seasons greetings!

i know we will be heinously busy the next few days, so i wanted to get it out there before it was all over! merry christmas to everyone, hope you all had a wonderful winter solstice, a happy hannukah, an eventful eid and a loving kwanzaa! most importantly we would love to spread a little joy and wish for peace on earth... so here are the lyrics to the best Christmas song ever:

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over over
If you want it
War is over
Now...
- John Lennon

yummers!

it was a day that will live in infamy! yesterday ruby ate her first food! well, if you can loosely call it that; it was the consistency of soup, as bland as bleached flour, and really she ate only about a teaspoon since most of it went down her chin.... but it was a milestone nonetheless! she seemed to like the baby cereal, and it seemed to like her.
we hadn't planned to give her food until 6 months, but she has been getting more and more hungry, wanting to eat between meals and (egads!) waking up at night for the first time since she was 4 weeks old. the food had it's desired effect, she even slept through Gratch barking at 3:30 am (of course this made me check her pulse, i am slightly paranoid) at some drunk guy in the street. yay cereal!!!

4 months old!

Ruby is 4 months old! She is now 24 inches long and 14 pounds; we can't believe how big she is getting.
it has been a busy weekend for us. we have put up the christmas tree, which ruby really enjoyed. she had to be with me while i was putting the decorations up, but then it must have been too much... it put her to sleep!
today we went to the park so that i could learn how to cast a fly rod. it is a lot harder than it looks! gratch was ok with this, because it meant lots of frisbee. and ruby? this too put her to sleep!

our thanksgiving

the picture of ruby sitting at the table laden with loads of food will have to wait until next year, sorry to say. when the food was piping hot and ready to eat, where was ruby??? taking a nap! so all her fans will have to have this picture instead, from earlier on in the day, swinging in the kitchen while alletta, ryan and i were preparing the food.
i think it went pretty well, this being my first attempt at cooking the thanksgiving meal myself. somehow i have always managed to either be invited over people's houses or be at a member of my family for thanksgiving.... so for my first time i made some of my favorites: turkey (breast only), sweet potato casserole, corn casserole, broccoli, cheesecake and cupcakes. plus alletta and ryan made this great stuffing, much better than i would have done!
there were 9 adults, and 2 babies in attendance, and the americans outnumbered the scots! that doesn't happen very often. but i didn't count ruby in that equation, since she is best of both!

thanksgiving

this is probably where i should be posting a cute picture of ruby next to the turkey or something along those lines.... but alas! we have yet to celebrate thsnkgiving yet! so you will have to wait until after saturday, when we do!

3 months old

yay! 3 months is here! Ruby will be celebrating by dancing around and singing with her mom and dad. she will then take her puppy on a walk, but no frisbee since it is too windy today. she will then top it all off by having her parents read her some of her favorite books, and drinking loads of milk.... it doesn't get any better than that!

happy halloween!

Ruby's first halloween, and she had to have a costume.... i know it is mean of me to dress my beautiful little girl up like a little devil, but it sure is cute!!!!

puppy turns 4!

it has been a tough year for gratch, but we still love him very very much! for his birthday he got a new bed, which he doesn't like that much, and puppy treats! of course he got a long round of frisbee and a walk, his 2 favorite things.

Happy Birthday pooch!

stay-at-home mom?!?

for most of my life i did not want to have my own children, heck i didn't even want to have a husband! but here i am, a SAHM living in a small village in Scotland. who would have thought it? not me, and not many of the people that i have met in my life. i hear it constantly, "you're a mom???" or "I never pictured you with a family!" i take these little comments as compliments, because i know no other way to react. i mean i have done a good job of putting the visage of independent female out there, and hopefully some people have taken some strength from that. but some people who know me longer -or even better- probably saw this phase of my life coming. i have loved being a teacher and here i am teaching my own child everyday. i have often wanted to make the world a better place, and now i have an even bigger passion for that because this is the world that my daughter will live.
everyday is a new experience and a new challenge. right when i think i got this job cracked, something happens and i realize that being a mom is like being a high school teacher, every day is different and insightful. i am really lucky to be able to stay at home and watch my baby grow. I now have more respect than i ever had before for working moms and single moms.... i have no idea how they do it! I am so fortunate to have a husband that works so hard for me and ruby!!! now if only i could get gratch to listen better, life would be perfect!

