Kittens 2013: Birth on my Birthday!

 June 24th ..........   Autumn's behavior changes, and we know ...  *KNOW* ... she's going to give birth soon.

So we woke up on my birthday ...  and Autumn is on our bed cleaning herself.  Dennis makes a comment about how she's constantly licking a certain area and how she's going to be giving birth super soon.  So I sit up and I started to pet her.  Something was funny ...   so I feel her belly ... and it was all empty ...  so I yelled for Dennis and told him she already had the kittens.  So the hunt was on!  Course, it didn't take long, they were in our closet.

So we got them in the box, and put the box up on my bed for the day.

She had five kittens ......

From left to right:

Junebug - She was born with a severe case of spina bifida.  She had a hard hard hard time regulating her body temp. Her spine is exposed (and was bleeding a lot) ...  and there was a hole near her neck.  She has absolutely no use of her back legs. We made a vet appointment but they said there wasn't anything they could do ..  all we could do was keep her warm and hand feed her and see if she made it.  So that's what we are doing.  We're pretty sure she's not going to make it through the night.  But - as you'll see ... Autumn isn't rejecting her at all.

The black one there is Tuxie (renamed Boo on the 26th) ...  She's all black, except she has white around her eyes (like a reverse raccoon) ... a white underbelly and white feet.

The Tortoise Shell one is Tully (renamed Sulley on the 26th) ...  she's ... obviously - a Tortoise Shell.

Then there is Cupid.  He's mostly white with an orange heart on his head, and an orange tail.

The last one is the biggest guy .. his name is Rex.  (Like T-Rex, even though the T-Rex isn't the "biggest" dinosaur.)   He is an Orange and White guy :)

Here are some individual pics.....    First we'll do Rex...  (Marnie was checking him out)

Sulley

Boo

Cupid - notice the heart on his head

And then I have a lot of pictures of Junebug - we all are very attached to her ... I do have a more graphic picture of her back, but I am not going to share it.

Cal petting her

Autumn is an AWESOME Momma :)  I'm really proud of her.

 Autumn was checking out the camera.... LOLOLOL...

 Marnie is trying to figure out what's going on ....  Autumn is trying to figure out if she's going to be nice....

We put Junebug in a baby sock to help keep her warm and to keep her spine from being exposed.  She gets around like a little champ and she we're constantly having to put the sock back on.

We actually thought Junebug passed away at one point - but turned out she was just breathing super shallow.  Once we touched her she moved ... so we realized she wasn't.   Momma was always really attentive towards her.  I spent a couple minutes taking pictures, and once I was done...  (you can see supervising Momma in the back ground......) ....

Once I was done, she reacted out -like - Okay give her back now....

She put her under her head for a little bit ....  

But she cuddles her all the time...  

I will be really surprised if she makes it through the night though.

Happy Birthday to Dennis and I .......

June Birthdays!!!

Dennis turned........... OLD (ha ha ha) on the 8th ...  He had a good birthday.  He got a couple of wolf shirts and a mug and a couple other things.  And a nummy cake!

We don't get to do anything special for our birthdays this year (no money) ...  so we just got to be lazy and do what we wanted :)

My birthday wasn't as uneventful ....   I didn't get any gifts.  My mom stopped by with a card and some cupcakes the kids really enjoyed!!  I even got a couple.   Dennis got me a cake :)

My cat had KITTENS on my birthday - and I was busy most of the day dealing with all of that.  But - that'll be for another post :)

Update on Dennis

So the other day we went to Seattle, just Dennis and I.   Although it was nice to just get out - him and I - it was so weird.  We .. or rather, I kept saying ... "this is so weird not having at least one kid with us."

We'd comment on what the kids would be doing ...   Nathan would be running around, Kaedyn would be our little comic relief.  Noah would be searching for animals in the water.  Cal would be playing on his phone.  Ha ha ...

Regardless ... we were headed to Seattle to talk to a lawyer that Dennis hired to help him get Disability.  He was in the wheelchair for over a year ...  (BTW - incase I didn't mention it, he started walking again in February!!!)

So this lawyer says that its a long shot that he would get it, right now, because he's a young man - generally healthy - who can wake his kids up for school/get them ready - cook dinner - do occasional shopping (with me along) - drive - and various other minor things - WITH taking naps during the day.

This really irritates me. He is not well enough to go back to work yet, I watch him struggle every day.  He told the lawyer that he doesn't want this to be a long term thing, he just wants help while he continues to recover.  He worked HARD to walk again.  Every day he was trying to walk, doing his exercises..

Apparently to get on disability you have to be bedridden and brain dead.

"Oh, you make eye contact with another person...."

It's frustrating.

Regardless, while we were leaving.... this lady kinda pushes her way back into the office after Linda (Dennis' lawyer) opens the door and at first, I thought they were friends or something, the lady was making some small talk and the Linda was responding, but Linda was pushing me out the door from the offices ... and she seemed a bit flustered ... she said Hi to us instead of Goodbye and .. yeah....

