the lilac room: painting the walls

A video of a daddy's love for his daughter...

the lilac room: progress

The base coat on the nursery walls are finished, but there is still much painting to be done before it is ready! I'll always claim that I can easily visualize concepts, but Robin doesn't believe me (neither does my mom!), so he created a sketch of the nursery concept for me. After a few tweaks and modifications, we came to a mutual agreement with a fun, whimsical theme that we both adore.

final concept drawing for the lilac room
(click on the picture to enlarge)

Robin is taking the next two weeks off for the holidays and started working on his daughter's "daddy-do" list last night. First task: turn the concept into reality with a little help from TI's DLP Technology.

The tree still needs a second coat and he has 3 1/2 walls to go, but he plans to finish painting this weekend. We'll post more pictures once the room is put back together.

a baby shower

This weekend brought a whirlwind of excitement as my mom, dad, sister, aunts and cousins traveled to Dallas to attend a baby shower that our sweet and good friends Beth and Dachelle threw in honor of our soon-to-be newest family member. Since we are so spread out geographically, we don't get to see each other as often as we would like, so it made the shower extra special to have so much of my family there.

It was a small and intimate shower, and Beth, knowing me well, created the perfect opportunity for me to visit with friends that I don't get to see as often as I should. Everybody was so generous and we opened practical, fun and nostalgic gifts, which we just can't wait to use ... it won't be long before she is here!

I don't have pictures of everybody, but a few pictures from the shower are below...

Thank you, Beth for being such a great friend and hostess! I am so lucky to have you, Brandon, Jack and Dachelle as part of my "family!"

Odette (honorary hostess and Dachelle's mother), Pam (my mom), Summer (my sister), Beth (fabulous friend and hostess), Crystalyn, Marsha (my aunt), Kendra (my cousin), Debbie (my aunt) and Kayla (my cousin)


Robin's mom, ever the creative soul, sent a bouquet of washcloths and tiny socks.

Over the years, I've watched my mother lovingly crochet blankets for the special babies in her life, and I am so excited to finally have one!

Dachelle sent Robin a daddy diaper kit that included gloves, tongs, goggles, a nose clip and diaper changing decision dice. I've promised to post pictures of its use.

I had a napping quilt similar to this Mother Goose quilt when I was little (though mine was Raggedy Anne and Summer's was Mother Goose) and my mom had enough fabric left over and tucked away to make one for my first child and for Summer's first child (which probably won't be far behind!) What a special, nostalgic gift!

I was completely overwhelmed with emotion when my friend Adrienne (who lives in Houston) walked in with her daughter, Reese. Adrienne and I were the closest of friends in college and we just don't see each other or talk as much as we should (though I've recently been able to feel more in touch by keeping up with her family's blog.) It was so special for her to come and for me to finally meet her daughter, Reese, who will be exactly one year older than our blessing.


I met Eileen at her wedding soon after Robin and I started dating and she and her husband, Michael, have been great friends ever since. Eileen took most of the pictures during the shower. I think she's hooked on the digital SLR and Robin and I think Michael should get her one for Christmas or another special occasion!


Kalina is my best friend from college and she is like a sister to me. We've lived far from each other since she graduated, but she and her husband, Beto, and daughter, Akassia moved to Plano about a year and a half ago and Robin and I have both enjoyed having them so close. Beto has a great job opportunity in Dubai, so he, Kalina, Akassia and their new daughter, Iliana, are moving this spring. I'm devastated to see them go and hope they will be back in the US soon (preferably close to me!)

My friend, Jessica, works at United Way. We became good friends when she worked on TI's 2006 campaign.

When people ask how I met Leah and Amber, we always have to think and I'm not sure we remember exactly when/where we met, but Amber and I had a funny night on St. Patrick's Day 2002 when we donned green feather boas and set out down Greenville Ave. as the "pinching patrol." This idea, of course, was contrived as we were running the obligatory pre-parade 5K.

Summer and Tonya became great friends in college, and Tonya has since been adopted as a part of our extended family.