anniversary

we went away to Loch Tay in Perthshire for our 1st anniversary. we love it up there! it is very beautiful with the water and the forest- not to mention easy to get to from Dunbar. It takes about 3 hours to get to, a perfect amount of time in the car for Ruby and for Gratch.
while there, Ruby got to meet some of her relatives that live near the Loch, including her Great Great Aunt Margaret. Ruby also went on her first hike in the woods at Drummond Hill, although she happened to sleep through most of it.
david and i can not believe all that has happened in our first year of marriage and wonder how we are going to top it this next year..... all in all we have had a very eventful past 3 years, maybe it will start to calm down now and we can become an old married couple with a nice relaxing life! somehow i doubt it!

2 months old

people are not kidding when they tell you that it goes by so fast! ruby is doing great! at her last check-up she weighed over 10 lbs!
fall has set in, and i am resigning myself to the fact that i will not get a summer this year. with this kink in the weather, gratch's coat has decided to shed now (i mean he was made for australia not scotland!) and some of my flowers have given up on ever blooming. and all those cute summer clothes that Ruby has, well i will pack them away and hope that someone i know has a little girl that can use them! maybe autumn will stick around for a long time, it is my favorite time of the year after all.....
we have put up a few videos if you are interested in seeing them, here is the link: http://gedblair.blip.tv/

6 weeks!

Ruby had her 6 weeks check-up today and she is doing very well. She is now up to 9 lbs 1 oz, and is 24 inches long! This past week she has lost most of her black hair and it looks as if she will have lighter brown hair like her Daddy.
This past week Aunt Iveris came to visit for a few days! It was a nice visit and I think Ivy liked to be able to relax a bit and get to know Ruby. Right now our visitors calendar is completely open, so if you are wanting to visit Scotland, let us know! We only ask that you come prepared to cook us some good food, we aren't too picky.....
Next month is our 1st anniversary and the 4 of us are going up to Loch Tay for a few days. We have rented a cottage and will spend a long weekend hiking and enjoying the scenery. David might get to do a little fishing, and I might get to do a little kayaking if the weather cooperates. Gratch is just looking forward to rolling around in some new "things"! Ruby says she will be content as long as the milk keeps flowing!

1 month old!

We can not believe that Ruby has been with us for 1 whole month! It has been an exhausting time, a fun time, an emotional time, but most importantly the best of times! having a baby does take getting used to and your life is changed forever, but it is all worth it.
This week marked Ruby's first big shopping trip into the city. She helped us pick up food for her puppy, go get some bike accessories (for david's new bike-he is getting fit), shop for mom & dad food, and then hit the baby store. We have also been enjoying walks with other babies in the neighbourhood, and taking gratch to play frisbee in the park. All in all, we are getting used to this baby thing!

3 weeks old

Time is flying by! I can't believe Ruby is 3 weeks old already! She is starting to look more like herself and less like 'nondescript baby'. She is gaining weight slowly and seems to have gotten longer this past week. Luckily her feet haven't grown, those suckers are huge!
Ruby's Grandma and Grandpa leave for Florida this weekend and she won't see them again until around Christmas. It was good that they could be here for the first few weeks of her life, getting to know her and also helping us out with things around the house. Luckily we will be able to keep them up to date on everything Ruby using our webcam! Technology isn't too bad sometimes!
Being a mom is hard work, but i am really enjoying myself. Luckily i will get to be a stay at home mom for a while, quite possibly the best job in the world!

1 week old!

it is amazing how fast the time goes when you live your life in 2-3 hour increments. between feeding, changing and trying to sleep, this past week has been a whirlwind. but it is all worth it in the end, because now you know love like you have never known before.
Ruby is getting used to her home, her puppy and life in general. she is already proving to have an ear for good music, desire to dance the night away, a hatred for dirty nappies, and love for intelligent conversation. not too bad for someone so small.

