Life is twice as good as it was when I last posted. Eight weeks ago today, our second son joined our family. And as much as I hated to be induced, I’m grateful he came out when he did, because he was ten pounds even and 22 inches long!
OK, so just a condensed birth story, y’all. If it’s not your thing, just skip this paragraph. I was worried that an induction (and the epidural I ended up getting) would lead to a c-section, but as it turned out, labor only lasted 9 1/2 hours, and when he finally decided to make his appearance, it only took 9 minutes. In fact, when he was born, the doctor had just gotten into the room and wasn’t fully gowned and gloved yet. Ben said something funny, and I laughed, and the nurse said, “Don’t laugh too hard!” Still laughing, I thought, “What on earth is she talking about?” And then I heard her say, “Doctor! He’s coming now!” And the doctor ran over and caught him. I’m pretty sure being born in laughter has to be a good omen, right?
First snuggles with my little man.
Proud daddy.
Brothers.
First smiles.
I’m biased, I know, but he is a truly beautiful boy. As my sister says, Ben is well-represented in this one. His big brother adores him, and the feeling is definitely mutual. His eyes widen when he hears his brother’s voice, and he immediately turns his head to find him.
So while we’ve been busy falling in love with The New Boy (Boy Two? Little Boy? Any suggestions for his blog alias?), spring has sprung outside! Two weeks ago was my favorite part, when the leaves were tiny and brilliantly green against the grey tree branches. It was also wisteria season, which always goes by too quickly. The woods up the road from my parents’ house are full of it, but there’s none on their property or ours, so I just admire it when we’re out driving.
Things seem especially beautiful on my parents’ farm this spring. We’ve had lots of rain. so everything is a super-saturated shade of green. The Boy loves the chance to run around outside until he can’t run anymore. He also loves the horses, and they seem to enjoy his company, too.
I’ve had the chance to enjoy the farm on a regular basis over the past five weeks, because we’re in the process of weaning last summer’s foal off of Calypso, so she’s closed in the stable and has to be taken care of every day. To avoid dealing with this issue again, we had Admiral gelded earlier this month. He was a very sweet stallion, so I’m pretty sure that as a gelding, he’ll be trying to climb directly into our pockets.
And although I hadn’t planned to add any new chickens this year, somehow we’ve ended up with six Gold Stars and seven Easter Eggers. They followed me home. Honest.
It’s a beautiful spring. But best of all is definitely the little snugglebunny who’s currently gumming my shoulder and staring around the room with the biggest blue eyes you’ve ever seen.
Happy Hens 