldest child is now 4 1/2 and has been to the doctor for illness maybe 5 times. My youngest has been once, that I can recall. During their first year of life, while they were being breastfed, Cole went to the doctor once and Tate never went. I firmly believe that was because I breastfed them.

Michele Bachmann, who I'm ashamed to say is from the same state, thinks that providing support, and tax cuts for breast pumps to women who want to breastfeed, would create a nanny state. Wait, what? Heaven forbid breastfeeding become the norm. I mean, that wouldn't be fair to people who choose to formula feed. Only, isn't the government currently the largest buyer of infant formula? It's called the WIC program, Michele! Yes, they "try" to promote breastfeeding, but giving a voucher for cereal, juice, and carrots, isn't exactly the best promotion. Can our politicians get any dumber? Let's use just a wee bit of common sense before we open our mouth next time, ok?

A Little Taste of Spring

2011-02-13T15:06:00.001-08:00

This weekend has been gorgeous! The temps topped off in the 40s. Long johns were shed, and coats were replaced with jackets. Of course, I've spent plenty of it catching up on my sleep. Today, about a dozen of our yearling heifers decided we had been inside long enough, so they decided to unhinge a gate and go wandering. I got a nice little jog around the yard out of the deal.

The boys took advantage of the temps to sport caps and jackets instead of their stocking hats and coats.

Even the mikhouse cow made an appearance. She has only been seen one other time this winter.
Granted, I wasn't the only one to take a nap today. King Tate also zonked out with his BK crown from yesterday.

Losing Ground

2011-02-03T07:01:00.000-08:00

I've been subtly pushing for a calf barn for the last few months. I almost had them convinced. We were to the point where we were picking out a spot for it to go and researching what type of barn we wanted.

So what happened?

Well, in the process of finding a spot for my barn (our farm yard is full of buildings, so anything new pretty much either goes in the yard of the house or in the field) the guys found a spot to build a sick pen and a bathroom. They decided they could move some of my existing calf pens and add on to the holding pen for the parlor. Their building needs take precedence over mine.

If that wasn't enough, they looked at my death loss and it's something like 1% and most of those were things I couldn't help. A couple of them were illnesses that I didn't catch in time, but the others tended to be things like clostridia, which has no treatment. So I'm losing out on my building because I do too good of a job. Go figure.

I'm still fighting. Our calf hutches are wearing out and some are in desperate need of repair, but at this point I'm fighting a losing battle. It's not a total loss though. They did decide to buy a milk mixer that I can haul on a golf cart instead of making numerous trips with pails in my wagon. I don't mind the wagon some times. We could all use the exercise, but for about 9 months out of the year, I'm hauling the wagon through mud or snow and that is tiring.

My hope was that a calf barn would make my life easier and be better for our calves. Our calves stay clean and dry in our hutches, but it's hard to see if they are in need of bedding, or if they are sick when it's dark out. In the winter, animals also drink more water, but it's hard for me to get them water. It means hauling water in pails through the snow and mud and then dealing with pails full of ice. That was my biggest hope for a calf barn, that I'd be able to give them water every day since I could fill the pails with a hose and it wouldn't be such a long haul to thaw out the pails later. For now I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. There's always next year!

Snow Day #2

2011-02-01T06:47:00.000-08:00

I've been student teaching for 4 weeks now. We have yet to have a full week of school. Last week was close with only one late start. This week, we are on our second snow day, and it's only Tuesday. Next week, there is a chance for a full week and the weather, so far, is looking ok. We shall see. I'm perfectly fine with the shortened weeks, but it makes it really hard to go back.

At any rate, we've been enjoying our time off. I've been avoiding folding laundry like the plague but did manage to clean floors yesterday. It helps that we bought a new vacuum this weekend. Nothing like new stuff to make you want to clean occasionally.

