Kennedy Scarlett!

Kennedy Scarlett
That's right folks.  After months of thinking about it, we have settled on her name.  Kennedy, we love it because it is somewhat unique and modern, but not too eccentric.  This may not be surprising, but it is of Irish decent.  The literal translation means "armored head."  As for her middle name, we selected Scarlett.  Again, this shouldn't be a surprise, but it means "red."  We felt this was quite fitting because it's a beautiful name and we both love red.

This is week 26 and everything continues to progress as it should.  We can still see the tremors on the surface of Rachel's belly which indicate that Kennedy is in there kicking and wiggling.  She seems to be pretty happy in there.  Recently, Sammy has been snuggling on Rachel's belly and when he starts to purr, Kennedy really starts to perk up.  She must be able to hear him purring.  Makes you wonder what she thinks about it.

Boston Marathon
On Monday, April 18th, my dad ran in the Boston Marathon.  He finished in 3:33:17!  Not bad at all, especially considering that he hurt his back not that long ago.  Congrats to him and we're certainly proud of him.

Sammy's New Do
As usual, Sammy's hair has been shedding like crazy so we decided to give him a little trim.  You might recall that we tried trimming him last summer, but the trimmers got clogged and we had to trim his hair using scissors.  This weekend, we purchased a pair of pet trimmers and wow, they worked much better.  Take a look below at some before and after photos.

Before the Trim

After the Trim

Worn Out from the Trim

A Good Body Shot After the Trim

Kennedy's Room
We continue to work on Kennedy's room.  We got the valance that matches the bedding.  Take a look below.  Boy, she is going to be one well loved and spoiled baby!

Week 26 Photo

Last, but not least, we have a photo of Rachel.

Week 25

Work Week
Now that the test is behind me and my office workload is starting to return to normal, I've had a good opportunity to rest up.  As a result, I've been able to spend a little more time thinking about our little girl.  In fact, I can't hardly get her out of my mind.  It makes me smile every time I think of her.  I can't help but dream about all the growth, development and great opportunities that the future will bring.  She's not even here yet, but I'm already becoming a proud papa.

Tuesday
We started a running program again.  I'm eager to get back out there since I've been out of practice for several months now.  Rachel is helping to coach again.  She is serving as the mentor and our friend, Sherie, is serving as the coach.

Thursday
Rachel went by to see the doctor for her monthly checkup.  In keeping with the previous precedent, the doctor noted that Rachel and our little lady are tracking perfectly.  Her belly is measuring at 25 cm, the same number of weeks she has been pregnant.  According to the doctor, this matches the rule of thumb she is looking for.

Friday
My parents were passing through town on their way to Boston.  My dad is running in the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 18th.  Good luck to him as Rachel and I can now vouch that qualifying for the Boston Marathon is no small feat.  On their way through, they dropped off a camera.  We struck a deal with my dad.  We'd take his old camera (upgrade for us) and he'd get a new camera (upgrade for him too) so it was a win-win.  So now we have a new toy for bringing you pictures on the blog.  That said, I'll be learning how to use it in the months to come.

Saturday

You may recall that last week we picked out the paint for our new baby girl.  This Saturday, we started painting her room.  Look below and you can see the before and after pictures.  It's a pretty dramatic difference, but that's pretty characteristic of us to make such a big change.

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

My company had our annual dinner on Saturday evening.  This gave us an opportunity to get dressed up and get out of the house.  We took advantage of the moment to take Rachel's week 25 photo.  Take a look below.  Isn't she so beautiful?

Week 25

What a week? I'm glad to have this one in the rear view mirror.

Texas Water Conference
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I was busy with the Texas Water Conference in Fort Worth.  On Tuesday, I participated in the Water Environment Association of Texas (WEAT) Board Meeting where I was appointed as the Young Professionals Chair.  With the new position comes added responsibility.  I now have a vote on the board so I feel an added sense of ownership to drive the Texas Water and Wastewater Industry in the right direction.  On Wednesday, I ran the WEAT Student Design Competition, moderated our Young Professionals technical presentations and hosted the Young Professionals reception.  Then on Thursday, I helped to judge a safety event where wastewater treatment plant operators from around the state compete in a drill that simulates the rescue an unconscious comrade in a manhole.  Needless to say, I was a little worn out from all the conference activity.  I'm sure glad that it was in Fort Worth this year because on Friday, I took the PE exam.

