Baby Updates

Oh, COME ON! You KNOW you've just been DYING to hear updates about my baby buns! ;-)
The Hotots are 6 weeks old now and next week I'll probably start weaning them. They are adorable! There are 3 bucks...well, 2.5...the sport we were convinced was a buck, but we change our minds back and forth.  In the rabbit world, we like to say "the sex fairy visited overnight."  Its frustrating. (Those you of that have never sexed a rabbit, it is very challenging!)  Anyway,  they are MJ--the sport, Max, and yet to be named. (Any suggestions??)   The does are K8 (Kate) and Diva. Diva is the one I'm most excited about getting on the tables.(Diva got her name because she sleeps with a leg sticking straight up and bent, like she's doing a Leggs commercial!)  She seems have to head like her dad, and is the smallest of all of them--which is a great thing with Hotots.  Hopefully I can start showing them soon!!

J also has a litter of  4 Californians at them moment that are 2 weeks old.  We bought a proven brood doe almost a year ago trying to get some size in his herd.  This ugly doe has thrown some of the most amazing babies we have ever had and I can't wait to see how they develop.  He will choose one, maybe two to show with.  He also bred a newly purchased doe, Maci, for meat pens for the county fair. Something new this year! He has to pick out 3 rabbits, and they have to be pretty much exactly the same size/weight--pretty much identical.  They can not be more than 70 days old, and they can't weigh more than 5lbs but over 3lbs. Challenging!!!  I think it will be great for him to try something new!!

Another Birthday

This is actually the 4th birthday of the month for our family! Happy 10th Birthday to T!

T's birth wasn't as dramatic as his brother's. My pregnancy was very uncomfortable though.  Not only because I was chasing around his 2 year old brother around but I also had extra amniotic fluid and measured a month ahead from 6 months on. I was a dump truck.   Not fun.  T was born with white hair. Not blond. White.  And it was long and down his neck in the back, and nothing on top. It was bizarre. He really did look like an old man.  T had 2 emotions: content or furious.  ;-)  He had lots of tummy problems the first 4 months, and I was convinced I would never ever sleep more than an hour at a time or take a quiet shower  again.  Funny how far away those days seem now. 

Today, at 10, T still usually has 2 emotions, but he seems to be gaining more control of the furious one. ;-)  He's a nervous nellie--worrying about things I am not sure others even think about.(At the moment, he's worried about the sharks that are in the ocean and he doesn't think he wants to swim when we go to the beach the summer.)  He's extremely blunt.  He's one you don't ask if your butt looks big unless you can handle the absolute truth.   When he loves, he loves 125%.  He's funny and loves making people laugh.  I mean, REALLY making people laugh.  He does really well in school and this past progress report, he had better grades than his brother, much to J's disgust.  He loves sports and just started really participating in them. He was nervous about "messing up" in front of everyone and it really held him back.  That shell is really starting break now and it's nice to see him coming out of it.


He loves all types of music, loves to read, and hunting for rocks. That boy can spy a piece of petrified wood from 2 miles away.  He is in Geology in 4-H this year for the first time.  He also enjoys showing his bunnies, but is also happy to play outside with his friends at the rabbit shows. He's happy if he wins, he's happy if he doesn't.  Not quite to the obsessive and serious level his brother is at! He's a hard worker, and keeps up with most adults as far as yard work, hauling off stuff or digging. He recently  learned the truth about Santa, the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny.   He was crushed.  And I cried.  (There is no longer a kid in my house that doesn't know "the secret".)

Happy 10th Birthday, T-Bone!!

PLANTS

 Melanie recently told me about this great company to order plants from called High Country Gardens. I think she was sick of me complaining about my dry sticks with roots I had been receiving and brought me catalog. ;-). I picked out a pre-planned garden called Summer Sanctuary. It's for a small space and I did this so I could still order and plant some "must haves" that I'd also picked out along with the pre-planned bed. hehe Anyway, I've impatiently been waiting on the UPS truck to get here--much like a mom waiting on a new baby--and today was the day! I am BEYOND THRILLED with these plants. They are big. They are green. They are happy. I am hoping to get them planted this weekend. Its suppose to storm tonight so I didn't want them to get beaten to death the first night they were in the ground!!

My herb garden is looking good. It makes me smile! I had ordered some Lavender, but Melanie also brought me some of her Lavender. It's a different kind than the one I ordered and I am so happy with it! It smells like Heaven!!  I recently came across some recipes with Lavender in a magazine I get and I'm anxious to try a couple of them.

We are hoping to get the tomatoes and peppers in the ground this weekend, but I need to look and see the next good planting days are. 


