One handed typing.

Not as dirty as it sounds! just makes updating one's blog slow since one only has one free hand, the other always holding a Smooshy baby.

We are doing well, Smooshy is eating (lots) pooping (lots) and sleeping (lots! yay!) I am finally feeling more normal and thinking I might be back in the saddle by next week, which would be super.

I really like the whole mommy thang, it has it's hard parts like when you reallllllllllly want to shower but can't because this little person NEEDS you so then you just smell bad until your husband (who is working six days a week) gets home. Or when the little critter is upset and you can't figure out why. But in general it is pretty cool. I figure babies are born a few months to early so basically he should still be in my belly and you treat them as such, sort of like a kangaroo.

Like a kangaroo I love my Mei Tai, I think I will love my sling too when I figure out how to use the silly thing properly. I can strap Smooshy on and go for a walk, feed horses, make dinner. Basically anything I need two hands for and he will happily sleep. We went looking for Morels yesterday and he slept damn near the whole time (I also figured out how to nurse him in it, I'm a rockstar) I think this little baby stage lasts for a very short time and that helps keep me from being too frustrated when I can't do the things I want.

Joe has decided Poppy must go now, our pasture is getting really munched down and he is really worried about feeding hay all summer. They are on the back part and have grazed it down to nothing. We have about three acres fenced off for them but the grass quality varies a lot depending on what part of the old farm it was, it would be much better with two instead of three. So this week she needs her coggins done, feet trimmed and to be cleaned up. I'll get some decent pictures and put her back into work and up for sale. She was an upgrade so I don't care if I get much for her, would just like to see her taken care of. I picked up her up super cheap and improved her training (although she is still quite green) so hopefully we can get her into a better place then she would have been otherwise.

Joy needs a lot of conditioning but she looks good, I'm really excited to start riding again. Planning on starting off with some light trail rides and lunging (likely with the chambon to get her neck properly muscled before we start our dressage work, silly giraffe horse) I need a lot of core conditioning so am starting now with daily walks with baby, pilates and yoga when I can fit it in. Hopefully riding soon and start running around the six week pp mark (end of the month) I didn't gain much weight with baby but all my muscles are squishy. I'm planning on taking Joy out and about for experience, getting in some much needed lessons and aiming for a later summer show. I also want to get her properly fitted for saddles, since I am sick of everything sliding forward on her and trying to figure what will work on my own, hopefully can get something I already own reflocked.


anyway that is us :)
xo

Amazing forever preggo

Yesterday was very exciting. No, I didn't have the Baby.

Melissa came over and we had tea and interesting conversation, that was nice. I had to go to Ann Arbor for my baby testing, they wanted to make sure (since I am at 41 weeks) that I didn't have a zombie baby or something, but as Melissa pointed out we did just fix the shed up so if it were a zombie baby we would have a place to keep it. (yes, I am aware there is something wrong with us) (like in "Shawn of the Dead")

So I drove to AA, and missed my exit.

Then I got lost :(

But I eventually found the hospital! :)

I apologized for being (only somewhat) late, went pee (that happens a lot) then got hooked up to beepy machine that measured baby heart beat, wiggles and any contractions I had. Then the nice nurse gave me some water and a big stack of magazines and I got to wait the forever (over half an hour!) while Baby did his thing and the computer recorded it. The nurse also did ultrasound on my tummy to measure fluid levels and everything looks good. I had the midwife check me and my cervix is 1 cm dilated! which means my cervix is amazing and I won't be pregnant forever. So happy I was able to work with the midwives instead of the traditional ob route, My midwife won't pressure me to induce, even if I go over 42 weeks (unlikely) and I can basically stay pregnant as long as Baby takes, barring any weird complications. Which is a huge relief because getting induced really freaks me out. It seems like all the horrible birth stories everyone suddenly wants to tell me about (what is wrong with people?) start out with induction followed by a million hours of horrible labor.

Anyway, after the appointment I wanted to go to the Co-op, so I took a wrong turn and ended up on the wrong side of AA, during busy traffic time and it took forever. Got slightly lost but managed not to hit/get hit by any pedestrians or people badly parallel parking. Made it to the Co-op and got tasty noms, got some Thai food because baby and I were starving! Stopped by town on the way home for library and grocery store purposes, which was a mistake in hindsight since I was tired and in a very self indulgent mood, so of course I needed to buy popsicles and gluten free waffles, but wait we are out of maple syrup so I have to buy that and organic is only a dollar more, I like jelly beans.

