A Half- Birthday

An opportunity;

-For brothers and sisters to excitedly prepare banners and a couple of little gifts.

-To open those gifts when it's a very long time between a birthday at the beginning of January and the next Christmas, especially when you're 4.

-To be the one at the centre of attention, a big deal in a big family.

-To have nutella for lunch.

-To get soooo excited when you see your cake.

-And feel that for that one moment in time that you're the most important person in the world.

To blow out candles for the second time in the same year.

To get to organise serving the cake however you chose and for the big sister who make the cake to enjoy the pleasure she has given her little brother.

To be thankful for such a wonderful, wonderful little boy.

Kittens!

A few weeks ago the 3 older girls were at puppy class run by our friend at the vets. As she brings the girls home, they will often help out with a few chores before the vets is locked up for the night. This is a wonderful experience for them, and often the highlight of their evening, as they help change dressings, fit buster collars, exercise dogs etc. The flip side though is that they also get to see and cuddle some very sweet little animals and as parents of children with enough pets to justify farm status it is becoming a dangerous occupation!

On this particular night they came home full of how they had cuddled tiny kittens, about 3 weeks old, who needed a home. The story was that one litter of kittens had been born at the vets from a cat brought in to be spayed and the other litter of kittens had been handed in to be put to sleep as they were not wanted. Not surprisingly we had the 'may we have them?' request, but managed to hold it at bay with our default 'no, we've enough' response. This continued for about 2 weeks with the guys following progress on re-homing on the vets facebook page. I then made a HUGE mistake. All 6 children were to have their BCG immunisation as they never had them at birth because the older children were born in the UK where there's a different program. However to go back 48 hours after the Heaf test for a second jab took a lot of persuasion and as a softener we said we'd call into the vets on the way home to pay a bill and just see how the kittens were doing. Well you can imagine the rest of the tale. The vet nurse handed the remaining 3 kittens still needing a home over the counter for the children to cuddle and our fate was sealed.

Tara

Tilly

Toby

We brought the kittens home when they were 5 and 6 weeks old respectively. They were so small the guys had to give them 4 meals a day of goats milk and minced chicken for a couple of weeks before they could manage pre-prepared kitten food. As they were handled so much by the staff at the vets from such a young age they love being cuddled and played with so the children are really enjoying them. Although from two different litters the three of them play together most the time and sleep in a bundle of three at night, which is very sweet.

( Tilly is hiding down in the bush at the bottom of the fence!)

  They keep the goats amused with their antics too as they love using the stock fencing as their climbing frame.

At last count then we have 18 animals, ( 3 dogs, 6 chickens, 4 pygmy goats, 2 gerbils, 3 cats ). Did I mention we're due to have puppies next week as well !?! The vet guesses 6, having done an ultra sound scan, but apparently large breeds can also have a couple hidden under their ribs away from the USS probe so who knows... Fortunately we have homes for all the puppies through the breed club, apart from the one we're keeping, so the guys know it will be just ONE puppy we're keeping!
My parents think Justin and I are certifiable but actually we're really happy with the animals we share our lives with and the experiences they give the children. The animals structure our days and without the structure of school I think it would be easy for the children to just drift through their days. With each new animal we have brought home, the children have undertaken the responsibility of caring for them and they have not faltered. They get up in the morning to let out the dogs, goats and chickens. Beth then feeds the goats and hens, Anna the dogs and kittens. Caitlin sees to the gerbils and the younger children help out as necessary. Throughout the day they play with them and if we go out they will load up the dogs into the van, secure runs and make sure the animals left home have what they need while we're out. Teatime brings another round of feeding and then the two older girls do the bedtime routine of shutting up the goats and chickens, and putting the cats and dogs to bed.Justin and I support them with all their work but we don't do it for them. We have given them ownership of the animals so they understand that ownership comes with responsibility. The advantage of 'farm' living is that they don't have an option of 'not fancying it' today. Whatever the weather or the children's other commitments the animals care needs always exist. Therefore they are learning to think of others first as well as developing a work ethic.
However, after the puppies, 'no' really will have to be no ...

Mud Glorious Mud.

The hot dry weather has come to an end and we now have rain and lots of it. Pregnant dogs often take up digging to help relieve any discomfort and as a sign of nesting and Amber is digging big style! Add in rain and you get a very muddy dog.

The sun then came out this afternoon and dried all the mud on her nose so we had to rub vaseline on it to get it off.

She is enjoying the cooler weather though and it's only the humans who fuss over a bit of mud...