If you haven't been at my house lately my husband has been busy. If you are a tree or bush here on our property, you should be afraid. He has ripped and pulled out so many trees this season!! Its wonderful to have a more open yard. Love it!!

We also cleaned out our garage...which we had never ever used for anything except to store junk...and converted it into a bunny barn. No more running out to cover up the bunnies in the middle of a rain storm!! We have a new system of hanging cages in there. We are fancy now!!

Hope everyone is enjoying spring!

To My First Born, Middle Child, and Baby

Many years ago, before marriage and children, I rolled my eyes as I watched my mom cry in a store reading these framed poems. I think she bought them (?) but I can't remember for sure. I've been thinking about them the past couple of weeks, and wanted to share them. I love them because they each say "I've always loved you best....".

Dear First Born,
I've always loved you best because you were our first born. You were the genesis of a marriage and the fulfillment of young love. You sustained us through the hamburger years, the first apartment, furnished in EARLY POVERTY and the 7 inch T.V., we paid on for 36 months.
You were new, had unused grandparents, and enough clothes for a set of triplets. You were the original model for a mom and dad who were trying to work the bugs out. You got the strained lamb, the open safety pin and the three hour naps.
You were the beginning.



Dear Middle Child,

I've always loved you best because you drew a tough spot in the family and it made you stronger for it.
You cried less, had more patience, wore more faded hand-me-downs and never in your life did anything first. But it only made you more special. You were the one we relaxed with and realized a dog could kiss you and you wouldn't get sick. You could cross a street by yourself long before you were old enough to get married. And you helped us understand the world wouldn't collapse if you went to bed with dirty feet.
You were the child of our ambitious years. Without you we never could have survived the job changes and the tedium and the routine that is marriage.





To The Baby,
I've always loved you best because while endings are usually sad, you were such a joy. You readily accepted the milk stained bibs, the lower bunk, the cracked baseball bat, the baby book that had nothing written in it except a recipe for graham cracker crust pie that someone had pushed between the pages.
You were the one we held on to so tightly. You were the ties with our past, a reason for tomorrow. You darkened our hair, quickened our steps, squared our shoulders, restored our vision, and gave us a sense of humor that security, maturity and durability can't provide.
When your hairline takes on the shape of Lake Erie and your own children tower over you, you will still be our baby.

Walmart Mirrors Should Have Warning Labels!!!

Friday after work me and my gang left for Dodge.  I had some re-stocking to do in "Bruckner-Mart" and the boys needed some new stuff for summer.  While we were there I decided to try on a couple of swimming suits.
I do not have a full length mirror in my house....you can probably already see where this is going, can't you? Well, the new and improved Wally World now has *3* full length mirrors in the dressing room, angled just right so you can see front and back, all at the same time. How wonderful.   Took off my clothes, bent down and pick up the suit, looked up and........whoa! Who's that fat girl in here with me??....oh no.  (That's not really the word I used, but you get the idea.)

I stood in front of those mirrors for I don't know how long, turning, bending, flexing, slapping.  When did this happen??  Why didn't I notice??  Is this really what I look like??  Holy Bajeebers, that's a lot of hail damage on my thighs.

Swallowed the lump that quickly formed in my throat and continued to try on the suits. The first one was a bright blue with a skirt that I just knew I was going to look fabulous in.  In truth, I looked like a blueberry with a ruffle around the middle. Ugh.  Got that thing off and threw it across the dressing room, convinced this was going to be a complete failure.  Grabbed the other one, put it on and....I didn't hate it. It has a pretty tropical floral pattern that takes the eye away from certain...areas.   I figured if I like it from the waist up, I can at least find a pair of cover up shorts to hide my thighs.

So, I came out of the dressing room and I heard T say "FINALLY!"  "What took you so long.....Are you ok?!?" asked D.  "When did I get this fat?" I asked him.  The poor guy got the deer in the headlight look, refusing to talk, just shaking his head.

My McDonald's chicken sandwich and french fries just didn't taste very good one the way home. 

 I'm calling 1-800-597-Jenny..TODAY.  *Sigh*

Ever have one of those days...

..where it starts bad and continues and then even ends bad?  That's what our Saturday was like. We were suppose to leave AT 5am to head to Hutch for the Salt City rabbit show.  I woke up at 5:05.  I discovered that we can all get up, dressed, packed and ready in 19 minutes when we are screaming and running around.  Of course, all that time I was working on my hair, so I wasn't that much help. (I had went to sleep with wet hair and pretty much resembled Medusa.)
 In fact as we were pulling out of the driveway I had to ask D who they had packed to take.  I had no idea.

