I have to say, of all the babies we’ve had around here, we might be having the most fun with these two. For one thing, these are the first kids that have not once pottied in the house, which means they get to come in the house a lot! We’ve had them in almost every night since they were born so they could sit on the couch and watch movies with us. They love this couch now, and lately they’ve taken to bouncing on it while we’re fixing popcorn or whatever.

I have to post these two pictures together. This is me and Skeeter the other night.

And here’s me and Sputnik almost four years ago.

I love how baby goats are almost fluid in their ability to curl up with their heads flopped over. It looks like Phil has a rag doll goat on his lap!

The kids came up to the office the other day to help Phil in his work. Blackbird mostly wanted to help eat my chair. Gotta start these kids early if they’re going to grow up properly! Can’t have a goat that doesn’t chew everything in sight–it just wouldn’t be a real goat!

“Let me up?”

How many goats are on Phil’s lap? Can you spot them both?

The problem with Skeeter is that she’s so darn flashy she drowns out her rather more beautiful black sister. But you gotta love that eager little face!

If I didn’t know better I’d say this was one of Sputnik’s baby pictures!

I am beating myself over the head for not remembering to grab the camera today. We got about six inches of snow last night and the babies were absolutely thrilled with it when we took our afternoon walk. I wasn’t sure if Petunia would bring them because of the snow, but she wanted to go walking herself and by golly she wasn’t going to stay behind to watch kids! Time for these babies to toughen up and march even if the snow is over their knees!

They loved it! The spent most of the walk bouncing, leaping, cavorting, and racing through the new powder. They got snow dumped on their heads when they stood under the trees where the big goats were pulling down pine needles.

At one point Blackbird raced ahead with Finn and Sputnik when they took off from the herd to stage a little sparring match. She got in their way and both boys stopped their fight and stared at Blackbird who was staring back at them. Finn showed her his horns but Sputnik gently nudged her away with his nose before resuming their argument on a gentler scale. Both kids were tired by the end of the walk and I’ll bet they sleep good tonight!

Finn, beautiful as always.

Sputnik just as beautiful.

But they’re more beautiful together, don’t you think?

Apparently they find each other attractive too.

“We interrupt this bromantic moment to bring you some baby goats!”

“Uh, did we sign up for babysitting duty?”

“Ok, that thing seriously looks like my mini-me with Sputnik’s face on it. Weirdness.”

“I take no responsibility. I’m outta here, folks!”

Despite Finn’s reluctance to associate himself with this crew, you can see the family resemblance. Petunia is Finn’s older half-sister, and she is also Sputnik’s mother. So that makes Sputnik the older half-brother to these new doelings and Finn is the monkeys’ uncle.

“Look at that there big goat, Blackbird!”

I think she feels safer on the stump.

Now it’s Skeeter’s turn to be brave.

Nope, this one feels safer on the stump too!

Petunia and Sputnik have always been very close. I love how she’s using him for a headrest in these shots.

“Mama, I saw you use Sputnik for a pillow.”

“Can I use you for a couch?”

“No! A pillow is good enough for anybody.”

All right, now you’re going to have to indulge me as I took WAAAYYYY too many pictures yesterday. But it was such a beautiful day and the kids are now so bouncy and curious and fun but still tiny and cute and soft. It’s hard to put the camera down.

They’re going out with the herd now. The first few times we walked, Phil and I had to carry the kids part of the way. Not any more!

It’s hard to see in the melee, but take a look at Sputnik introducing himself to Blackbird on the rock. She was terrified of that big boy and immediately jumped down and ran to mama, but he was only curious and quite gentle.

“Wait for us!”

“We’re coming!”

“Mama just isn’t fast enough.” Look at that tongue hanging out–I think Petunia is tired from keeping up with kids all week!

Is this the caprine equivalent of a water cooler moment?

Gotta love those airplane ears!

Racing babies!

I love sweet mama-kid moments.

Does this little gal look like a Finn/Sputnik mashup or what?

Oh good, they figured out how to use both sides.

I love that Skeeter prance!

Meanwhile, Blackbird practices balancing on three legs on two different rocks!

She’s black velvet, folks.

In sync.

Whether you’re eating them or standing on them, stumps are the best!

Petunia says, “How about some love for me!”

