First Birthday and First Haircut

Sunshine had a cupcake for her first birthday,  River had a mini pumpkin cheesecake, and Ocean got a brownie cupcake with whipped cream.

two candles because you need one to grow on

One thing we changed was to celebrate his birthday with singing and cupcakes at lunch, rather than waiting until after dinner. Unlike his older siblings who had their celebrations in the evening, Ocean did not have a meltdown.  He just chowed down on his brownie :)

Since Ocean had his birthday, it was also time for his first haircut. He was getting so shaggy, though not as shaggy as River was.

blonde shagginess that was too long

I will say I didn't immediately love his haircut, but a week later it's growing on me and him (it's going to need a trim soon!).

darker blonde hair cut off, lighter blonde hair left on his head

The transformation is so striking. We saw it with River, and it was the same with Ocean. One minute they're a shaggy-haired baby, the next they're a little boy ready to get into trouble.

I love this picture of Ocean. And yes, I did photoshop it a bit to take his scar out.

And for the side by side comparison:

One Year

1 year.

How has it been that long already?

This little dude was in a hurry to come once he made up his mind.

Ocean continues to giggle madly and crawl as fast as he can towards whatever he's supposed to be staying away from (stairs, chick brooder, etc).

He's walking more and more. He took his first steps this past month, just like River did. Sunshine didn't take her first steps until she was 14 months old. How much is gender, how much is personality? Sunshine is much more cautious than the boys. But birth order could play into it as well- the boys have a big sister to look up to. Just this past week his confidence has skyrocketed and he's started walking (ok, staggering) more and more.

His top two front teeth finally broke through. As a breastfeeding mama, I'm not at all sad about that. However, I do feel like teething has been a more painful experience for him because they came in so late.

Ocean likes making noises with his tongue on the roof of his mouth. It's like a new toy :)

sharing a popsicle with mommy- it felt good on his sore little gums

that face! mommy didn't give the popsicle back fast enough and he was not happy

He really wants to give up his morning nap, but he's just not ready. The last three Sundays he's stayed awake all through church (we have 9 am church), only to fall asleep in the last two minutes after fussing for the fifteen minutes before that.

he usually falls asleep during our hikes

Ocean is such a giggly baby. Sometimes all it takes is a look to set him off. He's also very ticklish :)

at the Fourth of July parade. he looks so much older here.

He's starting to wean himself. We consistently nurse first thing in the morning, but only sometimes nurse one more time after that. He's too busy and not as interested. I'm curious to see how long the morning nursing lasts. I don't think it'll go to fifteen and a half months like River did, but he's lasted a year like Sunshine, so I'm happy. Still a little sad to see this time coming to a close though.

Like River, he loves his blankie. The other day I'd brought his car blankie into the house to be washed, but when we ran errands later that day I forgot to bring one with us. An hour and a half of screaming ensued while we took care of our errands and he voiced his extreme displeasure at not having his blankie to snuggle. In his mind, car seat time is thumb sucking and blankie snuggling time.  Thumb sucking can't happen without his blankie (River's the same way), so not only did he not have his blankie, but he couldn't suck his thumb either. Lesson learned.

he loves eating

look at that cute face!

At his one year checkup he weighed 21 pounds, 14 oz and was 28.5" tall. That's about the 50th percentile for both, I think. I feel like he's a super chubby baby, but he's really not. He's just the chubbiest of our babies :)

Chicken Coop Progress, Week 12

coop after week 11, roof half on, only part of the coop being used

Last week I hit the treadmill once, went for a hike, and worked on the coop three days. It wasn't a high mileage week, but I did make significant progress on the coop. Temps got up to the low 90s and humidity levels ranged from 40% to 80+%. So, super hot and muggy, and lots of sweat. Yet another reminder why I tend to retreat inside to the air conditioning very summer.

Last week I also finally got new orthotics. My old ones have been giving me problems for awhile now, plus my body mechanics have changed after being pregnant and giving birth to another kiddo and still carrying around extra weight. When I got scanned for the new set we saw that I got my last pair two and a half years ago, just a couple months after River was born. So yeah, it was definitely time for new ones. I kept my mileage low as I adjusted to them, but already my feet feel so much better.

