A different kind of a birth

For the past couple years, if you asked Violet what she wanted to be when she grew up, her answer has been, "A veterinarian!" She loves animals and loves learning about them and caring for them.

Papa knows this, too... and he also knows someone who raises horses for a living. And a few weeks ago, he heard some very exciting news: A mare was about to give birth! Papa gave us the contact information to these wonderful people and told them we should call and maybe, just maybe, Violet would get to see a baby horse being born!

Well, we got the call early one morning that the mama horse had indeed gone into labor overnight, and the baby was here, having arrived at about 4 am... and, although we missed the birth, maybe Violet could come by to participate in the little guy's very first checkup with the vet so she could see just how it's done! UM YEAH!!!!

This first checkup is done when the foal is 12 hours old, so at 4pm we headed down to the ranch to meet Mrs. Bonnie and some of her other prize cutting horses. One of them that Violet met was a little guy named Cookie who had been born last month...

And then we walked over to meet Mama and Brand New Baby Boy...

Violet was completely fascinated...

I loved it when the baby stuck his tongue out at us... HAHA...

And also how Mama was so protective of her little guy, staying right by his side.

Violet got to be the first kid ever to pet the baby, and she learned to make slow, gentle movements so as to not frighten him...

We couldn't believe we were there with a tiny horse only hours old!!

The veterinarian came by and brought Violet her own stethoscope to use! He said Violet had to be his assistant today, so she helped him out. Here he is checking a little hernia in the horse's belly and showing Violet how to do it...

And then it was Violet's turn....

She also had to check the baby's heartrate with the stethoscope...

And listen for the breath sounds...

The vet showed her how to check his gums and make sure they were properly pink...

And she stood back and watched as he drew blood right from the baby's neck!

Finally, it was time to check out the placenta and amniotic sac (SUPER COOL AND GROSS!).

HA. Violet thought that was pretty disgusting, but in a cool way. lol

She's probably the luckiest 8 year old ever. Hopefully next time she will get to actually watch the birth!

Where have I been?

I know it's been awhile, and I have so much to blog. However, my blogging plans this week were thwarted, because on Monday night, Rick came home with this:
That's his right ankle, taken from a friend's camera phone. (his toes are off the image to the left). Shortly before this image was taken, Rick was playing basketball at CornerStone in the gym when his right foot encountered another player and Rick went down. Hard. The swelling began almost instantly, but Rick could walk on the foot so he came home, iced it, and decided to see how it was in the morning.

The following evening, we noticed that the swelling hadn't really subsided... instead it sort of spread throughout his whole foot, and the bruising was pretty significant. I sent him to Quick Care, where he got x-rays and a diagnosis: Fibular fracture. He was referred to a specialist and sent home in an air cast and crutches.

Crutches, as anyone who has used them before can attest, are lame. So Rick wouldn't use them. He walked on his foot and drove to work the next day, and of course got a lot of sympathy from co-workers. He picked up his x-rays on CD, which I promptly put into the computer and began my Official Radiologist Diagnosis (ha! Erin), where I noticed a bone spur and the floating bone chip which was referred to in the Quick Care diagnosis. I should totally be a doctor.

Specialist visit was Thursday morning, because we agreed to go to Henderson to be seen (had we waited for an appointment at the nearby office, it would have been 3 weeks. Um. No good). I drove Rick because the nurses insisted that he should not drive with a fractured leg (whatever).

The specialist was nice and even took a few more x-rays. He said the good thing was that you can't really constitute the bone chip an actual "break"... instead it was more of a bad sprain resulting from where a ligament tore, bringing a piece of bone with it. Most likely Rick would get better even without a cast, although putting his foot in a cast for a week was a good idea to keep it immobile... especially since we still have plans to go camping next weekend!

SO Rick got a cast. He opted for no color cause he is a very, very boring person. See?

The kids decided to do something about it... so they got out a few of my colorful Sharpies...

And decorated the cast with words and pictures that will make him smile. At least I am smiling! HAHA!

Riley signed his full name on the cast, just so Rick would know exactly who it was...

And Violet enjoyed tickling his toes while Riley did it. :)

So. Anyway. That is where I have been. More blogs in the next few days, promise!

How to Catch a Leprechaun

You may remember a couple years ago when Violet Set a Leprechaun Trap... Well, this year she and her brother decided to try again!



We decided we would make a little house for the leprechaun, complete with a "For Sale" sign. We wanted to make it as authentic as possible, so I got some rocks and moss and we turned this ordinary little envelope box into a full-fledged Leprechaun House, complete with flowers in the flowerpots.



The kids learned about using a hot glue gun and how, even with the low temp gun it's still pretty darned hot. And they also learned that moss is VERY MESSY.




I just love how the little house turned out. I was so proud of the kids for their great ideas.

Riley potted the flowers. Seriously cute.

And you may be wondering how this trap works, exactly? Well, as you can see, there is no doorknob on the house. Once the leprechaun shuts the door, he's TRAPPED. It's foolproof, right?

Nope. Sigh. He escaped again... but he did leave the kids a note AND A BIG MESS all over the living room (those little sparkly clovers all over the place are the work of Mr. Leprechaun himself).

Hope you all have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day! I will be wearing my green and listening to the Once soundtrack and dreaming of Ireland....

A Note for Sage

Violet loves writing notes, especially to Baby Sage, Liane's puppy. And Liane, like Sage, is natually curious... plus she was going to have to read it to Sage anyway... so Violet let Liane open the note.
It was a cute little picture of the family, outside at night around the firepot roasting marshmallows, and little Sage is enjoying the night with everyone.
Violet is the cutest. Liane took it home and hung it up so Sage could see. :)
Awwwwww... :)

Never Trust a Weather Girl...

Sometime in high school, probably my sophomore year during photography class, a group of us were sitting around talking about the different superheroes we would be. And all the guys in this group dubbed me "WEATHER WOMAN". Not sure why... haha! But I always kind of liked that, and I thought it would be cool to be able to control the weather. Not the way Storm does cause she's pretty ridiculous and lame and dramatic. But more, you know, the way *I* would do it. Which of course would be awesome. :)

So a friend shared with me a Create Your Own Superhero site. OOO FUN! I made myself. Looks just like me, right? ;)

The flamethrower is cause I like fire.

Make your own superhero at http://cpbintegrated.com/theherofactory/ ... and let me know what you are!

Where's Your Moose??

When anyone comes over to the house (including when we come home from anywhere), we get attacked by this:

That's the nose of our hyper and ridiculous puppy, Titus. He makes me insane. We have discovered, though, if we just ask him the three little words, "Where's your moose???" He will stop attaacking us long enough to look for his toy moose...

Then he chomps down on it and shows it to us, but at least with his mouth distracted he doesn't bark or try and nip at anyone. Instead he finds a spot on the couch and shows you his favorite toy...

and all is good in his world (and ours!)...

So, since taking these photos the moose has sadly gone to moosey heaven. You can see he was already missing an antler and his arms, but now all the stuffing is gone too. He now has a cat toy that is his favorite. And the new three little words you need to say are "Where's your TOY??!" and he will run and go get it and leave you alone.

And that's the trick to getting Titus to not annoy you. The end.

Caring for Your New Bundle of Joy

Wouldn't it be great if babies came with instruction manuals? I mean, there are so many things we have to try and learn on our own... and that's no fun. If only there was something out there that really spelled it out for new moms and dads...

These are all brought to you by THIS BOOK, Safe Baby Handling Tips. I am pretty sure that everyone I know who is expecting a baby will be receiving this little gem.