You’ve got to be kidding me!

Oh boy! Do I have a story to tell you!!!

It’s quite long, a full three chapters, so sit back, get comfy, and enjoy the ride 🙂

Spoiler Alert:

It’s mostly about baby goats, but there are a couple of other pieces of today’s puzzle I’d like to share, too.

1 – Mama Delivered!!!

Late last night, just as Kim, our guest Farrah (spending the night with us in hopes that Mama would kid), and I were getting set to play a game of Life before heading to bed, we heard Mama call out via the Baby Monitor we’d placed in the barn several nights ago.

We all looked at each other, jumped up, threw on our shoes, jackets, and hats, grabbed headlamps and flashlights and ran down to the barn!

Out of breath and full of adrenaline , we entered the barn to find Baby #1 already on the ground!

As Mama began cleaning it off, I grabbed the baby monitor and ran back to the house to put it where we could hear Ember if she woke up to an empty house.

I made it back down to the barn just in time to see Baby #2 hit the ground.

Mama, after all of her waiting around to give birth (on Day 148), dropped two kids in roughly 10 minutes!

Twins!!!

Smooth, quick, and quiet labor and delivery. Just as it should be.

Both were cleaned off, and very quickly stood up and got to the nipple.

(Baby #1 is obviously bigger than Baby #2, but we haven’t weighed them yet. Baby #1 is also a bit more tenacious. Stay tuned.)

We were sure/hopeful/expecting she had more in there so we waited and waited and soaked it all in.

Such an amazing experience!

The licking and bleating, the nudging and instincts!

Upon inspection…actually (honestly)…upon multiple inspections, we figured out we had not one, but two boys!

Two bucklings.

Two very sweet and completely gorgeous baby boys who will grow up to be stinky, pushy, bucks.

Oh boy.

Literally.

Ah! But new life!

And the cutest squeaks!

And the softest fur!

And such gorgeous markings!

Oh boy.

We are totally in love with these little buggers and have some serious thinking to do about our next steps.

But for now! Life and squeaks and fur and jumping (already!) and the pure magic and sweet, sweet newness of it all.

And Mama is such a good mama!

Ah yes, she did good!

And so, when we woke up this morning, exhausted, with the beginnings of migraines (yes, both of us), and yet all fired up, we wanted Ember to see the new babies right away because she’s been waiting so patiently and has been so very sweet with Mama through her pregnancy.

So, we snuck out of the house before Farrah woke up and took her straight down to the barn.

It was love at first sight and she was wonderful with those teeny tiny babies!

But she wanted Farrah to see them, too (Farrah is one of her very favorite people on the planet).

And so we came back into the house and Ember woke Farrah up while I made our morning tea and put it to-go containers (mason jars) so we could drink with the goats.

Both girls are so in love with those sweet babies!

After a few pets and many gulps of tea, we headed back to the house for French Toast.

Kim was headed into town to work and to take Ember to school while I worked from home and it felt like the perfect morning!

I mean really, what’s better than baby goats?!

2 – The Great Duck Escape

With my head pounding, I was just about to send off Kim, Ember and Farrah to begin their day as I set off to do the morning chores (yes, delayed, but who cares when there are baby goats?!).

Just as they were about to leave, though, Kim (luckily) spotted the red on Kitty’s head among all the green on the neighbor’s property!

What the hell?!

So we made sure Farrah was OK with Ember for a few minutes and ran down our property to access a shared gate with our neighbor and found Kitty and all 13 ducklings just hanging out by their acequia.

Ducks like water, I get it. But they have water in the garden!

Oh boy.

So Kim figured if we could get a hold of Kitty, the ducklings would follow…so she grabbed her and got her over the fence and back into the garden while I followed behind the ducklings, shooing them along.

Once everyone was safe and sound in the garden, we affirmed our plan to put up some chicken wire to protect against further breaches and told Kitty to stay put!

I turned the hose on to feed into their pool to create the slightest experience of running water for them and they remained happy (and safe in the garden) for the rest of the day.

Best we can figure, while sitting in their favorite spot on the compost pile, which is right on the property line, one or more ducklings either fell through or made their way through.

In a panic, Kitty must have flown (or climbed) over the (electric) fence to save them.  This must have prompted the rest of the ducklings to follow along.

With water so close by, I’m sure they simply couldn’t resist getting their feet wet 😉

Silly ducks!

3 – We’ve been adopted!

Thinking that surely that was more than enough excitement for a 24 hour period, Kim set off to finally get herself and the girls into town.

Already late, but not too late.

When wouldn’t you know it, just as I was closing the gate behind her as she drove off, she stopped in the middle of the road and yelled back at me, “There are kittens in the middle of the road!”

What?!

Nope, not kidding.

I really thought my head might split open (for multiple reasons at this point).

Two itty bitty kittens, who’d been left on the side of the County Road (we’re guessing) came running towards Kim as soon as she got out of the truck.

We looked around for a Mama Cat and asked neighbors that were outside, but to no avail.

So, we brought them on the property, gave them some food and water, and left them outside for the day thinking that if their mom was close, she’d hear them cry.

Or if someone lost their adorable kittens, we’d hear about it and surrender them happily.

And yet, neither of those two things happened.

And surely we can’t just leave them to the coyotes!

And so maybe, just maybe, two barn cats have fallen square in our laps and adopted us as their Humans.

Oh boy.

And just when I thought my heart couldn’t possibly stretch any further this week, it has.

And so, when we’re not working our paying jobs, or dealing with mind numbing headaches, we now have 17 (yes, 17!) more babies to help care for than we did three short days ago.

And now I fully understand why this journey is not for the faint of heart or the easily exhaustible.

And I couldn’t be happier.

Life is very full and so very good.

Indeed.

THE END

(For now 😉 )

xoxo,
M