Meet Lightning....

 

Meet Coal....

 

Birch had her babies on Sunday. Her udder had filled up and her ligaments had disappeared the night before. I checked on her a couple times during Saturday night and didn't get much sleep, but no babies. The next morning, she began to lose some fluids, so I expected babies shortly after. Still hours passed. I had to leave at 1:00 to see some friends, so was hoping that she would give birth before then. When it was around 12:30, I took her for a walk to the mailbox and back. Nothing much happened with that, so close to 10 minutes before we had to go, I began pretending that I was milking her. Immediatley, she began acting like she wanted to be able to lick her baby and 5 minutes later, she began pushing!! She pushed out her Coal, at 1:00 and Lightning at 1:10. They are both doing really well. Lightning wanted to nurse, but I have him on the bottle now.
Birch was doing really well, but today, she got a bad case of diarrhea. She was acting dejected this morning, but is beginning to perk up.

It has already been a over a week since Grommette had her babies! My, how time flies!
Valor is the smallest and lightest of them all.
Victor is growing rapidly and is absolutly adorable-well, actually they all are. :D
Vincent is probably around 15 lbs. now!! He has been nursing on his mother, but recently Grommette has decided that she doesn't want to have the babies around, so I am going to begin bottlefeeding him. Grommette is doing well. She has recovered from her birth quickly and easily.

I found out yesterday that Birch is actually due on the 8th of March and Stilton on the 9th. So that means that Birch is two days earlier then I thought!! I am getting very excited! :)

Birch's udder is beginning to fill up slightly. She is as big around as Grommette was, so I am thinking three big ones or I am hoping 4 smaller ones. I am hoping for the four!! :)

Stilton is about as big around as Birch was too! Her udder isn't getting bigger though yet. I am beginning to keep my eye on them though.

Here is a vidio of Jenna's 1st birthday!

From Feb 21st 2009

 

 

 

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.