Getting Ready For Pups

 Anna has been telling us for ages that Amber needs her whelping box, the place where she will deliver and then care for her puppies, ideally a couple of weeks before the expected date of whelping so that she will accept it. Having consulted various books, websites and breeders blogs, we came up with a design which Justin has been working on in the evenings. However this weekend was crunch time as she was then within 10 days of her date so we abandoned all other jobs and focused on 'project whelping box'.

 We wanted it modular as we may need to move it as the puppies get older and their needs change. Justin made the panels out of plywood and then fashioned strips and blocks out of softwood to make corner pieces which would hold it all together. Fortunately for us, Justin is very good at designing and building or adapting pieces of furniture etc. and he came up with a design by which the corner pieces lock the panels in place but can be removed for relocation.

 As it needs to be waterproof and very washable I found the hardest wearing gloss paint I could and ended up having to paint 4 coats on each panel, helped by Beth and Eoin. The weather was so hot that it was virtually drying as we were applying it and poor Amber was lying flaked out on the driveway trying to get cool.

We then laid out all the panels in the living room as so many bugs were dive bombing it outside and getting stuck in the paint!

This evening we have assembled the box, a week after we intended having it done but still with hopefully 7 days to go! It has no base so that the weight of the box holds the Vet Bed out-stretched, thus preventing Amber or the pups ruching it up and creating folds which could potentially cause suffocation. I will also source an off-cut of lino to put under it all which will protect the floor and be easily disinfected.

We now need to get Amber to accept and be comfortable with the box. Anna managed to get her into it with a treat but she only stayed half a minute so that's our next challenge over the coming week!

Canine Catch-Up

We have had a busy few weeks with our dogs. Last week we were invited to Skye's graduation. Skye was our foster assistance dog from Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland who left us to go into specialist training at the beginning of March See here :). She has now completed her training and graduated as a working assistance dog. We were invited to go along one evening last week and meet the family she has been matched with. Skye has matured into an amazing dog and the children were delighted to see her again and were presented with this photo as a keepsake.

Although the guys still miss Skye they can at least now understand a little what it means to a family with an autistic child to be given an assistance dog who will hopefully change their lives for the better and they can feel proud that they have been part of the journey.

We then had to also say goodbye to Bramble, two trauma's in the space of a week! She is the foster puppy we have had since just before Skye left and as she has now completed 6 months with us will move on to another foster family before also entering advanced training. She is a genuinely lovely dog who will also make a wonderful forever friend for an autistic child one day.
In May we then brought home Wilson, a then 10 week old Cavalier puppy who is ours to keep! We decided that Holly would love a playmate more her size and that Beth would benefit from having a dog which she was responsible for.

He is a lovely little dog and settled in right away. As you can see he and Holly also get on very well.

Our final and probably biggest bit of doggie news is that Amber is expecting puppies. Last Autumn we had her hips and elbows x-rayed and scored as hip dysplasia is a big issue for Bernese Mountain Dogs. Happily she had excellent scores ( elbows 0/0, hips 2/2 for those in the know!) and with a  family history of good health and sound temperament, her breeding restriction was lifted from her kennel club registration. Amber is an amazing dog and we would love for her to have a companion who doesn't leave to move on to training and so began the hunt for a sire. Through the Bernese Club we heard of a lovely male, aptly called Mr Darcy, and had her mated just over 7 weeks ago now. So in 10 days, or there abouts, Amber will become a Mammy. The children are wildly excited at the prospect whilst Anna, Justin and I are madly reading breeding books to gen ourselves up on whelping and puppy care. Amber meanwhile is finding this current heatwave a bit hard to take. In the picture below Anna is shaving Ambers tummy, which will be required anyway and also cools her down as she lies on the cool concrete or tiles. We are also busy building a whelping box and I will put up some photo's soon!

We survived!

Okay so the last little while has been tough, but we survived. The guys found it hard with me being in hospital and all their 'normality' turned on it's head. Whatever my shortcomings may or may not be I am always here. In another room, outside maybe or busy, but always at the end of a 'Mammy' yell. Even if I occasionally pop into town with just one or two of the guys, one of  the others will invariably ring me with a query or 'when will you be home?'. So it was tricky. Then once home I was still out of action with Grandma running the show when Justin was at work. Handing over the mantle and letting someone else call the shots is hard but I just had to keep in mind the big picture and run with it. The children were brilliant, really stepping up to the mark and doing their best to help. Although we believe strongly in working together and developing a strong work ethic there were often times in the past when I took the path of least resistance and would end up doing clean up solo. With that not having been an option we had to have a bit of a shake up with sharing the chores and even though I am now well, we have a better ongoing balance of the workload. The guys are also more appreciative of the little things now, like my being able to drive again after 6 weeks ( they found that one tough) and us all being well, able and together.