Finally!

After 9 months of waiting, and several false starts, Ruby Skye Graisbery Blair finally decided to grace us with her appearance! She arrived at 10:10 am on Thursday the 2nd of August at Edinburgh's Simpson Memorial Maternity Hospital, weighing 7 lbs 8.5 oz, and measuring 21 inches.

Words cannot describe how we felt when we first laid our eyes on our little girl. She is perfect! We really lucked out!

Now at home and relaxing after 3 days of sleepless labour, the whole family is doing wonderfully.

40 weeks

nothing yet, so don't bother asking! we were hoping that the baby would decide to be punctual, or better yet, a few days early.... but it seems she likes residing where she is and is in no hurry to make her first appearance.

39 weeks and counting.....

i realize that the minute no one hears from me, people assume that i am in labour. not yet! although things are starting to move, and the baby seems to be headed in a southernly direction, labour has yet to kick in. trust me, no one wants it to happen worse than i do.....
my mom arrived a week ago, and we have been getting all the last minute things together hoping that this is the final chance that we have to do it all. the weather, unpredictable to say the least, has kept us indoors the past few days and it just makes the waiting even harder to endure. at least david has work to keep him occupied!
i head to the midwife tomorrow, for what i hope is my last pre-baby appointment. and if she doesn't make an appearance soon, we will start the age-old remedies to kick start labour: castor oil, a hot curry, a brisk walk, accupressure and maybe some voodoo thrown in for good measure!

day trips

we have been staying pretty close to home for David's summer holiday this year. this is primarily because i get really uncomfortable after a few hours in the car, and sitting down doesn't help the ankle swelling at all. plus, we don't want to be too far from the hospital just in case the baby decides that it is time!

earlier this week we took a trip to the Scottish Borders to a nice market town called Kelso. Our primary mission was to buy some tackle for David, but it was nice to see the rolling countryside. then we took a day to go down the coast towards england, a trip we have done many times before but we still enjoy. then our latest trip was yesterday with david's parents. we went up to Loch Tay to see some family for the day. the ride up there is gorgeous, we really love the mountains with its trees and rivers. the whole way david and i kept pointing out places that would be nice to have a bit of land where we could have a nice cozy weekend retreat. somewhere with good fishing, hiking and canoeing to be had, where we could just relax and enjoy the scenery. someday.....

David is trying to get in as much fishing as the weather will allow before the big day, and i am trying to relax and take it easy. it is pretty crazy to think that this time last year we were in NYC getting engaged and now we are married and expecting our first baby! things have really changed for us!

9th Month

we finally made it to July! we are having mixed feelings of exhilaration and uncertainty... our lives are about to change forever! for the better of course, but we are freaked-out nonetheless.
i am still really healthy and holding up to the pressure of carrying around the extra weight of our lil' miracle. i am having a hard time just relaxing and doing nothing, but i know i should take advantage of it now. we know that sleep is something that we will both be missing in the next few months (years?), but i just can't find it in me to lay around all day. Besides, i feel fine and being active takes my mind off the calendar!
Our friends Katy and Michael were here for a short holiday, and it was great to see them! i hadn't seen them since their wedding 2 years ago, and they had never met David before. It went great! It was a relaxing 4 days of just talking, walking, card playing and Guitar Hero....
On the 4th we held a small BBQ in our back garden, and it was the best weather we have had so far this year. Alletta and Ryan came out from Edinburgh, and Gillian and Adam came over for the festivities. David was so excited to celebrate that he overindulged in hamburgers and put himself in a meat-coma for a few hours in the afternoon. once he managed to get up, we spent the evening partaking in the great American past-time of Texas Hold Em'!

