Blog of the Wayward Steer

I created a new photo album online on Photobucket and I have been working to upload photos of Scarlett for everyone to see.  The following link will take you right to Scarlett's photo album:

http://s627.photobucket.com/albums/tt357/waywardsteer/Baby%20Scarlett/?albumview=slideshow

You can order prints right from the Photobucket website (Kodak Gallery) and pick them up at a Target store near you.  It's fast and affordable and you don't have to pay for them online, you pay in the store when you pick them up.

Blair

I hope you all have a fun (and safe) 4th of July, celebrating our nation's independence! 

We are attending the annual 4th of July parade in our little town of Plymouth... it's a small town parade, so if you have a tractor, truck-n-trailer or bicycle that is decorated, you can participate!  I have the stars-n-stripes proudly displayed on the front of our house.

Blair

My wife is such a trooper.  She is pregnant and carrying around this "baby belly", which cannot be easy for her or her back... and yet Melissa doesn't complain very much.  If I were in her shoes, I'd be grumping alot!

I am so proud of her.  Melissa is going to make a great mother for our child.

 Blair

I am getting ready for Halloween!  So much work to do, so little time.  I even tried to start early this year (before October).  Have to put on a good show for the kids.  Darin and I loved Halloween night when we were kids, because it was a treat just to go into town (we lived 7 miles outside of town), dress up, get candy, and run wild during the night while our parents played poker.  Good times!  Fond memories.

 So I am driven/compelled to put on a good, scary show every year for the kids (little and big).  Heck, one year I had more fun scaring the parents waiting in the driveway, unawares, while their children visited our door.  Total blind-side scare!  I would jump out and give the parents a lil heart jump-start, while they were looking at our front door.

 So if you are interested in what I do for Halloween... I turn our front yard into what I like to call a "graveyard gauntlet"... the kids have to EARN those treats, right? 

So I decided to start a seperate blog on my Halloween projects, with photos:http://madtinkererhaunt.blogspot.com/

Hope you have a Happy/Scary Halloween!  

Blair

I feel a strong need to brag about my husband today.  Keep in mind we both work long weeks, and have a minimum 45 minute drive to and from work 5 days a week on top of that.  Add in weekly childbirth classes, shopping for registry items, doctors visits, etc... and our work week is very tiring for both of us.  So, of course I feel like being lazy all weekend - if I could get away with it.  What does Blair do???

Let's see, this weekend involved making me breakfast, going to get a truckload of firewood so that we are now stocked up for the winter (which includes loading and unloading the truck), working on his Halloween display, putting the dresser in the nursery, installing a chandelier in the nursery, and installing new wood blinds in the nursery.   And, it's only 1 pm on Sunday.  We plan on going to Apple Hill this afternoon for somefresh produce and yummy apple juice.

I am so very fortunate and blessed to have a hard working husband.  Especially when all I feel like doing is laying on the couch and watch my belly move every time Scarlett does somersaults!!!  The nursery is about 3/4 of the way done.  The crib is assembled, and the furniture is in place.  Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to organize all the baby stuff we're going to need.  I think the sage green walls and the dark wood furniture look fantastic!  I want to get some soft yellow curtains for the closet, and Blair plans on making a bookself with cubby holes in it, painted yellow.  Hopefully I can figure out how to add pictures to these posts, and I'll take some shots of the room.

Can you believe... I start my third trimester this week!  AACK!!!  Do we want to take a poll?  Let's see... how about betting on what day Scarlett decides to grace us with her presence?  My due date is January 14th, and because we know exactly when we conceived, it's an accurate "due date", if that helps you.  But, it can happen 2-3 weeks prior and still be considered full term.  Also, a lot of 1st time mommies go past their due date.  So, it's anybody's guess.  Let me know your date choice!!!

Melissa 

This weekend we went out on the town with a bunch of friends to celebrate someone's birthday.  Had a great time, especially catching up with friends we had not seen in quite some time.  After dinner we went to a night club.  They had a really nice set up outside of the club, in something like a courtyard.  Tons of nice patio type sofas that were very comfortable, with a long, rectangle fire pit (gas flames).  It was such a nice night, we spent most of the time outside.

At one point, we decided to go inside and get our groove on.  It was packed!!!  So, my wonderful husband felt it necessary for us to dance close, facing each other, with his elbows out wide, constantly moving me out of "harm's way".  Overprotective?  I think it's just too dang cute!

On a side note, today is the day we met, seven years ago.  Our lives have never been the same, and I wouldn't change a minute of it! 

Melissa

Yesterday morning was our "big" ultrasound with a radiologist.  It's so amazing what they do.  She measured all of the organs and limbs and head and brain - amazing!  Seriously, in all that grey, white, and black fuzziness, how do you know that's a kidney???  The good news is that everything is measuring on track.  I was afraid I wasn't growing fast enough, making me wonder about the size of the baby.  But, all is good.  Somehow, with the head and limb measurements, they can tell you how much the baby actually weighs, and right now she is at 1.3 pounds, and my due date is exactly on schedule.

So, our little one is a girl.  Not Blair's first pick, but he is so excited to become a daddy.  I swear after the appointment he was beaming.  During the ultrasound, our little girl was moving all over the place and the technician said she had good thigh muscles.  That was all Blair needed to hear, not sure if he heard anything else the rest of the time!  He's determined that she'll be a runner with him!!!

We are SO excited and I'm sort of in this unbelieveable trance.  Emotionally, I'm still trying to grasp the fact that we are actually pregnant, that this pregnancy is actually going to last full term, that we are actually going to have a newborn in January, that we are actually having a baby girl - our lives are never going to be the same again!!!

Melissa 

Blair has been bugging me to start a blog, as if I don't have enough on my plate, let alone how many hours a day I spend at a computer. But, I'll do anything for my man, so - here goes!

As Blair's previous post mentioned, we're pregnant! It was such a long haul, you wouldn't believe what we've been through. For two and a half years, we've been poked, prodded, tested... and you don't want to know what else!  I've always believed that everything in life happens for a reason, whether we like the reason or not. We got the positive pregnancy test on May 9th, a couple days before Mother's Day. First Mother's Day in a long time where my tears were tears of joy.

So, planning for baby has consumed a lot of our spare time. We are turning the guest room into a nursery. Finally got the room cleaned out and shampooed the carpet. Now we are in search of a crib and other baby furniture. We are keeping the room the sage green color. It can work for either gender, it's soft and can mix with lots of other colors. I've never been big on the baby pinks and blues. Yuck! We aren't doing your typicaly character themes, like Winnie the Pooh. We're doing a mix of Victorian and "Blast from the Past", meaning we'll have pictures of family members going back many, many years. I know it's hard to imagine, and many will be scratching their heads - "this is a nursery?" But, we like it, and there is nothing to say we can't change it when he/she gets older.

Which leads me to the poll of the day... What is your guess on the gender? We find out in less than 2 weeks, hopefully. First one to guess correctly just may win a prize!!!

Melissa

Well, it is official... Melissa is pregnant!  Whoopie!!!!    We are so excited to start a family of our own.

Her due date is January 14, 2009.