1400 miles and home again!

Hannah and I made our rounds in West Virginia and also in Virginia last week. We drove down to Huntington first to visit my grandmother. She had not seen Hannah yet in person and I wanted to visit her at her home. She's turning 95 on April 20th and I was worried that if I didn't make the trip soon she might never get to meet her great grand daughter. We only spent about 90 minutes though because her appartment is very small and VERY hot. I still had two hours to drive to get to my aunt's house and Hannah started getting cranky. None the less it was a nice visit. Gramma got to hold Hannah and went on and on about how she looked just like a baby doll. Next it was off to my Aunt's for the overnight stay. Mom had driven to her house and left her car with my aunt. Then was planning on riding back with me to VA. After we arrived my cousin came over with her 6 kids. Hannah had a tought time dealing with how loud the group was and we had a bad colicy night. Our adventure was starting out to be a little bit tough.

The next morning Mom, Hannah and I headed out for VA. The drive was a long 4.5 hours but Hannah slept for most of it. Later I was able to get a few cute pictures of Hannah smiling while mom held her.

My week in VA was very busy. Neighbors visitedoften and we hardly stayed home. Hannah was a trooper though. She has a couple of nights that were bad but all in all I think she did well. We went up to Upperville on wednesday to visit my friend Michelle. And the on Friday we had Mom's lunchin for her birthday at a local winery. Afterwards it was back to the house for desserts. Mom's friend Debbie planned everything and baked for days to prepare. I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

Debbie's daughter brought her son Everetts down from MD. He's a month and two days older than Hannah. They seemed mesmorized by each other. We got a ton of cute pictures.

Hannah and I....as well as my faithful dog Jazz headed home saturday afternoon after visiting "Uncle Don" and having some other neighbors come by. The 6 hour drive turned into 8.5 hours with a cranky baby and hungry mom. But we made it home and have finally gotten back on a normal schedule.

Now I know why we were a ford family!

Growing up we always owned fords. Cars, trucks and vans. Dad was a huge fan of Fords. I was too until I married into a Dodge family. We currently have two dodge duallys, a half ton truck and my durango. Lou bought a "run around truck" that happened to be a chevy s-10 because it gets about 30 miles to the gallon. Right now, three of the four dodges are out of commission. The half ton runs and so does the chevy. We recently purchased a Ford 3/4 ton truck out of an auciton.....it runs too.
I'm planning on leaving sunday morning to go visit my grandmother and introducing her to Hannah. Then I plan on heading to VA to stay with Mom for a week. Unfortunately my durango is acting up AGAIN and is not reliable. So I had to call up hertz and rent a car. Ironically they are either going to rent me a ford or a chevy....hmmmmm......

In other news I looked out the window this morning and saw Sealy standing there nekked. Pretty sure she was clothed last night! Looking around the pasture I spotted her blanket in a heap. Sharon walked out there to put it back on (she was wearing mud boots and I wasn't) and Sealy had managed to get out of her jammies without unhooking a single strap....but ripping the blanket to shreds. It was brand new too. *sigh*

Oh and to add to everything that has broken recently....out 3 year old washing machine took a dump yesterday. It was full of clothes and water. So Lou enptied it by the bowl full. Some friends came over to help move it out and put a newer one in. We happened to have one stored for his grandmother in the farm garage. Man....I don't want to ask what's next!

Not just any other day...

Happy Birthday Dad. You would have been 62 today. Gone way too soon......We miss you!

Sealy is so cool!

I don't know what I was thinking....but today I decided I wanted to ride my four year old filly. Sealy hadn't been ridden since last April. I had a friend put 60 days of riding on her while I recovered from hand surgery. When she came home I got to ride her twice before she got sick with a cough and the snots. So I gave her 4 weeks off. Then I found out I was pregnant and I worried about falling off a young, very green horse. So I made the decision to give her the rest of the year off. She needed that time to grown anyway.
So over the past months I've visited with her and groomed her but never rode. Until today! Yesterday she came inside for a good grooming and trimming session. Today I put the saddle on and walked her to the round pen. She was being really frisky and I wasn't sure if I had the nerve to get right on. So I turned her loose in the round pen. She went off bucking and rearing like she'd never worn a saddle! Yet still I had this strong urge to ride. So I got on. Low and behold she didn't put a foot wrong. She was fantastic. I knew there was a reason why I loved this filly so much. Now I'm anxious for our next ride and to see how she takes to her training.

Paging Dr. Who?????? Is there a doctor in the house??

