Piccolo delivered a beautiful filly on Friday night. Piccolo had been leaking so much milk on Thursday and Friday that the vet felt we needed to track down some frozen colostrum. Fortunately, a very kind woman named Sharon Gray, who I've never met, donated 17 ounces that she had due to one of her mares losing it's foal. It arrived at my farm about 30 minutes before Piccolo had her foal and we were able to feed it by bottle. The filly's levels were all good and she's been nursing and active and, overall, enjoying life! Piccolo is proving to be a good, protective mother after she got over the initial shock that this "thing" was suddenly in a stall with her!
Many thanks to my parents who generously drove to Wilmington on Friday night to pick up the colostrum (much easier than loading up a newborn and overtired 2yo and leaving my mare who looked ready to foal any minute!) and also to Lauren, Katy, Dayna, and Jessy who came over to take some pictures and help keep an eye on the sleeping little ones in the house so I could tend to Piccolo and the foal. And, of course, Ryan who I know would much rather have been out planting in the field than in a stall encouraging a foal to drink from a baby bottle while I ran back and forth to the house to tend to my own newborn!
As soon as I dust the overtired cobwebs from my brain, I'll give this filly a name. I've had lots of good suggestions but am open to taking any new ones. The leading contenders that I like are True Dance, Truth or Dare, and True Star but she also needs a barn name at this point.

Meet our newest addition: Ian Thomas Miller. He was born at 1:40 Saturday morning and has been an absolutely perfect little baby. Claire loves being a big sister and I'm enjoying having a baby around again. I'll be taking a couple of weeks and will be back to teaching and riding - although the riding might come in the very near future as I've been dying to get back on a horse watching everyone else prepare for the new season! Keep an eye out for our little man at events this season!

In other news....we have no news! I've been anxiously waiting for PIccolo to have her foal and thought for sure that, even though we shared the same due date, she'd have hers first! We're going on almost 3 weeks of thinking "anytime now" but I'm learning that just because all the signs might point to the near future, there are no set rules especially with maiden mares! After worrying for months that I'd miss the foaling, I feel fortunate to know I should be here but also incredibly grateful to friends and family who stepped in while I was in the hospital with Ian. Hopefully I'll be sharing foal pictures soon too! I've just tested the pH in her milk and think that tonight might be the night. She has been acting very uncomfortable the last couple of days and I think she's just as ready as everyone else!

Not much else to share at this point. Between being a new mom (again) and foalwatching at night, this is one overtired blog writer signing off!