Hello JULY!

We made it to July!!  The countdown is now at 46 days till my due date!  Boy this last month has gone by so fast!

We have had a few amazing weeks that I’m so excited to share with you!

House Updates

We cleaned up and organized a bit outside and Scott has started working on the plumbing indoors as we get ready to have our water hooked up!  However, Scott had to work last weekend so we didn’t make much more progress on the house.  But, this coming holiday weekend, he has a 3 day weekend and we plan on getting a lot accomplished! We should be starting on the cinder blocks for the cellar, and working more on the plumbing (especially when it’s REALLY hot in the afternoons here).

I’m hoping to work on curtains for the house during the month of July, but the budget maybe getting quite a bit tighter here soon so we are preparing for that just in case.  Which means I may not be able to make my curtains after all.  But that’s ok! If I need to, I’ll use some cheap fabric from Walmart or even some extra fabric in my stash to get us by.  We will make due one way or another!!

Last week, Scott’s cousin Ken stayed with us for a bit which was the exact kick in the pants we needed to get our house cleaned up and ready for Blaine!  We did some major cleaning and reorganizing including getting the scooters out of the house, rearranging the layout of the loft so there was more room up there, getting all the extra boxes of stuff from downstairs up in the loft, taking the 4-tiered rack out of the bathroom swapping it out for the 3 tiered rack that my sewing stuff was on, and using the 3-tiered rack for all Blaine’s baby stuff!!  Plus we finally unpacked all the baby stuff and got most of it set up too.

The house ‘arranging/cleaning’ isn’t completed, but it’s VERY close to being done and all ready for Blaine.  It’s so close, that even if she made her big debut today, it would be ready for her!

 

Baby News

There really isn’t much news right now… Blaine is still growing and we have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow so I’ll add below how that goes!  I’m really anxious to see if I actually gained weight.  It’s been so hot here lately 90-110*and I’ve had little to no appetite but have been guzzling cold water and eating lots of popsicles (not to mention sweating so much!).  She’s wiggling quite a bit but still feels very low (no weird aches/pains quite yet).  Otherwise I have no complaints at all right now! I’m feeling bigger and bigger each day, but I’m very happy with no morning sickness right now (fingers crossed it stays that way!) and just overall feeling probably the best I have over this entire pregnancy!

We went into ‘baby mode’ over the last 2 weeks and we now have her pack n’ play set up (mostly… I got frustrated with the bassinet part so it’s not together quite yet), her highchair is set up, she has a designated set of shelves with her changing table, diapers and supplies on it, plus last time I was in town I was able to wash all her clothes and got most of them hung up in her armoire.  We are actually repurposing this armoire that originally was Scott’s dads when he was a kid!!  There is a pole across the top but we got another pole for below that (since her clothes are so short) and then in the bottom we put all her extra baby wipes and a few extra packs of diapers that we have.

I still need to finish putting together the pack ‘n play (goal is this weekend), get more hangers to finish putting up the last of her clothes, vacuum/clean out the car and get the car seat in there (plus figure out how to use it and have the EMT folks at the hospital give me a safety lesson too), stock up on supplies from Costco including TP, paper towels, food for prepping in advance, and cat food/litter (one less thing to do once Blaine is here!), and we purchased a hanging shoe rack that we are going to attach to the wall and actually use it to put her pants, hats, socks, etc in since I can’t hang those in the closet.

Doctor's Appointment (33.5 weeks): All is well! Blaine is still growing and all my vitals/measurements were the same as they have been.  The doctor still has no concerns at this point.  Now I was dehydrated, so I drank 2 full bottles of water since leaving the office and I'll have to focus on drinking even more (looks like I'll be sleeping on the couch since I'll probably be peeing a lot tonight!! haha).  I asked the doctor what the likelihood is that he will actually be the one to deliver Blaine.  He said as long has he's not out of the state he will be the one.  And he said he will be out of town August 9-15 for a wedding..... Anyone making bets she will arrive during that time frame!?!?!  And what I was waiting for all day - the weight gain!!  Scott was betting 5lbs, and Abby B. said 8..... I only gained 3.4 for a total gain (so far) of 6.4lbs.  Not bad! Next appointment in 2 weeks.... stay tuned!

 

EXCITING WEEKEND FUN!!

I’m saving the best for last!!!  Last week, we had a surprise phone call from Scott’s cousin Ken!! He was in Billings on business and his stay lasted a little longer than expected so he was here for the whole weekend.  He stayed with us for 2 nights and we had a blast taking in around our area on a great weekend adventure! This was a great adventure for Scott and I too because most weekends we just end up working at the house, so this was a real treat for us too!

Friday night we drove him to the Clark Canyon and pointed out lots of local things on our way to Cody, WY.  We had dinner at the Irma Hotel too!

