And THIS is why farm kids have good immune systems…

June 30, 2011 
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We are back to milking (just for ourselves and the pigs at this point)–right now it is only 2 cows but it should be 5 in the near future. Two cows really isn’t all that bad using a milker, but everything still has to be cleaned regardless of the number of cows being milked, and it is a bit difficult is finding the time to milk twice a day along with everything else we do, and a baby.  Thus the reason my sister Gracie is our milkmaid, and for the most part I don’t have to worry about it at all.  BUT, there are those annoying times when she decides to, you know, have a LIFE outside of milking, how dare she, right!?  So, she has been out of town for the past few days.

A couple of nights ago we ended up getting back into town from meat pickup at almost 10:30 pm, (about an hour later than the cows were supposed to be milked) so we went straight to the dairy to milk.  Of course, I had forgotten to bring a sling for Ada but she was sound asleep in her car seat, so I figured, this will be no problem, she’ll stay asleep and we’ll be able to milk, right? WRONG.  Almost as soon as we got there she wakes up and will not go back to sleep.  Here I am holding a baby on my hip while cleaning a cows udder, putting the milker on, etc.

Nathan comes and takes over that part while I get the bottles ready to feed calves.  I’m holding the bottle in one hand trying to get the calf to stop running in circles and latch on, Ada is on my other hip, and finally I get the calf going and everything seems to be working out.  Ada proceeds to lean over as far as she can behind my back and grabs a leaf off of the nearby willow tree.  Of course, it immediately goes into her mouth.  I have no free hands to remove said leaf so I use the only thing available, my mouth.  I spit out the leaf and try to maneuver away from the willow tree with Ada again leaning out as far as she can to get it–my arm is killing me at this point.  Finally the calf finishes and Ada grabs the slobbery nipple on the bottle, I pull it away and her hand, now covered in milk, calf slobber, and who knows what else, goes into her mouth, *sigh*.

An hour later as we are finishing up, I realize that Ada has three spots of manure on her face, I have no idea how they got there, but there they are.  By midnight she is finally asleep again in her car seat headed home, manure, milk, calf slobber, and all.  And in case you are wondering, no she doesn’t really have a schedule, and yes, she is a very flexible baby, in more ways than one.

On a side note, apparently calf bottle nipples make great teethers–this is the only thing Ada has enjoyed chewing on while getting 4 teeth at once.