Eventually I made it home and had a little sleep.

Today isn't nearly as exciting, just relaxing, getting a few chores done and defurring ponehs. Several times a day I get frustrated that I can't ride but after getting the go ahead to be pregnant forever I am much more optimistic that Baby will come out when he is ready. Being hugely pregnant is uncomfortable but not having any demands on you is also pretty cool. I am taking everyone's advice to sleep and relaxing a lot. Ponehs don't mind as long as they get cookies and brushing.

spring, baby time, feeding ponehs and parasites.

The last few weeks of pregnancy are the hardest. I am so ready to have this baby.

I'm officially at 38 weeks and we are on baby time, makes it hard to plan things.
Tax lady: how is Monday the 19th for you?
Me: should be okay, unless I am in labor, because then I would be busy
Tax Lady : oooookay would Tuesday be better?
Me: maybe? But if I don't show it's because of the Baby, cause I am going to be tooooo busy to remember to call you.

It was pretty easy to be well behaved when the weather was crap, like yeah I really want to slog around outside in the freezing rain and mud, wahoo!. Well, spring has sprung. It is in the mid 70s with a light breeze, the flowers are coming out and I want to ride so very badly.

My dragon baby is very wiggly, I am still enjoying having him in my belly but at the same time I feel like we are both getting impatient. I'm trying to do all the things now that I won't be able to do later, like take long baths, read books and waste time online.

You can vote here on when baby is born, Joe is convinced it will be the 21st, I really don't know.

Otherwise not much going on that other people would be interested in. I had horrible stomach flu last Friday and a 9 month (!) pregnant, puking woman is the saddest thing ever. Jeep tried to break and I had to take it in to the shop to get Ujoints replaced, glad Joe is much more sensitive to weird car noise then I am, I tend to just turn the music louder which isn't the best plan. We went yesterday to visit friends (they fed me steak, delish!) and skyped with other friends and family :) It was fun to show off my belly to my parents, and really great to see them although I find Skype a little weird.

Critters are good, although maybe more clingy then normal. Sadie is always watching me. Probably because I am always eating.

Another thing that interests probably only me is figuring out this feeding thing. Ponehs have pretty much free choice grass hay, meaning I am their hay slave and bring them more about the time they run out of the previous feeding. Joy looks good (although hairy, muddy and disgusting) Poppy is slightly ribby and Little Horse is skinny again. Picked up more Triple Crown senior, since it is simplest to have all three eating the same grain, TC SR. doesn't make Joy a spooky mess, it is palatable, easily digestible and fairly high calorie. Only issue is it takes Joy a minute to snarfle her smaller amount of food, Poppy takes a normal amount of time and Little Horse is the slowest eater ever. So I separate them and fuss. I have Little up to three pounds of TC SR and oats and this happens daily.

Little Horse: nomnom, what's that? oh it's the dog,  nibble nibble, oh what's over there? hmmmm, nibble nibble
Me: Just eat your damn food!
Little Horse: but you put oil in it and now it has a funny texture
Me: just eat your damn food!
Little Horse: I don't really like it when there is more then one pound of oats per two pound of TC
Me: just eat it!
Little Horse: I think I will stand over here instead, eventually you will let Joy back in and then we can share it.

This is with food she likes, food she doesn't like she paws at and when it doesn't magically turn into something tastier she will dump it all over the ground.

I had fecals done on Joy and Little in preparation for spring dewoming (they got hit last with Equimax in December) Joy had a very low count and Little had an enormous count, more then four times higher then Joy's! I feel awful because I had gotten Little's numbers down and then figured we were good to go with a more normal deworming schedule. I think because she had such an awful parasite problem when she was a foal (I am seriously doubting if her dam was ever dewormed) that her gut doesn't work properly in getting rid of them, I know young horses often have a harder time with parasites but she is different. So the new plan is hitting her with dewormer every other month and looking into treating her for ulcers this summer, I just don't think her tummy works right.

Silly high maintenance beasties. Mine are pretty easy to keep though still, I think my mom is right and horse people just like to fuss.

Where we go from here.

I guess I have things more figured out then I think I do. I had a nice conversation yesterday with someone I met several months ago, just a genuinely nice person and she was really positive and encouraging with how my summer is shaping up. This made me realize several things, mostly I don't want to work somewhere else, I want to work horses. I have a perfect opportunity to give it a go here and I am wasting it because I am afraid.