We got there in time, but the show ended up starting over an hour late...so we didn't really have to scream and run around after all.  We discovered we forgot our chairs.  They had no extra chairs there, so by the end of the day our backs where killing us from standing on concrete and our knees were aching from kneeling down.  
We didn't have much to take because we have does that are either nursing babies or getting ready to have babies.  J's Californian doe he took got DQ'ed the first time she went on the table.  Little stink broke off her tooth sometime recently. It is a bad break and we are not sure if it will grow back or not. =(  His buck he took, Truman, got wonderful praise from the first judge and we heard what a beautiful boy he was.  The second time he went up  the judge told him he didn't like Truman because he didn't have an ass. Seriously, that's what he said.  It just goes to show that you really just are there for a persons opinion and that opinion can vary greatly from one judge to another.  

The bad day continues when they were judging for Best In Show for the first show, and we didn't hear them announce it.  We missed getting the buns to the table.  Poor J had a meltdown. 

The good parts of the day where J's Havana got Best of Breed in both shows.  Each time a rabbit earns a 1st in its class (There are several other ways too.)  and there are 5 rabbits with 3 different exhibitors, that rabbit earns what is called a "leg."  After your rabbit has 3  legs, you can register it and also "Grand" him as a  Grand Champion.  This pretty much gives you bragging rights by getting to add G.C to their pedigrees and also means you can charge more $ when you sell it or their babies.  T's Castor Mini Rex is waiting to be registered, but J's Havana won 2 more legs yesterday, giving him 3, so we now have 2 that can be!! 

I sat and watched the boys at the show yesterday and felt joy. They've both made  friends with a lot of other kids that show buns and it's really cool to watch their friendships grow with each show.  It was nice to "eavesdrop" and hear them talk about their different 4-H clubs and bunnies, who thinks who is cute, and so on.  T also made fast friends with the husband of a rabbit breeder. He is an adorable man with this wonderful, thick, British accent.  He will be 80 years old on his next birthday and accompanies his wife to rabbit shows, but says the only part he has in "her" hobby is carrying in the sacks of feed, which he informed D, grow heavier and heavier with each birthday you have.  Anyway, he brought a metal detector with him, and he and T spent a couple of hours scouring the state fairgrounds for treasures. T only brought one rabbit to show, so I think this man was my angel yesterday. He kept T busy, engaged, and entertained for a long time. I thought it was wonderful both that he took the time to do this with an ornery 10 year old, and that a ornery 10 year old would think an 80 year old is "soooooo awesome!"   The two made quite a pair!

Our day ended with D walking in the door carrying in a 6 hole rabbit carrier in one hand, a soda in another, tripping and dumping soda into the carrier and all over our entryway and carpet.  Nice.

My Weird Phobia

Ok. Confession time. I am one of those people who has what are probably irrational fears. I think and fear things, it seems, that most people don't even think about. Some are funny, some are not. All are real. (At least to me. Probably not to a normal person. hehe) However, there is one fear that can send me screaming like a little girl. It can make me stand frozen in fear. It can make me cry.  I am talking about ticks.  Yes. I said ticks.

I am not sure when this phobia started, but 2 events stick out in my mind.  One was in the 4th grade, when I felt a "bump" in my hair. Went up the the substitute teacher who informed me that I had a bug stuck on my scalp, drinking my blood...yes, EXACT words...and that since school was almost over, I could go outside and see if my mom was out waiting for me and to tell her about it. I remember sitting outside, waiting for my mama, terrified that bug was going to drain out all my blood.   The second was waking up one morning when I was a teenager and having one of those suckers stuck in my belly button.  It hurt.  As I got older, the creepiness of those nasty little creatures and the diseases they transfer really concreted my fear of them.   

They make me shudder, squeal, and sweat.  I've only been able to pull them off someone else a handful of times. I once seriously thought about calling one of my daycare parents from work to take one off their child, but the rational part of my brain took back over and I was able to get the job done--shaking the entire time.   

I write about this because this morning  as I was walking up our basements steps, I had a itch on my hip, felt a bump, and thought there was a sticker in the waistband of my pants. It wasn't.  I screamed, ran up the stairs, started sweating, couldn't stop shuddering, and then realized I had thrown that tick down. In my house. There is a blood sucker loose in my house.  

And I am constantly feeling things crawling around on my skin today.  

Isn't one of the signs of  psychosis  feeling bugs that are not there crawling on you?   Yeah, I thought so.

BTW- I was going to find a pic of  a tick to go along with this, but found out I can't even look at the pictures without squirming.   