father's day

what does a dog that just received 50 frisbees get for his dad for father's day?? 24 bottles of one of his favorite drinks! as hard to find as frisbees, thank god for english importers of rootbeer! although there are better brands, pretty much the only decent kind available here on the internet is IBC. david will try to ration them and keep the rootbeer for as long as he can, 24 could possibly last him for over a month!
other than the rootbeer, father's day was a day of DIY around the house, playing frisbee, gardening and heading into town to go shopping. i am getting too scatter brained to feel comfortable behind the wheel, so i have to drag david to the food store with me. i wouldn't say he hates it, but i think he would rather have gone fishing!

happy days

since i moved here, i have been in constant peril of running out of frisbees for Gratch. there are a myriad of reasons for this, the strangest one being that you can not find real frisbees anywhere, and when you can they are insanely expensive (£6-£12 each) and the wrong weight. we tried imposter frisbees, but the plastic is too hard, and they just don't fly right....and going without frisbees is not an option! when we lost one of our 2 remaining Target bought malibu 110 gram frisbees to the sea cliffs, we knew we had to do something to keep our puppy happy. sure, he has some coming when his grandma arrives in July, but that is a dangerously long time to try to make it through with only 1 frisbee! leave it to his dad to buy 50 online and have them shipped to Scotland from California! even with shipping costs, they ended up being less than £2 each! a bargain!!! and when did they arrive??? 2 days after we lost his FINAL frisbee in the brambles! perfect timing!

i know the question you are wondering, can i still bend down to pick up a frisbee at 33+ weeks?? sure can!! although if i just ate, it doesn't help my heartburn.....

2 months to go!

i am starting to slow down, and well i feel really pregnant. it pretty much happened over night, where i went from happy to miserable, from capable to immovable, from having a bump to having a butte strapped to the middle of my body. it feels as if one of us is always squished, me or the baby, and boy does she let me know!
gratch wonders why i lay around all the time, he thinks i have become an old dog, and he rather have a puppy for a friend. soon enough, pooch! soon enough!

30 weeks

it seems as if spring has finally made it to scotland. i have broken out one of my skirts to wear, and i can actually go around without a jacket on today! i should stop talking about this-or i might jinx it- and that would be horrible!
i am 30 weeks pregnant and i am getting to the point where i really want it to be over with, NOW! i am not having any real issues, nothing to complain about, but it just feels like i have been pregnant forever; i have a feeling that it will only get worse over the next few weeks. plus add to it my impatience! the suspense is killing me!!! thankfully we aren't elephants, those poor animals are pregnant for 18 months! that would push me over the edge....

david is sick, he has tonsilitis again! but it does give him a few days off from work to relax, and gratch is doing a very good job of taking care of him. gratch really just wants his dad to get better so they can play frisbee out in the sun.

back in florida it is graduation time, and i really wish i could have traveled there to see my nephew and some of my old students walk. i can't imagine flying this pregnant, unless i was loaded and could go first class or in my own private jet... then maybe it wouldn't be too bad.

alone time

it is nice to be able to do things by ourselves, just david and i before the baby comes. we had our first BBQ of the season this past weekend, and we spend much time just being together doing nothing of real importance. when david is at work, i am enjoying nice relaxing afternoons with only gratch and my garden as company. very soon we will have visitors and a baby to occupy our days, and although we are ecstatic to become parents, we are cherishing this quiet time before she arrives.
today was my 28 week midwife appointment, and everything was great! i had to endure a vaccine shot in my butt and a blood draw, but other than that it went very well. david took time off from work to accompany me, and he heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time! my fundal height, weight gain, and blood pressure were all spot on, which is very good to know. i am still a little anxious about gestational diabetes, but should hear back in the next few days about that.
we start our prenatal classes in a few weeks, and i do hope they are informative. i already warned david that teachers make the WORST students, so that he won't be too embarrassed by my antics!

