Whew.....busy, busy......

The in-laws just came home from a Team Penning in Virginia. They say it is the last of their "away" shows for a while. With fuel prices sky rocketing it just isn't worth hauling all those miles to play with cows! I still can't believe they went. My FIL was in the hospital all last week because that foot he hurt because infected. He ended up having surgery and being put on IV antibiotics. Two hours after being released he was on his way out of town. MEN! Sheesh he's a stubborn one. If he loses his toes or foot to the infection they just got under control it's his own fault.
So while they were gone we ran two horses last night. One, Frazee's Folly won his race. Folly is 11 years old this year and has racked up lifetime earnings of over 500k. Last night was his 18th win. He sure doesn't act as old as he is. He definitely loves his job!
Tonight we are running two horses that are new to our barn. "Keystone Mountain" is a horse we claimed for 5k. He was a good 200 pounds underweight and a nervous wreck. Poor guy. He didn't let us touch his face and was very sky. With some TLC he has packed on weight and become quite the charactor. Tonight we ran him for $7500 and he won. I guess that was his way of saying "Thanks."
Later tonight we have another new one running named "Way to Oz." Another sad looking horse when he got here. His coat was dull and he was in desparate need of weight. Now he's shiney and looking good. He actually put more weight on than Keystone Mountain in a shorter amount of time. He's more laid back but is clueless about being handled with a gentle touch.
I can't understand how people can think they can starve a horse, not take care of their feet and never have a dentist work on them....and then expect the horse to perform well. It just boggles my mind. Ack...anyway he's doing well. All of our new horses always see a dentist within a week of being here. 9 times out of 10 they are in bad shape and have a horrible mouth. I say Shame on the previous trainers!

On another note I took Hannah to the doctor today. While her cradle cap seemed to be pretty much history, she developed a rash on her chest and tummy. Come to find out I didn't have the CC under control like I had thought. The rash was caused by what little was left on her head. So we went back for more creams and some head and shoulders shampoo. I hope this works. Poor baby! Not that she isn't doing fabulously. She now weighs 14 pounds and 12 ounces. The girl loves her food! Her nights of colic are fewer and fewer thank goodness. So it is nice to have qieter nights.

Let's see....oh! Today is Sealy's birthday! She's 4 years old and fat as a tick out in her pasture. It makes me sick to know she's going to sit around and not learn anyhting for a while. I was hoping to be ready so show her this spring but life isn't working out that way. *sigh*
If/when Blake sells down in VA I hope to send her to my friend for some training.

Well, I guess that's it for now. I'm off to watch Ozzie run!

Happy Birthday Gramma!

Not that she uses a computer or will ever see this blog.....I thought it would be nice to let the world know that today is my Gramma's 95th birthday. She's a fiesty old lady who still lives on her own. She just decided to check into a rehab center so she could get some phyical therapy help. She said she wasn't to get stronger so she can walk more. God bless her!

In other news....my father-in-law had a horse jump on his right foot when he was tacking her up. She spooked and got him pretty good. He broke three toes and ended up with some pretty severe bruising. Now it's infected and nasty looking. I tok him back t the doctor the other day for different meds. Yuck!

I galloped two horses yesterday afternoon. It was 80 degrees and beautiful.

Later in the evening we took Hannah and went to a friend's for a party. He turned 30 AND his divorce was finalized. So he had reason to have a little fun. Hannah was wonderful. She was awake most of the time and quiet. Big change from a few weeks prior.

I'm hoping this might be the beginning of the end of her colic episodes.

Back to work.....

With the in-laws out of town for five days at a team penning it was up to me to start back to galloping our racehorses. I've been slowly building up my endurance and strength by riding my filly. I hoped that easier rides would help stretch my legs and get me back into shape. So since Mom is here to watch Hannah I've been out in the barn each morning. It feels good to be out there but I also know I'm missing my morning fun time with Hannah.
Today I got pretty motivated and gapped three horses. I've only been getting on one or two because I'm so body sore. But I guess we have to start somewhere.

Today was cold, windy and rainy. During my third horse it started sleeting. Oh joy!

I'm trying to bring along the older. out of hsape horses who have had a winter long break. I figured they'd be as out of shape as I am and it would be easier on my body.....hmmm....not so much.

One of my projects is a 9 year old gelding named "Watch and Wager." He was one of my mounts before taking my pregnancy break so it was nice t pair up with him again. He's won a lot of races for us and is such a cute guy.

Another horse I rode is also a 9 year old gelding. We owned him several years ago and had a lot of success with him. He was claimed form us and we decided to claim him back recently. He won his last race and will hopefully do well in his race this coming friday. His name is "A Good Day To Run." The third horse I got on is a new one to our barn. We bought him recently from at trainer at Philly Park. He came here rail thin and depressed. Poor fella! He seems sweet but unsure about affection. It started sleeting when I was one him. Brrrr! He was a bit of a "spook-a-boo" and thought that a water trough in one of the pastures was going to eat him. So I had to ride a bit defensively in order to stay in the saddle. Hopefully he'll come around though and run well. His name is "Back to Oz."