I just love this picture... I think Jack has a crush on Akassia

happy thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Roberts and the Holubecs
Thanksgiving 2008 at Oak Ridge

the lilac room in the orange house

We never expected to paint a room in our home lilac, but we did, and it is! At first, we were discussing earthy, neutral tones, but as we've become more and more excited about having a little girl, plans changed.

As things go at the Orange House, the preparation was much more involved than we expected it to be....

Robin and I cursed our 52 year-old drywall as chunks of fell out when we removed some shelves from the wall in the old office/new nursery.

Once again, Robin had the opportunity to test his wall-repair skills.

I added texture to all of the walls to help mask the repairs.

Robin primed and painted the room -- lilac on the top half and a very light lilac on the wainscot.

Though I am still trying to get used to having lilac in our house, the project looks great. However, it is nowhere near finished. We had hoped the ceiling and trim would look okay with the lilac, but it is way too warm and looks awful, so Robin will paint them with a cooler white on Sunday. Once everything has cured and aired out, we'll start painting the wall art. We're looking forward to seeing the finished product and hope to be finished by Christmas!

thirty week ultrasound and appointment

We had what is expected to be our last ultrasound today. I am still amazed at this technology and the level of detail that it reveals. The baby is still measuring near the 60th percentile, and weighed 3lbs, 14oz. Dr. Reinhart assured us that any and all complications are behind us and told us to expect the last two months to progress as a "normal" pregnancy.

After our ultrasound appointment, we had our 30-week check-up with Dr. Nokleberg. These appointments have become fairly uneventful and routine, but this time, I had questions!

A little background... I am set on the idea of natural childbirth (I don't want to be induced, I don't want pain medications and I don't want any intervention unless we enter a life-threatening situation), so we've been taking classes in the Bradley Method. Our class is split between two couples who are delivering at a birth center and three of us who have opted for hospital deliveries. The birth center option is sounding better and better to me - they even have a park they can walk around in during the first stage of labor, and they can eat and drink... luxury! However, I still think the hospital is our best option considering the complications we had in October. When I went to the hospital in October, I was restricted from eating or drinking anything (including ice chips) at 11 a.m. that Friday, because they weren't sure what intervention would need to be done and when. I was put on a saline IV later that day, but on a way-too-slow drip which dehydrated me beyond discomfort. My first sip of water after surgery Saturday morning (more than 24 hours after my last sip of water) was a little piece of heaven. This ordeal started one of my newest phobias - dehydration.

Back to the questions... As you can imagine, my first and most important question was whether or not I would be allowed to at least drink while in labor. It turns out that Presbyterian has a strict policy against this in case a stat cesarean is called. I'll only be allowed ice chips. I wonder if they monitor the quantity? This is reason enough for me to wait as long as possible before going to the hospital! Managing pain the Bradley way is about relaxation and meditation, which I think will be much easier for me to handle if I can at least drink water. I also found out that I won't have to be tethered to an IV unless there is a medical need. They'll just install a saline lock and hook into it if/when the need arises. This is a huge relief for me.

All in all, the visit was good and Dr. Nokleberg expects us to carry to term. She estimated the baby to be around 8 lbs. at birth. She also cleared us for travel over the Thanksgiving holiday, so Robin, Nikko, November and I will be traveling to San Angelo and Oak Ridge to spend time with mom and dad.

Baby Roberts profile shot -- 30 weeks, 2 days

Posing for her close-up. Robin is convinced she has my lips. Right now, it looks like she has his hair.

29 Weeks

We are officially in the third trimester and today marks the start of week 30. At first, it felt like life was moving at a normal pace and that we had plenty of time to sort out the details, but suddenly, the days, weeks fly by with little warning. Robin and I both can't wait to meet our little girl, but we also want her to join us when we have her bedroom put together!

