Welcoming Bradley...

I was laying in my bed lazily...just resting on a nice Saturday morning...and then boom! My younger sister and little brother come running into our room declaring triumphantly, "Charlotte had her baby!!"! Then of course I get out of bed immediately, as does my older sister, put my work clothes on and my hair up...and out the door we go! I race down with excitement and find an adorable baby boy laying down in the goat house...he stole my heart right away. He is all white with the sides of his face a dark, rich chocolate brown. He is built really firm and strong - like his father Pete. I love him already!

For a while though, we thought Charlotte was rejecting him. Every time he'd try to nurse, she would buck him away as if she did not know it was HER little boy. She'd just walk right past him with no thought like, "Oh yeah, that's my baby!". I was beginning to think we might have to welcome him into the house too! But thankfully after she ate a little bit, Charlotte nursed him, talked to him, cleaned him...just like a new mother. It was such a relief to see that she was taking care of her son. :)

Well, this is number 11 for 2010...welcome home Bradley! :)

Gennavieve's Kidding :(

Sadly yesterday Gennavieve had her baby - March 9...EXACTLY what I predicted! I'm sure you're wondering why I said sadly. Well it's because it was another unhealthy baby girl. She could barely keep herself up...she died. I just don't understand why we've had a lot of babies just too weak or unhealthy to survive. It doesn't make sense. But it's obviously the Lord's will and I'm accepting it. It sure would have been nice to have two baby girl cousins running around playing together though! :(

A New Hope, A New Beginning

Annie became a mother yesterday night around 11pm! Most of my family had been in our living room watching TV while my younger siblings were asleep. All of a sudden my younger sister came in and said she thought Annaliese was having her baby out there because she was bleating really loudly in pain. So up I went off the couch, grabbed my coat and boots - also a flashlight...and finally headed down with running feet. Yes, it was Annaliese. Her bleat is very unmistakable. I walked into the goat house and there she was laying down with the baby's head just peeking out. I had come just in time. Immediately I went to her, patted her head and began helping her by pulling the baby when she pushed. It was very big, so there's almost no way she could have been able to birth it without assistance. Within maybe five long minutes she gave one last huge push and out slid the baby's head, neck, stomach, and then legs - all in one piece of course! I'm sure Anna was breathing relief as she just sat there for a couple seconds. At first the baby didn't seem to move very much, so I thought it could possibly be a stillborn. I moved her around a little, trying to get all the sack goop off of her face - and she moved! SHE WAS ALIVE. What a relief that was to me I'm sure you'd know if you have read previous posts of mine. So I started cleaning her off with some paper towels, but at the same time leaving some stuff for mommy to get herself so she knows it's her baby. I showed Annaliese her beautiful baby she had just birthed. The poor mother didn't seem extremely interested for the first few minutes, probably because she was still in shock from all the pain she had just gone through. But after a little while I made her get up and start being a mommy - by licking off her first baby GIRL. Yes, it was another little doeling...I always get really excited when they are girls. :)
She is a beautiful creamy, white patched, and black striped baby girl whom I almost immediately named Starlene. Thankfully the others agreed on it, because I was pretty set on it! :) Starlene possesses VERY long legs and a VERY loud, consistent bleat. The legs are fine, and I guess the bleat will have to do as well! :)
So that's how it all began, but the other hour we spent down there was not so much fun. For some reason we COULD NOT get Starlene to get the teat. She was surely looking for it - quite a bit actually. And sometimes she might have been just an inch away from it, but no. NO TEAT. I would work with her and my sister would work with her...but nothing. After a long while, me and my sister finally gave up and hoped for better results in the morning - after all it wasn't that far off anyway! :)
With the beautiful sunlight shining in the window this morning promising a good day I slipped out of bed, got ready to go outside and began heading to the goats. When I got to the goat house pen I was only praying and hoping that Starlene would still be alright - after loosing seven babies, this goatmother has a right to be a little panicky! I walked in and there the little darling was - laying down very comfortably in the hay with Annaliese looking up at me with sweet eyes. She was okay!! But the real test was...could she get to the teat yet? So I watched in anticipation. Not long I saw Starlene getting ready to go find her food and just a minute later I heard the smacking of the lips against the teat...SHE WAS EATING!! HALLELUJAH!! That's when all my worries about her vanished. She is a healthy, strong, beautiful doeling who knows how to eat. That's all I've ever wanted this year with each baby we've had. But it just wasn't meant to be. Winter is over, Spring with all it's glorious promises has come! Starlene has arrived! She's brought HOPE AND A NEW BEGINNING FOR US ALL.

