Chicks, Haircuts, and Diaper Changes gone wrong...

What does every farm need?  Chickens!  This is our second round of trying chickens. 

We tried last year, but then the chicks got sick with coccidosis and 15 of the 17 died, even though we started medicine immediately.  Then our lovely dog finished off the remaining two for us. Ughhh... 

We bought 22 chicks, 16 are Red Sex Link pullets (females) for laying eggs.

6 are Cornish Cross Broilers for meat.

We have a plan to become self sufficient and part of that is having animals for eggs and meat.  The egg layers should be producing eggs in about 6 months.  I had the crazy idea that it would take 6 months for the meat chickens to be mature enough to eat.  I thought I had time to prepare myself for learning how to kill and clean chickens...well...apparently the breed that we bought matures in 8 weeks.  That's just two months....Yikes....

We will have chicken for dinner....if we can keep them safe from the cats.  

Peter is just our little male model, hanging out on the rocking chair from Grandma King.

Don't worry, we didn't let him slip...

Thanks to Youtube University, I have become a cosmetologist (aka I can cut hair)! 

Here is the crazy hair before picture:

 Here is the handsome after picture:

I think his crazy before picture was pretty handsome though too :)

I got a phone call today while I was changing Peter's diaper. I was right in the middle of it, I left Peter completely uncovered and ran to get the phone. I ran right back to him, but it was too late....There was a little fountain that watered everything....so Peter ended up with a bath in the middle of the day :)

Rolling Over and the Nose Game

Peter only likes to sleep when being held. If you hold him, he will sleep for hours...If you put him down, he will wake up immediately.  At this very moment I am holding the little man. I tried putting him down and immediately he started screaming.  I pick him up, and immediately he is asleep and quiet again. 

We are having a quiet game night- just the three of us.  

Tummy Time. Aka- Peter's most dreaded time all day long. He hates tummy time. He screams when he is on his tummy. He hates being put down, so it is probably a combo of why he hates TT. I had put him on his tummy and Dad was sitting on the floor talking to him and trying to calm him down, but to no avail.  Eventually Dad had to leave for work, so he got up, we said our goodbyes, and then we looked over at Peter. He had stopped his screaming and was partially rolled over. He rolled over the rest of the way!  I guess he was just so sick of Tummy Time that he gathered the strength to get off of his tummy!  This was his first time rolling over!

I don't know how to turn this picture right side up.  But Peter was VERY happy to have rolled over and to have gotten off of his stomach!  

I discovered Peter loves his nose being pressed like a button. He has never actually laughed yet. He smiles and makes happy sounds, and ALMOST laughs, but not quite.  Yesterday when I was touching his nose, he got the closest to laughing I have heard from him yet. He loved it!

Although this picture looks like he is screaming or unhappy (bad angle), it is actually a REALLY BIG smile from the Nose Button game.  

Love is in the Air- Valentines Day 2015

Aaron was a sweetheart and took the day off of work for Valentine's Day, so we had an ALL DAY date! It started with feeding the animals. Here are our four horses. They are Missouri Foxtrotters, and all are less than a year old. There are three fillies and one colt. 

From left to right:

Arrow (the colt), Blaze, J-Star (the one hidden in back), and Rubia.

This is J-Star and Rubia. Rubia has been our sick horse that we have had to nurse back to health so frequently this last month or so. 

They LOVE getting their food :)

We have this new wrap carrier that we love! At first Peter wasn't a fan, but that's because I would wear it with him facing in towards me. He would cry and fuss and try to look outward. Now when I use it, I let him face outward and see the world, and he LOVES it and is calm and quiet! He likes helping us feed the animals, but he is not a fan when the goat gives him kisses on the lips...and yes, she has done that. He doesn't mind dog kisses though :)

This is our wild, spunky, spastic Ginny the Unicorn.  She makes life interesting.  Her favorite thing to do is jump on top of our car and poop and pee on it. This is an almost daily occurrence. You can't really see, but her right horn is broke in half due to her rambunctious and bullying ways. 

Molly is our Australian Shepherd/ lab mix.  She is our fierce protector. Her and Ginny are best friends and are inseparable.  Our neighbors even commented on our two great pyrenese dogs- I laughed and had to tell them that one was a goat, and they weren't great pyrenese. Can you tell our neighbors don't live too close to be able to tell the details of the animals?

After all of the animal excitement, it was time for our real date- the floor. The floor has been an ongoing project for a few months. Aaron started fixing it while on paternity leave when Peter was born, but it is a BIG project and he is a busy man! 

Peter was our constant companion during our date. He was as patient with us as a three month old could be.  

When he gets hungry he likes to eat his fists and he started sucking on his thumb. This is a habit we are trying to break, but it is hard because he won't take a pacifier. Pacifiers make him puke!

In the back bedroom we had to rip up a piece of the old subflooring and put new OSB down. That's what Aaron is doing here. 

Here is the finished product for the day.  We still have a few more days work to put in on this project. 

To celebrate the partially finished flooring, I made Indian food (rice, and chicken and veggies in a curry sauce), and we ate like I did while in India- cross legged on the floor and using our hands (but we threw in a candle for Valentines Day). No utensils. ! I don't know what it is, but food tastes better if you eat it with your hands :)  

Beautiful Mornings

Every morning is a beautiful morning with this little baby. He is happy from the moment he opens his eyes.  He sleeps in bed with us, and he sleeps in until we wake up (which is wonderful).  I noticed how every morning he wakes up smiling from the moment he opens his eyes. I wanted proof of this, so we took out the camera this morning when we woke Peter up to go to church.  We started saying good morning to him. His little eyes started to open, and he kept blinking like he was trying to focus his eyes. This lasted 10 seconds or so, but the moment he could focus his eyes, he was smiling

Peter and his Dad love playing "Superman."  Aaron will hold onto him like this and "fly" him all around the house.  I think Peter might turn into an adrenaline junkie :)

Scripture Stories

Today was one of "those" days. I was exhausted. Peter was exhausted, but he wouldn't let himself fall asleep.  I tried feeding him- he wasn't hungry. I tried changing his diaper- he still cried after the diaper was changed.  I tried holding him and cuddling him-and he just kept screaming. (You would be impressed with the lungs this kid has!) He was just determined to cry and fuss no matter what!  I started crying out of frustration and then I remembered I hadn't read scriptures with him yet.  I took him into my bed. We cuddled and I pulled out a scripture stories book for children and we read. At first I was reading through  his screaming.  As we kept reading he just became quiet, content, and alert. He finally fell asleep while reading.  I am so grateful for a little, special boy that helps me to remember the most important things, and who will NOT go to bed until  he has read his scriptures for the day :)

This picture was taken about a week ago. Aaron came home to find me and Peter passed out in our bed.  So even though the picture doesn't fit from tonight's experience, this is our most recent "Peter Pic" and this is basically how Peter looked cuddled up to me.