May 2007

Happy May!! It's made even happier by the fact that we are actually writing this entry while it is still May. We have caught up. As many of you already know, earlier this month we had our twenty week ultrasound. Below are two amazing pictures of Nutterbutter. It is incredible what detail you can see.




There is one ultrasound picture we did not include...that is the one where the technician "helpfully" drew an arrow to part of the picture and typed in, "I'm a girl." It is a long story that we won't get into, but we were not planning on finding out until the big day whether we were going to have a boy or a girl. After the initial shock wore off and we realized that the ultrasound also indicated it was a healthy baby, we just became excited about the impending arrival of our daughter. This being said, there are two requests. John does not want any princess stuff, and Sarah is hoping to avoid the color purple. I'm sure this will guarantee that when Nutterbutter is old enough to have her own opinions she will only want to dress up as a purple princess.

Of course, we also need to show what Nutterbutter looks from the outside. Doesn't she look great! Please notice the maternity clothes, which have now taken over the closets. The skinny jeans are in a bin in the basement, waiting to reappear in time for Christmas.






John has also been doing things, albeit somewhat less important than creating life. He finished his first year at EKU in early May and decided to take some time away from the books. This led to more domestic pursuits, with a primary focus on painting. The first room was the den...but per a previous post, no pictures of the den until it is truly presentable. That is why you get to see pictures of the bedroom.

The old color was mint green and we have gone with something officially known as prairie grass. Fortunately the pictures make the paint job look relatively professional, and you will have to see it in person to notice the imperfections. In other words, there is a reason John is an academic and not a contract painter. Nevertheless, we love it.

We hope everyone had a great holiday weekend and we will hopefully be good about updating this as the weeks and months go on.

April 2007

This month begins with what should be one of many updates on the condition of Sarah's belly. Although our key subject is reluctant, she is willing to take the plunge. We have heard from far too many people that they want pictures of the belly, so here you go. These two were taken in the first week of April, which means about week 15 of the pregnancy.



Now that we have shown pictures of the belly, we can move onto some of the other exciting aspects of our lives in Lexington. For instance, our new house has a gas grill that is connected to the gas line of the house. Below we have a picture of John, enjoying that wonderful piece of modern technology.



But there is more to life than babies and grilling. At least that is what we have been told. And indeed, we still have much to learn about the maintenance of the house.

Spring, once it finally arrived, brought yard work which allowed Sarah to use her Christmas gifts from Taffy. These gardening tools came in handy as Sarah worked to figure out what was plant and what was weed in our various flower beds. Tough to tell when you weren't the person who planted them.

John got back to his childhood by mowing the lawn. Fortunately this lawn is smaller. Unfortunately, John feels the need to keep up with the neat and tidy lawns located on either side. So far no complaints.



Some of you may ask, what about the inside of the house? Good question. Like an onion, there are many layers to our abode. Each new layer will be revealed as it a) receives a new paint job OR b) receives some furniture.
This is why you get to see a picture of Sarah in the dining room. The paint job came with the house and we like it. The table finally arrived and we like it too. And there is a new rug under the table. The only thing left to do is change the chandelier to something that is more...us. As a preview into the future, check out the color of the walls in the room beyond the dining room.

Last, but not least, we have a picture of the kitchen. No new paint, no new furniture, but we love it. It has a gas stove, which helps when warming up tortillas. And all the appliances work and are fairly new. All in all, we are fans. And if you come to visit Lexington, you can have a meal cooked in this kitchen and served in the above dining room...how exciting!

March 2007

March began with a trip out to see Suzy in Denver. We got a chance to see her new place outside the city in Broomfield. It looked very homey and an amazing view. And we must confess that we never fulfilled our promise to help her hang more pictures. Sorry, Suzy. We did, however, have a great day of snowshoeing about an hour outside of Denver. If we remember correctly, it was Eagle Creek. And, as you can see from the picture above, it was snowing. You might also notice a fourth member of our crew, Schuyler. We enjoyed spending time with Schuyler, a man who continues to live the dream of the nightsaber. (Ask Sarah if you have any questions about that.)

