Don’t freak out: part 1

[WARNING: semi-graphic content…if you are vegan or just don’t like pictures of raw meat, feel free to stop right here.]

We slaughtered and butchered a goat this morning. And when I say “we” of course I mean my husband. It’s kind of like when I say, “We need to go milk the goats, huh?” Anyways, we had decided that Pippin was to become dinner, but we had put off doing anything about it until we could find someone to walk us [“us” meaning my farmer husband guy] through the process. We couldn’t find anyone. So like any other time we need a person to walk us through something… to the internets! We watched some videos and became experts. Well. Kind of.

Husband Guy did a great job and was done in just under an hour and a half. I watched, took pictures, and held kids at bay until the goat wasn’t so much Pippin as Meat.

 

 

I won’t give you the gorey play-by-play but overall it was fast and relatively easy. Neither kid was allowed to be out there until he had been skinned and decapitated. Naomi wasn’t interested in seeing any of it, although she is excited about eating the meat (she explained to me how much she loves eating meat and that Pippin will taste good). Not really sure where my carnivore daughter came from. Garyn was all about watching the disembowling process…best anatomy lesson ever! It’s not bloody at all so we could easily point out parts that Garyn has (liver, lungs, heart, large/small intestine, bladder) and the parts that only the goats have (big old rumen). He said it was very interesting and yucky. Not a big deal at all, which was kind of surprising to me. Stay tuned for part 2… Don’t freak out: The Grinder!

p.s. Yes that is a weight lifting rack that Neil has him strung up on. We figured if Neil can do a pull-up on that bar it could support a 50 lb goat through the dressing process.

Physical Therapy

I don’t write about Down Syndrome very much because it really doesn’t play a big part in our lives. One thing it has added though, is our weekly playdate with Miss Beth. At first we came to Beth so she could do Cranial Sacral therapy on Layna because we weren’t sure why she was breathing so loudly. Now that little little girl is bigger, she doesn’t need Cranial Sacral anymore but has transitioned into physical therapy to help with her low muscle tone and gross motor development. Or to get one on one play time from another goofy adult that loves her. Or both.

Waiting room and Therapy room. It’s kid heaven for all three of them with trains, wall to wall mats, and shelves and shelves of toys. And this is our fabulous Miss Beth.

 

This is what little man and little girl do while Layna does this:

 

 

Mostly it’s a lot of silly games and high-pitched squeaky noises followed by deep belly laughs from Layna. We try to sneak in crawling and standing and walking practice when she isn’t looking.

Developmentally Layna is doing great. She started this thing last week where she will get on her hands and knees like she is going to crawl. Well, she hates being on her hands and knees and refuses to crawl, soooo she then gets up on her toes (sometimes using her head as support while she repositions her hands) and does the Yoga position “Down Dog.” After hanging out like this for a bit she plops down amid enthusiastic applause from the rest of us. Also, little miss Thang is getting quite the attitude about feeding herself. She insists upon holding the spoon and will condescend to let me help guide it to her mouth and back to the bowl. I can only feed her by myself if she is starving. Sleeping great, loving her mobility (getting across the family room in 3.7 seconds flat), and still terrorizing her siblings… I love watching her become more her everyday. Who knew that extra chromosome would be kinda fun?

good morning

“Mommy my lips are BOOTIFUL!!!” (yes that would be expensive black eyeliner)

Her brother made sure she was properly equipped for her epic battle with the blanket. Who knew Trio blocks made awesome viking helmets? My son! thats who! He made himself the Deluxe version.

Happy Wednesday!

 

Halloween…again.

Sorry. I forgot to post pictures of the girls costumes. I e-mailed them out then checked Halloween off of my mental to-do list. Anyways…Nay wanted to be a pink princess (you are stunned, aren’t you?). I wanted her to be a ghost. Enter…a Ghost Princess!

Layna didn’t have a choice. And she hopefully won’t have an opinion for many more Halloweens to come. I do have to say that her yellowe tye-dyed onsie was an epic fail. Turns out I couldn’t get the bands tight enough because it was too small a shirt. Go figure. Oh well, her smile goes a long way to covering mommy mistakes.