Lexi update and Happy Birthday Gary!

Happy Birthday, Gary! 53 years young today! I tried to scan a picture in but, alas, Brenton is still sleeping and I am hopelessly inept at scanning and sizing and such!

On to an update on Lexi, who is 9 days old now and such a cutie but such a trial to us! She is so lively and spunky but she doesn't want to eat! We have been bottle and tube feeding her as she doesn't seem to be able to latch on to Momma (vet confirmed mamma's udders are way to big for our little preemie!), but Lexi fights us at every feed. It's unbelieveable how strong a little goat that is less than 3 lbs can be. It takes 2 of us to feed her and 3 if Brenton is around to refill the tube. We have had our lactation consultant in (friend Karen who is the retired 'baby' nurse) and have tried every trick in the book and multiple types of nipples - preemie nipples, silicone nipples, playtex 'easy latch' nipples - all to no avail. We rub the roof of her mouth to stimulate the sucking reflex - and she can suck - just doesn't want to! Ugh! Sprocket was so different - he wasn't very old before he would hear the microwave and get excited or if we would say, 'Do you want your baba Sprocket?' and he would run to his feeding spot on the couch. Maybe its because she is a preemie - not sure. Anyway, she started off weighing 2 1/2 lbs, and we had her up to just over 3 lbs yesterday, with a little slide back to 2 lbs 14 oz this am.


Lexi in the kitchen - we are amazed that she doesn't hold a grudge about us forcing her to eat. As soon as were're finished, she's happy as a clam and running around again.



Lexi checking out Pip - he's 3 times her size!

So we have a new baby goat & NBGB Luca's birthday

On Friday night our second female, Willow, gave birth to a set of twins - a little boy (who died shortly after birth - farming is not for the faint of heart!) and this little girl, Lexi. She was unable to stand and at 2 1/2 lbs is very small. Our vet confirmed today that she is premature but he's happy with how she is doing. We (and by we, I mean Gary) has been feeding her with a tube as she is too small to nurse from her mom and we are starting her on a bottle but she gets tired easily and stops sucking. On day 3 she started standing and now is walking really well so we just have to get her a little bigger so that she can nurse from her momma. We have worked really hard to keep her in the barn - she was in the house (pic below) for 2 nights to rest and then back to the barn. She is so tiny and so sweet!

To get an idea of how much Sprocket has grown, he was only a pound bigger than Lexi at birth and now, at 7 1/2 weeks, he is a whopping 12.5 lbs! We are hoping that tonight will be his first night in the barn - we've been intoducing him gradually and things have been going well.


Sprocket loves chewing - on anything - clothes, hair, whatever!



My two babies - Sprocket is a little jealous - especially when he sees Lexi's bottle, so now when Gary is feeding Lexi, I feed Sprocket his bottle. Get a visual on this - Gary has 2 patio chairs in our little barn and he bottle feeds Lexi in his chair and I bottle feed Sprocket in my chair! Do we sound just a little bit crazy???

The proud momma, Willow and her tiny Lexi.

On to other 'kids' - yesterday was Luca's 3rd birthday. He's playing with his new tow truck here.

Big brother Aaron (5.5) an birthday boy, Luca with Luca's birthday balloon. My non-biological grandbabies are growing up too fast!

Happy Birthday Jason!

So I fibbed a bit - about no embarrassing pictures or stories! Anyway, I don't think this one is embarrassing - it's cute! Have a great one, Honey! We love you!