Bella Grace

less than 24 hours old

Bella Grace was born on May 11 after bein strongly persuaded by my doctor :^). I had a very smooth and easy delivery despite her reluctance to make an appearance. When she did get here, though, she was so alert and wanted to take everything in. The kids are thrilled with her.

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My parents, grandma, and some of my siblings arrived on the 16th for a couple of weeks and they overhauled my house and yard. Everything is very clean - it's so nice.

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We were planning on choosing between Maria Grace and Grace Isabel (which I was leaning toward and had even started calling her "Gracie" a little to try it out - that and Brian stunned me with a fantastic performance of "Miss Grace", and you know that I'm a sucker for names that have songs), but told people to not be surprised by a curveball name.

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It turns out that my best friend delivered her fourth baby four weeks early the Saturday before Bella was born on Monday, so she was at the hospital with us. Dara, Brian, and I talked baby names Sunday night and she kept telling me that I should name her whatever I really loved. I have a big complusion to avoid overly popular names, especially any name in the top ten baby names list. I've had Isabella on name lists for years, but had pretty much just deleted it from serious consideration because it is around #1 on some name lists and because the popularity of the Twilight books (which it's no secret that I love) would probably keep it there for a while. But I really liked the name Bella, so did Dara, and Brian did too - and we haven't agreed on much. We like a lot of the same names, but weren't loving the same ones this time around. So Bella was suddenly in the running, and we decided that if we went with it it would be just Bella, not Isabella.

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When she was born, everyone in the delivery room just kept saying that she was so beautiful, and that seemed to be the sign I'd been asking for. So Bella, which means "beautiful", became her name after all.

Due Date

Well, this is technically supposed to be D-Day.

It's also our church picnic. I really hate missing the church picnic- it's usually scheduled Memorial Day weekend and we're usually out of town. I was happy to know we'd be in town this year.

We have a big open-air service - our church usually has to have three identical services, so this is the only time that everyone actually gets to worship together.

Then I saw the first announcement for it - scheduled on my due date. So I kept thinking, Hurry up baby and we can go to the picnic - you'll be two weeks old...one week old...five days old???

Never mind, I'll apparently (unless something happens in the next several hours) still be pregnant.

But she could always come tonight, right?

Oh, and did I mention there's a 50% chance of rain? I think the rain date is in two weeks...good grief. Please be sunny.

Maternity clothes

I have been very blessed in my maternity clothes shopping. Most of the pieces I'm wearing this time around are new for this pregnancy. My maternity clothes from Anna and Ethan were mostly too small :^( and I borrowed most of my clothes for Rose's pregnancy from two friends. One has since gotten rid of all of her maternity clothes and the other is due a month after me.

So I needed to by some new stuff. I found some really nice dresses at a consignment sale for a fraction of their original prices. Most of the rest I found at my favorite thrift store and other consignment stores, usually for $1-5 a piece.

I prefer the underbelly waistlines - so much more comfortable and fewer lines showing - plus they fit sooner and can be worn postpartum, provided one can find long enough tops, however right now fashion is working in my favor. I actually found a number of cute spring skirts and dresses, as well as lots of capri/flood pants.

Also I've tried a new thing - the maternity belly band. I should have bought a stack - it's so handy, especially right now, when my belly keeps wanting to show. But at $20 a pop they rattle by budget sensibilities. I have a black one right now, though, and I'm really considering ordering a lighter color fast because I really think they're going to be very handy for nursing too - that and to hide the fact that I'll probably be wearing maternity pants way longer postpartum than is respectable. :^)

See I've entered the problem weeks. You know, the last several weeks where the tops that were previously unwearable tents are suddenly the only tops that cover your waistband. And all of those really cute tops are way too short. Half the pants no longer go over the belly at all (even the little bit they're supposed too). Then compound that by the fact that all of this much needed rain is making the temperatures much too cool to wear the capris and dresses that were bought to be larger.

So lately I've been frequently begging the dryer to hurry and dry the one pair of pants that are clean and fit so that I can get to my appointments on time.

Hurry warm weather - I want to wear all of those cute spring clothes a few times - but then, if that doesn't work out, maybe no one will notice that they're pregnancy clothes when I'm still wearing them in July!

It Might As Well Be Spring

We're having a stint of days in the 70s - heaven! So we spent Sunday at the park and zoo.

The playground has been completely redone and is very cool.

Don't you love the nosedive pic.

But those recycled tires really work - no permanent damage. :^)

Rose wanted to know why the lions didn't have any babies.

I told her that I dodn't know, but that I was sure

the zoo would be happy if they did.

She replied, "Maybe them are not married."

7 months and counting.

Oh, and my first chance to wear my pretty $4 thrift store find.

