I think I’ve taken more pictures of these newborn goats than I did of my own newborn children. To my defense, most of the pictures have my kids in them too. Ever try to take a picture of squirmy goat kids with squirmy human kids? You just take 80 or so shots of the same thing and hope that one or two of them aren’t blurry.

Pepper is a great mom. On more than one occasion I’ve watched her stick her nose underneath a sleeping kid and force it upright and nudge it to her udder to make sure it’s getting enough to eat. The smaller one has gained nearly 3 pounds in four days… I think she’s been successful. Except for the fact that we didn’t get any doe kids, things have worked out just great.

And then there’s the long awaited milk! Rachel and I have a few more days to go before we can consume dairy per the Whole30 program. That’s okay seeing as the first milk is colostrum anyway. Her regular milk has come in and the amount we get each time seems to be on an exponential trajectory. First it was about a half cup. Then maybe a whole cup for a couple of milkings. Then a pint, and this evening a quart. Her production will increase over time as the kids grow and we milk. Indeed, her mother milked out at a gallon a day according to her previous owner. Fortunately we aren’t getting that much yet since we’re not drinking it. Instead, we’ve been freezing it in case we ever have a kid that can’t be nursed by its mother.

And then there’s poor Flora.

Flora has always been a wallflower and generally doesn’t seek out attention, but since Pepper and her kids now seem to be getting extra attention she’s started coming up and giving us a nudge here and there to remind us that she’s around. She doesn’t realize that in 2-3 more weeks she’ll have kids of her own and she’ll be the star.