Miss Kitty's Big Day Out

Through out the transition of our big move this winter, my entire family (two and four-legged) was a little displaced. Handy Man, the kids, Boji and I lived with the in-laws. The horses stayed at Miss Tina's and our sweet Miss Kitty lived with Grandma Rhonda. I was most worried about how Miss Kitty would cope with the transition. This sweet, excessively tolerant, farm kitty has only ever known life on the farm as an outside barn cat. How was she going to cope with life away from our little house on the prairie?

After a lot of brainstorming, we decided the best possible transitional home for Miss Kitty was with Grandma Rhonda. We built her a small kennel of sorts in Grandma's garage. The kennel even connected to the one window in the garage and we constructed an additional portion outside so she could get fresh air and sunshine.

I know what some of you are thinking - you made and kept your farm cat in a cage?

It was a large cage, larger than the one she would have been left to had we not been able to take her with us. The kids saw her every week. She had all of the necessities and a wonderful caretaker.

Rest easy knowing that it didn't take long before Miss Kitty - miss outside-only-farm-cat - was being let into the house on a regular basis. She was thoroughly spoiled and honestly gained about 10 lbs living with Grandma. She was at a four star establishment. My only fear was how do you then take the once farm cat who has been living in the pent house back to the farm?

After a month of getting settled and unpacked, we moved Miss Kitty to our new house. I constructed a similar kennel for her in a barn stall. The kennel was still necessary until Miss Kitty learned her surroundings and where to call home. I also didn't want to take a chance of her getting lost at night or becoming a very handsome meal to a predator. That extra cushion she gained at her four star hotel would make a lonely coyote a feast!

After a few weeks on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Mr Blue Eyes and I went outside to enjoy the sunshine. I decided it was a perfect day to let Miss Kitty take her first steps out of the barn and explore her new yard and surroundings.

It had definitely been a while since her little tootsies had felt snow. 

So many new sights and smells.

Eventually she made her way to where Mr Blue Eyes and I sat on the deck. 

Her afternoon adventure outside exploring turned into attack of the big baby.

He was so excited to see his kitty. 

I am sorry kitty, there is no escaping him...

He wanted to pet the fur right off of her. 

Love her and hug her with all his might.

I am pretty sure Miss Kitty said something to the effect of, "Really?!?! You had to go and make another one of these drooling short people that seem to think I am a jungle gym or sofa?"

"I suppose I shall tolerate him."

"Easy there buddy."

 
"Uhhhhhgggghhh A. Little. Help. Here? I. Can't. Breath..."

How sweet is that?!?!

The worlds most tolerant barn cat ever. Our one and only Miss Kitty. There was just no way we could not take her with us. She became a part of our family the day Handy Man and I bought our little house on the prairie and she came with the house. 

For the last two weeks, Miss Kitty has been let out of the barn during the day. Every evening when we pull into the drive way she is right there waiting to see her family. She is adjusting well and knows her home is always with us.

Buzz Off Hives

As a mother, I feel like I have a pretty good handle on my job. I feel comfortable enough giving solicited advice to my friends. Although I only have 4 years experience, I feel like I roll with the punches most days.

I think most of the real learning as a parent comes that first year. By two years you feel pretty efficient as a parent. A strong resume in your back pocket.

Well, I have a new notch in my knowledge belt. Time for a Mommy PSA.

A little over two weeks ago my precious babes came down with a nasty stomach virus. Mr Blue Eyes was barely effected, slight loss of appetite and a couple messy diapers. My poor Brown Eyed Girl was not so fortunate.

My Brown Eyed Girl came down with diarrhea on a Friday. She was vomiting by Saturday, both on Sunday (now refusing to eat or drink anything), and some residual diarrhea Monday. I was sure she was on the mend but I still stayed home with her on Monday to just make sure she was over the hump.

Mid-morning, my beautiful Brown Eyed Girl said her feet were itchy and she asked me if I would rub her feet with lotion. I was more than happy to give my poor, gaunt little girl a bit of relaxing mommy time.

