snowsnowsnow

It is such a good thing I am preggo in the winter, I think if it were summer (or even a normal winter) I would be very frustrated with things I want to do but shouldn't.

I really miss riding, I don't want to ride because it is uncomfortable and I feel all discombobulated but I miss being able to ride. I am hoping we get an early spring, the plan is to start lunging Joy and building up her topline while I bond with Baby and adjust to new mamaness, then I want to start getting her on trailrides especially the hill work as that is so amazing for increasing fitness and getting her hind end strong. Joy really responds better to training when she is physically fit, I guess all horses do but with her low frustration tolerance it really pays off to have her body strong while we are working on new things, especially dressage.

So right now Joy is at a good weight, Baby Horse is a little ribby (just had a growth spurt) and Poppy is annoying me with her disinterest in eating a lot. If I just had one I could put more hay out but I am going to have to add in an extra midday hard feed, otherwise Joy will get fabulously pudgy and Poppy will waste away while going "maybe I'll eat in a minute", so going to pull Joy out of the paddock and toss her some hay or something while the others get a tasty mix of alfalfa pellets, oats, rice bran and a little beet pulp so it sticks together. I am also giving up on them ever eating the Grostrong Minerals, and will order another vitamin/mineral supplement soon. I am thinking of putting Joy on Glanzen Complete since she did well on it last summer but if I can find flax seed cheap somewhere I might do that with a vitamin/mineral supplement instead as it is more economical.

I realized yesterday we had very little baby clothes in the teensy sizes, so then I went to a second hand shop and got some really cute stuff. It was fun, but took some time since a lot of baby clothes are really horrible, I wonder why parents are so freaked out by someone thinking their kid is the opposite sex, like the baby cares.

Going to spend some time on house stuff, been slacking recently. I will have plenty of time to take a bath tonight since Friday is the day when horrible teenage boys come over and argue loudly while playing poker, hiding in the bath is my usual defense and it works very well.

goals and the upcoming year

Since it is January and I don't feel like folding clothes I thought I would post about goals. I am not the type of person who likes making New Year resolutions, I think if you are going to make a change it needs to come from within and be attainable, so I guess a resolution like "I am going to my body healthier" is more my style then the infamous "I am going to lose ten pounds" type resolution.

Looking back at this post I did in the summer (before I knew I was pregnant) I think my goals were pretty reasonable, taking lessons, trying to get to another show and improving my fitness and Joy's dressage. Of course shortly after that post I found out I was preggers, we had some financial restraints and our infamous "move in while looking for a house and stay for fucking ever" house guests happened. In short life happened and while I am not disappointed in myself I do wish finances were not an issue, I still rode and worked on Joy's fitness and training and feel we got a lot accomplished even if it wasn't quite how I pictured it.

So basically my goals for 2012
-I want the remainder of my pregnancy and labor to be uneventful
-I want to have a healthy and happy baby
-Get myself and Joy fit
-improve Baby horse's ground manners (not human Baby that would be silly)
-get Poppy started under saddle and make preparations to sell her
-improve Joy's dressage (biggies are balance and relaxation)
-Have some lessons to get experience and feedback on our training
-Make it to at least two horse trials
-continue improving pasture and fencing (love my husband)
-set up better arena space (see above)
-have fun!

On a poneh health front everyone is doing great, weight is good for all three. The weather has been freakish and we are back to mud mud mud so I haven't taken any recent pictures. I can't get them to touch the GroStrong minerals that I was trying to feed free choice, so have been mixing the appropriate amount in with the morning feed of beet pulp and rice bran. I don't think I will buy them again since the primary component is salt (which they already get free choice, they especially enjoy the Himalayan rock salt) and they have no interest in eating the stuff free choice and if they won't touch it then it defeats the purpose of offering it. Planning on putting Joy on some Glanzen Complete since she did well on it last year and looking into joint supplements, at least will try some msm.

On the Me health front Baby and I are doing good, still having a surprising amount of sleepiness, I feel kinda lame because I get so tired, I feel like all I do is eat and sleep right now. I think giving myself permission to be tired helped, I don't feel as guilty for "not getting as much done" and I am doing something, I'm growing a person! I found making a big list of the things that have to be done and doing one thing off the list everyday helps, makes me feel more accomplished and less overwhelmed.

I'm also doing a lot of research on hospital births and procedures although I am going with the nurse midwives at a birth center it is different then doing it at home and I want to be educated. My midwife says everything looks great and is really supportive which is so nice since I had to take a "parent education class" through the health center and it was all "of course you want an epidural, they are totally wonderful and safe!" Out of the 15 women there only three of us were going with midwives, I guess I didn't realize how pervasive the modern birth attitudes are, I really don't believe giving birth should be like an illness or trauma that has to be interfered with. I have time but I think it is best to figure out what I want now.

baby needs tasty noms and so do ponehs so I better go feed myself and critters :)

I need a nap.

Joy says "hello?"

sideways but you can tell there is cuteness

One of the best things about being preggers is I don't feel lazy for staying in jammies all day since jammie pants are the one thing that is really comfy on my tum. Getting dressed does have it's advantages though since it makes it easier to  pretend I am not lazy and have done more then sleep in, eat breakfast, drink tea with a friend, feed ponehs and eat some pretzels. But I haven't so why pretend? I'm not lazy, I'm growing a person.

Got woken up at 7am by the hay guy who needed to get into the fields he is renting to spread some manure, apparently told Joe he would be out there but who knows. I am not my best after being woken up by someone banging on the door like the barn was on fire, but managed to not be a total  bitch (maybe?). He has some convoluted idea on rigging the pasture gate from two strands of electric with gate handles to something involving moving a fiberglass post to open up the whole line, I don't think he understands I need to divide pasture in half and be able to contain them in the whole thing so can't have just one gate. Still not quite sure why he can't open a gate handle attached to some electric wire but apparently it is a big fuckin deal. I told him Joe would help me this weekend to work something out since Joe is sensible.

Went to the doctors today, everything looks good, never thought I would be such a fan of "normal" but I love hearing that everything is where it is supposed to be.  Then I had to stop at the store since baby needs both ice cream and cookies. I feel huge but everyone keeps saying my bump is cute and tiny, to be truthful I am mostly worried about how fast I can get in shape for riding post baby, don't want to miss all the fun next summer.


Trying to figure out horse supplements stuff,  I'm going to try the free choice mineral thing and going to try the Grostrong minerals , I called a local(ish) feed store and for whatever reason they only had 50# bags and the price was double what is was from the manufacturer including shipping. Since I decided not to go with conventional grain and stick with beet pulp and rice bran, because the only one who does well on grain is Poppy and I don't like having to separate the three every feeding time, I am just not set up for it plus I like forage based feeding. I'll have to see if they eat the minerals free choice.

We are heading north next week to visit family, sooo excited! it does mean I have some work to do here this week though, to prepare. Being gone for a couple days doesn't seem like a big deal until you have critters, then you have to do a lot more planning.