I'm a mommy!

Yup! It's exciting, but already I can tell that it's a big responsibility...

This morning I woke up around 9am, and at 9 30-ish I went out on the pond and canoed for about 40 minutes. While I was out on the water, my dad went up into the attic to look at what was making scratching noises above my head at night. I didn't know what he was up to. But, when I got out of the boat, and started walking up the hill to the cabin, my dad started walking down shouting out that we had an "ethical dilemma." He had three baby squirrels in the insulation (where they were found) in a plastic grocery bag. I took them as soon as I found out that they were alive. I put them in a square bucket with some toilet paper and the insulation, and brought them over to the house. When I got there, I immediately looked up how to take care of baby squirrels on the Internet. I found out that they are about 3 weeks old. The main things I need to do for now is keep them warm (at all costs, all the time), feed them on a regular basis, and keep them clean. It said to feed them puppy formula (the dry kind so you can regulate how diluted it is) every 3 hours. My feeding hours are now every 1, 4, 7, and 10 o'clock, morning and night. It's going to take a lot if dedication. I might even be able to take them to school seeing as how two of their feeding times are while I'm there. Hopefully my mom, Elizabeth, or Nany could take care of them for those times. Maybe alternating. I don't know what I would do otherwise. I keep them warm with a hot water bottle, and a warm fleecy towel thing. I also keep them under a warm lamp...almost like an incubator. I feed them 2 mL of formula out of a syringe, each. They're all eating which is a really good sign. Since they are already 3 weeks old, they got the immunities from their mom's milk built up already. Sigh...

Here are my babies.

In about 4 weeks their eyes will open. In about 7 to 8 weeks it will be time to release them. That is, if they survive. If they last for the next 3 days, them they will most likely survive.

Wish me luck everybody!

Today was Lucy and Hannah's birthday party. Their actual birthday isn't until the 12th, but Nany won't be here next week for the next two weeks. It was fun, though for the first hour I was otherwise occupied. They planned out lots of games that kept everyone busy, and they had a pinata too. Lots of candy. Then we had cake, which was yummy of course, and opened presents. Their party got me thinking about what I'm going to do when I turn 16. Since last year when I turned 15, I wasn't able to have any friends over, I'm going to have a huge sweet 16. It's gonna be freaking awesome. Really. I'm excited.

I think I'll try to go to the pond and row for a little while longer before it gets too dark. It's such a nice day out!

xoxo