The Nursery of Ambition

Mauldin's nursery is coming along...

Of course, it isn't finished yet... not by a long shot; although, of course, we are having fun throwing around ideas of what we want in there...

We are a very ambitious couple... as you might can tell. We found some college pennants, from some not-so-well-known universities, that we thought it would be cool if Mauldin ended up with a scholarship to!

Sometimes we just stand in the room in total awwh because no matter how Laura's belly grows it just doesn't seem real until you see all the little clothes hanging in the closet. Of course, we have the ultrasound picture, but the real-ness just is not there yet. I am sure it is more real for, my wife, Laura, than I because she is the one waking up in the middle of the night due to Mauldin's nocturnal activities....

The nursery is beginning to come together and look like a room for a child, a very neat child, but a child none-the-less. We have been testing out all the toys ourselves lol, just to make sure they are safe of course!

Now we are not experienced parents... this is our first child and as much as we feel ready... this evening taught us we are still clueless when it comes to certain aspects to parenting. We probably will end up having this issue even when Mauldin is here...

"Hey do you know if it is okay to (insert action regarding a newborn)?"

"Ummm... not sure, go look it up online!"

Yah, cause I know wikipedia is always such a great resource for child rearing.

Honestly though, Laura and I pulled out a blanket and tried to "swaddle" a mickey plush toy... Sorcerer Mickey to be exact. We were hoping his magical abilities would prove to be some help in assisting us in automatically knowing how to swaddle a baby.

"Are you sure that's right," I said "it looks a little tight to me, you don't want to cut off his circulation!"

"Well, I don't know..." said Laura "you try it! I'm sure you will do it right, Mr. father of the century!"

We are really excited about our pending bundle of joy to join the Skates household... I just hope he doesn't mind having such crazy parents.

"Why did I end up with the parents who didn't know how to swaddle?"

We certainly are going to start making a list of "how do you's" when we see our families over the holidays.

HAHAHA!

Harry & the Headphones

Tonight, my wife, Laura and I decided to give Mauldin his first lesson in Harry Potter. If you did not know Laura and I are big fans of the series, both the movies and books. We are on the hinges of.. well lets say me more than Laura, but almost obessive-like sometimes. You probably already assumed as such if we are exposing our unborn child to the likes of the Boy Wizard, the chosen one if you will... or the Boy who lived, okay I disgress, if you aren't picking up on these refrences pick up a book or a movie and you may can follow this a little bit... honestly, if you haven't seen Harry Potter, for religious reasons or something you may want to losen up a little bit. I mean I don't think Mauldin will come out of the womb wanting to study potions for a living. But, you know what if he does we will just say he likes chemistry!

The point of my blog is to introduce that Mauldin has began kicking, well not like, "whoa he just knocked my hand off your belly kicking," but Laura swears she is feeling it. Although, everytime I place my hand on the ever-growing bump, the kicking subsides, well lets say it, all together goes away. Is she making this up? Is she just wanting to feel it so bad it is happening, or is Mauldin playing a cruel joke on daddy already? Well, whatever it is I would like to feel it happen... atleast once!

Back to the headphones and Mr. Potter... we are trying to give Mauldin some culture early on... there are no concrete studies that; say playing music or whatever will make your child smarter, but who says it will make them, I dunno, not smarter? So, will Mauldin be born speaking with a British accent? Well, if he does wouldn't that be hilarious?

Cheers!

It's A Boy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, bring on the blue stuff... It's official, we are having a boy!

53% of people who voted said, girl... (I was in that group) however, my beautiful and intuitive wife, Laura, said boy alllllll along! Not to mention almost everyone in our family! I guess I was just saying girl so if it happened to be I would have already prepared myself for it.

Not that having a girl is a bad thing, but having a boy first really would be a nice thing to have off our shoulders... for one, we don't have to worry about having our name stolen!

With that being said...

Mauldin James Skates will be a very welcomed addition to the Skates household.

See the pictures...