SERIOUSLY!!!!!!

Results of the storm

Last night's storm had the whole family awake except for me.  Earplugs are a wonderful invention.  There was only one point at which my husband and I both jumped out of bed in response to a thunderous crash and daytime bright lightning.  It was not until this morning when I witnessed the damage done by the weather.  As usual we had a few downed trees and our cars also avoided damage, by the grace of God.

My children, tired from the evening's weather, woke up at 7:40am after the third "wake up call" stumbling to the car in ten minutes.  I fed the animals, pulled up to the house, honked and Brett emerged in tears.  "I'm hungry and I didn't comb my hair!" he whined.  Unimportant to him is brushing his teeth.  Gross.  I keep telling myself, "Some day he will want to brush his teeth."  The day has not arrived.  Chloe had brushed her teeth and avoided her hair.  She did have a comb in her hand although the wind and rain were a good indicator of the uselessness the brush would have against such elements.  We pack in the car, Brett crying and Chloe annoyed with his crying and me, well, awake.  Maybe not awake, but driving my children to school in enough time to make it before the start of school.  Every year I vow to take them to school before 8am and every year I drop them off closer to the start time of 8:15am.  I would like to say I have a role in this late arrival except I refuse to drag my children, physically, out of bed.  I tell them it is time to get up and they NEVER get up when I enter their room the first time.  I return to my room and get dressed returning only to leave the house presumably on time.  ERROR.  The children are still in bed.  Saturday morning rolls around and there are voices of children as early as 6am.  An unexplainable phenomenon I believe the extraterrestrial beings are still trying to decipher.

I leave my house confident the rain will bring the babies.  If you caught my April Fool's story, I started with a true event.  My brother did tell me about his goat rancher friend who says the babies drop with the rain.  I imagined today would be the day.  My sweet neighbor has promised to check on my goats twice a day.  This morning around the time she was to check on my goats I get a photo on my phone.  I begin to panic!  I open the photograph and it is indeed a picture of three newborn babies.  None of which are mine.  Her goat, Sierra, had triplets.  The next message to come across my screen was, "Your girls are fine.  No babies. btw is your pony supposed to be out?"   Epic fail.  No babies for me.  I continue to run my errands and prepare for an event at school this evening only to find no encouraging news coming from the home front.  Actually, the most excitement we experienced today was Brett's regurgitation of his food after lunch.  Although highly accepted in the avian community, this is not a prized attribute associated with humans.  Also, not a popular event among custodial staff and mothers, alike.

Pregnant goat with her doula, my friend Skye

Following my school event, I drive home hoping to see some sort of progress on my goat.  Both girls run over to me and I feed them.  They wobble to the food in an attempt to eat more than the other.  No notable progress towards the arrival of the kids.  I did, however, discover they had been fed earlier.  Naughty goats.  They acted ravenous.  As if they were pregnant or something.  Recently I had someone ask if I was sure they were pregnant.  I will post a photo reminder in case you would like to question my assessment.

Tomorrow might be the day.  I won't hold my breath, but I'm considering feeding the goats Chinese food.  I remember people used to encourage me to eat spicy Chinese food to induce labor.  According to my students, if I did the splits I would have certainly induced labor.  For those of you who are confused about why my students would be encouraging such craziness, I was a dance teacher many years ago and did, in fact, split while pregnant.  I also did flips, turns, leaps, and apparently some very dangerous flipping off a stage.  In any case, none of these activities induced labor.  Seeing my goats do the splits could be fun.....ok, I will avoid causing them excess shame and guilt for not having their babies, YET.  I can only hold back the guilt and shame for a couple more days.  Hmmm, how would one guilt and shame a goat?  I even sent the chickens in as spies to see if the goats were laboring.(DISCLAIMER: if you have ever had a chicken you will know that the chickens travelled the two acres from their usual spot on their own free will.  Chickens are not, nor ever have been used as spies.)  I think I'm going to have to resort to spicy Chinese food!!!

Even the chickens came to see if the goats
finally had their babies.

The anticipation has made me tired.  I think I will finally go to sleep.  I am thankful for a neighbor who comes by to check on my girls and eases my worry throughout the day (Day 103).  Goodnight Friends.