Are you ready for Grommette's story?! :)

On the 17th, she was starting to act uncomfortable. Her udder was beginning to fill with milk. I had some friends over, who were hoping to witness the birth, but when the time came that they had to leave, she still had not given birth.

One of my friends, Michelle, spent the night, hoping that she would give birth in the morning. Grommette had always given birth in the morning, but this time she seemed to want to prove me wrong. :)

Michelle had to leave to do her piano lesson, and Grommette still hadn't given birth. Her udder was completely full and her ligiments had disappeared and she was very, very uncomfortable, but still no baby.

I was beginning to wonder if the baby was not postioned correctly. Then the Arndts dropped by to see her. Just as they were getting ready to leave, Grommette had a hard contraction. They decided to stay awhile longer, as she always gave birth in the past within 20 minutes of those hard contractions. 45 minutes went by, then she began having contractions that were getting closer and harder. Still no baby. Mom went in to call the vet and get Olive Oil, while I donned on some gloves. I decided to go in then and see what was up. I felt a rump-it was a breech baby. No wonder it took so long for her to have it!!! The baby was quite large and I feared that it would get stuck as it was barely fitting. I reached up further, grabbed a back hoof and pulled it out. Then I pulled the next back hoof out and the baby slipped out. He was HUGE!!!! He is perfectly fine and healthy. I named him Valor.

Then a little while later, I saw two hoofs. I looked closer and saw that it was the back feet and that the baby was upside down! I was a little nervous. My friend had a goat that was born this way and it was all deformed, so I was thinking that possibly this one was too. Grommette began to think about having it, but every time that she would lay down, Valor would baa and she would go lick him. Finally, she laid down and had a contraction. Just as the baby was born up to it's umbilical cord, the electricty went out!!! Dad slipped a headlamp on my head, so I could see what I was doing, while he went out and tripped the switch. That brought the light back on. Victor was born soon after as healthy and normal as you could get! :) He was slightly larger then Valor!!

I was very happy with these two and didn't want to have to go through the "pulling babies out" process. But, I felt Grommette and there was another one waiting to be born. I wasn't too excited about it. Then about 45 minutes later, she began pushing again. I reached inside right away, so I would know what to expect with this one. What I found was something that was soft and yet hard at the same time. I began to think of what it could be, but couldn't decide. Then a few contractions later the "baby bag" began to show. Duh!!! The sac hadn't broken, so I should have known. That was so silly of me, yet I had never felt the amniotic sac before when it was still inside the mom, so I suppose that I wouldn't have known. Anyways, this baby was so big that I had to break the sac just to let him be born. Yes, it was another boy. He was healthy, strong and was even larger then Victor!!! I named him Vincent, just to confuse everyone! :P

I figured out that if they were 8 lbs each, which I think would be the minumum, that would have been about 30-35 lbs of babies!!

They are all doing well. They are a dark chocolate brown with the white markings of a Toggenburg. Vincent has waddles, which are little balls of skin covered in hair which hang from their jaw bone near their throat.

 

 

 

Grommette is only 6 days away!! I am very excited. Her udder is starting to get bigger. I will be sure and post lots of pictures on here when the babies are born.

Grandma is coming over tommorrow. She is flying in from Salt Lake City, Utah for a visit. We are going to have a baby celebration shower while she is here to celebrate Jenna's arrival. So, tommorrow we are going to go shopping!

Please check out my buyNsell blog. The link is www.joyfulmeadowgoat-buyNsell.blogspot.com I will have some pictures of the babies on there and also pictures of the babies or does for sale.

Hasta luega (until later

Yes, those were moose!! They stayed on our road for about 2 days, then we thought that they were gone, but Mom on her way home today, saw them running along our train tracks. They were being followed by the train, which I think that the moose thought was out to get them! The train had to slow down to a crawl, so as to minimize hitting them.

Oh, by the way, on the way to ski lessons, we counted 175 deer last time!! Some were in a neighborhood eating the dead grass in someone's yard. But most were in a wooded canyan that we go through on our way to Mount Spokane.

LOOK AT OUR NEW NEIGHBORS!!


THEY MOVED INTO A VACANT HOUSE DOWN THE ROAD. WHILE THERE THEY TOOK THEIR TIME TO PRUNE ALL THE TREES FOR THE PEOPLE THAT WOULD MOVE IN AFTER THEM. THEY ALSO PRUNED OUR NEXTDOOR NEIGHBOR'S TREES.


















VERY NICE NEIGHBORS, AREN'T THEY????????!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures of Jenna! She is doing really well and bonding quickly. It is now just a little over three weeks that she came over to stay.

 

 

 

 

 

These pictures are of our 2nd time skiing. It went so much better! I don't remember falling down once and I was able to go a lot faster. And I had fun this time. Last time was somewhat fun, but this time was great!!! I can't wait to go again!

 

 

 

 

Count down time!!

Grommette is 24 days away!! I can hardly wait!

Here is a picture that will give you an idea of how big she is.

