Cookie's Cria

Fawndew's cria

The twins

Ok, I've been meaning to post pictures of our two cria who look so much alike, they could almost be twins. It is most interesting.................the only common relative they have is a grandmother, as Ghost is both Fawndew's mom & Cookie's mom.............their father's are not related at all.

I'm going to post a couple of pictures. We are of course in need of some sort of names........Mutt & Jeff? Twiddle de dee & Twiddle de dum..............on & on my thoughts go..........trying to get something good in the way of names. So I guess we are open to names for the guys. Both are boys.

Fawndew's cria is lighter in color than Cookie's cria. They both have a little brown around the mouth area. If they were the same color it would be hard to tell them apart.

Fawndew on Saturday

It is really hard figuring out how much to supplement and how to keep milk coming in from Mom. For us it is impossible to spend time milking mom just because of everything else going on this week. Thursday baby lost weight again AND of course I had my appt. in Colorado Springs. But Fawndew was better, so you want baby to nurse more & increase milk production. He did get supplemented 4 times Thursday, and Friday gained weight. Friday we supplemented 3 times and this morning baby had gained over a pound. Mom still has milk & he is still nursing. Mom's bag feels pretty normal now. So we'll see, maybe supplement twice today, or three time smaller amounts.....................................I think perhaps we are on more of an uphill trend here.

Me update

I saw the specialist today in Colorado Springs. He agrees as far as the basics of the surgery & what all needs to be removed. He has a special robotic arm that he has been using for vaginal hysterectomies. He can actually see better than doing things abdominally. Plus it is easier on the patient. There are some things he needs to check out but feels I would be a good candidate for this type of surgery.

The office will call within the next 4 days to set up the surgery. Surgery should be in Denver within the next 2 - 3 weeks. Biopsy results should be back 2 days after the surgery.

Fawndew on Tuesday

She seems better. Baby is still trying to nurse, so that is good. PLUS he is up beyond his birth weight finally (it's hard when the poor cria's parents are such DUH parents!!! ---- Pastor Bruce I still love that sermon)......................

Anyway things are moving along. I was told this poor baby needs a name despirately & that is probably true. But he has a "friend" born a week after he was born that looks almost exactly like him, only darker fiber --- markings are almost exactly alike.................hopefully soon I'll be able to post pictures of both & open things up for suggestions for names.....................

Poor Fawndew & baby

It has taken us a day or two to figure things out, mostly since our animals are in the field most of the time................so to trap them to check something out takes some work.

We knew Fawndew's cria hadn't been gaining weight like he should have. Yesterday we managed to check things out. Fawndew has a mastitis in a portion of her bag, so far I think just 1 teat. We massaged & did some hot packs but today we have started antibiotics & pain relievers (although it doesn't seem to be sore & she doesn't act sick). But we are hoping this will work & open her milk supply so that we do not have to totally feed the cria. Don't need that on top of everything else.

We are just supplementing now & the baby is still attempting to nurse as much as he can. So we'll see how it goes. I guess Fawndew can use some prayers now too!!

Cancer

I had breast cancer, diagnosed in 2002 at Thanksgiving time, then a lumpectomy in Jan., 2003. This was followed by radiation. Then 5 years of Tamoxifen. I finished my Tamoxifen May 23, 2008 & was extremely happy to be done with it and be cancer free.

One of the potential side effects of Tamoxifen is endometrial cancer (uterine cancer), which happens rarely..........but is a possibility. I was aware of this possibility when I took it, but compared the pluses with the minuses.............and decided that taking it was a better option.

Until now.

I have just been diagnosed with endometrial cancer. I will be seeing a specialist this week & will follow that with major surgery sometime in September (hopefully no further out than Sept.). The surgery will be in Denver.

So I ask for your prayers during this time. I'll keep you updated here and continue to update the farm information also!!

Olympics

Well, Funmi did not do as well Friday as she had hoped (& we had hoped either). She did not place in the Olympics. But as far as I'm concerned it's amazing to even be in the final group of athletes to attempt to place in any category. So that in and of itself is an accomplishment.

Second picture

The picture on the right shows "Joy" sniffing & getting to know the new guy. She was very excited & had to rub her neck on his neck & do a lot of sniffing. Everyone else also came over to check him out.

Cookie's cria

Finally, last cria of the year

Here is our last cria born this morning about 11:35, another little boy. Dennis & I had taken my Mom to a Drs. appt. in Alamosa. I ask Willie to keep an eye on Cookie (who was due July 20th) as I was suspicious. I called twice & everything was quiet. Suddenly while shopping in Walmart, about 11:15 Willie called on his cell & said, "help". We verbally went through everything that should be coming out (one nose & two long feet) & all was present & accounted for. So Willie stood watch until Cookie delivered. Then he cleaned the little guy off. We arrived about 8 minutes later to check him out. He is a cute guy & looks a lot like Fawndew's boy. Both have white faces back to their ears. Pictures coming next.

Tuesday & sunshine

Wow, the weekend was something else. Rain, hail, clouds..............cool weather.

So far everyone is doing well. We are still impatiently waiting on Cookie to deliver. I think she is getting closer (ha ha, of course she is getting closer).

So in the meantime I'll talk about Jim's Olympic girl Funmi. She jumped last night, but of course the TV did not show any of the long jumps. So I followed as best I could on line on the Olympic site. They updated the jump site with the length of jumps about every 5 - 10 seconds. All the girls got 3 jumps and they could qualify either by jumping 6.75 m or being in the top 12. Funmi managed to jump 6.61 m on her 3rd jump. She tied with 3 other girls, so basically tied for 8th AND made it to the finals.

http://www.funmijimoh.com/

She will run again at 5:20 AM Colorado (Mountain daylight) time Friday morning. SO I would hope that this would appear on the Denver news stations when they start coverage at 10 am. Of course I'm going to be gone Friday morning taking Mom to a Dr. appt..........so I'll check on line. But maybe some of you will finally see her on TV.

