Happy 2nd Birthday Calum!

 

On Calum's first birthday I was a very mean mommy!  I scheduled his 12 month vaccinations!  He was so dopey and not really himself.  We did still have spaghetti, his favorite, and cake and even gave him his present!  But I have always felt bad for neglecting his birthday, especially his first!  The two pictures above are from his first birthday, he absolutely loves Whinnie the Pooh, we have actually found him fast asleep in his crib sitting up against his Pooh bear!

So for his second birthday I felt like we should make it up to him and have a little party!  Grandma Debbie, Uncle Buck, Auntie Arren, Gilbert, Lily, Auntie Rachel, Liam and Grandma and Grandpa Puzey all were in attendance!  We had a simple supper of Beef Dip and salads, sang happy birthday and let him open his presents!  It was a fun evening, hectic and overwhelming as any birthday party is for someone so little!  He was so excited with his first present he really didn't know what to do with rest, good thing there other little kids around to play with his new toys!  Because Calum is so obsessed with anything that has wheels, he got lots of "Broom, brooms!!"  Mommy and Daddy got him a bounce back remote control race car, which he is terrified of unless he has the control and is standing up on the couch out of its way!  Grandma Debbie got him some cars that make car noises when you push the top and Grandma and Grandpa Puzey got him a toy skid steer that moves forward and backward and even lifts the bucket up and down!  He loves this and is finally getting the hang of which buttons to use!  They learn so fast, it is a little unnerving!  He also got a puzzle from Auntie Rachel, that his mommy is thoroughly enjoying!

As a birthday tradition I made him a special cake, this year I made a race car cake, it turned out really cute even if it did take awhile to get right!

Over the years I have made lots of fun cakes!  For Emry's 1st birthday I did Elmo, her 2nd a cow, 3rd was much simpler, a bicycle (sorry, the pictures I have for these are on our other computer and I haven't quite mastered the technique of transferring them!!), 4th a barbie, 5th a swimming pool and 6th a popcorn box (for a carnival theme!)  For Calum's 1st, like I said earlier, Whinnie the Pooh, and his 2nd, a race car!  For Jared's 33rd birthday I made him a guitar cake, because we gave him the Beetles Rockband for the Wii!  It is so much fun, I love to see their reactions.  I hope to always carry on this tradition!  Emry never wants to know, and is always making sure I keep it a secret, if I do say anything she is always quick to tell me "Shhhh, its supposed to be a surprise!"  When I was icing Calum's race car she asked why I didn't make him a princess cake, I told her because he is a boy and boys don't like princesses, she answered with, "Oh, right I forgot!"  I secretly think she was wanting a princess cake for herself!  Maybe her 7th will have to be a princess!

Wow! We had quite the morning!

This morning I went to get Calum out of bed and as he stood up he said "Owweeee!"  He wasn't crying and he wasn't whining or even whimpering when he said it.  I could smell that he was stinky so I assumed he just had a sore bum!  When I took him out to the living room before I got a diaper and some wipes I noticed that his toe looked funny.  Looking closer I could see that the end was very dark purple and there was a clear, thick string wrapped around it.  I touched it to see if what I saw was real and he again said, "Owweeee!"  So I ran to the bathroom to get some scissors, but when I got back to him and took an even closer look I realized there was no way to cut it, especially with him being so wiggly!  I took Calum and the scissors up to David and Myrna's room hoping they would be able to help me.  I held onto Calum while Myrna cut the string.  It was hard to tell at first if she got it, and then instantly his little toe turned a nice healthy looking shade of pink!  He still didn't cry even with the blood flowing back!  I would have been jumping up and down and shaking my foot, I hate the feeling of pins and needles.  Once that little episode was over we just seemed to move onto the next adventure!

I was in the bathroom doing my hair and Calum comes in trying to take his shirt off to get into the shower.  So I turned it on for him, it makes doing my hair and make-up a little easier!  While he was in the shower our phone rang so I naturally went to answer it.  It ended up being my dad, while we were talking he asked me what his little man was up to so I told him he was in the shower!  He asked if I ever worried about him turning the knob to make the water hotter, I told him I haven't because usually Emry is in there with him, and I was pretty sure he couldn't reach it.  While I was getting dressed Calum came running out of the shower calling me!  He was very calm, just calling "Maammaa!  And then his tone would change like he was asking a question!  I came out of my room to show him where I was and I instantly noticed that the left side of his body was bright red.  I touched his arm and it was very warm so I ran to the bathroom to see how hot the water was, and I saw that he DID turn the knob all the way to HOT!  I turned it off while he was grabbing a towel for himself!  Still he wasn't crying or even complaining.  I sat him on the cool leather couch and continued to get dressed!  By the time I was done, about 5 minutes later, his skin was back to the normal color!

