Well, I just got a voicemail from Melinda. There was good news and bad news. The good news, Scout just pulled up. She was on the floor near Drake’s train table and evidently wanted to see what was going on, so she pulled up to standing…by herself. Holy crap, that kids gonna need skis before she’s one. The bad news, she pooped on the floor. I guess one needs to punctuate significant events in their life in whatever way they know how. That’s my girl.

Unfortunately, both kids have colds now. They are both pretty stuffy, but they don’t appear to be running a fever. We are worried to death about Scout catching the RSV virus. That really did a number on Drake, but he was significantly younger than Scout is now when he caught it. She doesn’t seem to have any problems breathing except for the clogged up sinuses. It doesn’t sound like there is anything in her lungs yet. I could really do without her catching the virus this early. She felt so crummy last night that she had to sleep with her Mom and Dad, which meant that Drake slept with Mom and Dad too. It was pretty crowded. At one point (at around 2:00) Melinda, who can’t sleep well with the kids in bed because she worries about rolling on them, headed upstairs with Drake. She evidently hadn’t been able to get any sleep yet. Scout and I stayed downstairs and she slept solid until about 6:00 (a late morning for her). I let Melinda sleep until about 8:00 but I had to wake her up so that I could head off to work. Scout fell asleep again right before I left and Drake was awake and in good spirits playing with Mom.

Drake is *really* looking forward to his Grandparents coming out this Wednesday (as are Melinda and I). He’s been counting the days down on a calendar. He’s hoping that Scarlet can make the trip as well. I wish my mother and father (Melinda’s folks too) could spend more time with Scout. I reckon I need to work on another degree so they can babysit again. Maybe *shudder* physiscs? Nah. I’ll never use it for anything.

We went down to Fort Gaines over the weekend, and it was mostly a good time. Drake really enjoyed running around in the tunnels and playing with a really big anchor that was in the middle of the fort. I got a chance to meet and talk with a blacksmith while I was there and he gave me some good suggestions about getting started in the trade. Specifically, he mentioned the site anvil fire which has links to clubs that meet in the mobile area monthly. He suggested going to a few of the meetings to meet some of the blacksmiths and get a chance to try out using their forges before spending any dough (a good steel anvil costs about $550) on equipment. This is also a great way to get your hands on used tools, which typically get passed on from one blacksmith to another. It’s primarily the stuff that no working blacksmith wants that gets sold at flea markets. To find decent blacksmithing tools, seek out a decent blacksmith. Makes sense to me. I hope to have a chance to do that.