Babies and more babies

This little cutie just wasn't enough in our house.

We had to add 2 more.

Yep... one of our guinea pigs had babies (what do you call them anyway, piglets?!). Alyssa was the first to suspect she might be pregnant. We didn't think she was... the Humane Society certainly didn't warn us of her condition. But she just seemed to get bigger and bigger and by Monday, Tyler was convinced that we were in for a big event.
Savannah found one dead one Tuesday morning and came running upstairs to say Rose had a baby but it died. Tyler and I were sitting talking about how crazy it was and how it was probably better since we definitely don't need more pigs... when up runs Savannah again with 2 more in tow. They are pretty adorable.

One is definitely a runt and so we are spending a bit of time hand feeding it. Here's a crazy bit of useless trivia for you- a guinea pig can eat solids within a couple of days after birth.

As I was writing this post... I realized I never posted something else I had written about getting the pigs. Here it is ('cuz, you know- this is my journal and I don't want to miss anything).

Introducing... Rose and Lily

Our kids have so much fun with their guinea pigs... we had to get more. I must admit, at first I was kind of glad when the last ones died (who knew 80 degrees can cause a heat stroke?). I hated that several members of our extended family are allergic to them and can't spend the night at our house because of them. And then, one of Savannah's friends said our house still "smelled like guinea pigs." (In my defense, I'm pretty sure that isn't guinea pigs, but just the way our basement smells, by the way.) But when I thought about how much they loved them and how much they missed them, I had to give in.

After the first day, I was pretty sure I made a bad choice. They have long hair which is really cute.... but after the first full day of the girls bathing, combing, and putting hair ties in... there was hair EVERYWHERE. As I was vacuuming, I was wondering what I was going to do and I was reminded of a show I watched while I was at the ranch. It's called Kids By the Dozen. Crazy story of a family with 12 kids at home. In the beginning of the show the mom said she could probably do more landscaping, but she wasn't doing landscaping, she was "doing kids."
I usually hate that kind of statement because it seems like a generic excuse for not doing stuff that needs done (laundry, vacuuming, etc.)... interestingly enough, her house was pretty spotless- she knows how to put those kids to work. It has been a good reminder to me, though, of what this is all about. Have you heard this quote? "Women need to find joy in motherhood. If you aren't finding the joy, you are doing it wrong." Hope I don't fall into that trap... anyway, that's what I've been thinking lately.