Saturday, Scott had to work part of the day, but I wanted to be sure that Ken got to see the Beartooth Pass!  We got up early that morning and headed out after breakfast.  The last time (and only time) that I have been on the Pass, it was the opening weekend and there was so much snow that it was like driving through snow tunnels!  This time, there were patches of snow at the very top of the mountain, but we actually got to see the mountains in their full glory plus all the beautiful lakes, wildflowers and animals too!  At one of the rest areas at the top of the mountain, there were chipmunks running around everywhere and they would come up to us, perch on our hands and beg for food.  Ken bought some Little Debbie cookies called Jellyfish Cookies (cookie bottom, marshmallow top, all dipped in a coating) and he fed them to the chipmunks!! Ken even got them to sort of ‘dance’ for their cookies!!  It was hilarious!  And these chipmunks were so chubby from all their snacks, it was so funny!

Driving the Pass was so much fun! We stopped at a spot at the top of one of the mountains where there was snow.  Ken wanted to ‘play’ in the snow and he made a small snowman!!!  The temperature was 92*+ down in Red Lodge, but at the top of the mountain it was 64*!  The lakes were stunning!  This was the first time that I have seen the lakes up there (last time they were frozen over).

After the Pass, we stopped and grabbed lunch in Red Lodge, then drove back home (which is a stunning drive also).

I think we had just as much if not more fun at home that evening!  Ken surprised us with everything for a cookout, so he spent the evening putting together a grill that I think had over 1,000 pieces to it.  There were some funny moments, but he did awesome putting it together!  And we grilled out for the first time that night too.  It was delicious – grilled steak, veggies, bread slices and even a side of fresh watermelon too.  Plus every night since then, Scott and I have grilled out too!!!  It gets really hot in our house when we use the stove/oven in the evenings, so having the grill is becoming the biggest blessing!

After dinner, we had a perfectly clear night and we set up the lawn chairs to star gaze.  I’m not sure if Ken has ever seen stars/planets like we see here in Wyoming.  He said that was probably one of the highlights of the trip!  I was so tired by this time that I went inside before they did, but Scott said they saw several satellites zip across the sky too!  Overall it was a pretty incredible day!

Sunday, Scott was able to spend all day with us, so we just had to go to Yellowstone!  We drove back through Cody, stopped for a bit at the Buffalo Bill Dam, and then proceeded to Yellowstone.  This was Ken’s first time there!  Yellowstone is basically a big loop around the park with several ‘access points’ to other cities (like our access point in Cody).  We drove most of the loop including areas that Scott and I have never been to!   Shortly after getting into the park, we saw some cars stopped along side of the road so we stopped too.  There was a momma bear and her two cubs!!  I believe they were grizzlies but we found out that the momma bear was Raspberry (that’s her name)!  We didn’t see her for long because she was headed over the hill top, but just to catch a glimpse of her was so spectacular.

We drove around a good part of Yellowstone lake which is HUGE and very majestic!  At one point the traffic was stopped as several elk walked across the road! I didn’t get a picture of them, but I’ve never seen elk that big before!  Through more of the drive we also saw antelope and deer too. 

Our next stop was at Old Faithful.  This was a first for all of us!  We grabbed a quick sandwich there and headed out just in time for Old Faithful to blow!  There were thousands of people there to see it!  Although this is a big tourist attraction, this was probably the least exciting thing we saw the entire time in the park.

We continued on and stopped at (I think) the Upper Falls.  This was incredible!  There was a lookout point that was just amazing.  We were at least 350’ high (we were debating just how high up we were) and as we looked down by the river we all saw a bald eagle flying around! 

We continued on through an area where the ground was ‘burnt’ away (no vegetation) and small pools of really hot water were discoloring the ground area around them.  We didn’t stop here because the parking was insane and plus we needed to get Ken home at a decent time too. 

From here we continued on through Lamar Valley – probably one of my all-time favorite parts of the drive.  Lamar Valley is full of thousands of buffalo roaming around.  This also takes you to the Cooke City, MT entrance to the park (which was our exit point). 

We left the park then stopped in Cooke City for dinner at the Miner’s bar/grill (great burgers!!).  After dinner we drove back to our house via the Chief Joseph Highway (another popular scenic drive).

It was a long, 12+ hour day of exploring, but ended our weekend with Ken on a high note!

Ken you not only made our weekend, but the thrills we had were by far some of the best we’ve had since moving here! We can’t thank you enough for spending the weekend with us and we hope it was one you’ll never forget!

Pictures!!

There is a little bit of everything below from pictures of baby gifts we've received, improvements to our property, the second bird in the woodstove, baby bump pictures, and pictures from our weekend adventure up the Beartooth Pass and to Yellowstone!   Enjoy!!!