I feelpretty good about being able to gallop again. I missed it a lot.My legs and back are screaming something else though. Lack of sleep from the babya and getting back into shape have left me pretty tired. But it's all good.

Bathing fun!

Yes, I'm going to be that Mom that pulls out baby bath time pictures when my daughter comes home with her first boyfriend!

Tonight Mom and I decided to get some bath pictures of Hannah.

Let's get nekkid!

Last thing would be the diaper. I learned the hard way that once the diaper comes off....you get peed on! So I take it off right before setting Hannah into her water....so far she's "held it" until after her bath....

She loves her bath! Blow, getting her back and neck clean...

Below, cleaing her front side and in the nooks and crannies of her neck....

Time to soap up all that hair!
Almost done, one more rinse of her back....
Baby loves her bath!
Awwww......allll clean! Time to get dry and dressed....

Oh my! Hair gone wild!
Now that's better. First time having her hair blow dried. She thought that was prett cool.

A few tips:

~Make sure you have everything close at hand BEFORE starting. Nothing worse than having a wet, wiggly baby and no diaper or towel within reach. This is usually the time when they decide to pee on you!
~Stick you bottle of soap into the warm water before setting baby in it. This warms up the soap and you won't have a wet, wiggly and CRANKY baby form cold soap hitting her skin!

~Set a wash cloth on the closed toilet and set your hair dryer on top of it. If you run it on low and warm it makes the bathroom more comfy for baby. Plus they seem to be soothed by the noise.

~Be prepared to be wetter than baby by the time the bath is through!

Another trip tp VA

Lou and I left last friday with the baby and my horse on tow and headed back down to VA. The plan was to drop off my horse at a friend's house for training, visit mom and pick up some of dad's tools. The horse trailer came in pretty handy. While we were at the farm I decided to ride around on the kabota and take some pictures. The farm is starting to turn green again with the warmer temps and all the flowers are coming out now.

Here is the garden in it's early stages. The only thing comig up right now is lettuce. But it will be filled pretty quickly with all kinds of veggies.

This is the gazeno that Mom bought for the farm. They are planning on doing a formal dedication to Dad on the 17th of May. Inside are benches and a table and chairs. It also has a ceiling fan.

You can see the deck and fence surrounding the gazebo here. One of the other farm colony residents, Bill built the deck himself. The posts will be cut off to look more tidy when it is finished. The fence keeps the dogs in the dog pack and out of the gazebo.This guy below belongs to the daughter of one of the other residents. I always like this fat boy because he's so cute. I have no clue what breed he is....but was thinking possibly a quarter horse mix of some type. I don't think he's ever missed a meal!This is one of the ladies who is expecting in their "maternity ward." They had a calf while we were down there. I think they probably have 8-10 more to go. This little pony is named "Wednesday." She is about 35 years old and one of the original ponies of the farm. I rode her when I was about 7 years old. She was in foal and she bucked me off and went running loose on the farm. I remember her being quite a bit bigger than she is. She actually stands only about as high as my hip. This is the view form the back door of the old farmhouse. You can see the hay barn on the left and Mom and Dad's hour up on the right.

This is the front of the farmhouse. Guests of redsidents can stay there for $7 per night.

This is Cheyenne. She belongs to another resident. The kids like to ride her around. She's a gaited pony.

Whew! All that exploring on the farm has Hannah all tuckered out!

I have a lot more pictures to share but they need to be downloaded off of my camera. Hannah is awake in the other room so I guess that's all I get to share today!

Goodnight Sweetheart....

Well, I woke up this morning, looked at the clock and panic set in. I raced to the baby's room to see if she was okay and she opened her eyes, looked at me and went right back to sleep. Phew! Why the paranoia? She ate last night at 8:30pm.....went to sleep at 10:30pm and I woke her up at 6am when I raced in to check on her. She went back to sleep until almost 7am. I actually got 6 hours of straight sleep and it felt like 5 minutes. She typically sleeps until 3:30am and wants to be fed and changed. This is the first time she's slept so long and while it's really cool it sure did scare me! Yesterday she took a 30 minute nap in the morning, 30 minute nap in the car when I had to run to Auto Zone and then maybe 20 minutes at my in-laws. Normally she sleeps for 2 hours in the afternoon and another 2-3 in the early evening. So I guess we need to keep her up longer during the day. Normally you CAN'T keep her up if she wants to nap.

Today we go for her first set of shots. I'm nervous and worried about it. People have been filling my head with all sorts of info on vaccinating vs. not vaccinating. I've been dreading this day and am scared of all the recent info I've been given. Aside form the fact I know she's going to scream and that will break my heart...

I hope the doctor can ease my mind about the whole idea of linking autism to vaccines. I also know that if I didn't vaccinate her and she caught something I could have prevented, I'd never forgive myself.

*sigh* I wish noone had ever shown me any of those articles!