Katrina's Evangeline

Well I've got some more really sad news. Katrina had a baby girl on March 1, 2010. She was a beautiful  white doeling, however she was so tiny and I believe slightly premature. I have been so sick lately that I couldn't do much for her. She was having trouble walking and I wasn't sure if she'd be able to reach the teat. But my mom told me I needed to go inside, I wasn't feeling very well. So the next day she was still there, but weaker. We finally brought her in because it was cold and she hadn't eaten anything yet. So we wrapped her up and fed her a little milk. But we DID NOT want to totally take her away from her mom because we DID NOT want to bottle feed another baby in the house. So once we thought she was strong enough, we moved her back with her mom until her next feeding time. Sadly though, that night my younger sister and mom went down to check on her only to find that she was dieing. She died just a couple minutes later. While she was still alive I had named her Evangeline. I thought it fit her pretty well. But as nature would have it - for the seventh time this year - she died.
Evangeline was a very weak doeling to begin with. It's nobody's fault...this is just what happens sometimes. Although this year it seems to be happening ALL the time. But I'm trying not to complain. These seven babies we have lost within two months just were not meant to live. It was just God's will, of which I accept.
So I'm thanking the Lord all the more for our BIG Spencer!! He sure has been a blessing and I will never forget how he was the only one out of the first eight babies we've had born this year, to live!

Essie's Premature Twins

I know I already posted something today on this blog, but something very sad has happened that I should not wait to post until tomorrow. Essie had her twins prematurely this evening. I had absolutely no clue that she was going to kid. Her udder was not full, her ligaments did not seem to feel very loose. There was nothing. My estimations were around the beginning of March. But like I said she had them prematurely, because the babies did not look fully devoloped at all. So I found them both lieing on the ground when I went down to feed Spencer. As I was walking down, Essie was bleating very loudly in an abnormal tone that I had really never heard before. So when I got down there, you can only guess the shock wave that went over me. There they both were - one dead and the other just barely alive. I thought he might have a chance, but he died just a few minutes later.
I found out she became a mother of a baby girl and a baby boy. The boy looked almost exactly like her, while the girl had a little lighter color of the head. They were two beautiful babies that would have been probably healthy and strong had they been born on their due date. Essie was very distraught and confused. She acted a lot like Cassidy did when she lost her babies last month. It was so, so sad. I never want it to happen again in my life if the Lord wills it.
So that's six babies that have died in 2010 and that one special baby, Spencer who lived during this hard, cold winter.

More Death...Thanking God For Spencer

Well, Cassidy finally had her babies in the middle of a night we weren't expecting, it was cold and they didn't make it sadly. These were the babies we had been looking so forward to having...and these were the ones we were for sure about. But nature had its way again. Those does just have to kid overnight while we're not out there. Because had it been during the day, we would have been able to take the kids in as soon as they were born. Those twins would have been cuties. I'm not possitive, but she might have miscarried a third baby. But there's no guarantee for that, so I'm just going to say she had twins (whom I believe were a boy and a girl). It's so sad. And it was hard for me because I was the one who had to take them out. Poor Cassidy though, she was devestated. I've never seen a mommy doe like this before when she looses babies. I feel bad for all the mommies out there who lost babies, including Valorie...even though Spencer's still alive and doing well with us. These few days have been sad. We've had 5 babies born over the course of four days, and one VERY special baby boy lived...and I'm praising God for it! I don't know what I would do if I lost him too - that would just be way too much for me to handle. But we are not going to let this happen next year. From now on, I think we're going to make sure all of our does get pregnant in the winter or late fall, so that they kid in the spring or summer...that would prevent so much hurt. What's so strange though is that we've had A LOT of babies born in the winter before and almost all of them did fine. I guess this winter is just extra cold, that's the only explanation I can come up with. I'm thanking the Lord for little Spencer - or should I say big Spencer...he's already grown a lot since his birth. Here are some cute pictures of the very special baby buck who's being pampered and loved inside our caring home. :)

The Memory Of The Twins...But Spencer Lives On

Well I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is, Victor didn't make it. It's amazing how fast death takes a hold of something. Like I said earlier, he was doing great...and then it just hit him like a baseball bat. He just slowly died the same way his poor sister did. They both fought a good and long fight...but I think they are both better off now then they were this morning. We'll miss Victor and his sister, but to be honest...I'm relieved that it's over. They were half dead this morning and it just seems that since then this whole day has been sad...and I don't think they would have made it anyway had they stayed alive a little longer. Victor and Victoria will never be forgotten and I'll always have them close to my heart.