The boys and I headed out early for chores yesterday afternoon so we could have some time to play. The idea was to go out after dinner yesterday and wear them out so they would take naps. Neither one of them ate so that ruined my plans. Cole has been complaining of a sore throat, so he actually wanted to take a nap. He's a weird kid.
The puppies also enjoyed the snow. Angus and Juno both love the cold and snow and love to play with each other. I think Yogi actually hates Angus. He's taken after him a few time and hauled off and bit him a couple of times. Not a nice playful bite either. It took him a while to warm up to Juno too, so I'm hoping by this spring Yogi won't hate Angus quite as much. At any rate, our playful snow dogs:

2011-01-20T15:12:00.000-08:00

I honestly had no idea it has been so long since I posted. Oops.

Pat and I decided that after 5 years of marriage we should take a vacation, just the two of us. Then milk prices went to pot, so we waited a year and headed to Vegas for our 6 year anniversary. We knew Vegas wasn't the warmest spot, but it typically averages in the 50s or 60s in January. Heck, compared with the -12 it is today, that's heavenly. Only thing is, it snowed. In the desert. While we were there. Granted, it melted right away and it was still warmer there than here, but I was really looking forward to shedding my coat for a couple of days.

Despite the cold, we had a great time. Vegas was a nice city to visit, once, but there are other places I would like to see before we go back. We did a lot of wandering around the strip, checking out all the hotels and shops. Here we are at NY NY with the jelly bean statue of liberty.

We also took a day and rented a car to head out to the Hoover Dam. The Dam was impressive, but I was most impressed with the by-pass bridge that was just finished last year. The pictures do not do it justice. It is absolutely massive.
My biggest disappointment was that everything had a fee. It was $7 to park, $8 to get inside the visitor's center, $30 for the tour, $11 for the power plant tour. Really? I guess Nevada is trying to get their half of the bridge paid for.

After the Dam, we headed back to Vegas, drove down the strip, went to the outlet mall, and the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop. The place is tiny, much smaller than it looks on TV.

We also made time to take in a couple of shows. The first night we saw Blue Man Group, which I would definitely see again. The next night we headed to Cirque du Soleil. I don't have a desire to see it again, but it was definitely worth seeing once. Just the fact that the 7 different stages move up and down 9 stories, rotate and tilt beyond vertical is one thing. It's a completely different thing to watch people perform while those stages are moving and tilting. At one point there was a fight seen while the stage was completely vertical. Wow. Click the link and watch the trailer. It really is that impressive.

At any rate, it was a good trip. We got home, got our mud room remodel mostly done, and I started student teaching the following Monday. I'll blog about that later, maybe :)

Christmas Recap

2011-01-02T11:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas week was very hectic. My parents came out Wednesday night so they could attend Cole's preschool program the following morning. Cole was less than thrilled to stand next to L~ because, as he claims, she hurts his ears.
Friday morning was church program practice, followed by the real deal that night. The kids did a fantastic job. Our program this year was really neat. It started with the creation and fall of man, the reason for God sending his son, and ended with the crucifixion and Christ's resurrection. It was a simple program but was so much more than Mary, Joseph, and the Baby.

Following the program, we let the kids open a couple of presents. This was Tate's favorite, although his face doesn't show it.
Christmas morning was spent watching Toy Story 3 in their new Christmas jammies.
I hope your Christmas was wonderful and that your New Year will be too.

Puppy+Christmas+Remodel=Insanity

2011-01-01T10:39:00.000-08:00

Don't get a puppy at Christmas time. It started off all fine and dandy, but Angus is growing daily. He is much more playful now, which means chewing. He loves shoes, socks, ornaments, anything and everything on the floor. "Angus, NO!" is heard often in our house. He's fun, and Cole loves him, so I guess we're stuck. Anyway, who wouldn't love that face?This week our goal was to get our mudroom remodel completed. Pat ripped out the closet and we got our new cabinets in. It only took us about 3 days, and that's including some plumbing issues and cabinet problems. Turns out our plumber does not believe in shut offs. That should have been an easy fix, but he apparently also does not believe in standard sizes. A nicked pipe and three trips to the hardware store later we got the water problems solved. Then it was time to install the cabinet and new sink. Did you know that kitchen cabinets are deeper than bathroom cabinets. We did not, which led to trimming our stainless steel sink down so it would fit. Then the new cabinet is taller than the last one which meant cutting part of the new counter top off. I was not happy. We very specifically told them we wanted standard height, not counter height, but we didn't have time to wait so it's installed. The next screw up we discovered was that they ordered the wrong size counter for our bench. It's too short. Pat wanted to just trim the edge so it would fit, if they would knock off some of the cost. I said no way. That's their second screw up, they are fixing that one. For crying out loud, we only ordered 4 cabinets and they messed up 2 of them. That's not a good record in my book. It does look nice though, except for the mess...
We need to get a new medicine cabinet, hence the boxes of drugs on the bench. The boys are enjoying the new sink. If you ever need to get a kid to wash his hands more often, put in a new sink.