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I had hoped to get the run finished last week, but the heat was just too much for me and I didn't make as much progress as I wanted. I did get the fence lines dug out and I started cutting the 24" wide 1/2" hardware cloth in half for the buried portion of the fencing. I don't need more than 12" for that portion, but I couldn't find 12" rolls of fencing. I am determined to finish the run and get the chickens outside this week, though.

two sides of fence cut, third side still to go

I knew the roof would be finished on Saturday, so I wanted everything else inside finished so the chickens could have full run of the chicken portion of the coop. I started by hanging the windows. I used the table saw to rip scrap 2x4, 2x6, and 2x8 pieces from our stash to the proper width to fit between the screen on the outside of the windows and the window frame on the inside. This adds more wood to secure the screen to, reduces drafts around the windows when they're closed, and keeps the windows from swinging too far in and getting stuck.

the unpainted wood pieces are the ones I added, white trim boards will cover them eventually

west window propped open, you can see how close the south window is

east window hanging closed. 

I need to add catches to all the windows so they don't blow open in bad weather

I have the screen on the outside and the windows opening inward because our trees are always dropping branches and I don't want the windows breaking because a branch fell on them when they were propped open.

Pretty much as soon as I had all the windows hung with the hinges on the top I realized it wasn't going to work well. When the east window was open it blocked the entrance to the coop. The west window overlapped with the south window closest to it and blocked the west wall as well. Because the south windows are over the brooder, it's not a problem for them to open out above it. Unfortunately these realizations came after I hung all the windows and I was out of work time for the day, so they stayed that way for several days.

lots of propping up going on

Since part of the coop is for storage, I had to install a dividing wall and door inside the coop. I finished the dividing wall while our friend and his brother finished installing the roof panels and ridge cover. I used two crib panels I pulled from the neighbor's trash awhile ago for the upper portion of the wall. It keeps the chickens in, but allows great air circulation. And it was free! The rest of the dividing wall is scrap siding and plywood from our stash. It doesn't look super pretty since I had to make sure the window would open while having as much space for storage on the other side. There's something I want to store there, but the space is an inch or two too short, so I was trying to minimize how much space the wall took.

I built the door from 2x4s and attached 1/2" hardware cloth to it. I didn't have handles, so I used some scraps left over from the interior window framing. I had purchased a lock for the door, and it's up nice and high so River can't reach it :) He can open the exterior door if he stands on his tippy toes and uses his finger tips and I didn't want him inadvertently letting all the chickens out while trying to "help". I'll replace the exterior door lock with a real lock when I finish trimming out the windows and door, but in the meantime it's just a piece of wood that rotates up and down.

so much darker with the roof on, but ready for the chicks 

After the guys finished the roof I rehung the east and west windows. Having the east and west wall windows open to the side makes it a lot easier to not run into them. I may or may not have a bruise on my back from hitting the corner of east window while working on the dividing wall....

the windows are a bit too large to lay flat against the wall, but they take up so much less space this way and we won't run into them anymore

I'm super happy I decided to use such large windows. The coop is so much darker now that the full roof is on. The large windows provide light and ventilation, which makes the coop a better environment for the chickens. Since the coop is in the woods it will be better lit once the leaves fall, but we also won't have any chickens in there this winter. In the meantime, all those leaves shade the coop and keep it cooler than if the sun was beating down on it.

panoramic view of the coop interior

 I screwed eye hooks into the windows above the brooder and some wire to the rafters above. A hook attached to the wire loops into the eye hook to keep the windows open. I haven't quite decided how I want to keep the brooder lid up, so it's propped up with 2x2s.

The chicks exploring their expanded (and mucked out) habitat. 

I opened the front panel of the brooder so they have free access to the whole space.

I also put together a small side project this week: I made a PVC grit container. I've seen feeders made of PVC pipe, but they won't work for us since I soak our chicken feed and wet feed tends to ooze everywhere if not in a large bowl. And our chickens don't have free access to feed 24/7, so it's easier to feed them in a bowl. Since they spend so much time indoors though, they do need supplemental grit to help them digest their feed. I was using a small bowl, but they tended to tip it over and may or may not have wasted the grit.