However, the REALLY good news is...Valorie had a baby! Yes, not Cassidy (once again)...but Valorie! Those does out there are full of surprises! We've got a VERY healthy little boy who I believe we have named Spencer. He's a big guy with a BIG appetite. We took him inside right away and he'll be spending the night with us for the next few nights. Tonight me and my older sister are going to take shifts for watching and feeding him. The couch is going to come in handy. :)  Since he's strong though, we're going to take him outside to his mom for food at certain times each day. He's almost all white with different patches of light tan and maybe gray...Spencer is a cutie! I'm just amazed at how much this day has brought. We've had three babies born over these past two days...two died and one lived. We lost two but the Lord gave us one back as a reminder that he's in control and that he wants to bless us. "The Lord giveth and he taketh away". Thank you Lord for giving Spencer to us! :)

New Year's Babies :)

Okay, I can barely believe that I am telling you this...WE FINALLY HAD BABIES!!!!! Yes, after this long wait we finally have more babies to cuddle with and love...only one thing. THEY ARE NOT CASSIDY'S BABIES!!!! Yeah, I know, as shocking as this sounds, they're not hers! So who's are they? Velvet's. Yes, they're Velvet's...the goat that surprises us all the time. I figured she was pregnant but I didn't know HOW pregnant until tonight. But she fooled us BIG time today!  I'm just so thankful that we had some more born...and on New Year's Day of all days! We have a new baby girl and a baby boy...which is pretty normal when it comes to Velvet. The girl is so cute! She's almost all brown with white on her legs and stomach, and black on her face...she looks like a paint! The hansom little boy (whom I believe came out first) is almost all white with a little bit of black on him...they're still a little dirty so it's kind of hard to tell. We don't have names yet but eligible names are Christine and Emmit - but we're not possitive. What I just can't get over is that they're not Cassidy's! Since we didn't know Velvet was REALLY pregnant, she was with all the other goats. Tonight was just another typical night to go and close them up. I went in their "house" to count them and there laying next to his mother was the little white boy. At first it's just kind of like "A baby? We have a baby? Who's is this? WE HAVE A BABY!"...it almost seemed like a dream. "Where did this baby come from?" was the question whirling in my head. I checked Valorie..."No" I looked at other females..."No". The last one I checked was Velvet's and YES, that baby was hers! I finally found the girl who was behind the "mama". But I'm telling you, I was in shock for a while...I was so surprised. And now I'm just plain happy! New Year's Babies! It's a great way to kick off the New Year! Thank you Lord! :)

"How could you not know I was going to have babies soon ? Are you dumn or something? You should know me well enough by now!" Well, Velvet...this time...YES we were a little dumn this time!! But glad everything went well! Ha, ha, ha, ha ... :)

~NEW BABIES~

Great News!!! Velvet (our main pygmy doe) had twins on June 30th!! This was a huge surprise...we thought she had a month or so left to go before she would kid...but she obviously had a different perspective. Anyway, she had a baby boy and girl whom we've named Brownie and Cocoa. As you can tell by the names they have a lot of brown on them...they are also the kids of our boer buck. They're the first pygmy/nigerian/boer mix we've had! They are so cute! And Katrina (another pygmy doe) also kidded on July 8th and had a beautiful baby boy who's name is Hosea! This doe was the one we thought for sure would kid before Velvet...but I guess you could say they both had different ideas. Hosea is also the son of our boer buck and is almost all white with a creamy light brown on a couple different parts of his body. He is very fluffy and healthy! We all love him to pieces! So far we've had 8 babies born this year and more on the way!!! Annaliese, Genevieve,Charlotte, Arthur, Gracie, Cocoa, Brownie, and Hosea...and like I said MORE ON THE WAY!!!

~A NEW BABY GIRL~

Essie FINALLY had her baby!!!!!

It's a beautiful little girl, and my goodness...is she huge! I had to assist in the birth because for some reason Essie couldn't push her out! So I pulled the baby gently while Essie pushed and with both of us working at it...a big baby girl popped out!! We still don't have a name but I am just so relieved all of our kiddings are over (for now!). Thank the Lord!! He is miraculous!!! :)

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