Baby It's Cold Outside?

Strange thing...it reached down to the mid 30s early this week. First week of March in South Texas and it gets cold?

I LOVE IT!!!

Our A/C is kaput right now so a cold front is lovingly welcomed in our home.


SPRING! Outside the leaves are coming back and wild blossoms are popping up and it is time to prime the yard, clean up lawn furniture and ready the bbq pit.
What plans do you have for your outdoor places?

Excited to do it!

When my husband and I got married in 2009, we moved into a one bedroom apartment with no washer/dryer hook ups in the individual apartments. As you might have read before, we didn't wait to start having kids. During about the second trimester of that pregnancy, we moved into a two bedroom apartment in the same complex so again no hook ups. During all that time we did laundry at my parents who lived only 10 minutes away. In June 2011, we moved into my in laws rental home. My in laws were redoing the house they were in. The family that lived in the rental before us told my in laws that they had their own washer and dryer so they didn't need the ones left in the house. Worked out for my in laws since the house they were working on didn't have them. So when that family left, so did the washer and dryer.

This last Saturday, Tom installed a washer and dryer in the house. A long story of how we came to have them, but for the first time in four and a half years...we can do laundry whenever we want. Sounds strange but I am so happy I can do laundry all the time now!

So, now I have a new project to plan and do: laundry room make over! Since we are in a rental, and my mother in law is taking back the house after we move out, Everything I do needs to be removable. Mostly. I can't really pick my colors either. A challenge. Which is what I like in a home project.

The Girls' Room is also needed to be done, as well as the bedside sleeping area for Raven, so there are project reports to come!

A Conflicted Heart

As I have mentioned before, Evelyn really doean't like pink. Yesterday, Tom went outside to work on the a/c and Evelyn wanted to follow. I told her to get dressed pointing out red shorts. She put on her shorts and said, "Okay I'm ready!" I told her she couldn't go outside with out shoes and especially without having a shirt. She ran into her room and came back with a pink shirt. I asked her if she was sure and she happily said yes! So I put it on her.

Later that night, Evelyn screamed out to us from her room, "It's not working! My light!" Hubby went to check it out and both 30w bulbs had burned out. He took one of the four 100w bulbs from our bathroom (I know, but 30w was very low for the ceiling fan, it's just what was in from previous tenants) and he put it in her ceiling fan. It lite up the room so much!

"Wow!" Evelyn came running to me in the kitchen, "Mommy! You've gotta come see this! You've gotta come see this!" She pulled me to her room.

"Look at all the pink every where! There's pink everywhere!" she excitingly said.

"Evelyn, do you like pink?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I like pink. Pink is for Raven so I like pink!" My heart felt so heavy I almost cried. During the time we didn't know the gender, Evelyn said she wanted a boy or both, so it made me feel so good that she truely is happy about having a sister.

Later that night, after we had been asleep for several hours, Evelyn came into our room and crawled in between us. Sometimes we have trouble keeping her in her bed all night. We only have a queen and Evelyn smooshes up next to Tom causing back problems so even one night can be bad. We told her to go back to her bed.

Evelyn started crying, "No! There's too much pink! You need to paint my room blue! I don't like pink! I need my room blue!"

We gave her extra hugs and kisses and she went back to her bed.

A conflicted heart. I'm not sure why she fights liking pink so much. I did when I was younger. I remember the reason I did it was because I didn't like being ropped into being pink, lace and damsel in distress. I thought pink was being dainty and weak.

Pink often represents breast cancer awearness and strength. I think that is something I need to teach Evelyn. I tell her it is wonderful to be a girl because we can do so much because we are so strong but I need to teach her that being gentle and "pink" are also good things to be.

How We Chose Our Babies' Names and My Five Top Rules About It

My Five Top Rules of Choosing a Baby's Name

5. Use a baby name book and keep a pen and notepad with it.

This makes it easier to take notes, mark favorites and you can try different spellings and get a better "feel" for the name also.

