Making Room for...Lucy?

Tuesday of this week, Justin began cutting and installing the first shelf for the "new" Lucy Room. He's building a floating shelf from scratch that will line the upper perimeter of the room's three walls...like a crown. :)

We went back and forth on the type of shelf we were going to install - floating or bracket - and whether or not we were going to buy shelves or if Justin was going to build them himself.

Of course, I think the appeal of buying new toys - uh, I mean tools - had a lot to do with his decision.

No matter though - I'm so thrilled that Justin is willing to put such time, hard work, skill and craftmanship into my very own custom-made shelves for the Lucy Room.

We also decided on the Lucy paint colors and faux technique.

The colors are, naturally, Pink Flutter and Pink Ribbon. We're going to do a technique called dragging to give a pinstriped looked on all the walls and then we're going to use translucent, irridescent glaze to paint hearts and polka dots scattered here and there and every which direction.

Mom came in this weekend and we did a little belated birthday shopping. We purchased my new desk for the Lucy Room and also ordered the nursery furniture! My new desk and chair are super neat and I'm so excited about getting everything in both rooms set up and decorated.

What's in a Name?

Tuesday of this week was Great Grandmother Patsy's...well, we'll just call it her day. She stopped celebrating her - shhhh! - birthday a couple years ago. When I called Great Mema, she had a new name suggestion - Paxton. We really liked the sound of the name and the ability to do an easy nickname - Pax.

Paxton has a certain sophistication while Pax has a certain coolness to it.

When I looked it up in a baby name book I found that Paxton means peaceful town and Pax means peaceful.

Thursday of this week we had our appointment with Dr. Owen. Our first official baby belly measurement (medical term is fundus height) came to 27 cm which is right on track according to our current week of pregnancy - 26 weeks. (A little bit of pregnancy trivia - the fundus height is two centimeters on either side of your week in pregnancy.) Later that night as we were laying in bed watching TV,

I felt Baby Daniel hiccupping! At first, I told Justin that Baby D was moving, trying to get comfy, but then I realized that the "movement" was much to faint for his typical pushes, kicks and punches.

It was actually something further inside, a slight thumping nestled within the cushioned walls. That's when it hit me - Baby D had the hiccups! It was a strange sensation and a little funny.

Over the weekend, Justin finished the touchups on the trim in the nursery. Now, we're ready for Grandmother Jene to come paint the tree and we'll be ready to set up and decorate.

With only one more week in the second trimester, I'm growing more and more anxious about entering the third. I've so enjoyed the second trimester - the practically nonexistent morning sickness, the increased energy, the manageable baby belly growth...but I'm afraid this is all going by the wayside. Baby Daniel will double his weight over the next few months and it's only going to get hotter.

25 Weeks & We're Hopping Along!

This week began with the celebration of Justin's 36 birthday at Outback. During dinner,

Justin proposed that we decide on Baby D's name and said he leans toward Drake. I suggested that we wait to see what he looks like at our next ultrasound

since his face will be fully formed, complete with eyebrows and eyelashes, and his eyes may even be open.

Friday evening after work, we picked out paint samples for the Lucy Room and nursery. We've

decided on Moose Mousse for the nursery with acoustic white accent and trim. It's a rich khaki color that'll go great with the hunting lodge theme and earth tone linens!

I couldn't believe how appropriate the nursery paint name was and I definitely saw that as a sign that the color was right. :)

Saturday, we celebrated Easter early with the Mitchells and then spent the rest of the afternoon at Target creating another baby registry.

Come Easter Sunday, we were

hopping right along as Justin got all of the Moose Mousse painting finished

in the nursery!

Baby Daniel's First Flight (in Utero)

This week, Justin and I flew to Houston for the Texas Libraries Association Conference. I thought the flight might cause more of a reaction from Baby Daniel, but he was on his regular movement schedule - nothing out of the ordinary. It was a hassle, however, not being able to lift my own luggage - thank goodness Justin was able to go for work, too!

The first night in Houston, we went to the Ragin' Cajun for dinner. As much as I love crawfish, crab and shrimp I agreed this venue would be OK to eat at because I figured they'd have chicken gumbo or something that I could eat (can't eat a lot of seafood when you're pregnant - especially caught fresh in local waters). Boy was I wrong and boy was it torture.

While Justin turned into a ragin' cajun chowing down on his oysters and crawfish bucket, I suffered through a poor excuse for a Cob salad.

It was not a great dining experience...for me & Baby Daniel at least.

For the first time to date, Justin felt Baby D movin'!

It was early in the morning, just as Baby Daniel was waking up, and waking me up, stretching and kicking me into gear to get up and get breakfast. Justin couldn't believe he could actually feel him.

Then later, after breakfast when Baby D was movin' around excited about all the food he was getting and the white chocolate mocha latte,

I pulled my shirt taut across my belly and we could SEE him moving! It was crazy -

we watched him move for a good while. :)

I gave a presentation during the conference and while it went smoothly and seemed to be very well received, I was surprised that Baby Daniel didn't react to my nervousness as much as I thought he might. But no, he accepted the butterflies just like his Mom and allowed them to keep us on our toes!

On one of our last nights in Houston we treated ourselves to a swanky jazz club called Sambuca's for dinner.

Sheeshamonga this an awesome dining experience! Justin had the best, thickest sirloin "of his life" and I had a dee-lish pistachio chicken pesto linguine dish. We watched and listened to a live, sultry jazz singer

for entertainment and topped the dining experience off with coffee and doughnuts dipped in white and dark chocolate. We really enjoyed it!