I was trying to think of a better receptacle than the bowl for the grit and I realized the PVC feeder would work well. My only concern was the chicks going through a bag of grit in a day, so it's a good thing they'll be getting outside consistently by the end of this week. I've heard it said that they're pigs with wings, and I would definitely agree: the chicks always act like they're starving, even when their crops are bulging.

I bought the above pieces at Lowes- I think it's 3" pipe

The plug is threaded so it doesn't actually fit into the pipe by itself. 

I glued it in place with gorilla glue.

The pipe was too long to fit inside the brooder, so I cut it down a bit.

I used a scrap piece of hardware cloth to hold the pipe in the corner.

I ended up taking the cap off and leaving it off because it was a pain to get on and off.

I put a piece of 2x6 over the space formed by the open brooder door. I knew the chicks would want to roost on top of it and I didn't want them falling between the door and the wall.

roof completely on!

coop functionally finished, run still to be finished, coop trim work to be added

Chicken Coop Progress, Week 11

what the coop looked like at the end of week 10

As I mentioned yesterday, I spent time on the treadmill once last week, did a hike, and ran a 5k. Best mileage week I've had in a long time. I also worked on the coop three days.

the chicks enjoying their new digs

I started out the week by changing the locks on the front of the brooder and attaching new locks to the lid. I ended up using the too small locks I'd originally purchased for the lid for the front, which saved me buying new locks and returning the too small ones.

the non-locking locks

lockable locks

all new locks in place

A friend said he'd install the roof panels for me, so I turned my attention to getting the run started. This proved to be a pain, which I knew it would be. We've done enough digging in our woods to know that it's never easy. And there's a lot of digging that has to be done. Four post holes plus the entire fence line so I can bury the fencing to deter predators. There's a fox den not far away and the neighbors saw a fox just the other morning, so we know there's predators in the area.

Working on the run is such a workout: roots, rocks, roots, clay, roots... I found the post hole digger to be more effective than the shovel for digging out the fence line. The problem is that it's tiring to use. I should have some great arm muscles when I'm done.

marking the fence lines

huge root in the way

I dug four post holes and cemented the posts in place. While those were drying I partially dismantled the brooder and moved it from the west wall to the south wall before putting it back together. It was a huge pain (in my thumb, since it got smashed in the process and I'm probably going to lose the nail again- I lost it after smashing my thumb while putting our bed together) to do, but I want to put the chicken door in the west wall, which I couldn't do with the brooder in the way. Geometry was definitely not my friend that day.

River helping

brooder in new position with tarp suspended over it for protection

I spent part of two days digging the fence line, but still have more to do. It's difficult going and the weather has made it even more difficult. Heat + high humidity = sweating through my clothes within half an hour of getting started. So gross. And physically draining.

posts braced in place, progress being made on fence line

River photobombing from the coop

Saturday our friend and his family came over and we worked on the roof. It took longer than we thought since we ended up putting roof drip flashing around all four roof edges, and I'd only planned on two edges. In the end, we (ok, he) put up the flashing and half the roofing. I stayed on the ground and worked on the fence line in between cutting wood and roof panels and handing them to him. Turns out our friend used to be a roofer and was glad of the opportunity to step away from his desk job and climb around on a roof, even if it was a small one.

half a roof :)

Since we took longer than anticipated, we'll be finishing the roof this coming Saturday. I didn't get the fencing done either, so the chicks are stuck in the brooder for another week, other than their field trips in the dog run (which is now too small for them).  So my goal for this week is to get the run ready to use and put the interior divider in the coop. I need to partition part of the coop for storage of miscellaneous chicken supplies and such and I want a second door between the chicks and the exterior door.

the chicks are in their awkward teenage stage

Because it's taken me so long to finish the coop the chicks are not having the experience I wanted them to have. I wanted them to be able to run around outside and scratch in the dirt and eat bugs, but they've only been able to do so on a limited basis. They're still happier than factory chickens though and our next batch will be able to fully enjoy the fruits of my labors. Everything will be in place and ready for use. It's definitely been a learning experience, especially since they've grown faster than I anticipated.

the end is in sight...