The Mother's Nest: A Poppa Red Barn Project

In December, the Red Barns set out to build a new nest for the baby boy they were expecting in April. The baby's current room was acting as a closet for random items without a home after the June move. Once they hid all that junk in the attic, it was time to attack the bright yellow walls and ceiling that the previous owner had experimented with.

After about 10 different paint samples and a few breakdowns, the Red Barns finally settled on a neutral, sandy-brown color that would provide a nice base for some wall murals. Phillip spent about a week priming the entire room, painting the ceiling and rolling the walls a few times. After the paint dried, he installed the new fan.

Next came furniture. The Red Barns got thrifty and used a 20-percent-off coupon from Babies R Us to purchase their crib and dresser. Soon-to-be-great Grammy and Grandpa purchased the new rocker for Claire to feed him in. Putting all of it together was a real breeze.

To add some life to the walls, Aunt Patti spent a few days with the Red Barns to give her niece's baby boy some animals to play with. Patti spent two days drawing and painting a giraffe, a couple of monkeys and a tiger. She did a fantastic job!



The finishing touch came when Phillip finished staining the new book case. Claire stressed out for weeks looking for the perfect book case when Grampy suggested going to an unfinished furniture store. Sure enough, they found it. Since it was unfinished, Phillip spent two days sanding, conditioning, staining and sealing the wood, killing millions of brain cells along the way. It was the last piece to the nursery puzzle, and it allowed Mama Bear to relax a little before the baby arrived.

Pregnant Claire: There She Grows

In order to capture Claire's growth, Proud Poppa Red Barn decided to take a picture every few weeks to chronicle the change. Overall, the little boy growing inside her didn't stop her radiant beauty from shining like the sun.

The First Trimester:

Second Trimester:



Third Trimester:

A Branson Christmas Special

Global travelers? Hardly. The Red Barns prefer to keep it to the 10-hour radius around the DFW area. It just so happens that if you drive through the hillacious Ozarks, you can get to Branson, MO pretty quickly. With Claire 23 weeks pregnant, the two jumped at the chance to spend a few wintery days under the bright lights of Branson.

On the first day there, the couple journeyed to Silver Dollar City, a Christian-themed amusement park that resembles Log Cabin Village if it had a few thrill rides. SDC had more than a million lights around the park, some of which were synced to the music. While preggers wasn't able to ride any roller coasters (Phillip only rode a couple), the Red Barns took in a few shows, watched some glass being blown, sipped on some cocoa and did some people watching. The cocoa was pretty amazing!

The next day was Claire and Phillip's favorite. While Claire was pretty skeptical about Big Cedar Lodge, the two ventured out to the Bass Pro-owned resort that rested right on beautiful Table Rock Lake. The Red Barns started with an awesome outdoor lunch at Truman's Cafe. Claire had scheduled a mani/pedi at the Lakeside Spa while Phillip was going to explore the grounds on horseback. After the activities, the two watched the sunset from a couple rockers on the lodge patio and headed down for a beautiful dinner at The Worman House, a railroad tycoon's old house that had been converted into a restaurant. Phillip and Claire had another amazing view overlooking the lake.

That evening, the two finished the Acrobats of China show. It was one of the only things in Branson worth seeing, unless you wanted to watch washed-up comedians, tribute bands or family singers. Overall, the two had a great time and would highly recommend it to anyone over 40.