So we are walking through the reception area (it was one of those places where the elevator opened up into the reception area) ....and push the down button to the elevator and I hear the lady say "You got a minute?" and Linda says "No I don't even have a minute" and I heard the lady whisper something to Linda about how she really should take a minute to talk to her ....and then I hear Linda say something like "I've been instructed not to talk to you"….I was like ....... whaaaaaaaaaa?......and there is a bit of a scuffle with the receptionist asking the lady to leave and trying to push Linda in the kitchen area which is off next to the reception desk ...and then I hear this lady say something but the only thing that registered that I heard was "SHE GAVE MY HUSBAND HERPES"

Then things got real loud as she was being pushed out of the reception area by the receptionist who was saying "Will you please leave" and the lady is shouting things like "SHE FUCKED MY HUSBAND" or she's fucking... I'm not sure. Anyway - we get in the elevator and she gets PUSHED into the elevator and she's still yelling and screaming about her fucking the husband... and how it's been going on a year…..and as the doors are closing she looks at Dennis and I and telling us how Linda is a morally unethical and corrupt lawyer, and we really need to get a new one. Dennis and I - being the socially awkward people we are ... just kinda kept looking down at the ground being sure not to make eye contact ....

AWKWARD .......and then I hear her whisper to herself "she wasn't even pretty" ..and I almost laughed……instead - I said something like "I'm sorry you are going through this, I've been there."….and she pipes up about how she's unethical and blah blah again and how we should find someone else……Doors to the elevator open, and I almost jumped out, but it was a guy on another floor getting in….this shut her up a bit and next time the doors open, we got out and we all went through the doors to the building to the outside and parted ways .... and OMG ... LOL... I turned to Dennis and said "that outta make for a good blog"

HA HA HA ... so there it is.  

Continued PRAYERS for Dennis are always appreciated! 

So It's been Awhile...

A lot has been going on ...  we're homeschooling, of course.   You can read about what we've been doing over at 4 Brothers Ranch Homeschooling Blog ...  and Noah and Nathan (especially) ... have had a ton of doctors appointments.  You can get updated on that over at My Unique Flowers blog....

We got a couple of new pets thanks to Freecycle.  Thankfully they came with just about everything they need for awhile.  Probably a year for the Hermit Crabs, and all we need for the Lizard is to get crickets now and then.  Oh we need to get a temp/humility thing for him too but that's pretty much it.  The Freecycle'er was moving to Arizona and didn't want to take the pets.  The Lizard they had for awhile, but the Hermit Crabs their son had just gotten for his birthday.  We had lost a hermit crab already though.  He got stressed out and started to drop limbs, so Kaedyn got to pick out another one because the warranty was with the papers they gave us.

So here are the Crabs ....

Max - above - passed away.   And Sansa changed shells.......

and the new Max ...

We have a lot of pictures of the crabbies over on 4 Brothers' Ranch right now.  Including their shells, and how we learned they are different types of species of crabs.  We have a Ruggie, a Strawberry Crab, and Two Purple Pinchers!

These are allowing the kids to learn a lot about different types of pets (and animals).  And to help ease a natural fear.

I listened to a man - at Corey's Day on the Farm - tell his daughter how she was not to trust any animal and she has to be afraid of every animal.  We were at an event that focuses all around animals.  And even though I don't disagree with his message, I don't necessarily agree with it either.

Children have a natural fear of animals.  They get use to Cats & Dogs a bit.  We teach them to reach out our hands and allow them to smell us - as an introduction - prior to petting them.  This isn't a bad thing.  You should always be cautious of animals.  Just as you should be cautious of strangers.

But children have to experience different things, and be exposed to different animals, just as they need to be experience different things. It's how they learn.

It was just weird to hear this lecture and then watch him put his daughter on a horse that he doesn't know, and to let her pet all the animals int he petting farm.

Regardless......

Here are a couple of pictures from Corey's Day ....

 My boys (minus Cal) at Corey's Day on the Farm 2013

 Noah and Nathan on the same horse, named Trigger.   Trigger and Nathan formed a relationship.  Nathan kept watching the horses this year instead of riding over and over ... and Trigger would come nuzzle him when he passed.  It was cute.  Never got a good pic of it though :/  

You can see more HERE ...... or if you are friends with me on Facebook, you can see much more there.

Here is Emrys ... the kids really enjoy him.  He jumps from the vines to his "pool" that we created from some rocks and a big plastic storage container.  We also went walking on the beach one day and got a bunch of driftwood for his terrarium.

  He does change colors some ... from brown to green and green to brown ... LOL...  and Kaedyn has a blast watching Emrys and announcing a play by play.   We had him in our room for awhile, but moved him out to the living room where it's a little warmer (we were originally trying out our AC out in the livingroom but it was too big a space, so we moved it into our room.) ...  there will be blog posts over on our homeschooling blog about Emrys - soon.    Not to mention my boys love to watch him eat the crickets!  Ugh....

As we are learning about BOTH these animals :)

It's a lot of fun so far.  Noah has been doing his work with little to no argument too :)  So YAY!