We had a bit of snow on Monday night so our walks were muddy for a couple of days. The kids didn’t seem to mind too much. They tend to stick to the rocks whether there’s mud or not.

Blackbird is very hard to photograph!

Skeeter, on the other hand…

We’re having so much fun with these little critters. They’re coming for walks now and we bring them in the house every night to watch a movie on our laps. They’re growing so fast we can almost watch it happen in front of our eyes. These photos were taken last Monday and already they look ancient because the girls have grown so much.

Blackbird thought this stick was delicious.

But then she saw what Skeeter was eating. It’s important to fight over the same teat. You wouldn’t want to use up both of them!

…And dropped off two adorable bundles at around 10:00 p.m.

Baby #1 is the smaller of the two but was stuck fast in the birth canal because her much larger sister was trying to cut in line. I pushed Baby #2 back an inch and this one came rushing out with no problem. Petunia was rolling around on her back when I came in to help and I’m sure if I’d given her five or ten minutes she would have straightened them out on her own, but since I was there I figured I might as well give her a hand.

Baby #2 catapulted into the world so fast I didn’t even have time to react. One quick push from Petunia and she exploded out onto my feet. Phil hadn’t even finished toweling her off before she was up and running. The first baby was suckling first but this one was the quickest to find her legs and start toddling around. She’s quite a lot bigger and chunkier than her sister with thicker fur. Petunia is completely enamored with both.

The night was clear but cold, so Phil and I stayed out with them until around midnight to make sure they were completely dry and had a good feed. I cleaned the stall and bedded it deep with straw and left warm water out for their mama. Nevertheless, I couldn’t resist going back out at 4:30 or so to make sure they were warm enough. I spent some time pressing their chilly ears between my palms to warm them up and I made sure they got another drink of milk before I went back to bed. “Blackbird singing in the dead of night” ran through my head as I held Baby #2 and I’m pretty sure the name “Blackbird” is going to stick. But what to name her wildly colored sister? How about another White Album title? With that coloring, “Helter Skelter” immediately sprang to mind with a nickname of “Skeeter”. We’ll give it a few days and see if they stick.

Today is gorgeous and we got the new kids out for some time in the sunshine. Petunia is almost as fat post-babies as she was before, so she has a nice broad, well-padded back for a new kid to sprawl out and relax on.

Coral was quite intrigued by the newcomers and kept sneaking up very carefully with one eye glued to Petunia.

She felt safer when she could use Phil for a human shield. Protective mamas are not to be messed with!

She could also grab a straw hat snack while she was at it.

I took Pluto up to inspect the new babies first thing this morning. He adopted them immediately and thoroughly licked both of them before their mother came into the shed and made him get out. I’m glad he’s turned out to be so gentle with the baby goats.

Rambo also came over to inspect his new descendants. I’m not 100% sure if these are his children or his grandchildren. I’m pretty sure they’re his grandchildren, but they were born in that window where there’s still a chance they could be Rambo’s. We’ll see if it becomes clear as they grow.

The rest of the goats were bored by the new arrivals.

Supremely bored.

What’s better than a baby goat in your lap?

Why TWO baby goats of course!

Wait, did one of them just smear something gross onto my hand?

Let’s stick with this end, shall we?

You can tell this baby is related to Sputnik! The face is nearly identical! But she is Sputnik’s half sister after all.

Phil should be a cowboy hat model.

My hat may be cooler than Phil’s, but I don’t think modeling is my forte. I’ll leave that to my gorgeous husband.

Cute, soft, cuddly babies!

If I didn’t know better I’d say this baby was a cross between Finn and Sputnik! She’s got Finn’s flashy coloring and Sputnik’s wild face. Her front end is going to darken as she matures and she’ll be a tri-color when she grows up. Petunia is Finn’s half-sister and Sputnik’s mother, so I suppose it’s no surprise that we have a kid who resembles both of her male relatives.

Big-head vs. No-head.

Last weekend my friend Jordan was home from college and we took Sputnik and Geronimo for a walk, along with Jordan’s little brother, Rodney.

Jordan got some funny close-ups of Sputnik. Close-ups are usually Finn’s specialty, but Sputnik is getting more accustomed to taking the spotlight as time goes on. He was very clingy to me on this walk and I had to push him away a lot because he was stepping on my feet. I think he was a little insecure about having two “strangers” with us.