A Heart-Breaking Update

Little Naked Baby Lucky. Notice the cute little nose and his tiny little stubby tail. Tiny, tiny black dot to the left of his tail is baby bunny poop (we even think that is cute)! This picture was taken on Saturday. We think he is cute, although to everyone else, I'm sure he is kind of scary looking.

It is Sunday night, around 10:55. Lucky died just a few minutes ago and I am crying my eyes out. Everything the vet and PetSmart told us about caring for and nurturing baby bunnies was totally wrong. As per their instructions, we were trying to feed him every 3-4 hours and should have been doing it only once or twice a day. We were feeding it goat milk because bunnies and goats are both herbivores (made sense to me), but we should have been giving it Kitty Replacement Milk, because it is richer in colostrum. We didn't know we had to gently stroke his tummy so he would urinate and we didn't do it. This can cause the tiny bladder to rupture. We fed him too much milk from the bottle and he aspirated it into his lungs, and truthfully, I think that is what killed him. He was doing fine and we were figuring out all the other stuff (thanks to the internet and experienced "bunny-whisperers" sharing their knowledge), but I gave him his last feeding and milk started coming out his nose. I quickly stopped and started sopping it up with tissue paper every time the bubbles came out, but it was just too late. He was gasping for air and died about 20 minutes after I fed him - so quickly.

We have devoted so much time and energy to this little baby bunny over the past couple of days, and I kept thinking if we could get him past the first few days he would survive. Then I imagined him a tiny little fur ball in my hand (he was already getting his fur, he had two tiny cute little bottom teeth and he had his whiskers, but you could just barely see them. Even his tiny pin-dot sized poop was cute). We have been fascinated by this little creature for the past two days and I've hardly been able to think of anything else. Even in church today all I could think about was getting home to our cute little baby. Between Trevor and Kenna he was held in their hands with a little soft cloth to keep him warm practically non-stop. I am so sad and as he was dying all I could do was sit and stroke his little head and tell him I was so sorry I couldn't take better care of him. Trevor has already gone to bed so we are going to have to tell him in the morning and I am not looking forward to that. Kenna was standing with Kent and I when the bunny died and we just burst into tears. I'm sure in a few days I will be embarrassed that I cried about a baby bunny dying, even worse, that I blogged about it (even now I am thinking this is a little weird), but maybe not. Hopefully tonight I can grieve and get it out of my system.

I've always said I am not an animal lover, but I think having a family of my own and raising my own children has made me much more tender towards life in general. Even Kent is sad about him dying (but so far, I haven't seen him cry)!!! What a crazy, wild weekend it has been with so much drama and emotional ups and downs. At one point I told Trevor maybe we could get a boy bunny (or borrow the neighbor's again for a minute, literally) and he could sell the babies to earn a little money, but I don't think I can go through this again if it doesn't turn out well. I may have to recant on that. Thankfully, human babies are much easier (hard as I thought that was) and I was better at helping them thrive!

The Bunny Business

Yesterday, Trevor and I were out in the yard and happened to walk by our bunny hutch. We have two females in there and to our utter surprise, we also had four baby bunnies in there with them. They had been born that morning. It was really quite the exciting/surprising event at our house. We were totally unprepared for this so the momma bunny didn't have a nest to have her babies in. She had pulled out her hair to make a nest, just no place to put it. The babies were kind of sprawled on the wire flooring of the hutch. We found a shoe box and put some nesting materials in it that Trevor has for his hampster, and put the babies in the box, hoping the momma bunny would take it from there.

We checked on the babies and the momma several times throughout the day and it seemed to us that she was taking care of her babies, all except for one she had kicked out of the nest. We brought that baby in the house and then Kent bought a tiny baby bottle and some goat milk from the pet store. We are now hand-feeding this little guy. We continued checking on our babies, but around 10:00 p.m. discovered the other three babies had died. The momma just didn't know how to take care of them and they got too cold. I'm not even sure she was feeding them. I think if she had been able to properly prepare a nest, her instincts would have kicked in and things would have gone much better. It was so sad. After all the emotion and elation of watching this miracle of new life unfold, we had gotten so attached to these babies and we were looking forward to watching them grow and get much cuter (right now they are pretty naked and frankly, quite ugly, but we still thought they were the cutest things ever). We are now on a vigil to keep the one remaining baby alive. Kent was kind enough to get up every two hours during the night to feed this baby bunny, whom we have named "Lucky" (hopefully, not prematurely).

Kind as he was to get up with the "baby", he is the one responsible, in part, for the litter. A few weeks ago we found a stray bunny hanging around our hutch. We knew it was someone's pet and not just a wild bunny because he was so friendly. So Kent and Trevor picked it up and put it in our hutch planning to keep him there just long enough for them to go the ten paces to our shed and fetch our extra bunny cage. (They didn't check to see if it was a male for female - Bunny Keeping 101). Kent swears that bunny was only in there for 10 seconds, but apparently that was enough time for him to do his business (not to mention the fact that both Kent and Trevor conveniently forgot to mention any of this to me. I could have at least been suspecting she was pregnant and watching for signs). It was quite the nervous morning yesterday, with me calling our vet more than once to get educated about taking care of these newborn babies. I desperately wish we had brought all four of the babies in the house, but I also knew if the momma would take care of them, that would be the best for the babies. It's hard being a first timer and hopefully, we will never have to do this again. No more male bunnies in with the females!!!

