After lunch with her sister and brother-in-law, Alex took her to the house to see their dog whom she hadn't seen in a while, and also, surprise her with the nursery that he'd finished.
"Okay when we get upstairs, you have to close your eyes,"
"Why?" Grace asked as they walked into the garage.
"It's a surprise Grace," he chuckled, unlocking the door.
"Let me in. I wanna see my boy," she grinned, walking in to their dog rushing up to her with a happy, wagging tail. "Hi, buddy,"
Grace pet Finn for a minute before it was time to see their nursery.
"Come on. Upstairs. I have something to show you,"
"Okay," she nodded, "come on bud,"
The dog ran up the steps before them, stopping at the top as Grace made her way up slowly.
"So what's up here?" She asked, looking at Alex as he came up behind her.
"I have a surprise for you," he smiled, walking toward the door that they'd decided what room their baby would live in.
"You didn't?" She asked, wondering if he'd finished the nursery.
"When you're bored and your wife isn't home to keep you company, you get things done,"
She smiled and opened the door, looking at the cotton candy sky room. The different shades of purple, pink, and blue complete with the white clouds made it the perfect room for their baby boy or girl.
"Alex this is beautiful," she beamed as her eyes welled up with tears. "It's perfect,"
"I was hoping you'd like it,"
"I love it," she grinned, hugging him tightly. "It's perfect,"
"I still have the furniture to build but I was thinking the crib goes against the back wall and we can put a rocker in the corner," he said as he pointed out where he thought he would put things.
"Put the dresser over here by the closet? Put the changing area on it?" Grace asked, stepping into the room as she envisioned how it would be set up.
"Put some pictures up. Put their name over the crib. It'll be perfect,"
"It will be," she nodded, before going back down the steps and taking a little bit more time with the dog.
They went back to the hospital after another hour and she was back in her room where she'd be checked over several times by doctors and nurses who were taking care of her and her baby.
——————
Over the next few weeks, Alex wrecked out at Michigan getting a 33rd place finish, a 5th place finish at the Indianapolis road course, 23rd at Watkins Glen, and 6th at the season finale Daytona race.
They only had a few more days before their baby was due to be born by c-section. They had planned it for the week of Darlington so that Alex could still race in the playoffs but it was a close race so he could be home as soon as he was done.
"Are you getting excited?" She asked as he hung out in her room for the last few days.
"More than excited. I'm ready to meet our little one," he nodded, coloring a spot of the color-by-number pages she'd gotten to keep herself busy.
"Me too," she smiled, "But we need to get serious about names,"
"Have any in mind?" He asked, both of them staying focused on the lines as they colored.
"Not really. We don't know the gender so we need to think of at least 2 girl and 2 boy names. Just first names at least, and then we can think about the middle name.
"You got any ideas?" He asked, looking at Grace as they both set their colored pencils down.
"Not yet,"
"I've seen apps that we can both use and basically we can connect the account and it's like swiping. If we both like a name, it goes into our list," Grace explained, finding the app on her App Store.
"What is it?" Alex asked as he got his phone out, pulling up the App Store.
She showed him the icon and made them an account before Alex joined her and they started going through the name options.
After a little over 10 minutes, they both decided to look at the list they agreed on for only girl names.
"Alright, top 5 for a girl?" Grace asked, getting a notepad out with a pen and starting a list.
"Riley, Aubree, Madeline, Ellie, and Makenzie," Alex listed off as he looked at his side of the app.
"I had Emery, Callie, Lexie, Avery, and Blake," Grace said as she wrote down her top 5 from her list. "Boy?"
"I had Emmett, Levi, Carter, Mason, and Noah,"
"Mine were Landon, Hudson, Eli, Weston, and Jackson," she listed off, having a list for both genders. "Boy or girl first?"
"Let's start with girl,"
"Alright so we had Riley, Aubree, Madeline, Ellie, Makenzie, Emery, Callie, Lexie, Avery, and Blake," she said as she read off the list.
"Any that we don't want?" He asked, thinking about the list that she'd made. "Blake Bowman?"
"Okay so no Blake," she shook her head, not liking how it sounded as she crossed it off the list, Aubree?"
"Aubree's cute, Maybe we take out Makenzie?"
"I would be okay with that. Down to 8," she sighed, looking over the list again. "Madeline sounds too close to Malorie in my opinion,"
"Alright so no Madeline," he nodded as she crossed it off the list. "I'm not crazy about Lexie or Callie,"
"Me either but they were there. Not my top 2," she agreed as she crossed them off. "What about Riley?"
"Not my top name. I struggled with the girl names,"
"We just need to get rid of 2 more," she said as she bit the end of her pen. "What names are you dead set on keeping?"
"I really want to keep Aubree, and I really like Emery,"
"Same page," she grinned, crossing Ellie and Avery off the list. "Okay. We have the 2 girls names now. So for the boys, we have Emmett, Levi, Carter, Mason, Noah, Landon, Hudson, Eli, Weston, and Jackson for boys. Which ones are you not thrilled about?"
"Weston and Jackson are 2,"
"I'm not huge on Emmett or Noah," she replied, both of them agreeing and crossing them off the list.
"Hudson?" He asked, hoping it wasn't her top name.
"We can get rid of that. I think we can get rid of Eli and Levi?" She asked, crossing them off once Alex nodded. "Carter, Mason, or Landon?"
"Landon,"
"Alright. We have 4 names. We're ready?" She asked, looking at him before looking at her little bump.
"I think so. Truthfully, I don't know if I'll ever be completely ready.
"No one ever is," she smiled, "That's what makes it so much fun,"