Why is it that doctors make you wait for hours on end when you have an appointment at a certain time? Hannah's appointment was at 1:15pm yesterday. They made us wait in the waiting room for 30 minutes. Then once we were in the exam room we waited another 20 minutes. What's up with that? These are baby doctors....they SHOULD know that people do try and keep there children on a schedule! ahhh! So I ended up pulling out a bottle to feed Hannah in the office. Otherwise she would have been screaming through the visit.
When the Doctor finally came in she said Hannah's skin looked 80% better than it had been and she was really impressed with how quickly she had healed up. We discussed her colic a little and I also told her Hannah had some eye goobers in her right eye. Turns out she has a blocked tear duct in that eye. So back to the pharmacy we went to pick up some prescription eye drops. Oh well, I'm not doing anything all day in the house anyway (so hubby states....)........

Hannah was 11 pounds and 14 ounces yesterday. She's certainly not missing any meals!

After her 6pm feeding I dressed her up in a suit her granpa bought for her. We went for a little walk down the driveway and watched Lou rewire the plug on the new trailer. I stood at the back and told him what wire lit up what lights. Hannah seems to like to cold. She's a warm body like her father. Plus you put her in one of those snow suits and she's out like a light!

We visited Tipping and Blake as they ate their dinner and eventually walked back home. Tonight we are going to go visit Carie at her house and watch Valid Dancer race on TV. Crossing parts for a win!

I rode!

Woohoo! I haven't sat on the back of a horse since last May. It was really my third ride on Blake yesterday but my first "real" one. The other two times were walking around in the round pen wondering when my body would stop hurting. It was super cold and windy and I almost didn't get on. But you gotta start somewhere right? Blake was pretty good. I can't complain since he really doesn't know anything yet.
Looks like my in-laws are heading back down to their place in South Carolina again. This will be their fourth trip down there this year alone. They are trying to set up the farm down there for winter time lay-ups. Summer is just too hot and miserable to even try and get all the barns built. So they are doing it now. I just feel sorry for Lou. He's left behind to do all the barn work here. Not to mention we are racing tonight so he's going to be really tired tomorrow. Hopefully (knocking on wood) we will win and it will make it all worth it.
We bought a new truck last week. Well, new to us. It's a 2005 Ford 250 powerstroke. We just had a gooseneck hitch put in for hauling a trailer. It's a fancy looking truck with chrome accents. The interior is leather with HEATED SEATS! I must in this neck of the woods if you ask me!
The only problem I'm seeing with the truck is that fuel is now $4.10 a gallon. What a rip off! I just filled up my gas tank today for $3.17 and I thought that was a deal! This is crazy!

Hannah is doing well. Still colicing at night but not for as long. Now instead of lasting for 6 hours it's been more like 3-4 hours. She also started getting fussy at 4pm rather than 6pm.
She has an appointment on thursday to recheck her skin. She looks a ton better now so hopefully the doctor will be happy with that. I'm interested to see what she weighs now.

Snap, crackle, pop!

I went to the chiropractor yesterday for some aches and pains I can only assume came from child birth. My left hip was out, a vertibrae in the middle of my back was out and same with one in my neck. He had a good time letting me know I will probably ache in places I never knew I had as Hannah gets older and heavier. I'm hoping to get out today or an hour or two and ride my newer horse Blake. Just to get a feel for how my body is healing. Even just walking will give me a good horsey fix. If my hip is okay then I'll try riding a little more.
Of course it's pouring outside....added to all the puddles and ponds we now have form the snow that melted yesterday. What a mess!
Hannah has been colicy for the last four nights. Her internal clock says 6pm is a good time to start screaming and not to stop until 11pm or maybe even midnight. Last night I packed her in the car and took her for a ride. It did the trick! Well...until we got home of course. Then she started screaming again. Finally by about 10pm she took a bottle and eventually fell asleep about an hour later. At least I think it was that long. I fell sleep in the glider while holding her and woke up around 11:30pm. Good thing I stuff pillows under my elbows! She stays put well and seems to be a great body heater.
Ahhhh....I hope this colic stuff doesn't last long. I just ordered something called "Gripe Water" made by Colic Calm to hopefully stop this in it's tracks. It's a homeopathic liquid that says it stops 90% of colic in babies. Crossing my fingers it works!

Poor Baby!

Well we found out that she has Cradle Cap as well as bad acne. The acne breakout is because she's allergic to milk products. So she's now being switched to a soy milk product. I have to put baby oil on her head everyday and get the scales off with my nail! yuck! Then she gets shampooed with a product that is for this type of eczema. Then we have a medicated oinment to put on her skin everyday. Add to that she's been colicy last night and tonight. Lou took her for a little while so I could have a break. Man I hope this soy helps!

As far as her weight she's 10 pounds and 11 ounces!! They said to feed her a little less which will be interesting as she's very demanding when she's hungry. She only put on a 1/2 inch in length though. So that's the update. I had to cancel my chiro appointment because the snow was so bad and the roads were a mess. So I will try to go on monday and I'm counting the minutes!