Christmas recap to come, I promise!

O Christmas Tree

2010-12-29T07:06:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-25T07:57:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-21T19:47:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-20T15:58:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-19T15:51:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-16T12:48:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-29T12:36:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-16T14:10:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-11-15T19:52:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-13T17:41:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-08T11:45:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-04T17:57:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-27T16:22:00.000-07:00

Adventures in Potty Training...Again

2010-10-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-06T19:34:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-09-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-09-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-08-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-06T17:49:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-03T16:31:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-07-14T01:15:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-13T12:01:00.001-07:00

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:

We are related to our instructor. Her father-in-law and my father-in-law are first cousins.
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

2010-06-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-06-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

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...

June Review

2010-06-22T18:14:00.000-07:00

I know, June isn't over yet, but by the time I post again, it probably will be :)

The boys started swimming lessons. Cole's were every morning for 2 weeks. He wasn't the strongest swimmer in his class, but he did ok. I learned that he can be bought with donuts. After realizing that his teacher wasn't going to make him go under water, I tried bribery, and it worked! I'm hoping to hit up the pool a few times this summer so he can get more practice.
Tate is also in swimming lessons, with me. We go twice a week and he is doing pretty well. He's more daring than his brother, but not overly so.
Cole got his kindergarten shots. His doctor likes to do them at age 4 since their memory isn't quite as good and they are easier to restrain. When she broke the news to him he cried and flinched every time he heard a door in the hallway. Try getting a urine sample out of a 4 year old after 4 shots. We had to go back on Monday to attempt that and he was almost in tears when the tech said the nurse would call with results. I think he was terrified she'd come give him more shots.
Cole's stats: 31"=21%, 36.8 lbs= 55%

Upcoming events:

Pat's 10 year reunion
Cole's first birthday party
Cole's dental visit to attempt to fill a cavity
Family trip through our dairy Co-op

Family Vacation 2010

2010-06-20T18:24:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we took a family vacation. This was the first real vacation we've taken since Cole was just over a year. It still involved a wedding, but the wedding only dictated the location, and wasn't the majority of the trip. Anywho, our trip didn't start out so hot when only 2 hours into it Tate looked like this:
We stopped on our way out and bought a tent for our first night. Just so you know, 2 small children in a tent in western North Dakota, in early June, don't equal a good night's sleep. Cole did fine. Tate was another story. He refused to go to sleep until it was dark, so with the time change that was close to 11PM our time. Then the temp dipped down into the 40s and he had thrown all his blankets out of the pack n' play. So for the first time ever we had to have a child sleep with us. Three people on a partially deflated air mattress (air compresses when it gets that cold) equals not so much sleep for mommy.
To top it off, the boys were up at 5:30 AM our time. We managed to hold them off for another half an hour and went to breakfast. Then we packed up and went to a park until the dinosaur museum opened.
The museum was ok. It was a lot of rocks and not so much dinosaurs, but it was something to do and the boys didn't care. Next stop, Theodore Roosevelt National Park:
If you have never made the trip west, I highly recommend it. There is a 36 mile driving loop around the park. The ranger at the gate told us it would take an hour and a half. We exited 3 hours later. We stopped and hiked trails, took pictures, chased prairie dogs...
The boys got a little lesson in flowers,
like this gorgeous blue flower. I've never seen anything, besides the sky, so naturally blue.
We saw wild horses and their foals.
We even saw a lone buffalo.
We stopped in Medora, the home of the Medora Musical. We didn't get to see the musical. I would have liked to, but we had a wedding to attend!
We spent one night with a college friend and headed to the wedding and reception on Saturday. Tate loved dancing.
Cole did not.
It was great to see so many "old" college friends.
So side story, we stayed at the old Super 8 in Lemmon, SD. From here on out we will call it the Creepy Clown Motel. When I went to check in, the office was jam packed with clowns. Ok, I'm not scared of clowns, but they are pretty creepy and a lot of people are afraid of them. Why would you display them in your hotel office??? Anywho, it was a place to sleep and we survived. I did have some flashbacks to that horror movie where the couple gets locked in their hotel room. No idea what it's called, and never seen it, but anywhoodle...