I placed a dab of lotion in the palm of my hand and as I cupped her tiny little feet I felt my mouth gape open in shock. My poor little girl was covered in welts.

The hives resided on the tops of her feet, progressing up to her shins.

The hives were itchy and very painful.

A dose of Benadryl and we were off to the shower.

My first thought was something was irritating her skin and causing the breakout. At that time this was the only place she had hives. While she stood in the shower I scoured the couch, vacuumed everywhere, threw the dog outside, and mentally ran over every possible cause in my head. We hadn't changed detergent. She hadn't eaten anything in two days let alone anything new. What on earth could it be?

After her shower and dressed with fresh, clean clothes, my Brown Eyed Girl seemed to be feeling better. I started scrounging around the kitchen for lunch when she started crying from the couch. She said, "Mommy! Now my hands are itching."

Something was not jiving here. I had just bathed her and she did not have welts on her hands. Not to mention, she had been given Benadryl a little more than 30 minutes ago.

To keep her from itching, I wrapped her little hands in cool, damp washcloths. I had the pediatrician on speed dial. 

While I waited for the nurse to call me back so I could schedule the doctor to see her, the hives began spreading rapidly.

I started freaking out calmly checked her torso, neck and face for hives. She had none. I told my sweet Brown Eyed Girl to tell Mommy right away if her throat or her face felt itchy. The hives seemed to just be isolated on her lower extremities.

After an hour, the Benadryl kicked in and she fell asleep. Unfortunately, it did little for her hives. Her hives gradually subsided. We were able to get her into the doctor that afternoon and (take notes parents) I found out that the most common cause of hives, especially in children, is actually due to a viral infection. A variety of viruses can cause hives, even routine cold viruses. The hives seem to appear as the immune system begins to clear the infection, sometimes a week or more after the illness begins. The hives usually persist for a week or two and then disappear.

We were directed to start our Brown Eyed Girl on a daily dose of Zyrtec (a stronger antihistamine that Benadryl.) I was relieved to know that this was not life threatening.

Our Brown Eyed Girl had also lost 10% of her body weight in 4 days. We all hoped she would be on the mend soon. She was gaunt and you could count every rib on her.

After a few days, her appetite came back. I am pretty sure she also collided with a growth spurt because she suddenly was eating us out of house and home. I gladly refilled her bowl. I was just so happy she was feeling better. And no more bumps! Or so we thought...

After about a week on the Zyrtec, I figured she was feeling so well and was over the sickness. Later that afternoon... bumps. Back on Zyrtec.

After two weeks, I skipped a dose of Zyrtec and the next day at daycare I get this picture...

 

Back to the doctor we went. 

Apparently left to run its coarse, hives from a virus can last up to 6 weeks. I was looking for a better solution. The doctor prescribed a dose of steroids for her. We finished our last dose yesterday and so far... no bumps. 

It has been quite the ordeal. I had no idea that your body could essentially have an allergic reaction to a virus. 

Fingers crossed we are on the mend now. 

Skip's Update

After five weeks of changing bandages, I am proud to show off this beautiful scar. It's still healing, but we manged to head off any infections or complications.

 

He did manage to split the would open at about 3 weeks but it doesn't seem to have effected the laceration from healing in the long run. 

On another positive note, no lameness what-so-ever. 

Get ready Skip! I hear a stiff old saddle calling your name. Hope you have enjoyed the vacation big guy. 

~Love Your Mom

Spring Here Already

Times have changed - literally, we moved the clocks forward.
Spring is just around the corner.
Green grass.
Spring flowers - I am really missing my daffodils and irises this spring. I will have to plant some bulbs this year for sure.
The birds are chirping, scouting their nests.
The horses have already started shedding.
Days are growing longer.
Weather is getting warmer - I drove with the sun roof open last week.

We can't wait for summer fun!

Big Boy Bed

Saturday morning as the wind and snow began to blow outside, my Brown Eyed Girl rose before the sun - as she does every morning. I drug my exhausted body out of bed, turned on Mickey Mouse, set her up with a blanket, half a Pop Tart and glass of milk before slinking back to my warm and cozy bed, determined to sleep in. An hour later, my Brown Eyed Girl exclaimed that her stomach was "starving inside" and roused me for something a little more substantial than a Pop Tart. I told her I needed to get up, feed horses and wake Mr Blue Eyes up anyways.

