Away To Me

TMI post and I don't care

I pooped. Yeah for me. It had been 3 days and I was so miserable. Nothing was working. Not extra water, fiber, stool softeners, even the prunes I bought and ate yesterday didn't kick in soon enough. I finally used a suppository and it was so worth it. I feel so much better. I don't even care that Jake got up at 5am screaming. Well, I care for him, but not upset for me. It gave me the chance to put him in bed with daddy while I sat on the toilet for 30 mins. They are currently watching Sesame street and evidently Elmo is a hit still!

Now that I can walk again (giggle giggle) I'm off to go take Large Marge to a herding practice about an hour from here. Jake will like the outing. He's a going out kind of kid and mom being layed up a bit is not fun in his book. Don't know what to expect. I'm just renting sheep and working her on a new field. Should be excellent learning for her. 

Jake and Large Marge- Rain Day.

We had really strange weather in Southern California yesterday. Thunderstorms and even a Tornado about 20 miles from our home. Crazy stuff. So Jake was inside all day.

My baby sitter for the day while I cleaned and did laundry was the wonderful Large Marge. She loved being inside all day and Jake loved having his best friend to hang out in his room. These photos were taken at different times throughout the day. I love the last one..... Marge really was hoping Jake would drop his spaghetti. She was ready and waiting for it. 

My Lamb's lamb.

Lamb number 4 was born early Sunday morning. Another boy. He's awful cute. Jake thinks the new lambs are so much fun. After about 3 days old they get too fast for him to capture and they won't hold still for him in his lap. We have to be quick about taking these pics.

The little black lamb's tail came off. His horns are coming in fast! He will be a butcher lamb so nobody get attached via photos (giggle).

Here are all 4 lambs together. 3 boys and the one little girl, Gordita. She's the brown one. So cute to watch them all play.

More Sheep Photos

Lupita and her baby Gordita (thank you Camille for naming Gordita)

Gordita is huge! (hence the name) she is bigger than the black ram lamb and he's 10 days older!

She is marked almost exactly like her mother.

This is my favorite little "untame" sheep. You would think he was raised by humans on the bottle. He's a character. He and Jake were playing with each other. We call him Freckles cause of the tan freckles on his face. Adorable little booger. He is super small for an adult sheep.

And of course our first lamb of the year, who I have been calling Taco. Although I swore I would never name him as he will eventually be in a taco.

Motherhood

There is a contest over at 5 minutes for Mom that I just had to jump into. I never send photos into contests. Reason being, most contest take ownership of your photo when you enter. That is a huge NO NO in my opinion. So I always read the rules and make sure that isn't the case.

What made me jump at the opportunity to enter this contest is because of the title, "What Motherhood Means to Me". You see growing up I had the opportunity to be around all sorts of livestock. I watched horses nurse their foals, cows nurse their calves, chicken tend to their chicks, etc. I knew very early on in life I wanted to be a mommy. I also knew that as a mommy I would want to provide my child with the same type of childhood. I wanted my child to have critters! Because I quit my job to be a SAHM we can't afford a big ranch and all ton of critters, but we do the next best thing. I lease land 18 miles from our home and I raise sheep. I love to watch Jake with the lambs. I've shed many tears of happiness watching him run around the paddock with his head tilted trying to touch his cheek to the lambs scurrying away from him. I think I love hearing him exclaim "Baaaabeee" as much as I love to hear him say mama or dada.

It is moments like the one captured below, Jake with a minutes-old lamb and the lambs mama calmly eating some alfalfa while watching her baby in my baby's arms, that make motherhood so special to me. This moment would never have been special if it was just a lamb and her mother, my baby and my motherhood made it special.

Happy Birthday to My Large Marge

Large Marge turned one yesterday. I didn't get to blog about it as we were gone all day. But I thought I would make mention of it today. Especially since she's on my mind a lot this morning. She was very annoying last night. Guess what she got for her birthday? Her first doggie period. Gross, I know, but I thought I'd share. At this point we will not be spaying her as she shows lots of potential regarding her herding career and I'd like to keep my options open should I want to breed her.

Today we are having a family birthday party for Jake. But I'll tell Marge it is for her too!

Sheep photos.

Well Lupita still hasn't given birth. She looks miserable as she ambles across the pasture. Poor thing. I'll check on her in just a little while, but as of last evening, no babies. Frankly I think she's got twins. Only time will tell.

Other preggos include my three purebred Katahdin ewes. None of these girls are named. Katahdins are a hair breed of sheep. Basically hair sheep shed their wool in the summer so they don't need to be sheared. They are an easy keeping sheep.

BigMama and her baby boy are still doing well. He's a stinker. Yesterday I vaccinated him and the black ram lamb. They also got their tails banded and the black ram lamb was castrated. Tough day for them, but nothing they can't handle as they are healthy well cared for little boogers.

BaaBaa Black Sheep! My new favorite photo!

Baaaaybeeee Jake's favorite new word.

Big Mama and her newborn lamb had to come back to the house yesterday. Her mastitis flared up again...big time! So she's getting milked multiple times a day by me and she gets medicine. I must say that in just one day it has cleared up a lot.

It is hard to hear but if you listen carefully you can hear Jake call the lamb, "Baaaabeee". Please note my son's obsession with poop, "Kaka". I could watch this lamb jump and play all day. Oh and the reason Big Mama is tied up and has to wear a halter is because I need to catch her twice a day to give her shots. She is extremely hard to catch without a lead on.

BigMama had a boy!

Our first lamb of the season is a ram lamb. She had him this morning between 7am and 10:30am. I'm thinking she probably had him around 10am. He was still very wet when I found them. Both mom and baby our doing well. Two more ewes look ready to pop at any moment. The little ram lamb is really cute. He has freckles on his nose. BigMama is being a very attentive and nice mommy and all the other sheep seem to be great extended family. All excited to see him and nobody being pushy with him.