I have decided on a regime to get both Joy and I more fit. For me I am going to either run or do Pilates everyday, even if I don't wanna, I'm hoping to have less soreness issues if I keep working the muscles. Joy is going to have a week that looks like
Lunging session  2x
Trail ride x 2
dressage/ring work x 2

Of course that doesn't mean I won't do my usual warm up trail ride thing or do a little ground work on the dressage days, this is just a goal for staying focused on what she needs to get fit. I am loving the idea of working on lunging and in hand work, makes so much sense to work on balance from the ground, especially since I primarily ride by myself and that way I can really see everything.

In other news Baby Horse had her first bath yesterday, I hoped it would help her shed better, it started off as a fiasco but we ended on a good note and I feel confident I can get her more excepting of baths in the future. I ended up tying her to the big wooden pole in the yard and she jumped around a lot, I kept calm and was slow and deliberate in my movement and watched her reactions. By the end though I could spray both sides without her moving (once she figured out I would give her a treat if she stood nicely, greedy girl) so that was a win. After I turned her out in the field afterwards she seemed highly offended she was wet and ran around like mad. Very funny!

Joy was more interested in grass then silly antics.

Silly baby

Micro Buns are doing great, got 7-9 ml of goat's milk into each one this morning, the little white one is so comical, he saw me and started squeaking to be fed! I have never heard a bunny make that noise before it was so funny. He also gets really into nursing and will bounce up and down until he gets plugged in. Four out of six are good nursers, the other two have to be coerced into it. I have also seen them eating hay so that is a good sign as well. I'll try and get Joe to take some pictures of me feeding doing the evening feed, they are getting faster to feed and it only takes 45 minutes instead of over an hour.

It has been rainy here, or super windy so I haven't ridden in a bit. Planning on heading out this afternoon but I think we are in a sucker hole since it stopped raining but there are grey menacing clouds everywhere. Likely just go bareback so I don't get my tack drenched.

Since Joy got a bellyache off the fresh grass I have been limiting her exposure to it, I would hate to see some founder. So they get half an hour on the good stuff right now and we will build it up later. Sunday was the first time she ever colicked and it was very stressful, She got left on the fresh pasture to long on Saturday when Rosie died.

I applied to a riding camp instructor position, still haven't heard back which is a bummer, I would enjoy that.

The 17th is coming up awful fast.

We just got back from a nice but brief trip in the UP, it was fun and great to see my family. Returned to greener grass and six unexpected baby bunnies, Unexpected because I didn't think she held to the first mating, apparently Rosie is Super Fertile Bunny. They were born in the communal female hutch but I decided to move them inside because I didn't want someone else to step on them and one of the other girls peed in the nest, ew. So far she is settled in well and seems to be nursing, big danger is she will abandon them if she feels threatened. So far every time I walk by she is looking for more treats and babies appear to have full tummies so that is excellent.

I am really getting excited about the eventing clinic, at the same time I am nervous about how we will do but at this point I have to trust she knows her job and work on any weak points. In a perfect world we both would be more fit, her connection with the bit would be stronger and my flexibility would be greater but it is not a perfect world and I am ok with that. I still plan on doing a little more schooling but at the last minute is is stupid to over school and play catch up.

My mom had a great suggestion about work, I like training and love working with young horses. She thought I should look into learning acupuncture. I have always had an interest in alternative therapy's for horses, I believe strongly in doing what is best for the animal whether it is finding a drug that works, or holistic treatment but I don't like the "quick fix" approach and unfortunately it seems that many vets (and doctors) will prescribe a drug rather then finding out the cause, changing feed or using some type of bodywork. I would love to add in another tool to help horses be fit and happy. Might look into a vet tech program as well.

Today I have lots to do from being gone for a couple days, house needs some tidying, horses need brushing, Joy needs riding and bunny cage needs fixing. I also need to call animal control and talk to them. We had the neighbors call on our dogs because they felt their chickens were in danger, I am really upset over it since our dogs don't go out unsupervised and Emma was just running over to their fence and barking because their dog is always, always outside. Sadie is not at all aggressive toward poultry and she has been living her with us for over a year. I am really upset they didn't talk to us about it first before calling animal control. Anyway I have to get the dogs registered with the county and they have to have their Rabies shots done by a professional vet. Emma is just old enough for hers and I did Sadie's last year myself, I am disappointed the rescue didn't mention anything about getting the dogs registered, I thought you only had to do that in town and not in the country. J's family has lived here for decades and never had any dogs registered. I really dislike making those types of phone calls too, but she gave us ten days to get it sorted out and it will be done in eleven so I guess it is not going to be an argument, I just need to have a positive attitude.