We even had time to see some petrified wood before we left town.
On the way home we stopped at Storybook Land. It was a good break for the kids and I thought this sign would have been helpful about a year ago:

So there you have it, our vacation in pictures. I've got some blogs written in my head, and maybe if you are lucky I'll actually put them on the computer! Wouldn't that be special?

School's Out For Summer!

2010-06-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's been almost a month since Cole's last day of school, but I have had very little blogging time lately.

Cole's last day went well. They had the parents meet the kids and we ate lunch, had recess, then finished the day with story time. It was a little precursor for school readiness next year. During recess, the teachers were telling me about the petting zoo and farm safety day the FFA put on that day. Apparently Cole, being the farm kid that he is, piped up and started sharing about the cow that had died and had stuff coming out of her. We had an older cow who gave birth to a large bull calf and had prolapsed (expelled her uterus) and died the previous weekend. He's so full of wonderful information. Anyway, the teachers had told him that that was sad that the cow had died, but he isn't too bothered by death. He has a basic understanding that things die and aren't around anymore, but he really hasn't lost anything important to him, other than Benny the goat and Cole was too young last summer to get it. Death is a natural part of farm life and right now that's all he needs to understand.

Birthday Review

2010-06-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

Cole's birthday went very well. He woke up in the morning, came downstairs, and asked me "Is it my birthday today?" He was so excited! We had his birthday party with some of the Grandmas and Grandpas last night. So here is the night in pictures.

First the dinosaur cake. When I originally asked him what kind of cake he wanted, he said "Um, a circle cake?" So I rephrased and asked what he wanted on his cake: "Triangles?" So we went to the library and looked at their selection of cake pans and he picked out a dinosaur. I should have gone with the circle cake. Anywho, he decided on a dinosaur cake with chocolate sprinkles and I complied.

A couple of months ago we were out for dinner and someone was celebrating their birthday and they had balloons. He was nearly in tears because he wanted a balloon. No fit, just tears. So I told him he could have one for his birthday and he periodically reminded me that he would get a balloon with stars on it for his birthday.This was the second take with the candles. The first time he blew them all out before we could sing.

Grandma and Grandpa R bought him a set with 3 semis and a loading bin. They even brought real corn, soybeans, and wheat to put in. Lovely.No birthday would be complete without semis, trucks, tractors,
and of course, BUBBLES!

Happy Birthday, Cole!

2010-06-10T09:23:00.001-07:00

Cole is 4 today! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. He keeps me on my toes with all of his nonstop questions. He loves to do chores, play farm, and tattle on his brother. I love watching him grow and learn. Happy Birthday, Cole! I love you!

The Ohio Dairy Abuse

2010-06-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

I'm sure some of you have seen the latest dairy cow abuse video. If you haven't, I don't recommend it. It's not pleasant to say the least. I finally watched it and it made me want to cry.

First, the abuse is horrific. It's sadistic and serves absolutely no purpose other than to smear the dairy industry and make good controversy. I don't know a single dairy farmer that would knowingly allow that type of abuse to happen on his farm, much less contribute to it. I honestly believe that the abuse did happen, but that it was staged and not ongoing abuse. My reasons are this: the cows were clean, healthy, and well fed. Like any being, human or otherwise, enough abuse will cause you to lose hope and stop struggling. Those cows still fought and I was hoping one of them would kick the a-hole in the head. Abused animals are lame. Lame animals don't eat. Those cows were pretty healthy looking.