3rd trimester

it is official! we are now in the 3rd trimester!!! exciting yet scarey!

geek

i have been a geek most of my life..... although i have tried to hide it at various times, it usually creeps up and shows itself no matter what i try. right now i have become what i consider a "baby-geek," reading and studying all i can on having a baby, what is best for a baby, and how to raise a baby. i guess i should, seeing that i am starting my 3rd trimester any day now, and well it seems inevitable that i will have to give birth sometime in the not-so-distant future. there is just so much to find out, and to be completely honest, up to last fall, i never really cared about it! i had loads of friends who had babies of their own, and i loved to see them... i just didn't want to know any of the details! bottle vs. breast, natural childbirth vs. c-section... it was all the same to me! but now i care, i care alot because it is happening to ME and my baby......
so if i talk to you on the phone or by email, i may bore you with my research into cloth diapers, what sling or car seat i want, or why attachment parenting is great. i am sorry, and i won't say it will go away anytime soon... i will be a mom now FOREVER, so it will probably get worse. just tell me to shut up or yawn really big in my face.
and to my friends who have kids, and i was uninterested and i changed the subject on you.... sorry!!!! NOW i understand!

nesting

yep, that nesting instinct has really kicked in, and it seems that i do not really want to go too far from the house or garden. i am also completely obsessed with getting everything ready for the baby, and i still have 3 months to go! yeah, i know it seems like a long time, but after waiting for 6 months to get to this point, it feels to me like july will be here tomorrow! and all of you who know me.... well i can be a control freak and i like to get things done today!!! balance that with the gestation process, and you can understand a little of the battle that is going on in my hormone infested brain.

we had friends visiting from the states last weekend. i taught with Mike and Mary at FGHS, and they came to Scotland for about 5 days. it was nice to catch up and take them around to some of the local sights (this picture is from the roof of the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh). visitors always have that way of reminding you of how good you got it; you get to see your daily surroundings from a new viewpoint and i love that! one of the highlights of their jaunt over here was a dinner that we had in edinburgh with 4 former students. it was slightly weird for all of us to be here together in Scotland, but at the same time it felt completely normal. so often i have students that i adore and i wonder what will become of them when they get out into the big bad world, will they make it? will they become what i know they have the capability to be? i mean, i knew these kids kicked ass when they were 15, and here they are all grown up and just as amazing as they were then. i am so proud of them, and am glad that i got to play just a little part in their lives.

see, this pregnancy thing really makes you sappy!

spring break

the states has nothing on the UK's 'Easter Break' .... the kids here get 2.5 weeks off! imagine all the trouble that could be caused in the states if that was the norm! i have been enjoying my days off from the grind of substitute teaching, and know that my weeks are numbered. we are thinking i will end my gig the beginning of may, just about the time where my belly may be too big to fit between the desks, and walking the narrow halls might be just a little too harrowing an experience.
i have been puttering in the garden since the weather is finally looking up! this picture is of my hyacinths in the back garden.... my spring bulbs are doing nicely and i managed to get my summer bulbs in before we left for Paris. david and i have been scouring the local nurseries for new and colorful plants to add where some died over the winter. i didn't lose too many, but we also have the front garden to think about! we should begin revamping it soon!
like halloween, they don't really go all out for easter the way we do in the states. it seems that it is still seen as a religious holiday (not a psuedo-pagan capitalist family get together), so if you aren't into going to church there isn't much else to offer. instead of a huge family dinner filled with political arguments and sarcastic banter, david and i took gratch for a walk and then had fish and chips for supper.... well, it is a trade off!

Paris

On the 24th of March, 'Part A' of our belated honeymoon took place. (with 'Part B' to follow in the near future). We flew to Paris for a long weekend break, with the idea of enjoying ourselves 'pre-baby'. Eden and I were lucky to have some fantastic early spring weather for our trip. Grateful for the warm weather, we ditched plans to visit several museums and opted instead to just wander the streets and hang out in the parks soaking up the Parisian lifestyle.
There is so much to see in Paris, that there are many areas that we did not get to explore. With our hotel located in the Latin Quarter, we concentrated primarily on exploring the Left Bank at a leisurely pace. Now we have a list of what we shall see on our next trip!
Thankfully, the bump slowed Eden down slightly, and she was unable to walk the hind legs off this lame donkey for once.

