Tis the Season...

I LOVE the fall. I love the colours, I love that it cools off, but doesn't get cold, I love Turkey Day, I love the Fall Fairs, I love the fruits and vegetables that are in season in the fall...apples and squash...Mmmm! But with the beginning of autumn also comes the onset of a less appealing season...Flu season! Boo! At the risk of annoying everyone with more talk of H1N1, I am going to talk about it for a second anyway...

Miss Madelyn had her 6 month check up last week during which she was weighed, measured and given two more vaccinations...the same two she received the first two times. I was quite proud of Miss Maddie ...all 18 lbs and 27" of her. My brave little baby managed yet again to keep the tears to a minimum! Go Maddie! However, I didn't notice at the time, but it was pointed out to me later that during her visit with the doc, there was no mention whatsoever of Flu shots.

I have NEVER had a flu shot...at least not that I am aware of. I never had them as a kid and I have never gotten one myself. Mom and Dad didn't seem to think they were that necessary...we knew lots of people that would end up sicker after getting a flu shot than those who passed on the vaccine. I suppose their theory was the old "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger"...we were farm kids...we ate dirt and played in the barn...with all that barn dirt around us, our immune systems were fantastic! We all had the flu once in a while over the years, but we were never any worse off than our classmates and friends who had had the shots. I have always agreed with mom and dad's decision to not have us vaccinated against the flu...really flu shots are a crap shoot. The health officials make an educated guess at which strain will be the most prevalent and that's the one they use for the vaccine. If you happen to pick up a strain other than this particular one...you're plum out of luck!

Don't get me wrong! I am 100% FOR getting vaccinated...the flu is the only vaccine I sit on the fence about. Maddie has been receiving all of her scheduled shots and Carm and I are up to date on ours...I sort of sound like I am talking about dogs getting their rabies shots...Anywho...

I had decided that I wouldn't get a flu shot again this year and I hadn't thought about looking into one for Maddie either. However, it was pointed out to me the other day that Maddie is on the priority list for the H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available...babies, pregnant chicks and old people. So, now I am a little confused. I hadn't planned on getting her a regular shot...but should I be worried about the H1N1? Everyone I ask seems to have a different answer.

Life was so much simpler when I was only responsible for gambling with my own health...

If you have any opinions on this topic, please be sure to leave me a note...I would love to hear from you all as I weigh the pros and cons!

On another note, Stratford Fall Fair is this weekend!!! WOOT! It kicks off tomorrow night with the annual Fair Ambassador competition. As a past ambassador myself, I am super excited to have been asked to photograph the big event! I must admit that I am also a little nervous...this will be my first big event! Yikes! Here goes nothing!!

Drumbo Fair is also on this weekend. If you happen to be in the area on Saturday, be sure to hit up the baby show and cheer on Miss Madelyn as she takes on baby show #2 on the circuit!...Man, it really does sound like I'm talking about dogs or cows...Yep, we've got her all vaccinated and ready for the show, just gotta load her on the truck and give her a final groom when we get there before the show starts...

Speaking of cows, the boys had me take a couple pictures of one of the Jersey girls this morning. Check out our two favourites that we picked out...

 

Baby Shows, Weddings and Solids....Oh My!...

Well folks, the blog has been on quite the hiatus the last couple of weeks...but, now that a couple of the big late summer/early fall events are out of the way, it's time to get back at it!

Paris Fair has come and gone for another year. As promised, Miss Madelyn made her debut on the baby show circuit...Holy Toddlers & Tiaras batman! I went in there thinking that there would be 40 kids tops and that it would be more of a "fun" competition. Wrong! When Maddie and I got there at 9am to register, there were hundreds of strollers....HUNDREDS! It was like nothing I have ever seen before. There were over 50 baby girls in the "Dressed in My Sunday Best" special class! I also have absolutely no idea how they judged the age classes...I assume the three judges were picking the cutest baby, but one can't be too sure as there was never an explanation. My darling Maddie did NOT win, but had a solid showing earning her very first "thank you for participating" ribbon...BOO! She was the CLEAR winner in my books, but perhaps I am somewhat biased. She was DEFINITELY the most personable and happy little girl in her class....and also the biggest...actually I think she may have been the biggest in the next age class as well... Anywho, we went to the baby show and had fun, but I think from here on out, we'll leave the baby shows to the crazy stage moms that yell at people and have the nerve to call my little Maddie a boy. I'm sorry, I may be biased, but my baby girl does NOT look like a boy. From now on, we'll stick with the dairy shows!