Second, if an engineer built a building that wasn't structurally sound, he'd be out of a job. If a teacher taught all lies, they'd eventually be found out and fired. The same is true with a dairy. Unfortunately, it may take time to uncover the abuse, but it would be uncovered and the workers would be fired. If an owner treated his cows like that, they wouldn't produce very well and he'd be losing money. It just doesn't make sense to work that way.

There has also been a lot of blame placed on the camera man and here's why. He sat by for weeks without a single word of "why are you doing that?" Some say it was so that the world is aware of how dairy cows are treated. I know animal abusers exist. I don't need to watch it. I know children are abused, but if someone filmed that for weeks they'd be charged as an accomplice.

We as a society are so much more interested in the horrors and the controversy. We want to point fingers and place blame and say "see, you're worse than I am!" Our dairy industry isn't perfect. There are bad dairy farmers that manage to scrape by. There are also bad teachers (we can all think of some) that are still teaching. It happens. It's not right, and just like in education, it's hard to find a way to weed out the bad from the good.

There isn't a single decent dairy farmer out there that would watch that video and think treating animals like that is ok. I realize that I'm preaching to the choir but my hope is that the few people that read my blog that don't have a connection to agriculture have enough common sense to know that our products come from a safe environment. Our cows and calves are fed before my own children are. I've said it before, but dairy farming is so much more than a career. It's a way of life. I'm proud to be a dairy farmer and I'm proud that my children are dairy kids.

I'm just so tired of these videos. It's not like we're big oil and are getting rich anyway. They can handle a little bad publicity, we can't. If the video wasn't upsetting enough, the comments made it even worse. The general public is VERY poorly educated on where our food comes from and how. Do people honestly think we could treat our animals like that and that they would still produce a decent amount of milk. Let's use a little bit of common sense, people.

Super Farmer Cole

2010-05-31T06:54:00.001-07:00

My kids have been doing a lot of farming lately. Cole is finally old enough to kind of understand what is going on when they chop haylage, bail hay, etc. Tate just likes to do anything his big brother does, particularly if it annoys him. For example, this was supposed to be a picture of Cole farming, but Tate needed to be in the picture too. Anywho...

In case you were wondering, in this picture Cole is using the "90" tractor to bail hay, then chop silage into the silage wagon while he's injecting manure and lastly cutting hay. The last one is a little out of order, but then again, I don't know too many farmers that are that efficient.

I do have some posts brewing, particularly on the latest dairy abuse video, but that's a little too deep for today.

Dear Ruby Tuesday,

2010-05-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

I understand that you do not control who can or cannot buy stock in your company. You do, however, have the ability to listen and agree, or listen and say no to ideas brought forth by those stockholders.

I am all for the ethical treatment of animals, but not the PETA way. They, like the Humane Society of the United States, would like to see an end to animal use. You let PETA in the door, and that was a mistake. By taking their resolution seriously, you have given them permission to spin tales of abuse and doom for animals. What's next? Are you going to become an entirely vegetarian restaurant? Are you going to start serving a nice big glass of breast milk with your meals?

I don't go into your restaurant and tell you how to prepare and serve my food. I'm not in the restaurant business. Why should someone who has never been to my farm, or probably any farm, be able to tell me how I should best raise my animals? We've all seen the videos of workers mistreating animals. Does that mean all dairies abuse animals? We've all heard stories of waiters spitting in food and flies landing in deep fryers. Does that mean all restaurants operate that way? Of course not! What you have done is let PETA convince you that some livestock is abused and given them room to convince you that we are all bad.

I realize that, according to PETA, I am the worst offender. We dairy farmers take innocent calves away from their mothers and proceed to steal their milk. Have you ever taken a minute to wonder why we do things a certain way? Did you know that most dairy calves won't nurse from their mothers? In the 5 years I've been feeding calves only a handful of those calves actually nursed. I've seen more calves killed by their mothers laying on them, than calves that actually figured out how to nurse. I guess shame on me for separating those calves and feeding and caring for them.

