The Packard Family Update

Well, lets see.  I should probably do just a general update on our family for those that actually care.
Daddy: Tired.  Is that an update?  He works hard all day, every day.  Monday through Friday he gets up early, feeds the animals, goes to work, comes home and works on the house or the farm, plays with his girls, and goes to bed exhausted.  On the weekends, I try to get up and make a special breakfast and let him sleep in some, but he still has to get up pretty early to feed the goats, as I'm no longer able to do it on my own (think: dragging 100+ pounds of stubborn goat out of the garage, while 3 other goats fight to get in).  He really likes his job, and even passed up a chance at supervisor training so he could stay in his office longer.  He's also really enjoying his other 'job' as a farmer.  We've been building a fence over the last week or so, and other little tasks and I think it just nourishes his soul, just like it did for his mother and grampa.  He is happiest when he's productive, and that's certainly easy to do around here!
Me:  Tired.  But that's not really new.  I'm almost 34 weeks pregnant and by 3pm I'm just plain tired.  R keeps me very busy, and besides that, there's all the other housework that has to be done.  In the process of becoming more self-sufficient, I've taken on many more projects than I ever thought I would, including (but not limited to): bread, yogurt, jam maker, diaper maker, soap maker, clothes steamer (alternative to dry cleaning), seed starter, homeschool teacher, and farm researcher.  All of these things, along with the normal cleaning, laundry, dishes, cooking, mothering, keep me pretty busy.  And on top of that, I'm preparing for a new little one!  I help out around the farm as much as I am able, but most of the time, I'm just standing while Daddy works.  He appreciates the company, and I appreciate the fresh air and peace of being outdoors.  I recently started seeds, which is a little later than I'd like, but will probably work out best with the crazy weather we've had, and the impending baby arrival.
R: Busy!  R has certainly inherited Daddy's nature for needing independence.  She has a stubborn streak and a strong-willed side that I would trade most any day, but as a friend (who also has a strong-willed child) and I discussed earlier, I will be thankful for that streak when she's older and will stand up for herself more than I ever dreamed of doing.  I will be thankful for her independent thinking and her take-charge nature, just like I appreciate those attributes in Daddy.  It's just more difficult now because she lacks the ability to be diplomatic.  Oh well.  She is a very bright child, and I am thankful for her (I just sometimes need a break!).  R is learning to read already, and that has been a fun adventure.  She knows her letter sounds, and is sounding out 3 or 4 letter words with short-vowel sounds.  Daddy has been going through the training I went through with her new phonics program, and is also getting in on the reading with her.  I think he's learning just as much as she is!  It's amazing how much better you can read if you know the rules!  We aren't doing a lot of homeschooling right now, just because I'm planning on taking maternity leave in a few weeks, and then we'll be on 'farm leave' with planting, harvesting, preserving, etc.  We still do little learning lessons, just nothing formal.  R also started her own seeds and is excited to have her own garden this year.  She wanted it to be  in a special place by the house, but decided to move into Mom's garden with the new fencing to keep the rabbits and chickens out.  She's almost completed her 2nd year of gymnastics and still loves it.  Her motor skills have grown by leaps and bounds just since September.  And she loves the time to just roll around and play rough for an hour a week.  She's anxiously awaiting spring-time weather so she can play on her swingset some more.  This winter, with all the cold weather has really made her a little stir-crazy!
Animals:  The chickens are growing and laying.  We recently had yet another farm tragedy where we lost 6 more chickens.  We are going to build a new fence around the back pasture this summer, and we are also putting Sydney through more training so she can be in the back pasture with them as protection.  Right now, we have 12 hens and 1 rooster, and we're getting between 3 and 6 eggs a day.  We also have a whole batch of eggs incubating in the dining room.  None of our hens decided they wanted to sit on eggs, so we decided to hatch them on our own schedule.  We will have baby chicks the day before Easter.  We've looked inside the eggs ('candling') and out of 33 eggs we put in there, only 1 hadn't started developing.  We'll check again on Saturday to see if they're still growing, but we should have lots of chicks on Easter!  We've also ordered some more chicks because we're going to start breeding them next spring.  We wanted certain breeds to sell chicks and hens, so we got a good stock of a couple breeds that we like to start that process.
The goats are silly, as usual.  Tianna is due to deliver any day, and all four of them have become great friends. They play together all the time.  We are planning on building a barn for them this summer so we have a place to milk and feed them that isn't in the garage!  Those girls think they're going to starve if they don't eat every time you walk outside!  We have also started a holistic (herbal) worming regimen for them.  Goats naturally carry worms, and they only cause a problem if the system gets out of balance.  Amazingly enough, we think Ariel has been sick since we got her in December, because just in the last 3 weeks, she has become a friendlier, faster, sweeter goat than she had been all this time.  I'm happy it's helping the overall health of my goats too.  And no extra 'stuff' in my goats milk! (which we'll have in a couple weeks!)
So that's the update.  The Packard Family as of the third week of March, 2010.  Hope your year is going well and your families are healthy and happy!