This is the one who had a change of heart. Amazing!





I have a few updates. The ewe that was going to explode, she only had twins. For real! I was shocked there weren't five lambs in there. She started laboring early Friday morning. I was able to take pictures, until we had to ASSIST! I knew this was going to happen! My pics are pretty graphic, more for my observations than for public consumption, so I will spare you those. JP came home from work, and after watching this poor sheep struggle for TOO LONG we had to pull the lamb out. Very quickly after that another slipped out. Unfortunately, mama sheep was not interested in her babies at all. She wouldn't clean them off, or even look at them. This started our stressful weekend. We were not going to let her get away with this, if only for the fact that I did not want to be bottle-feeding two babies around the clock for weeks. What we did was this: One of us would hold onto mama around the neck, and the other would gather babies and help them nurse. The first day mama wanted to struggle and we would have to chase her around the barn to catch her, but she finally knew that when we came in, DARN IT, she was going to have to let these annoying babies nurse. On Sunday JP went out to check on them and couldn't believe it - she was standing there letting them nurse BY HERSELF. Shocking, really. So there you have it. Now they are all out in the pasture, and it is a distant (for mama, at least) memory.

I took some self-portraits of myself with a lamb. Sans makeup, grey hair and all. That is how much I love everyone and want them to see lamby up-close. It has rained on and off since last night, and thankfully cooled off. So I took some pics of the farm today. I love days like this. I have nothing against the sun. I usually feel more cheerful when it is sunny. But I loooove a rainy, cool, grey day.

Newest Babies

Here are the newest members of our farm. #1 and #2. I was quite surprised, as I didn't expect them until next week. I come to find out that JP had calculated it wrong, and they are indeed due this week. I'm keeping close watch on my other two ewes, especially the one who looks like she is going to explode. I wish I could get better pictures, but I worry about invading "Mama's" space. She doesn't seem to mind that I am in the barn, and I have held the lambs a couple times. Their skin has tight little woolly curls and their heads are very soft. But the worries! I remember worrying like this when I had my babies. Are they getting enough milk?? Are they sleeping too much? Am I cut out for this? I didn't have to assist at all in this birth. They just magically appeared, all dry and cute. I'm not so sure about the other two. If I have to pull out a lamb I'm afraid I'll pass out. Stay tuned!

My Mother

This was taken on Mother's Day 2009. Isn't she beautiful? I always thought I had the prettiest Mommy, and I still do. We had the best weekend. Mom, Paula and myself. And then JP brought the girls over for lunch, and then I was able to spend ANOTHER night! Bliss!