P.S. About That Wellsville Mile Thing

I forgot to add this to my blog about Trevor running in the Wellsville Mile. Of course, I was there to cheer him on. They start the race, run around the school once and then the second lap they run to the finish line. When he came around the school for his first lap, I was standing where the starting line was and was cheering for him. He gave me a little smile as he ran by (regrettably, no picture). Then sometime after the race ended he said to me, "When I saw you and heard you cheering for me it gave me a little jolt of happy energy". That totally made my day. It was joyful beyond words for me to hear him say that. I would have stood in the rain for hours cheering him on just to hear those words and know that me being there made a difference to him and made him happy. I loved it! 

The Wellsville Mile, Again

Today Trevor ran the Wellsville Mile for the last time. Every year the 4th and 5th graders from all the elementary schools in the south end of the valley go to Wellsville Elementary and run a mile around their school. This is a huge competition - people take time off work to see this, which very much amuses me. 

Last year when Trevor ran this it was a hot day and he looked like he wanted to die when he came across the finish line. 

(Last year's picture.)

This year, however, it was raining. I'm not sure which he liked better, but from the look on his face, the cooler weather was better. Last year his time was 8 minutes 22 seconds and he came in 77th out of about 200 kids (5th grade boys). 

(This year's race.)

This year he shaved almost a minute off his time. He came in 59th with a time of 7 minutes, 36 seconds. He was so happy that he beat his time last year, and he beat it BIG. This is the picture of a satisfied boy. Way to go Trevor! I wish I could run a 7 or 8 minute mile, heck, I'd be happy if I could run a 10 minute mile.

The Frat Boys Are At It Again.

Did you see Michael Posner apologizing to China for our indiscretions? Apologizing to China? Can you believe this guy? When I first saw it on Bill O'Reilly, I thought it was a spoof from Saturday Night Live! As I watched, I realized, in horror, that it was no spoof. What is up with this administration? This guy should have been fired on the spot, no questions asked. How's that for human rights violations. Has he never heard the phrase "Free Tibet"? Has he never heard of "Tiananmen Square"? This guy is an idiot in a long list of idiots President Obama has appointed. From Robert Gibbs (WH Press Secretary, aka, White House Clown) to Eric Holder (US Attorney General, aka, General Twit) to now Michael Posner (Assistant Secretary of State, aka, Assistant Apologist, right behind President Obama who bowed to the President of the People's Republic of China - does Obama have some kind of uncontrollable tick?). I feel like the White House has become the Frat House. Instead of a proud country run by intelligent men and women, we have become a shameful nation run by a bunch of frat boys. By the time this Administration is finished (hopefully in 2012) we will, indeed, be a third world country. If you missed Michael Posner's pathetic apology, you can view it here.

Yippy, Skippy, I found My Camera!

Yea, I found my camera. So here are the pictures from our weekend in West Yellowstone.

Mom with almost all her granddaughters. Actually, she is missing about 7 granddaughters and 3 great-granddaughters (I've had to count that three times to get it right and I still may have missed one or two). We snuck a great-grandson in there. He is sitting on his mommy's lap up in the top right-hand corner. (Kara on the bottom row, left and Kenna, bottom row, right are not sisters, but could be. Kara married my nephew, Levi. Kenna and Kara not only look alike to me, but they also act alike. It's all good).

All of us - Mom, daughters, grand-daughters and great-granddaughters. (I don't know what this underline thing is all about, and I don't know how to get rid of it, ugh).

The sisters! Debbie (a sister by marriage), me, Janice, Mom, Shirlene and April. We missed Lanell and Shellie, and sisters-in law Cindy and Shauna.

Mom and four of her eleven great-grandkids. Mom and dad have 10 children, 9 children-in-law (is that really a phrase??), 32 grand-children and 11 great-grandchildren. WOW! What a heritage! The babies - Avery Jane behind mom's left shoulder. She is 6 months old and a sweet one with really chubby thighs and cheeks (very cute). Her entire face lights up when she smiles. Marley behind mom's right shoulder. She just turned one and is funny - she just learned to say "yes" but it sounds more like "yesh" with a big smile. She is always smiling.

Cooper, in her left arm, is two months old and the most mellow baby I've ever seen. I don't think she cried once, she just slept and ate.  Garrett, in her right arm, is chubby too and looks just like his dad. He was not happy this trip. I think he was suffering from tummy troubles. We got a smile out of him on occassion and I think his mom can make him smile whenever she wants. He and Cooper are first cousins (their mom's are sisters). 

It was so nice to spend time with just "the girls". We missed those who couldn't make it. 