Before you let PETA control your decisions any further, take a step back and ask why animals are raised the way they are. If you don't know the answer, find out, but don't ask PETA. Ask those of us who work hard every day to feed the world. As for me, I won't be setting foot in your restaurants any time soon.

The Book Tour

2010-05-23T11:36:00.001-07:00

The boys and I headed to visit my sister this weekend. On the way home, my sister had suggested that we stop and take a picture with the book in the store. I thought that was a fantastic idea, so we stopped at a BN. I asked the help desk if they had the book and he directed me to them. He said it looked like a funny book and I told him that we were in it. So I had to show him the picture. He just burst out laughing. Then he wanted to show the check out guy and then went and got about 3 other people who were working. They asked how it ended up in the book and all of them got a good laugh. One lady told us that had made her day and she had really needed a good laugh. I got the biggest kick out of it. It's interesting to see how other people react to it. It also made me feel like not such a dork taking pictures in BN.

We're awkward and proud of it!

2010-05-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

Pat and Tate are making more celebrity rounds. They made the Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda! Check it out!

The Dentist

2010-05-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

So apparently we got something right when we made Cole. The ladies at the dental office were just beside themselves because of his cuteness. Who can resist a red headed boy with big brown eyes? He is adorable. He was full of questions, as usual, and he did really well. He watched a little bit of my appointment and then went back for his own appointment. He let them clean his teeth and do fluoride. His teeth didn't do so well. He ended up with 6 cavities. Yes, SIX! He's not even 4 yet. Apparently he inherited the right combination of looks, but the bad set of teeth. So if anyone has some extra money lying around, you know where to send it. If his baby teeth are going to be this expensive, I don't even want to think about what it's going to cost when he's in high school!

How's that for Fame?!?

2010-05-13T16:49:00.000-07:00

I know you all remember this picture...
and how we submitted it to this blog and they were publishing it in a book?

Well, that book will debut at #3 on the New York Times bestseller list! Pat is thrilled :)

Potty TRAINED!

2010-04-28T11:01:00.001-07:00

I'll probably jinx myself, but I need to brag. Cole is finally potty trained. He's been doing well for quite a while. I wasn't going to push the night time thing until he was maybe entering high school. He's been dry 3 nights in a row! I've been holding back the liquids after supper and that seems to be working. Last night, however, Grandma and Grandpa took the boys into town to buy candy and bug juice, at about 8 o'clock. I though there was no way Cole would be dry this morning, but sure enough, he was. He was very tearful this morning, but dry in his pullup! If that wasn't enough, I managed to finally catch Tate in the act of pooping and got him to go in the potty! Whoo hoo! I'm not pushing the potty with him. I put him on before and after bed and nap time and if I catch him clutching his diaper and saying "pee!"

Speaking of bm's. For the few guys that may read this, why is it that guys cannot poop anywhere but at home? Cole refuses to go anywhere but here, including Grandma's house and Grandma R's house. He's very familiar and comfortable at both places. I just don't get it.

Name That Kitty Contest

2010-04-24T16:28:00.000-07:00

This guy showed up at our farm on Thursday. He's very friendly and we aren't sure where he came from. At any rate, we are hoping he sticks around, but he needs a name! So leave your favorite name choice in the comments. Winner gets bragging rights! I know, what a great prize!

Since I had the camera out, I thought I'd take a few pictures of our spring crop of kittens. This one is my favorite. He's only semi-tame. When we found him, Cole claimed we should bring him inside. I almost gave in, but one house cat is plenty. He doesn't really have a name either. I was going to call him Sam after our old house cat (not positive if he is actually a he or a she), but I keep calling him Tabs.
These next two are very tame. The black and white one was actually adopted in by the mother cat. She started with 2 kittens, but lost one.

