Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Lounging Around

Hello again! My, how time flies when you have a newborn baby! It has been more than five months since I took the time to write a blog post and right now the little guy is napping, so here I am! (I suspect he will be waking soon, so who knows when this will actually hit the interwebs . . . )

My last post was on my due date, and this post will take us back to the day after, August 28th. I had my 40 week appointment, and though Baby Smith was preparing to join the outside world, there was zero baby birthing action going on. My Mama had already been in town with us for a few days, and as usual, she was itching for a home improvement project. Together, she and Drew are a formidable team. I must have been loopy with hormones, because I agreed to let them refinish the parquet floor in our front room and entryway. Up until this point, the front room had served as a storage and staging area for the nursery project, and now that the Baby's room was ready, it was time for the front room to find meaning in life.

The floor was really worn and the dark stain dated the room by a few decades.
Mind you, this would involve lots of sanding, which would make the house dusty, and lots of polyurethane, which would make the house inhospitable for pregnant me. Yet, I said, "okay." My sanity is obviously questionable. On D-Day Plus 1, the sanding began. Since I couldn't help, I set out to finish the new cushion covers for the glider we refinished for the nursery. To minimize dust in the house, Drew and Mama hung plastic tarps on the main level and shut off the air conditioning. There I was, nine months pregnant, sitting at a hot sewing machine on the second floor of a house in Texas in the afternoon at the end of August with no AC. And I wasn't even doing the hard work.

We got it done the night before our Baby arrived - woohoo!
The floor looked fantastic after several trips to Home Depot to rent and buy all the right tools. It was up to Drew to spend the next three days applying the polyurethane that would protect our beautiful floor. Since I couldn't be in the house while this happened (really, nobody should be in a house while varnish goes down - both Mama and Drew have said they will never refinish a floor themselves again), Mama walked me through every furniture store in Arlington, some of them more than once. Still, with all that walking, not a single contraction. And you know what? I am so glad the exercise didn't put me into labor, because I couldn't have even gone home! Fortunately, we were able to sleep at the house each night, and both the floor and the Baby's glider got done before I was 41 weeks pregnant, which is when we had to induce labor. Our stubborn little Smith wasn't going anywhere without the coercion of Pitocin.

Mama began the task of painting the front room, which we decided would be called, "The Lounge," while we were at the hospital, and she finished up after we got home. I felt bad that I couldn't help (not really), but it was fun listening to her and Drew work out the details of the room. Drew even built us two beautiful end tables. He came up with the design all by himself and they are just spectacular.

Isn't the table lovely? And check out that gorgeous floor!
I love the beautiful detail work.
The Lounge creates such a welcoming entrance to our home, and the built in unit, which is now properly painted, allows us to show off our hobbies, personalities, and the important things in our lives.
All done!
I really the fabric we chose for "my" chair.
Our neighbors gave us this orchid. It is the perfect addition to the lounge. I hope I can keep it alive!
Pretty pegs, all lined up.
Wedding day mementos

Reminders of our faith

I wonder what crazy project I will agree to the next time I am pregnant? Gosh, it feels so good to be writing again! I want to get back to regularly posting - stay tuned!