This Could Be Problematic

I've been waiting to post my blog about our girls getaway this past weekend.  All the girls in our family went to West Yellowstone for a little getaway - my mom, my sisters and I, and all our girls. A few were missing, including Nicki, hence the post. Problem is no camera. I took it with me and the last I recall seeing it was about two hours before we left West Yellowstone. Kenna was holding it and I haven't seen it since.

List of things to do today:

Check with Kenna to see where the camera is.

Unpack bags and see if it is in there.

Check the rental car before returning to see if it is in there.

Check all the unexpected places to see if it turns up anywhere.

Call everyone who went on the trip with us and see if they ended up with it.

Go back to Kenna and ask her when was the last time she remembers holding/having/seeing it.

Call the condos where we stayed and see if it turns up there.   

Yummy Yellow and Magic Bullets

These are the cute flowers Nicki sent to me for Mother's Day. I love all colors and all flowers, but yellow is one of my all time favorite colors. I just love these, especially with the maroon lilies added just for contrast. They were stunning. 

On Mother's Day Kent and the kids grilled tri-tips and made a wonderful dinner for me. They also gave me a "Magic Bullet". I was a bit under impressed with this and was thinking I would probably return it. But to my surprise, I love it. I make smoothies all the time, in fact, we are kind of a smoothie making family. So last night I tried out my new gadget and loved it. Now I am a smoothie making junkie. I made four last night just so I could show the entire family (or at least those of us still living here) how to use this nifty little item! I also got up and made scrambled eggs for breakfast. Okay, I probably could have made them just as easily without the Magic Bullet, but it wouldn't have been nearly as fun! Who knew!!!

One More Thing

I know, this post will actually show up first, so reading the title is a bit confusing. But while I was at Sam's club the other day I picked up a magazine that caught my attention. I took it home and thumbed through it while I was eating lunch. Then when Kenna got home from school, she was flipping through it too. The magazine is called "Clean Eating". It is a magazine dedicated to, among other things, eating foods in their most natural or close-to-it state. Now don't go off and get discouraged at this point. This magazine actually has good food in it. Good food that's real, not over-processed, over-flavored and over-sized, and not difficult to find or cook. Kenna was looking through it saying stuff like, "Can we have this tonight?" or "That looks so good". She's by far not my most picky eater, but I think even Kent would like this food. It is just good. Check out their website here. I actually ripped out the little flag thingy that you mail in for a subscription to the magazine and I'm excited to get my first issue. 

The rules for clean eating:

1. Eat 5 to 6 times a day (I can do that).

2. Drink at least 2 liters of water a day (I think I can do that).

3. Get label savvy (I already do that).

4. Avoid processed and refined food (I mostly do that).

5. Know thy enemies - high saturated fats, trans-fats, fried foods, foods high in sugar.

6. Shop with a conscience.

7. Consume healthy fats (I way over-do that).

8. Learn about portion sizes (I know, but don't do that).

9. Reduce your carbon footprint (okay, I'm not a huge environmentalist, but the idea here is to eat seasonal produce that is local - I do that as much as possible b/c it's better for your body and wallet).

10. Drink water with a lemon wedge.

11. Slow down and savor (I need to do that).

12. Take it on the go - s0 many recipes are lunch box friendly.

13. Make it a family affair (indeed, I plan to do that).

Check it out and happy, healthy eating to you!

Two Book Reviews

Here are a couple of books I have recently read that I think are interesting and perhaps you will too. No more "frothy Mormon literature" for me (thanks to Janet, my sister-in-law, I can now refer to all LDS novels as FML).

I just finished reading this book and loved it. I started it Monday evening and finished it Wednesday evening. I even mowed the entire yard and weeded two of my gardens in between, but I didn't get much else done! It is about the relationships between white women in Jackson, Mississippi in the 60's and their domestic help (black women). Very fun and interesting novel that delves into a somewhat sensitive issue. I loved Minny and loved hating Ms. Hilly Holbrook. Reader Beware: There is one part of the book where a man tries to attack a couple of women. He is completely naked and while there are no pictures, it is somewhat descriptive. It was disappointing to me that it was in there, but it was pretty benign and I am recommending this book to my 15-year-old daughter and my mother, gasp! Just so ya know.

Another book I read just a couple of weeks ago. It has a bunch of stories about people who have survived some pretty incredible disasters and what it took for them to survive. The author, Ben Sherwood, has also included some pretty amazing stats in his book. For instance, did you know that you have a 96+% chance of surviving a plane crash? Do you know the two most important numbers in military training are 98.6 and 3? Ninety-eight.six is your core body temperature and that is the first thing military personnel are trained to protect in a crisis. Three is a magic number that goes something like this: You can only survive 3 seconds without hope and faith. You can only survive 3 minutes without air. You can only survive 3 hours without maintaining your body temperature in extreme conditions. You can only survive 3 days without water. You can only survive 3 weeks without food. You can only survive 3 months without love and compassion. (I think I have that right, it's been 2-3 weeks since I read the book and I loaned it to my mom). At the end of the book there is a list of common survivor traits and a website where you can take a very accurate survivor test to see what kind of a survivor you are. I am a "Believer", while Kent is "Realist". Do you have what it takes to survive a disaster, whether personal or otherwise?