Fall

It is a cool rainy day today............I can feel winter coming. We are still awaiting the birth of our last cria. I brought wood in for the stove in case it continues to rain & stay cool today............it's like 53 F outside right now. This is when I long for the southern CA fall weather : ).

Cria # 5 info

This little one weighed in at 17 pounds 9 oz. He's only 45 minutes old & up trying to nurse right now!!

Now we are just waiting on the one that was due July 20th!!

Cria # 5

Cria # 5

Well, surprise, surprise, Fawndew wasn't acting right this morning. Sure enough she was in labor. She was due either Aug. 4th or perhaps Aug. 29th...........so I guess Aug. 13 is right in the middle & must be perfect. A pretty little boy, brown with a white spot. Looks a lot like Sadie's boy. One leg back, so intervention needed............................She is/was a maiden, so we'll see how she does.

Pictures to follow.

The daily weights

No, not on me. I only check once a week, even though I'm on a diet right now.

But we need morning weights on our little new one for a couple of days at least. Now I have to explain about Sadie...............she is a true, well you know, someone you would prefer to not be around.

When she had her stillborn 3 years ago, one leg was back & Dennis had to go in & pull it out. The baby had been dead 2-3 days, so that was not the problem. Anyway I had Dennis put the baby back in the field (we did try & resuscitate until we realized how long she had been dead). Anyway back in the field for Mom to realize baby was dead. Then bury the baby.

Ok about 2 hours later Dennis is pulling weeds in the field. Sadie comes up behind him & sniffs him big time twice. Then she spits very big time twice!! Dennis came in green & not happy. But it was understandable. Sadie has always been a little wild & has an attitude.

When we realized she was in trouble yesterday & Dennis tried to catch her to get her down so he could help we once again got spit on, both of us. Then everything was ok, baby out, mom ok. Dennis went out to get the placenta.............she spit big time trying to protect the placenta.

I never did get close enough to see if the cria was nursing good or not last night because I knew I would never get close enough, she would move or spit. Sadie has been a wonderful mother. Baby has nursed & nursed & nursed -------------but we had to check the weight this morning.

So we went out together, Sadie was not happy, the closer we got the LOUDER her humming became. But we caught the little one, Mom did spit, but I never did find anything wet on me!! Baby didn't lose any weight and may never be weighed again except on the big scale!!!!

The new baby info

Well, I haven't figured out how to post pictures below each other, so the writing was all messed up that I put in with the pictures.

This is our latest born today at 12:40 pm with some help from Dennis. Sadie (the mom) had a stillborn with her first birth 3 yrs. ago. So everyone is happy with a live good looking boy!!

Weighed in at 19 pounds 14 oz. Up & running in about an hour.

It's a BOY!!

Sunday

Another week has gone by & no new cria. Cookie is now 3 weeks overdue...........which makes us wonder about the ultrasound. Sadie is the unknown as we didn't take her for an ultrasound. Fawndew probably isn't due for another 2-3 weeks.

But in the meantime Dennis' rabbit is due on Tuesday..........we'll see how this one goes & hopefully will have baby angora bunnies.

It has been raining most every evening or night time. Makes it nice except for the hay that Dennis has down, luckily not a whole lot is down now.

Thursday

We are still awaiting the arrival of our next cria..........very tired of waiting on Cookie, who is now about 19 days late. Yesterday the owner of "Independence Day", (the male alpaca who is the father of our blue eyed white & our last cria), Nikki drove down from Westcliffe with her mother to see the cria. It was a lot of fun showing Janet & Nikki around the farm and especially showing them the cria. We are thinking that perhaps our last cria born may turn out to be a rose grey instead of brown..........we'll see given some time how her coat changes.

It is now pouring rain which we have needed all summer, although Dennis has a little bit of hay down, so that isn't good.

Olympics

As many of you know, my brother, Jim is the girls track coach at Rice University in Houston. He has been coaching a young lady who graduated (I believe) a year ago from Rice. She made it into the Olympics doing the long jump. If anyone would like to follow her blog, here is a link.

http://www.funmijimoh.com/

Jim will be going probably sometime this week or early next week. (He & Vicki have just returned from their honeymoon in Switzerland).

Monday

Well, no more new cria yet.............still waiting.

We also have angora rabbits. We are anticipating baby rabbits on the 12th. I'll try and find some pictures of the rabbits we have now & post them sometime soon.

Of course I forgot to mention Malen & Jamie our pembroke welsh corgis. They are busy girls all the time it seems. A month or so ago they both tried to handle a baby skunk. It didn't work real well for them!!!

Hopefully we will have more cria soon.

Sunday

Another beautiful day. Our low's have been running in the mid to low 40's with our high's in the 80's ------- beautiful weather. BUT no new cria. We have one overdue by 2 weeks now. One overdue by only 2 days and one that we are not sure when she is due. She is either due now or due in about 3 1/2 weeks. That's what happens when no one can do an ultrasound to check on pregnancy & you rely on behavior especially on a maiden.

I've been running home between Sunday School & Church on Sunday's just to check. Two weeks ago Ghost (the white mom with the black cria) delivered during Sunday School. BUT she acted like she was in labor, so I was pretty sure what we would find. She delivered during Sunday School 3 years ago also. Have a great day in our Lord.

The last 24 + hours have been very busy. Our new girl wasn't sucking real well & had lost a fair amount of weight. We finally supplemented her. She had a good suck. I weighed her last night & she hadn't lost any weight. This morning she had gained close to a pound ----- so during the night she figured things out!!