These next kitties made their blogging debut back here. She started with 4, and is down to 2, but these two are looking really healthy. They are all fairly wild and the momma cat is really protective when the boys come around.
Don't forget to name our kitty!

Not Me Thursday

2010-04-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

This morning I most certainly did not allow the TV to babysit my 2 children while I attempted to take a shower. But if I had, said TV would have certainly done its job and not allow the following to happen:
1) Oldest son would have not come into the bathroom fake crying (he's not going to be an actor) louder and louder until he realized I was not responding and then finally in fake crying voice proclaimed "Momma, Tate hit me in the head again!" and promptly left the room

2) Upon exiting the shower and discovering youngest son was no where to be found but the old basement playing in a sand box. Only the sand box was actually the litter box and he would most certainly have not been scooping the litter out with the pooper scooper and dumping it into the dehumidifier water.

Nuff said.

Happy Birthday Jenny!

2010-04-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so technically her birthday was yesterday, but I'm only a day late. Anywhoozle, Jenn, for your birthday I'm writing a blog post.

So what's new on the farm?

School is kicking my butt. 3 education classes in one semester was not a good idea. The work isn't hard, there is just a lot of it. I have 2 final papers, 3 take-home finals, 2 educational philosophies to write, 30 hours of class time to reflect on, interviews to type, and a math portfolio to put together. If I have time I can also do some extra credit that would be a big help.
Cole is doing fine. He's excited to turn 4 so he can run in the sprinkler. Sunday he was upset because he wanted a balloon with stars on it. Guess what his birthday present will be :)
Tate is potty training, sort of. He wakes up dry, so I've been putting him on the potty. He doesn't like to have his play interrupted, so we're having a tough time that way. I'm hoping to have some time to work with him this summer. If not, he's only almost 2, so I'm not too worried about it. Besides, I spent the better part of a year on Cole, what's another year of potty training!
Church has been crazy busy too. We got our hotel assignment for our trip to New Orleans. Can we say roof top pool! We got a great hotel, but I'm afraid we'll end up on the top floor and I'll end up sick from the elevators. Anyone know of a way to treat motion sickness besides dramamine and the wrist bands?
We are also planning a fundraiser for playground equipment at church. I'm really excited about that. We have a huge field with nothing on it. Right now we are looking at Rainbow play systems and they just happen to be having a sale, until Monday.
Pat has been busy getting ready to get crops in the ground. It's a little early for that yet, although the weather has been gorgeous. We are enjoying it, yet waiting for the other shoe to drop and a huge snow storm to hit. My strawberries are greening up and my tulips are blooming. The boys even got a little sunburned today from playing outside.
April has been full of calves. Unfortunately all but 2 were bull calves. We had a calf every day from the 1st until the 10th, then another born on the 13th. Fortunately all but this last one were pretty smart and broke to a pail pretty easily.
Tomorrow night I take off for Brainerd for a youth leader meeting. I'm looking forward to the meeting, but it means 8 hours in the car (round trip) and a hotel stay for a 3.5 hour meeting.
I've been spending the last couple of weeks in a middle school classroom. It's been kind of fun. I've been going to a local Catholic school. The first day one of the kids told me I should teach there, but I didn't want to out myself as a non-Catholic. I'm only there in the afternoons for math. It's reminded me a lot of how I grew up.

That about sums it up. You may not hear from me again until May and all my school work is done!

Preschool Advice

2010-04-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

Preschool registration was tonight. I felt like crying on the way home. Not because my "baby" is growing up so fast, but because I don't know what to do! Here's my dilemma. Our preschool has 2 options: 2 full days or 3 full days. I chose 2 full days and here's why:

My plan is to send him through the preschool program twice. He's young and small, so my thought is that it will be better for him to be older than younger. (Pat strongly disagrees with me on that so much that we haven't talked about it in a long time.)
It's FULL days. If it was half days I'd have no problem doing 3 days, but he'll only be 4. That's a lot of school for a 4 year old.
We're broke and milk prices aren't projected to improve much at all this year. More days a week means more $$$.