4. Include your spouse all along the way. 

If you are not married, but are in a relationship, I would suggest this rule still.  Just because you are carrying the baby, experiencing everything first hand, doesn't mean you get the last word on everything baby. Save that for when you decide on bedding or the color of car seat you want. You don't want your baby to have a name that your spouse really doesn't like. Their own child having the name doesn't mean they will eventually like it.  I have seen it.

3. Find your name style.

You can find quizzes online that can help with this. Do you like traditional, names that have lasted through the ages like Thomas and Elizabeth? Do you like trendy names that are snappy now, like Merrick? Or maybe you want a name that no one else has, then you could combind names, like Kasherin. Find that and you narrow things down.

2. Don't let family and friends pressure you.

If you have family and friends that have different name styles, or are just very judgemental about everything, I suggest not talking to anyone about names until you are sure of yourselves. Getting the opinions of family and friends can sometimes help, only if they don't keep you from choosing what you and your spouse want.

1. Remember, you can change your mind right up until you leave the hospital.

Don't force yourself to keep a name you are unsure about. I know for myself, having a name ready by the time we find out about the gender helped me to bond and talk to my child, both times, but just because your baby doesn't have a name until they are born, doesn't mean you can't bond with them as if they did. Your love is what is most important not the name you call them. "Cutie" can be the perfect name for bonding.

I have always liked traditional names, the kind that are classic forever. I try to be that way with my wardrob and decorating style as well. Evelyn's name (Evelyn Rosa), I had it picked out since before I was in high school. Tom didn't have much of a choice about it. "Rosa" is after my aunt and then also my grandma. My aunt died when I was a year old, she was my dad's oldest sister (he has three) and my grandma died just before my senior year of high school. Tom actually knew my grandma before he knew me, being moved around a lot, he lived in the same town as them, attending church with them, for four years. At the time it was one of the places his family lived the longest. He liked having Evelyn's middle name as Rosa.

Since Evelyn's middle name is a flower, I thought it would be nice to have the tradition that all the girls' middle names will be related to nature; a flower, a tree, a season, like that. Tom's middle name is William, just like his brothers and his father and his grandfather. So middle names for boys was set also. Tom didn't want a junior so we agreed on keeping William as a middle name for all the boys as a tradition.

One day, as we were going home, Tom said (and I am paraphrasing this), "Since the girls' middle names are all going to be something nature, why don't we have the boys' first names be something to do with an animal?"

I liked it! I quickly Googled "boy names with animal meanings." I found a site with an alphabetical list of names with origins and meanings. I read through them, trying William out next to them, and we stopped at "Bram" meaning "raven" in Gealic. It sounded like a strong traditional name, and we really liked it. The raven represents Oden the All Father, his messenger. Tom's ancestry goes back to Erick the Red whom traces his "lienage" to Thor, who is son of Oden. This made "Bram" that much more special. (I don't want to get into religeous meaning, but "Bram" is also a shortening of "Abraham" whom is the Father of All Nations. Just something to think about)

For so long time, I struggled on a girl name, not really so long just a few months but in pregnancy time...it felt much longer.

So I suggested to Tom, 'Why not name the girl "Raven" so that we will have a "raven" either way.'  He liked that plan.

I liked having "Lily" as a middle name but I wasn't sure about it. Raven Lily. It didn't fit as well as I wanted it to. I talked with Tom about middle names and we came up with finding something in nature in Gealic.

"What about 'Lily?'" Tom asked. I hadn't told him that was the name I was thinking of, so when he asked about "Lily" I knew it would be right. "Lily" translated into Gaelic is "Lilias" or "Lileas." Raven Lileas. It was completed. It was right. I wanted the spelling to be "ea" like it is in "Gaelic" (but inverted). 

So that is how Raven got her name.

How did y'all find baby names?
What's the story behind them?
Hope to hear from y'all!