Wait 'til you see the dress I found this week for $1 -

I'm saving it for Easter.

A New Name

Okay, I couldn't convince him that Jane Claire was perfect, but we had a name pow-wow tonight again, and (can this be real??), he really loves the name I've been hoarding at the top of my list since before I had kids, but we've never used - Maria. What made the difference in changing it from a name he liked to a name we both love? The perfect middle name, of course. Eirinn. The oldest way of spelling Ireland.

So all you who loved (or hated and just didn't comment) Laurie Jane, what do you think of...

Maria Eirinn?

(Write it in script, it's even prettier)

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I'm grinning from ear to ear. I like it much better than Laurie Jane, Jane Claire, and any other name I've pretty much ever come up with. I mean, you really can't beat a name that comes with a soundtrack.

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"How do you solve a problem like Maria? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?"

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"Maria Maria She reminds me of a west side story"

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"My Maria Don't you know I've come a long, long way I've been longin' to see her when she's around she takes my blues away"

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and best of all:

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"The most beautiful sound I ever heard:

Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria.

All the beautiful sounds of the world in a single word:

Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria.

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Maria, I've just met a girl named Maria,

and suddenly the name will never be the same to me.

Maria! I've just kissed a girl named Maria..."

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Yeah, I'm really hoping this one is the keeper.

What's Been Up, or Alicia In Real Life

Long time, no write (but I have been reading your blogs!).

We had a very nice Christmas with my family in PA. Our trip was delayed a day by Rosie getting a very high fever and my having some very bad days that made packing impossible. So we missed the family reunion on Saturday, but arrived late Saturday night. I had a kind of average week pregnancy-wise, so I was sick a good bit, and just doing the family stuff pretty much used up whatever energy I had. So I enjoyed my family, but didn't get to see some of you as I had hoped.

The children were so glad to be there (as was my Brian) and they all enjoyed themselves. Grandma's ham was it's usual Christmas wonderfulness, and I got my chocolate chip cookies from Hershey's Chocolate World as I must each trip - they're delish.

Thanks to the size (very small, think hobbit hole) of my parents' home both my parents were very aware of my middle of the night spilling of guts :^) and were very sweet. My daddy, after learning of my need for a simple sugar, like Poptarts for breakfast when I'm having a hard time, presented me with a honeybun from his morning coffee run after hearing me up the night before. He simply said, "I figured you'd need something sweet this morning." It was nice to be taken care of - wish they were closer.

We got home the next Sunday night, and by Monday evening, Rose was burning up with the same fever she'd had before we left, despite the fact that I had stripped beds and sprayed couches. Too weird. This time it lasted three or four days. Then the cold/virus things began to hit. They're almost over them (I don't get colds). Anna got one and recovered after a couple of days, then Brian got it and is still fighting it almost a week later, Rose got a milder version. She had a nighttime cough for about a week and is now showing other symptoms, but they seem to be working their way out rather than worsening.

And I've been about the same as before. A few days that are somewhat normal, most days that are not so great, and a few days of debilitating fatigue and/or nausea and vomiting that make me want to die.

So the suitcases are finally unpacked and my living room is starting to resemble itself again, but the Christmas stuff (what little I got out this year) is still out, though I've finally managed to get the boxes down from the attic to put it away.

School is still starting very late in the day, but we're accomplishing more.

And ya know that girl's name that we liked. Well, it's just not growing on me. I really like Jane, but not the Laurie so much. Laurie was never really I name I'd considered before and I really don't care for the name Lori (no offense to anyone out there :^). So, my husband and I , being equally picky about names are just not having a meeting of minds yet with anything. So the hunt continues. I have several names I love (names being first and middle name combinations), but he's not in love with any of them.

Oh, and Ethan had a birthday. Eight years old. I'll get his birthday letter posted soon. He had a Clone Wars theme, but really more of a sleepover than a party. Three buddies slept over the night before his birthday and we spent his birthday afternoon with them at a children's hands-on museum. They thoroughly enjoyed it.

I think that about sums up this past month. If you made it this far, you must be a true friend or very bored. :^) , but thanks either way. I'll try to resume normal posting. Oh, and my CPU is shot again, it was dead when we got home from PA, so I have to use Brian's laptop. At least my favorites are internet-accessible. :^)

Happy New Year (a couple of weeks late)!

A True Definition of Irony

After informing my children that they are not eating lunch until their rooms are cleaned up, they are, of course, spending far more energy complaining of how hungry they are, then they are cleaning. The climax comes as one stands outside the bathroom door watching me lose everything that I have eaten for breakfast and continues complaining of how hungry she is instead of cleaning up. Was she really anticipating my sympathy??