8. At the reunion, I knew I had only one more week until the farmer and I would find out what we were having. Here’s another selfie of my progress the morning of our ultrasound. I was anxious and nervous. Giddy and excited. The farmer just knew it was a boy and he’s never been wrong about the gender of anyone’s baby including our first child, so I was prepared for a male outcome. BUT, on the off chance it COULD be a girl (and that the farmer totally missed his own child), I was prepared for a female outcome, as well.

I have trust issues.

Aaaaannnnddd….. (Drum roll, please)

The farmer’s streak officially came to an end.

That’s right! He totally missed our second child and we’re having a GIRL!

He was almost speechless for a good hour after we left the doctor’s office out of utter shock.

You have no idea how badly I wanted to put udder there. So. bad. I resisted.

But, I still had to tell you.

Looks like my dear, sweet husband will continue to be surrounded by girls. Once the shock wore off, he settled right in to the thought of another daughter. It’s easy to do when you already love the one you have so much.

I watched Taegan work calves today with the farmer. She’d get behind them and poke them with a stick to run them into the squeeze chute. Or she would stand her ground when one was trying to find a hole to run through. She’s a little bit of nothing compared to some of these calves, but they don’t sense any fear in her. (Sometimes, we wish she would have a little bit of fear). The farmer turned to me while manning the head lock thingy and said, “Taegan’s going to be quite the little farm hand.” I said, “Who needs boys?”

Depending on how difficult our youngest daughter’s babyhood is, I could be game for giving a boy another go, but if it never happens, I won’t be sorry.

“One good daughter is worth seven sons.” (Ruth 4:15)

In our case, two daughters. 🙂

9. The farmer made baleage out of the sudan-sorghum crop he planted.

It extends down the rolling slope that Missouri has no shortage of. I didn’t use to take the time to appreciate crop scenery. Booorriiinngg. However, that is not the case now. Pastures full of lush, green forage for our cattle is a beautiful thing. Knowledge of the hard work and money that goes into putting this in the ground only increases the appreciation. Now, we’re waiting for it to grow tall enough again for a second cutting.

10. I was down at the dairy barn one evening just sitting on the parlor steps talking to the farmer. Taegan was sitting there beside me and we were being absolutely harassed by flies. Flies on the farm have been extra bad this summer. She was “feeling her oats,” up to mischief, and making somewhat of a nuisance of herself, so I got this hare-brained idea to run into the house and grab my flyswatter.

Sometimes, I have moments of pure genius. And great curiosity. If I started killing all the flies and their friends, would the others get the hint and run for the hills?

Plus, it was good stress relief for me as I have absolutely no regrets about killing these little flying, black, buzzing things. When all the cows are around, you can’t fail.

Mother of the year award. Right here. I like to give my children opportunities to succeed. Every time she got one, it was, “Mommy! Mommy! I got one!”

Here and there and everywhere. SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! Basically, we created virtual chaos in the barn that evening for the farmer. I’m sure the girls milked really good that evening.

He just shakes his head and looks at me with wonder. Wonder at my BRILLIANCE.

What can I say?

Oh, and my research concluded that flies do not mourn the death of their friends nor do they seem to worry much about being slain themselves.

11. We bought new equipment for the dairy barn so that we could milk more cows at a time. We’re a small dairy and we have a small barn. It was built to only be able to milk 8 cows at a time. Let me clarify that. Eight Jerseys at a time. Fitting a behemoth of a Holstein in here gets really tight. It can be done, but it’s not comfortable. The farmer has been milking only 4 at a time because we didn’t have a large enough vacuum pump, enough lines, enough of this or that to be able to milk all 8 at a time. Well, we finally acquired everything we needed and got everything wired and set up. He’s now able to milk 8 instead of 4. Both sides are going at the same time.

He came out of the barn the evening it was finished and says, “Woo-hoo! I’m a double four!!” We both got a chuckle because we know of at least one dairyman close by that has a double 16 barn and there might be others with more. Milking 32 cows at a time takes a lot of help and my farmer is a one-man show, unless his mom drives down to spend some time.

And by spending time, I mean work. She helps him milk the cows and gets to visit with him some in the process. His sisters do the same thing when they’re at the farm. In fact, we all do this. Getting time with the farmer requires work.

So, we’re happy with our double four. One person couldn’t milk more than that at a time and see a decrease of time spent in the barn. When your husband works 14+ hours a day, every little bit of extra time shaved off matters.

12. Lastly, we went to visit my cousin and her family in Kansas City. She has chickens. And chickens are animals that Taegan has never been around. No matter…she took right to them. I, on the other hand, keep my distance. You can’t trust feathered beasts. I don’t like geese. I don’t like chickens. And I really don’t like Martins…stupid dive-bombing brats.

My child, unlike her mother, seems to have a calming effect on chickens.

We now call her the chicken whisperer. This little chick was so soothed that he fell asleep.

Or he’s just narcoleptic.

We also went to Sealife and the kids were totally fascinated.

So was I.

That pretty much catches up everything we’ve been up to this summer, not including just the tasks of everyday farm life. Now, we’re in a mad dash to clean out our guest room for the nursery, prepare fields for fall crops, start back to preschool, learn how to sew, do more demolition/cleaning up of the farm…

Oh, and have a baby somewhere in there.

And by learning how to sew I mean attempting to make all the baby bedding for the nursery–pillows, curtains, the whole shebang. My mom is going to help me because I have never sewed once in my life. Take that back, middle school…where I couldn’t have sewed a straight line if someone had had a gun to my head. I love design and decorating. I have the whole nursery designed in my head, but no way to implement it. If I can learn how to sew, I just might be on my way to being unstoppable. Look out world! Breauna knows how to use a sewing machine!

Needless to say, chaos is going to ensue in the house, on the farm, and in our minds.

Until next time,

 

Breauna