Since my hospital stint, I am more determined than ever to have a natural childbirth, so we started taking classes in the Bradley Method with Linda Worzer last week. The classes are every Tuesday from 7 - 9:30p for eight weeks and so far have been very good. There is no way I can remember everything we've learned, so thankfully, Robin is a great partner who is into the process 100 percent and can fill in where I forget. He especially appreciated the idea of last week's homework -- for him to get a 15-minute massage each night (decidedly a ploy to engage him in the process). Homework was never my forte, but he did get one massage out of it. This week's homework is to start working on our birth plan...

Crystalyn and Baby Roberts at 29 weeks

Just eleven weeks to go!

25 week ultrasound

Because of some complications I was having (more on that later), we were treated to pictures of our sweet baby at just past 25 weeks. My mom had come to visit and help with things while I was sick, so "Grammy Lou" was able to see her granddaughter in action for the very first time. Baby Roberts was very cooperative and even smiled for the camera. Her vitals were perfect, and she measured in the 61st percentile - weighing in at a whopping two pounds. We're looking forward to seeing her again at our next ultrasound on November 21!

Baby Roberts facing the camera and smiling (head to the right)

The sweetest profile we've ever seen!

Boston Vacation

An embarrassing amount of time had passed since I had traveled to Boston to visit Summer and Greg, so Robin and I decided to spend our last pre-baby vacation with our favorite siblings.

It was a short three days, but we packed as much as we could into them. Summer, being the quintessential hostess had emailed us a list of restaurants and activities to choose from so we could maximize our time in the Commonwealth. She had fresh juice and yummy apple pie bread waiting for us when we arrived. To add to her goodwill, she and Greg insisted that we should sleep in their oh-so-comfy bed, while she and Greg took the fold-out couch bed even though he had an achy back. (She assured me this was only because I was pregnant and wouldn't happen again, so we basked in the comfort while it was available!)

Greg had to work on Friday, so Summer, Robin and I explored the De Cordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Mass. I could spend days at the De Cordova. It is the perfect spot to relax, read, picnic. It will be even more fun to visit in a few years and see the gardens and sculptures through toddler eyes!

Robin and Summer playing with one of the sculptures

Sisters at the De Cordova

Long-overdue sisterly hug


Summer's trademark monkey pose

Fun with the sculptures

Baby love

That evening, we poked around Boston proper, enjoyed window shopping on Newbury Street, a delicious dinner in the North End at Monica's and a show at the Improv Asaylum.

On one of my last trips to visit Summer, I was charmed by Rockport. So Saturday morning, the four of us piled into the car and made the hour trip up the coast. Rockport is a picturesque touristy town with cute shops, great seafood (so I'm told) and a charm that is only found in small New England towns. We spent the afternoon lazily poking around and satisfying our cravings for saltwater taffy and fudge.

The Menefees and Roberts in front of Motif Number 1 -- Rockport, Mass.

On Sunday, Robin, Summer and Greg indulged me and satisfied my desire to pick apples. We drove to Honey-Pot Hill Orchards in Stow, Mass, and crowded as it was, I picked until the bag was too heavy for me to carry, and Robin had to lug almost 40 pounds of the tastiest apples back to Dallas! And though 40 pounds seems excessive, they are so flavorful that they have dissappeared rather quickly.

The Roberts and Menefees - with tummies full of apples


We like to share


Robin at Honey-Pot Hill Orchards

It was hard to leave, but we had a great time and look forward to visiting next year with our expanded family. Thanks, Summer and Greg for a fantastic vacation!

Hooray for Wordle!

So I was just recently turned to on a funny little web app called Wordle. Wordle takes any kind of text you give it (copy text, blog or rss feed) and breaks it down into "word clouds". These word clouds are graphic representations of word frequency. The more a word is used, the larger it appears. Common words like the, and, and the like are filtered so you can get a good view of what the text is talking about. You can also tweak the colors, fonts and layout to get the look you are going for.

I experimented a bit and came up with this word cloud for our very own blog here.

After that I fooled around a little more and thought it would be fun to compare Obama and McCain's acceptance speeches at their respective national conventions.



Interesting to see the themes popping up. Give Wordle a try and see what you get.