Besides snowshoeing, we also got a chance to walk around downtown Boulder and Denver. The weather was hot and sunny, and therefore vastly different from the day before in the mountains. We also lucked out by crossing paths with Dan Peltier, who was on his way to a convention about trains south of Denver.

What else does March mean to you? That's right, baby, March Madness! For the first time, after years of appreciating the festivities in local bars and Vegas, we took advantage of our new location in the place that invented college basketball fever. Four games on Thursday and two games on Saturday in the world famous Rupp Arena.



We were joined in this glorious escapade by Lauren, who, in an effort to dodge the local paparazzi, also managed to elude our camera in the five days she was here. We went to the games, and each night came home to watch a few more. In between, Lauren and Sarah went on a tour of local horse farms and saw one-day old foals. Basketball...check. Horses...check. The only thing missing from Lauren's visit was a trip to a bourbon distillery. Hopefully she will be out again soon to make up for that.

February 2007

The big news for February, of course, was that we found out that we were soon going to be parents. Our first visit to the doctor occurred toward the end of the month, and Sarah had an ultrasound. The two pictures below give you an idea of what we saw and hear. Both give a profile of the baby, and the second one shows the heartbeat as measured by the ultrasound.




Upon viewing these photos, a baby name immediately came to Sarah's mind. Based on the profile and the overall shape of the little one, it seemed only appropriate to dub him/her Nutterbutter.

As it just so happened, this official confirmation of the pregnancy arrived shortly before moving day. Hence, John and our faithful friends Charles and Fiona did most of the lugging involved in moving our stuff from the apartment on Cooper to the new house on Chinoe. And as you can all imagine, Sarah managed to participate quite well by providing all sorts of guidance and direction. Good times.

Mid-month we were also happy to welcome two more visitors to Lexington. Gretchen and Josh arrived to check out the Bluegrass and got a chance to see Lexington with a bit of snow. They were the first guests we had when we knew Sarah was pregnant.

This meant that Sarah got to talk to Gretchen all about it and Gretchen was thoughtful enough to take John out for a drink at Buddy's, something that apparently will be harder to do come September. Here are a few pictures of the fun they had while they were here.

January 2007

Happy New Year!! We greeted the year on Mammoth Mountain in California with good friends, a little bit of skiing, and a lot of red wine. As many people do, we also came up with a list of resolutions for the upcoming year. Topping the list were buying a house, starting a family, and getting a book published(we assume this means John but you never know).

It just so happens that home ownership arrived first and it happened shortly after we returned from California. On January 10, we made an offer on a house in Lexington. It's a cute house in the Chevy Chase neighborhood that allows us to walk to parks, coffee, and restaurants. By the end of the month we had signed a contract and set a closing date of February 16. This is a picture of the house from the front.


January also brought a visit from Jay and Taffy Bowes. In the days they were here we tried to show them all that the Bluegrass has to offer. We made a trip down to Berea, had some lunch, and looked at some artwork. And on our way back, John showed off the hallways of his new home at Eastern Kentucky University. Here they are enjoying the friendly confines of Keith Building outside of John's office.



The visit also included a trip to Keeneland, home of the finest horseracing in Kentucky. And yes, we do know Churchill Downs is in Kentucky. Keeneland is better. No racing in January, but we did get to enjoy some of the horse auctions taking place at that time. We all forgot our checkbooks and were unable to make a proper bid.

But our time was not always filled with outdoor adventure. During their visit, Jay and Taffy also had the opportunity to enjoy some of the finest cuisine in town. Here is Sarah displaying just a sample of the food served up at our apartment.


Everyone enjoyed the pumpkin bread. As you can see from this picture, some enjoyed it more than others. In any case, we loved having visitors and cannot wait for the next time.

Welcome to the Bluegrass

Hello everyone! As crazy as it may seem to us to have a blog, here we are. But I guess it is our own fault for moving to Kentucky and starting our family hundreds of miles away from both coasts and all of our friends and family. In this day and age, blogging appears to be the best and only option for keeping everyone up to date. This year has been very eventful so far, so let's take a look at what's been going on in our lives...

P.S. Having now finished our entries for January through May, something has become clear. What started out as a blog for the baby has turned into something a bit more extensive. Hopefully you all don't mind looking at pictures of us and our house as payment for getting news about the kid. Love, John and Sarah.