PE Exam
The exam was held at the Will Rogers Center in Fort Worth.  On a normal day, that is about 45 minutes from the house, but I was worried that I might run into gridlock traffic on the way so I arrived over an hour early.  I didn't run into any traffic, but it never hurts to be prepared. When I was there, I saw several Tech grads that were from my graduating class.  They all seem to be doing well and it's fun to see what everyone is up to these days.  I'm sure thankful to have the exam behind me because I was getting pretty sick of studying.  Now let's hope that I passed.  I'm pretty optimistic about it, but the pass rate is generally between 55 and 60% so I won't feel better until I get the official word.

Saturday
On Saturday, I went for a bike ride with Kevin out at Lake Grapevine.  It wasn't very busy, which was surprising because the weather was almost perfect.  The trees are all getting pretty lush and that makes for a pretty ride.  Although the ride was great, it wasn't 100% clean.  At one point, I got into a mud pit.  It caused me to lose my momentum and I was having a little trouble unclipping from the pedal.  I thought I was about to go for a mud bath, but I unclipped just in time to catch myself.  After cleaning up, Rachel and I went by RunOn!  I signed up for a running class.  This will be my first class since I started studying in January.  Since I haven't been as active lately, I have started to fill out my britches so I will be excited to get back out and trim back down.  We also went by Sherwin Williams to pick out some paint for the baby's room.  We decided to paint her room yellow.  We took the bedding with us so that we could find something that would match it.  The color we picked out is called June Day.  Take a look below:

Painting her room will be next weekend's task.

Baby Life
Recently, I've been able to feel her moving around in Rachel's belly.  This has been a new fun activity for us in the evenings.  As for Rachel, she is still doing as great as she has been all along.  Take a look below at the Week 24 photo.

As I wright this post, Sammy has started taking a nap and has apparently gotten hot.  Take a look below.

Nebraska, Studying, and More New Furniture

Sorry it has been so long since an update! I was out of town last weekend and did not make it home until late Sunday evening. Jason has been studying, what seems like, every free moment he gets. Between those two things, we just were too busy/lazy to put up an update!

I went to Nebraska for my Cousin Tracy's baby shower. I finally got to meet her beautiful son Braydon. He is a very good baby and I can't wait to see him again in June! The Nebraska weather was just wonderful....Not! While it was a nice 85 degrees back here in Texas, it decided to snow and have highs in the 30's and 40's for us. Although I knew the weather was not going to be nice, I didn't really have much that would fit me as far as winter clothing goes. Oh well, the weather had no impact on the good time that I had! Unfortunately, pregnancy brain kicked in during packing and I forgot my camera! I did however capture one on my phone of Mr. Braydon. I think he looks like his uncle Jon.

Here is the closest picture I have to a Week 22 photo. Since I forgot my camera, I was unable to capture one while I was away, but I did happen to take this the day before I was officially "22 weeks." 

While I was away, Jason kept quite busy. His parents came in town Thursday, March 24th for his Cousin Trace's wedding. Trace and his fiancée Rebecca got married Friday, March 25th. It sounded like it was a beautiful small family wedding. I really wished I could have been able to make it, but we just could not fit everything in! The rest of the weekend he busied himself with Mountain Biking and relaxing on Saturday and studying and chores on Sunday. It was quite a busy weekend, but that is more the norm these days!

Now onto this past week. Running class is over for a few weeks. My group ran their goal race on Sunday while I was away and I am happy to report that they all did extremely well! A cool front came in (only cool here, not COLD like Nebraska!) which made for nice race conditions! Jason and I did get out for a run one day this week. I think he is itching to have this test over so that he can get back to running! We bought another piece of furniture this weekend, a rocker/recliner for the nursery. Here is a picture but this is NOT the fabric we picked. The fabric we got is a bright red (shocking, I know!) with circles on it. We just picked it from a swatch, so who knows how it will turn out!

Jason went in to the office today to do more studying. He wanted to get in a good session without distractions. While he was gone, I decided to do a little gardening. Here are some photos of our new flowers! (you can't see them all, but they are scattered in there in various shades of red)

Lastly, here is a new belly photo. This is Week 23.