With little expression, she mentioned that Mr Blue Eyes was already up AND watching Mickey.

Come again?

Sure enough our little buddy was up, wide awake and NOT in his crib. Mr Blue Eyes had took the liberty to scale the crib side to greet the day.

A rosy tummy and chin left the evidence that his decent from the crib was not as graceful as he'd probably anticipated. Lord knows all I needed was a split lip, cracked skull, or worse...

A fresh pot of coffee and I was ready to transform his crib into the toddler set up. Although I wish we could hold this day off a little longer, I would rather deal with a child popping out of bed in the middle of the night than a late night trip to the ER. 

I found the box containing the toddler front to the crib high in the rafters of the garage. Finally found a ladder. And after about five minutes and 1254653 choice words was able to wrestle the box from the rafters.

Did I mention Handy Man was on a business trip last weekend?

So long all traces of my wee little boy.

I totally got this!

One more reassuring example of the necessity of this transformation. 

Why can't they just stay babes forever?

Of course learn to use the toilet and feed themselves... but just stay little forever.

Mommy is Super Woman with a few bolts and an Alan Wrench!

Introducing... Purple Princess THE Tangled AKA Cheese Ball Ham AKA our resident toddler bed use instructor.

Successful climb in.

Lots of cheese and ham.

Masterful climb out. 

Ta-Da!

Woops a little London and France in the background...

Someone was really excited and it wasn't even her bed! I had to remind them about the monkeys jumping on the bed song.

Lord help me. I'm in for it with this one!

Snow Cream

We had a good old fashioned blizzard this weekend. Handy Man was in Dallas for work. I was playing pioneer woman - tending to the horses, fueling the tractor, crock pot cooking, chopping firewood. Chopping by the way is an over statement. Chopping meant positioning the hatchet in a crack of the log and then using a mallet to drive the hatchet deep enough to split the wood. I am pretty sure that had I actually tried "splitting wood", swinging an ax like Paul Bunyan, I no doubt would have either lost multiple fingers, if not my entire arm.

After dinner cabin fever was setting in. I had a genius idea. A little research on Pinterest and I found a quick and easy homemade ice cream recipe using fresh snow.

SNOW ICE CREAM
1 c. milk 1 egg, beaten 1 tsp. vanilla 1/2 c. sugar Beat well until frothy. Place mixture in a large bowl and add enough clean, fresh snow until the liquid is completely absorbed by the snow.

I gathered the pilgrims and we set off to make some snow cream. Unfortunately, my Brown Eyed Girl was surprisingly reluctant.

She said, "Mommy, we don't eat snow. Snow has poop and pee in it."

"Honey, this is fresh snow. It does not have poop or pee in it. See, look outside. It's falling from the sky right now and I am going to go scoop it up before it gets dirty."

She said, "What about rabbit poop?"

"Honey, we will get it from the deck. The rabbits don't come on our deck. Boji hasn't been on the deck all day. It's clean snow. Mommy wouldn't let you eat yucky snow."

She said, "Promise?" Really?!?! Like I would feed you yellow snow kid.

"Promise."

 

One large egg.

Milk.

Vanilla.

Thank goodness this recipe was easy to divide for equal contributions from my little chefs.

Sugar.

And  more sugar! The secret to yummy ice cream.

Mix well.

Pioneer woman, with no make up, out to venture the elements in search of poop and pee-less snow.

Ahhh pure, white, clean snow.

Mixing.

Ta-Da!
Yummy, frosty, homemade vanilla ice cream.

And the critics think...

it's Gah-mazing!

Even better with sprinkles.

A LOT OF SPRINKLES...

Mmmmm.

Both kids experienced their first brain freezes. My Brown Eyed Girl didn't understand why I called it a brain freeze. It was funny none the less.

I Scream.
You Scream
We All Love Snow Cream!