Our family has been enjoying immensely "Ski School"! My mom and dad have skied in the past, but this is the first time that any one of my siblings, or myself, have had the opportunity. The first time was a lot of bangs, bruises, and bonks, but we are improving! :) This is a 6 week class that we signed up for and we went for the second class today. We all did so much better!! I didn't have to go at snail's pace, which sure was nice!! We are still on the bunny hill, but next time it sounds like we will move to the next hardest! Exciting!!!


Here I am attempting to learn how to use these things without getting hurt!


Here Corbin is doing the pizza!


Here is Calvin. His motto is do everything as quick and daring as you can--usually! :)


A picture of all of us, except Cal.


Here is Kayla trying out the new concept of using skis!

 

Okay, I think that everyone needs an explanation of this picture! I accepted the Photo tag/Photo dare that my good friend Bethany placed on me. :P For rules go to http://iluvmygoats.blogspot.com. This was taken when one of Mom's old friends, who lives in Califonia, came up for a visit. Needless to say, we had a great time showing her the farm!!!! :)

Here are some pictures of Jenna.

Tonight I was able to feel Grommette's babies strong and hard!!! I have been able to feel them in the past couple of weeks, but not very often and when I did, they were very light kicks and movements. Tonight, the babies were kicking lots. Once, I was able to feel a ribcage and once a nose moved across the palm of my hand!!! Being able to feel babies, brings such a delight to me!!

Grommette's due date is February 17. Only 31 days! :)

With all this snow, our neighbor has had to plow our driveway a couple of times, making for a big berm (quickly getting smaller with all the rain we are having). Yesterday it wasn't raining, so all my siblings, except Jenna :), played outside. We made a tunnel in part of the berm and then worked on making a den. We didn't get it completed,and this morning the roof had caved in with everything beginning to melt :(
We had fun though, trying to make other dens and tunnels. I didn't get any pictures of us, or else I would have posted them. Maybe if it isn't to far gone tommorrow, I can get some pictures :P

Jenna came home to stay on Friday!!! We were planning on the Krouses coming down for a visit and then going up the mountain to visit them on Saturday, but Mrs. Krous sent us an email saying that she was bringing Jenna and all her things!! We were very surprised and delighted. :)

After making 8 trips on the snowmobile to bring everything down to the car, they drove here. Several boxes and bags full of Jenna's clothes made their way into the girl's room. We unloaded several beautiful dresses, sweaters, and shirts among other nessacary articles. Then we ate dinner and chatted until about 9:30 p.m. at which time Jenna went to bed.

Next morning found us all eagerly waiting to be able to get her up and play with her. The day went by delightfully with each of us learning more about how to care for a baby. It's been a long time since I had to feed, change, and care for one. Here are some pictures of that first day.....

 

 

 

On Sunday we headed up to see the Krouses and our little girl. We had to park about 2 miles from their house and complete the trip on their snowmobile! It was great fun holding on and whizzing up the hill, while getting snow in our face! We had a great day playing with Jenna, playing Pit (a card game), and eating a delicious lunch. Cherish (Jenna's Aunt) showed me her new horse, Mocha. Mocha is a very pretty white horse with brown spots. She is a very silly, people friendly horse. Then when it was time to go, Cherish, Calvin, Kayla, and I grabbed some sleds and went sliding part way down the hill that had sides of snow built up like a tobaggan run. The ground was so icy that it was hard to stop the sled! Alissa (Jenna's Aunt and Cherish's sister) was going back and forth on the snowmobile bringing people and bags down to the cars. It took about 45 minutes to bring everything down to the cars, but it sure was fun!!! :)

Here is a miraculous story that recently happened to our family. Here goes.

On the 14th of Nov. 2008, two days after I wrote the post about us no longer pursuing adoption, the Harneds, dear friends, informed Mom of a baby girl named Jenna who was being cared for by her grandparents and was up for adoption. The grandparents wanted to be grandparents rather than care for her as a parent would. So, they searched for a family that would meet their criteria. The grandparents were willing to care for the little girl if they couldn't find the family with the same goals, but they really wanted to step into a grandparent's role.

On the 18th of Nov. they came over for an afternoon visit. Our two families were amazingly like-minded.

On the 20th of Nov. they called and informed us that they would be delighted if we would pursue adopting Jenna. Of course we said that we would gladly adopt Jenna!

Both of Jenna's parents had not relinquished their rights, which meant that she was not legally free. This was a major step that needed to be accomplished in order that Jenna could be adopted.

On the 24th of Nov. we made the 1 1/2 hour drive to their house, which is beautifully located on the side of a mountain. We had a great time talking, playing instruments, and getting to know Jenna.

On the 3rd of Dec. the birthfather signed all the papers releasing Jenna for adoption!! We were excited as this meant that only one parent was left to relinquish rights.

On the 5th, the birthmother relinquished her rights by not showing up at her court
appointment! She had also chosen to not participate in Jenna's life prior to that court date. This left Jenna free to be adopted!

On the 11 of Dec. the Krouses came over for a visit and Grandma and Grandpa Fraley flew in from Utah, so we were able to get family pictures with Jenna! It was a lot of fun.