Orphaned Lambie and Other Things

 Aragorn's sister called with an urgent plea to care for a twin lamb the ewe abandoned.  Sam and Frodo went right over and brought home a 2 hour old lambkin who was still damp from birth! Meanwhile I googled how to care for one.

 Kili was so excited for a little lamb in the house.

 It was decided it was a boy so we named him Ezekiel since he was born on the Feast of St. Ezekiel. It also happened to be Good Shepherd Sunday.  Neat!

We found a Costco box and put in 2 hot water bottles and a soft sheet to keep him warm.

  Next I needed to make a homemade "collostrum milk" Here is the recipe:
3 cups cow's milk
1 beaten egg
1 tsp cod liver oil
1 tsp glucose sugar (we just used regular sugar)
Whisk well. Shake before using.
The lamb should drink 15-20% of his weight in a day's time. So if the lambie weighs 3 pounds he will eat 9.6 oz per day (3x16x0.20) then divide by the number of feedings.  So if he eats every 12 hours he eats less than an oz per serving.
The idea is to use a bottle, however, he couldn't seem to get it to work so we used a syringe.

 The first night was spent very wakeful. Poor thing wanted his mom. We had to feed it every couple hours. Frodo ended up putting it in a roll out bed with him to keep it from whining.

 At some point in the night Frodo got the Lambie to drink from the bottle.

 The lamb is a shetland so tinier than most. It was about 3 pounds when we got him.

 We set up a pack and play with a waterproof sheet underneath.

 And some sheep's wool with the hot water bottles underneath.

 In the meantime, Kili really, really, really wanted a cotton-is-not-candy ball. He insisted.

 He tried it.

 Then decided that his "baby sister" (that would be what he calls Marigold... who is 2 years his senior) should have it. :D

 Our priest came over on Tuesday to bless our farm. First the little lambie as blessed... as a Paschal Lamb. haha

 A new-to-us vehicle was blessed as well. Notice Kili was the knight on duty to defend the priest. Notice the sword...

 He then decided to put the sword down and pray.  How precious is that?

 Blessing the lands

 Blessing the animals

 Meanwhile... lambs piddle... ALOT. So I googled "Lamb diapers" sure enough. So I went out pronto to get some diapers. (Sorry, I wasn't going to cloth diaper a lamb!!)

 This is a size 1 cloth diaper. Worked like a charm. You simply cut a hole in the diaper and put the tail through.

 One little trick, be sure to put the diaper on reverse as you would for a baby. It fits much better. So the front will be on top on the back.

 There is no doubt this lambie gets plenty of lovin'

 Day 2-3 we had to start gradually replacing the collostrum milk with "lamb replacer". However, lamb replacer is about $6 per gallon, the homemade stuff is less than $3 a gallon.  Here is the recipe:
4 c whole milk
1/2 c heavy whipping cream
1 beaten egg
1TBSP natural whole milk yogurt
Whisk well. Shake before using. I store ours in a canning jar.

These days he eats every 3 hours.

 Locally this little old school house (or church) was moved. Just funny seeing a house going down the road.

 Days 4-6 the lamb only eats the lamb replacer and eats every 4 hours (6 times per day). I just get up in the night when I get up. And usually that is about 5-1/2 hours.

 I love that my girls love dolls and even if they don't play with them, they decorate their room with them. This dress was given to me for Poppy when she was born.

 We have had beautiful weather so have spent much time outside. Lambie goes out and gets time out of the diaper!

 "Let me see the picture" before I've even taken the picture.

 Lambie meets the cats. He seemed to have the same attitude towards cats as I do. Ignore them.

 The gray one was ready to pounce.

 I was trying to get a picture of the lamb's new teeth but he was rather uncooperative.

 I was blessed to be able to attend the IHM Conference in Milwaukee. It was awesome. I was able to get most of my books. I enrolled 4 of my children in Seton Homestudy full time and it was GREAT. It was a very, very good fit for us.  I found tons of old books we didn't have, but more on that later....

 Saturday (lambie is 6 days old) was a work day. Fire often seems to be part of a work day.

 The girls and I cleaned out our Mary garden.  Lambie was helping.

 Lambie found his own little sleeping spot.

 Marigold and Kili both wanted to show you that our May flowers blossomed. What's fair for one is fair for the other!

 Merry then shouted, "There are airplanes going over, 3 of them!" I don't know but we do get excited about planes going overhead. Then I hear, "There are THOUSANDS OF THEM!!"

 I ran to get a picture of them to hear, "There are FIVE!"  Thousands, five, what difference does it make?  Give or take a thousands!

 Scrubbed up for lunch.

 This, however, is why we have to "Scrub to the elbows!" Ewwww!

 After this bottle feeding I told Aragorn he needed to band the lamb as that happens between day 1 and 7. However, this procedure was not meant to be... HE was a SHE.  Ezekiel is now Ezekiella. However SHE has many names, I think the most common is "Goatie" I the truth be told HER face looks like a goat and SHE has goatie hooves.  But the names are "Ella, Zeke, Lambie, etc... there are lots of them.  I was excited that we can now put a bow on HER.

 However, Kili fell apart, "I want him to be a boy just like me" and he sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.  I told him he could pretend she was a boy not quite like him. Kili seemed satisfied with that. Today he reminded me that she is a boy.

 My first thought was "The beacons are lit!"

 That was what I saw from a distance from our house.  But that explains why Aragorn told me to go get marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate. However, due to the exception weather, there were NONE but mini items at the grocery store. So I thought we were going to be creative and roast tiny marshamllows. However Dollar General still had 2 packages left. *phew*

 Child is not in the fire, in case you were wondering.

 One might note that patience for the fire to die down isn't something we have in this house so everyone stood 10 feet away trying to get a little tinge of melted marshmallow.

 Next was the army crawl... must have s'mores.... NOW!

 It was important to Marigold to show off her very own made s'more.

 And her second s'more.

 Sam came up with the idea to light a stick and make a small fire to roast over.  Hand held s'more maker.

 Others found tiny fires on the ground.  *chuckle*

 There are some who ride bikes to fall off.

 Milkshakes and popcorn snacks on Sunday afternoon.

 Sam, Merry and Pippin went fishing/canoeing today and found a tiny turtle they hope to keep alive.

Happy 1st week birthday Little Lambie!  SHE is now 7 days old. Tomorrow she starts eating every 6 hours. She's 4-1/2+ pounds. So will be almost up to 16 oz per day which will mean 4 oz bottles. (In case you were wondering)