On a VERY exciting note, my very good friend Ursula is now MARRIED! Her and Ted tied the knot this past Saturday in a BEAUTIFUL ceremony in Oakville. The weather was perfect, the party was fantastic and I couldn't be happier to have been a part of it!

One other equally exciting event taking place on Saturday was Miss Maddie's six month birthday! Our little baby is already half a year old...jeez! Where does the time go? Our big girl spent her six month birthday away from BOTH mommy and daddy (we were at the wedding) and much to our dismay, she did just fine without us. I guess we should get used to this since she is only going to keep getting more independent as she grows, BUT there was a small part of me that hoped Grandma Nancy or Auntie Nicole would have to call us...is that bad?

With 6 months comes the intro into the world of solids for Miss Madelyn. On Sunday, Maddie enjoyed her first meal that consisted of more than just milk...Rice Cereal! Yum! Much to our surprise, she dug right in and inhaled the whole tablespoon and half that I made for her. It's a good thing she enjoyed it so much because I sampled a very small amount of it when I tested the temperature and it tastes bloody awful!! It would have been interesting if I had had to convince her it was good... If she is as open with all the new things we give her as she was with the rice, we'll be laughing! Something tells me it may not be THAT easy all the time, but here's to hoping!

Since Maddie is half a year old, it was time for another little photo shoot. Be sure to check out the slideshow below of the pictures!

I Place this Class of Babies...

It's that time of the year again folks...Paris Fair starts later this week! To quote another fellow Holstein/Jersey breeder, "Driving through the gates at the Paris Fair is better than Christmas"...ok so maybe it's not quite that exciting, but it is a lot of fun.

Since becoming an official member of team Ash Lawn, it has become one of the busiest weeks of the year for us. As with other years, we have the usual repertoire of events that we participate in...the dairy 4-H show, Holstein show, beef 4-H show, Shorthorn show and the ever important main event at Ash Lawn, the Jersey Show.  

I am still very leery of the whole beef show thing....I'll be honest. I am terrified that the crazy things would run away with me....so I just sit on the sidelines and watch. I told Carm if he had a cute little well-trained one that I would show that one, but so far no dice. He tends to take older heifers and trains them a couple days before the show....not exactly my idea of well-trained!

I am a dairy girl through and through, so I LOVE the Holstein and Jersey shows. We don't have anything for the Holstein show this year (BOOOO!), so I will just be watching, but we have the usual string for the Jersey show....including my very own little brown cow, Brenda, who has graced Paris Fair with her presence for the past 4 years. Go Brendy! 

Maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves, but Carm and I are super excited for when Maddie can show a little calf of her own at the show! Both of us started when we were little, so we are eager to share the tradition with Miss Madelyn. Since, she is a little young this year (and maybe next year as well...), Maddie will just have to stick to the baby show for this year. Conveniently, the baby show is held in the morning before the Jersey show starts....Perfect! 

I didn't know much about baby shows until last year when I was asked to "judge" the baby show at another local fair. It was quite the experience. There were babies EVERYWHERE. The categories were drawn from a hat and then myself and the other judge had to pick a winner for each category. At the end of the show there was an award given out for the happiest boy and girl in each of the age categories. 

Now I know there are a number of dairy folks that read this blog, so you all can likely imagine how hard it was to keep from laughing the entire time I was there. Essentially, it was like a cattle show. All these parents showed up with their kids....most were locals, but as with the dairy shows, there were also the "Ringers" brought in from other towns/cities. They would call each age class up and the parents would take the kids and line them up (just like a dairy show!). Then we walked up and down the line and picked out he winners. Good thing we didn't have to give reasons..."Ladies and Gentlemen, I place this class of 0 - 6 month old female babies as you see them here today. I'm starting the class off with a girl I feel comes to the top of the class"....