Our next adventure happened as we were leaving the house to do Time for Rhymes at the school in Champion.  First I had to move his car seat into the Jeep, which Jared and Dave have been using as a fencing vehicle, so it is absolutely covered in mud, and the only other available seat besides the drivers seat was completely full of miscellaneous fencing materials!  I also had to feed our calf, Charlie before we left!  I was able to get Calum's seat in the already packed Jeep and him strapped in so I wandered over to Charlie's pen only to realize he was nowhere to be found!  I finally found him on the other side of the barn behind the bushes!  I called him and he came running!  Good thing I had his bottle or he would have trampled me!  I was only wearing my flip flops because I was planning on feeding him through his pen.  While I was leading back to his pen, he stepped on the back of my flip flop and it came off, he then got the top of my foot slightly.  I got that all sorted out and got him into his pen, but since he likes to knudge quite hard I had to keep his bottle in his mouth while I pulled his gate closer to the barn so he wouldn't get out again.  Doing this with one hand, a two hundred pound plus calf sucking on his bottle while pushing into me, and being 7 months pregnant was not an easy task to perform!  Finally, Calum and I were off to Time for Rhymes, only a couple of minutes late!  You would think our adventures end there, but sadly they don't!

When we were leaving the school Calum was able to sneak out the doors with one of the little boys, before I could get to him he was around the side of the school on the way to the playground with no shoes on!  A friend of mine was walking up to me as I was going to get him, and while she was talking to me he came running back, only to instantly take off again, this time toward the track.  Again he came back before I got to him!  On my way home I called Jared and told him that Calum was going to be the death of me.  He has no fear and when he is hurt we really don't even know it.  If I don't hold onto him he would run where ever in no time at all.  Once at the grocery store I carried him out to the car and when I put him down to open his door he took off back into the store and climbed into one of the car carts they have.  He again made it all the way in and was sitting in the little car before I could get to him! I think I either need to step up my game to get faster than him or keep him on a tight leash, which by the way I do have!  Thankfully this was the last of our adventures!  Although the day isn't quite over yet!

The Meaning Behind the Name

I should tell why I chose the name, Poverty Flats Cattle Company!  Jared's grandpa Fred used to drive over the hill coming from the west and say "Poverty Flats..."  Jared always said if he had an automotive shop set up at the farm he would call it Poverty Flats Motors.  Jared and I have had a few cows through my Mom and Step Dad, Dick for the last few years.  This year Jared and his brother Dave have decided to join together with the 57 cows and make a real go of it!  Dick took time to seed some of David's poorer land to a mixture of grass and alfalfa.  Which has done amazing!  Dick truly would be proud to see what his hard work has done!  Anyway the guys decided to cut and bale that land and already have enough hay for this year and if it dries up somewhat they could have enough hay for the next year as well!  Jared took a week off work to get corrals and a fence built around the home quarter and was actually able to accomplish a lot between the awful rainy weather and Dave helping out after he was done work for the day!  I think they are having a great time working together, they seem giddier than two little school girls!  Besides feeding all winter they also plan to calve the cows out in the spring!  I admire their ambition and all the hard work they have put in, and who knows one day we just might get into our house!  Here's hoping for our fourth estimated time to move in...next spring??  We were able to have a little adventure a couple of weeks ago!  We have been bottle feeding one of our calves since last May, we aren't sure if he was a twin or if his mom just didn't want him.  He was born during one of those horrible spring storms!  Anyway, Jared was just curious if he was castrated, and it turned out he was not!  Jared borrowed the correct tool from my Brother in-law, Buck, and he and Dave were ready and willing to get to work!  Once they had Charlie down on the ground they realized Jared couldn't get off of him and Dave couldn't let go of his back legs, even though he had them tied.  It turns out that Charlie is a very healthy, if not spoiled calf and probably weighs over 200 pounds!  Either I was in the wrong place at the wrong time or I just looked like I was wanting an adventure!  Being 6 and a half months pregnant didn't stop the boys from "requesting" that I do the dirty work!  It was a little tougher than I thought it would be and the tool was on the verge of being too small for the size and age Charlie is, I will spare all the gory details!  Anyway, we were successful!  What normally takes one guy to do when the calf is first born took three of us to do 6 months later!  I think we did an excellent job for being newbies at it!

Grade One!!

Emry started Grade One this year!  I was a little anxious for her because she wasn't real fond of Kindergarten.  At the end of the first week my nerves were put at ease!  When asked how the first week went, she responded with "GREEEAT!"  I am so happy she likes school, she has done well so far, 100% on two spelling tests and out of two math worksheets she only had one answer wrong!  Her favorite subject of course is Recess!  We are so proud of her and can't believe where the time has gone.  Six years old already, pretty soon she will be graduating and then getting married!  Where does the time go?

Should We Trim His Hair or Not?

I think we should tidy up Calum's hair!  When I run my fingers through it while he is sitting on my lap this is how it ends up looking!  Jared doesn't think we should, and honestly I agree!  His curls are just so adorable, but I don't think it would hurt to tidy it up on the sides and top a little!

Joining the Blogging World!!

Well, I guess it was only a matter of time before I too joined the ranks of other fellow bloggers!  I have read and kept up to date with both my sister in-laws, and have thoroughly enjoyed them, it just looked like so much fun to create!  So here I am!  I hope everyone who reads this finds it as exciting as I do writing it!