Rosie says "stop looking at my babies"

The don't look like much now but will soon take over the world with their cuteness.

Things are getting interesting! If all goes well (and according to plan) Joy and I will be attending a Eventing Clinic on April 17th, I am alternately elated and freaked out. I'm also really wishing I had a instructor or coach to help me fill out the forms, I am stuck on the question "Horses Experience" I mean in general riding we have a really solid walk-trot and canter, working on submission to the bit (collection) and balance. We can put down a solid Training Level Dressage test. In the jumping in the woods over fallen trees and brush category I give us an A+. In trail riding we are really really great, and generally galloping in fields goes well. But I have never Evented and I am worried if I put down none for experience we will be stuck with the walk trot over poles ponies.

I have a vet coming out tomorrow to pull blood for the Coggins, I didn't plan on going to anything so soon in the spring so luckily found someone who can come out so soon since we will be spending four days in the UP leaving on Wednesday. Baby is eating her noms, so we won't have to eat her, she is gaining weight, I would still like to see more on her. I need to pull another fecal on her, so annoying having to worry about parasites. I guess I got spoiled with Joy being healthy but she has always gotten good care so it is not like it was an accident.

I rode Joy this evening, in the big back field. She was all go, but got some really nice canter transitions. She was impatient and is getting pully on the bit. Like wanting to stretch down into my hands, I have to work on not throwing her away but remaining consistent in my contact. Also have to keep my position consistent since she is a big tattletale, when I am balanced and soft so is she. She also makes this chomping at the bit that sounds like fap fap fap, which is hilarious.

hmmm bed time...

Since today I seem to be really accomplished at drinking coffee and reading blogs. I thought I would update my blog! amazing. Spring has sprung here (yay) cold night but no snow (yay) and the daytime temps are up, horses are now in the back part of the pasture so I can clean up Joy's amazing poop mountain and continue dejunking (part of horse paddock was in a previous life where the farm stuff went to die, so stuff like tyres occasionally surface) The pleasures of having horses at home, I also need more hay, grow! stupid grass grow.

Ponehs are shedding like mad, especially the baby, Joy has been shedding for like a month. Joy is looking good but baby is a little thinner then I like and has really dry skin so she is going to be getting some Glanzen Complete , I am thinking because she had such a big parasite load in the beginning that she can really benefit from the extra vitamins and minerals. Dani is also going to be getting some new feed since she is a picky beast and dislikes the Dumor Mare and Foal (it was on sale at work) I am trying her on Triple Crown Growth next I think. Joy is certain Dani's baby food is the tastiest thing ever and I have caught her laying down and stretching under the fence in order to steal some, Joy doesn't realize that sweet feed is like rocket fuel and I don't enjoy a bitchy mare who. spooks. at. absolutely. everything.

Took Joy out for a trail ride Saturday, she was good although I was less then amused by my human companions... I rode her bareback day before yesterday and after a little complaining she accepted contact and carried herself nicely, there might be some hope!

My dear, long suffering and understanding husband wants to put plants in my field, this is an issue. But he is going to build me proper jumps, wheeeeeeeeeeee........... so all is forgiven.

J: you can plant flowers here

Me: that would be nice

J: We used to have a garden there, on that flat spot, nice fertile soil.

Me: you mean my arena?

J: yeah.

Me: noooooooo, mine, my arena, mine.

J: we could just peel the fence back a bit and you would still have that part

Me: you mean the hilly part and the wood pile?

J: yeah

Me: no fucking way, mine mine mine mine

So instead maybe I will plant a garden next the fence, where Joy will reach under the fence like a ninja and eat everything.

Now I am going to get dressed, pretend to be an adult and get some shit done. Like brush the horses for the millionth time, and apparently have horse hair for lunch because the stuff is insidious.

I went to take pictures of Ninja Joy for hilarity purposes, to my disappointment she stood there and ate her alfalfa cubes sedately like a good girl instead of being a Sweet Feed Ninja. Bitch.