Anyways, since we are now the proud parents of the CUTEST baby girl in not only Paris, but the WHOLE WORLD (ok so maybe I'm a bit biased), we have to make an appearance and show OUR baby at the baby show....we'll bring her in the car though....not the trailer. If you're in the Paris area on the holiday Monday, be sure to stop in and cheer on Maddie as she vies for the title of cutest baby in her "Sunday Best!" 

Daddy's Girl...

As some of you may remember from a previous post, when we found out we had a little farm kid on the way, Carm was hell-bent that it needed to be a boy...a boy to play hockey and be a farmer. We all know how I feel about this, so we won't go into the whole "girls can do anything boys can" spiel again, but the point is Carm was a little thrown off when we were told Maddie was a girl and not a boy.

It took him a couple of days to get used to the idea of having a little girl....I don't think I can count the number of times he told people I "turned his boy into a girl" in those first couple days after our ultrasound. Eventually though, he warmed up to the idea and the closer the due date came, the more excited he became (well, as excited as Carm can get). He constantly talked about the livestock that he and/or Grandpa George were going to buy for her, what chores she would do in the barn, what shows she would go to, the baby contests she would enter and win, etc. And then the moment Miss Maddie made her fashionably late (she IS a Kyle) appearance, any lingering doubt about having a baby girl dissipated as he was handed the little pink bundle that was Madelyn.

She has had him wrapped around her little finger since the word go.

Within weeks of her arrival, Maddie was a budding livestock farmer with a baby lamb, several shorthorn calves, a jersey heifer calf, a holstein bull calf and 21 baby ducks to her name...her first public outing was to the Spring Discovery Holstein and Jersey show in London!

Carman has never hesitated to help out with any of the "Maddie Chores"...he can change a mean diaper and even tries his hand at picking out outfits for her from time to time....he needs a little work on coordinating the socks with the rest of the outfit, but he doesn't do bad! He is a very hands-on daddy and one of the best parts of being a mommy sometimes is just watching him interact with Miss Madelyn. It can be quite entertaining!

Like I said, she has him wrapped around her little finger. 

But, her daddy is not the only man she has charmed in her short life....Grandpa George and Uncle CK also fit nicely into each of her back pockets. I have quickly learned to dress her in her "barn clothes" when we go down to the farm to visit during the day because between her dad, grandpa and uncle, her outfit is never clean for long! She is well versed in making chop, feeding calves, milking cows and checking the cattle at the pasture farm. 

This past weekend I spent the night away from Maddie for the first time. I was a little worried, but Carm didn't hesitate when I said he would have Maddie by himself for a full 24 hours. His mom was also away for the day, so it really was Maddie and the guys for the day. From what I hear, they all had a great time....there was a pile of laundry to prove it!

It is definitely a relief knowing that I can spend the night away without having to worry about how they're getting along. Next up....Carm and I will BOTH be spending the night away from her next month...will we be as lucky? We'll have to wait and see!

On another note, I had a couple of photo shoots with Mandy and Drew and Suzie and Swithin over the weekend, here are a few of my favourites:

Mom's the Word...

That's right folks! At a mere 5 months and 5 days, miss Maddie has given us her first word...a resounding "MAMA"....much to her daddy's disappointment! I think this milestone has been my favourite so far. Since it's difficult to capture first words in a picture, here is a play-by-play of how it went down...

Maddie: "Mama"

Nancy and I look at each other...

Me: "Did she just..."

Nancy: "I think so..."

Maddie: "Mamamama"

Me: "Holy crap!"

Ten Minutes Later....

Me: "Carm, guess what Maddie said a few minutes ago! She said mama!"

Carm: "No, she didn't."

Maddie: "Mammma"

Me: "Told ya"

Carm: "No Maddie, don't say that. Say papa"

Pretty much it has been the above scenario over and over again all day today! Now, we are pretty sure she doesn't fully understand what she is saying or the significance, but nonetheless, she has said her first word and keeps repeating it....much to her daddy's dismay! I think we will have a little chatterbox on our hands in the very near future and I couldn't be more excited!

On another note, "Operation Turquoise Shutters" is now complete! A big thanks to Chris and Steve for all of their hard work on the painting! Our little hobo hut has now been transformed into a classic country cottage.

Now we just have to learn how to garden so our flowerbeds look like flowerbeds and not jungles...