Tuesday Thoughts

Saturday we had our combined parties for J and T's birthday's.  It was a nice evening filled with family, fun, and food, to quote my little sister.  The boys got a nice "stash" of money they put back into their "vacation fund."  It was OK having one party, but I won't be doing it again. I thought since my boys were older having a combined party would be fine. (It just doesn't seem to have that special day feel to it on their REAL birthdays.)  Anyway, we grilled hamburgers, and each boy got a steak that they had picked out, pasta salad, homemade french fries, camo birthday cake, and ice cream!!

We've been busy out in the yard. It's amazing the difference getting some old shrubs and trees out of the way makes.   Everything is so bright and open.  I've ordered my flowers for one of my new beds. The men will need to finish getting it all cleared out this week so I can plant them when they arrive.    J and I took off Saturday morning to the green house in Protection.  I got a bunch of herbs, some of the stuff for our garden and some flowers.  J brought home some strawberry plants. We have never had good luck with strawberry plants, but we are going to plant them in the ground this year instead of  growing them in containers. He's really into gardening this year and I just LOVE it.     My herbs I planted over in a space by our garage that has never had anything "purposely" grown in it. Not sure how they will do over there, but they sure do look pretty right now all green and mulched in.

Today is J's last quiz bowl meet.  Track is full swing and though J is enjoying it, we are all just ready for summertime.  T brought home his baseball sign up papers and had a small meltdown when I reminded him we were taking a break from sports this summer.   The taxi, the taxi drivers, and  wallets need to regroup! =-)

IT FINALLY HAPPENED!

After 28 weeks of love and extra attention, I've been rewarded with my very first green egg from the "babies"!!  And today was the day that my HUSBAND went out to the coop to get eggs. (I usually do it, or one of the boys.) Oh well. 
There are 2 more Easter Eggers out there who shouldn't be very far behind!!

I think it's beautiful! ;-)  It's so "egg-citing!"

Easter

We had a super Easter.
Got up to discover the boys had raided the baskets early and went back to bed.  The Easter Bunny loaded them up!!  Each had a Dove chocolate bunny--Yum, Moms favorite! How did that bunny know??--and misc. packages of pure sugar. (and PEEPS!)  He also brought the boys each a package of seeds to plant and  a new bible, which they loved.  J's is a bible for teens, and it has lots of things to think about it in it. I've seen him reading it a lot, and it's struck up some very nice conversations.  T loves his bible because it's "very cool" and has a metal camo cover. He had some very interesting Easter questions this year. I love those questions where you KNOW the wheels are turning inside those heads. (Sometimes I am convinced those wheels are rusted shut! hehe)
We attended a great church service with some wonderful music. I'm told some of it was better than "Hannah Montana."  ;-)  Later we went to a friends home for wonderful food and relaxed and hung out for a bit, came home and just kind of tinkered around the yard and the house.

Did I mention it was a wonderful day?

A Birthday

Happy 12th Birthday to J!! Wow! Was it really 12 years ago I was experiencing the pregnancy that refused to end??  That seems amazing to me.

J's pregnancy was dramatic, his birth was even more so and absolutely terrifying. One afternoon my sister in law and I sat and talked about  how our kids' births reflected their personalities in some ways and its true with my boys.  J's birth was like him in that he was not about to do things by the books, and he has a round about way of doing things, and that includes being born. ;-)

J has really grown up this past year.  He's almost as tall as I am.  He plays football, basketball, track, participating in Quiz Bowl, Math Contest, music and band and is taking his very first vocal solo in a couple of weeks, loves 4-H and youth group, showing his bunnies and shooting things with his BB gun. Started collecting stamps this past year, and enjoys digging through things, searching for old stamps.

Next year he'll officially be a teenager.... Gulp.

We are having an "off" April this year.  I did something I said I would *NEVER* do.  We are having a combined party this year for our family for both of the boys since they both have April b-days and everyone seems so busy these days   So, J's birthday really hasn't seemed like his b-day since we haven't done much "partying"  today, but I guess it will this weekend when we dig into a camouflage cake....again--another moment you know you have boys in your life is when you order a huge camo birthday cake!

Week Three

The babies are 3 weeks old today. They are now outside with the big buns, and except for being smaller, they pretty much act like one of the big dogs now. They had been in a solid bottom cage with pine shavings, so moving to the wire cage was a bit....comical. They couldn't figure out how they were suppose to walk on it, and "army crawled" along on it for the first day. Now they just zip around. They are eating Timothy Hay, pellets, and they drink water out of the crock--which is really cute because they have to stand up on their hind legs to get a drink--its a really tall crock.
We sexed them this morning, and it looks as though we have 3 bucks, including the sport, and 2 does.