march

does anyone remember that old saying about the month of march "in like a lion, out like a lamb"? well, it is not holding true at all this time around! the weather here has been miserable for the past week, just when i thought spring had sprung! we are getting freezing temperatures and it is threatening to snow in Dunbar. i want to have a little tete a tete with mother nature and let her know that this is unacceptable! i need more sun and more warm weather, and the cold north winds have got to stop!

besides freezing, things are going well! i am now at 21 weeks and feeling very good. the belly is getting bigger and is more noticeably a baby bump and not a beer gut! Although i have only gained 3 pounds in the past 6 weeks, my belly has grown considerably (about 6 inches in the past 2 months)! This bump is beginning to make it harder to bend over and get up from sitting on the floor.... not a good thing for pre-natal yoga!

David and I are leaving this weekend on a short trip to Paris! we will be gone for 5 days, and we are both looking forward to a nice break (and i do hope it is warmer). we will take loads of pictures and post them on flickr!

News Flash!

we went for an ultrasound this evening just to determine the gender of our little bean. after watching it thrash around, do some dance moves, and not co-operate for a few minutes, we finally got the answer we wanted..... it's a girl!!!!!!!! We are uber-happy, she looks perfect, and we can't wait to meet her in person!

1st year

I have been in Scotland for 1 year now! sometimes it seems much longer than that, and other times it feels like i just arrived yesterday. so much has been packed into this past year that i can't imagine how we did it all....

No i don' t have an accent, people still now that i am from the States, and are always curious as to where i am from where i either reply "all over" or "NY, Florida and Oregon". They can never place the accent and it must be due to my hodge-podge of pronunciations. And to top it off, now i have to learn to pronounce things more Scottish!

I think Scotland is now officially my home. i still have the heart of a gypsy and dream of other vistas and other homes. but for now this is it, and i wouldn't dream of going anywhere new without david by my side. Like i told him today, i could be happy to live in Baghdad or even Texas if we were there together....

work

i began the life of a substitute teacher last week.... all i can say is that it is quite interesting, and different than subbing in the US (not that i ever subbed in the US mind you, but the subs here are more like baby sitters than i remember). Right now this is the perfect job for me: stress-free, low responsibility, flexible, no grading or planning, and good hours. If i can get 2-3 days each week i would be very happy; it would keep me busy and give us some play money!

big news!

although not new info to some of you, here is the 14 week ultrasound image of our first baby! yep, there he/she is lounging in the uterus without a care in the world! We won't know the gender until about mid-March(we have been calling the baby 'bean' since it looked a whole lot like a lima bean in the first ultrsound that was done at 8 weeks).
The first trimester was pretty tough, i had really bad morning sickness, have had a cough since mid-December, and i have been exhausted. Now that i am at the beginning of the second trimester things are beginning to look up! About 98% of my nausea is gone, and i am finding it easier to eat things other than carbs. I do crave food that is unavailable here or hard to find, and maybe that has been the hardest part of all.... Can someone please open up a Jack-in-the Box in Scotland????
If all continues to go well, look for bean's first appearance sometime in early August!

Back home

we arrived on friday morning, after a decent flight from atlanta to edinburgh. i say decent because we were lucky enough to get the exit row seats, but it still is not 100% comfortable....

david and i had a great time in Florida! the weather was great (mostly in the 70s and sunny), we got to see most of my florida family, and many of my friends that live on the east coast! it was great to get to see everyone and catch up in person for a change. i hope that everyone who has promised to visit does, and soon!
our party on saturday night was very laid back and we hope everyone that came had a good time. my mom out did herself with the amount of food, but there were some of my favorite things to eat there (cannolis, deviled eggs, swedish meatballs!). some people couldn't make it at the last minute, which was a let down, but things happen and hopefully we will see them soon.
we spent new years relaxing. david went fishing with ed (and he got to pet a manatee!) while i got to sit around and chit chat with my buds husband-free! at night we went to kim and ed's new house (very nice!) for some food and fireworks. i think we are all getting too old to party too hard, and it was nice to have all my different friends meet each other (finally). I have some of the best friends a person could want and i LOVE it when they hit it off!