Here's my problem:

I will student teach next spring. I refuse to send him on the bus and with milking that leaves no one to take him to school in the morning.
Carpooling would be an option, BUT all the other families we know and are nearby are doing the 3 days a week option.
All the other kids he knows are doing the 3 days a week option. This doesn't concern me a whole lot since he isn't particularly attached to any of the kids, but it would still be nice to know the families of the kids he goes to school with.

So bloggyland, what would you do?

Preschool Screening

2010-03-31T18:25:00.000-07:00

Ya, ya, ya. I know. It's been a while. I do have a lot to blog about, but it's pretty low on the totem pole at the moment.

Anywhoozle, Cole had preschool screening 2 weeks ago. It went pretty well. I'm kind of glad we couldn't do it back in September. I think he would have had to be re screened at that point. He did everything he was asked except a few things. One was making a +. He made more of a T. He also couldn't stand on one foot, although he can, he was just goofing around. The other thing he didn't do was walking one foot in front of the other on a line. He apparently took some creative liberty with that one and decided to slide his feet down the line. The highlight for me was that we knew 3 of the 4 developmental screeners. We of course ended up with the one that we didn't know. She had stepped out and one of the other teachers stepped in and took us back to her station. Just as we were finishing, the speech therapist walked by and said she had wanted to screen Cole. Cole has never had speech. He's been tested once, but hasn't had a lot of contact with the speech therapist. However, every day she comes in to his preschool class to pull out kids he runs up says "Hi, Mrs. P~! How are you today?" I just wonder who in the world that kid is. He certainly isn't mine!

Beautiful blogger

2010-03-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

I was honestly going to ignore this pity award from my sister, but seeing as how I need to find a moment to ignore my sick, whiny child, I'd thought I'd post something. Anywho, thanks Krissy!

I don't have anywhere near 15 blogs to nominate, so I'll do the few that I have.

1. First up is Jennifer who hasn't posted since October, but her blog is incredibly funny, as are her facebook updates. Jenny T, as we knew her growing up, has been a family friend since the 80s and if she didn't already have her own family, I'm sure we would have adopted her in. And just in case she sees this, blog a little bit!

2. Next up is Cathy, who also doesn't blog incredibly often. Cathy was a co-worker of mine back in my horticulture phase. My first impression was that she was really weird, but she quickly became one of my very best friends and has remained so.

3. Next we have Sarah, who like the others, doesn't blog often. I met Sarah back in 4-H and then she transferred to my high school. She's definitely had an interesting life, but sounds like things are normalizing lately :)

4. Lastly, I have Mamie. Mamie is married to a college classmate of mine. She didn't plan on having children, but now one is on the way! I'm incredibly excited for them and really enjoy reading how excited she is to be a mom. It's almost enough for me to want to have another one. I said ALMOST.

5. Ok, I lied. I have one more. Jessica is one of my best friends from college. She and her husband traveled the road of infertility and now have an adorable little boy to show for their journey.

Now for 7 random things about me. I think I can come up with 7 of these.
1. I have attended 4 colleges, 2 of them two different times. That adds up to 5 transfers and over 200 undergraduate credits.
2. I used to think I wanted to be a doctor. Turns out you shouldn't always stick with the career choice you make at age 3.
3. Breastfeeding my second child was a whole lot harder than breastfeeding my first. Pat pretty much made the decision that I was breastfeeding, for me. I was still on the fence when Cole was born. Now I can't imagine why you wouldn't at least try it.
4. I've never struggled with my weight, but my sister has made it very clear that I will blow up like a balloon at the age of 30, so I'm sort of trying to watch my diet now.
5. Being a dairy farmer's wife is the hardest, and lowest paying :), job I've ever had. The benefits are very few, but they're big ones. Guess that's why I'm still here ;).
6. I grew up a town kid and I hated it. I always wanted to live in the country. Now, there are days I wished I lived in town so I could walk to the park or run errands, but those days are few and I'm glad my kids will be farm kids.
7. I am addicted to CafeWorld on facebook. I'm really tempted to try SocialCity, but I'm afraid my husband will divorce me and my kids will be completely neglected.