We have also had a couple of unusual "hot" vehicles stop in at Carmalee in the past few weeks. One was some sort of hotrod thing (I didn't get pictures) and the other a hot air balloon. The hot air balloon landed on the laneway right behind our shed! I quickly got over the embarrassment of answering the door in my pajamas when I saw the multicoloured balloon in the backyard!

I don't think you would ever get me up into one of those things, but they're pretty neat and they can land in my backyard any day!

Dirty Laundry...

Last week was chaos around here with all of the last minute things to get done before the wedding. Maddie, Carm and I spent the majority of our days down at the farm helping put the finishing touches on the beautifully manicured yard where the ceremony was to take place. Friday afternoon and evening, I finally had to take a few hours to tidy my house and get ready for the visitors that would be in the following day. I dusted, vacuumed, did dishes and did load after load of laundry...with things looking neat and tidy, I was ready for bed as soon as I switched the last load of laundry into the dryer...

I reached into the washing machine only to find my quilt sopping fricken wet!! UGH!! Just what I needed at 11:30 pm the night before the wedding. After attempting to restart the spin cycle a couple of times I concluded that my two year old washing machine was broken. Again...UGH!!!

I had a call into the washing machine repair man first thing Monday morning, but laundry is not classified as an emergency, so I am sans washing machine until Saturday morning for sure. At first, I didn't think 5 days without a washer would be a big deal, but as the week has gone on, the temperatures outside have got hotter, the baby and the husband have both gotten sweatier and the laundry pile has gotten BIGGER. I had to breakdown and haul a load of Miss Maddie's stuff down to Carm's mom's since we were down to her last pair of summer pjs. Tomorrow I will likely have to do some towels as well. Another crappy thing about the washer breaking THIS week...humidity! Normally, you can get two showers out of your towel before it needs to be washed as long as you hang it up....when it's humid our towels do NOT dry.  If you shower in the morning, the towel is still wet at night and has a beautiful musty smell....that's right, musty not musky. I HATE that smell. So, since we're down to two clean towels in the basket, a trip to Nancy's Laundry Mat is on tap for tomorrow.

On another note, today is Miss Maddie's 5 month birthday!!! YAY! I can't believe the little wiener is almost half a year old. It seriously seems like just yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital...a mere 8 lbs 1 oz then, little miss Madelyn has skyrocketed to over 16 lbs already!

Have  look at some of my favourites from our 5 month photo shoot yesterday!

Let Them Eat Steak...

That's right...steak, not cake. Anyone can eat cake, but you need to have good teeth to eat steak....two of which my darling Maddie has now! I know my last post was about teeth as well, but teeth are a big deal in our house these days. After being on the receiving end of several good steak-worthy bites...per feeding!!, I have decided that enough is enough with the whole breastfeeding thing. I have managed to wince my way through every other breastfeeding blunder thrown at me for the last 5 months and call me a wuss if you must, but this mama draws the line at being bitten. "They" say that you have to let them get one good bite in in order to teach them not to....well my little diva baby looks at me and laughs after she bites while I am telling her sternly that she shouldn't bite mommy...I think I am in for a lifetime of defiance if she is starting already...uh oh!

Anyways, I have cut back to just one nursing a day for now and will drop the last one in a couple of weeks. I am still pumping enough that she gets only one bottle of formula and the rest is breastmilk...so I am not a complete failure as a mom. I also have quite the supply in the freezer for her, so I should be able to keep her on minimal formula until she is well over 6 months (my initial breastfeeding goal).

I may have "given up" just shy of my goal, however, I am ok with my decision. I stuck it out through a lot of tears and crappy booby trauma, so I am saying "job well done" to myself. Not only am I much happier when bottle feeding miss Maddie, but I have a 5 month old that is happy, healthy and well over 16 lbs, so she is off to a good start. 

Now I am just looking forward to having my boobs back to myself and wearing REAL bras again! La Senza here I come! Woot!

On another note, I have another sister!! My brother-in-law's wedding was this past Saturday and despite the rain, it was a BEAUTIFUL day and a great party!! I happen to know the photographer personally, so watch for some pictures coming soon!

Well, time for a little "mommy time"...Confessions of a Shopaholic! Until next time my friends...