Name conundrum

So at 32 weeks prego we have absolutely no idea what to name this child. We have come across a few names that have made a fleeting appearance on our yes list, but they tend to be explained away within a few days. So I am asking . . . no begging for help.

I think we have come to the conclusion that we want our daughters names to sound princessy (ex: Princess Emelina Joleen) and a redneck nickname is a plus, no a must (ex: EmyJo). And for boys we want them to be socially acceptable but with a mountain man feel (as I have no boys I have no examples:).

We are still completely unaware of the sex of the baby and neither one of us even has a gut feeling one way or the other. At least not one that lasts for very long, it just depends on the day.

So I have decided that I would put my list of names that I like on my blog and see what happens. I am warning you the list is long.

For Girls:

Jacqueline - Pro: it has a boyish nickname of Jackie. Con: it sounds like jack-o-lantern and means substitute I don't want my child thinking it is a substitute.

Catherine - Pro: it's pretty and means pure. Con: Cathy is a rather common name and not very redneck.

Georgia - Pro: It means Farmer which some may say is a con but I think it's cute. Dave had a nurse named Georgia when he was in the hospital for his hand, and the nurse at my midwifery has the same name . . . I'm not sure if that is a pro or a con. And I can't stop singing the song. Con: No really great nicknames spring to mind.

Caroline - Pro: Love the name and it means beautiful woman. Con: I have a very dear friend who may or may not want to use the name and I would not want to take that from her. And I am not a big fan of the nickname associated.

Eloise - Pro: Not really common, means famous warrior, and since Dave's full name means Beloved Warrior I am in favor of anything that echos that in any way. Con: Will people think that I named my child after a children's book character? And are Emy and Elly too close?

Lucille - Now I know what you might be thinking, or at least what my sister is thinking, but this name was my great grandmother's middle name and as I have always loved Lucille Ball I am inclined, perhaps determined, to use it, most likely for a middle name or a silent first if it sounds better that way. Plus it adds the cute suffix Lu to any nickname the first name may have. (Emy was either going to be EmyJo or EmyLu, Dave won that battle:)

Violet - Pro: my great-great-grandmother was named Violet. Con: It is becoming more popular and doesn't really have much of a meaning, purple / blue flower.

Evelyn - Pro: Another grandmother's name, means beautiful bird and as I have been slightly obsessed with vintage birds in decor lately I think that might be a sign. Con: Again Emy and Evy?

Norah - Pro: means Honor. Con: Does Norah Barela trip off of anyone else's tongue?

Corinne - Pro: Has a nice ring to it. Means Maiden and it isn't very common, I only know one and she is delightful. Con: Not one I would want to shorten.

Naomi - Pro: Means Pleasant/Beautiful, I have only known two Naomi's in my life. The first was a strange girl with the most wirey, thin, curly red hair I have ever seen. However the second is a very enchanting woman with an intriguing blog. Con: the girl with the red hair.

Josephina - Pro: I almost wish we would have made this Emy's middle name, sometimes I call her by it just for the fun sound of Emelina Josephina Barela . . . Cute nickname of Jossie. Con: the phin part seems to bother Dave and I can see where he might get that from. Plus it has the same meaning as Emy's middle name since they both come from the same name Joseph so they both mean God will add.

Abigail - Now this is one that has been on and off of my list a few times. It means Father's joy and I am for anything that endears a girl to her daddy. I really like it most days but I am pretty sure that my grandpa had a cow named Abigail at one time.

Isabel - This one was THE name for a while. It means Consecrated to God and is very princess like however I feel that Isabel isn't complete without the a at the end and as much as I love the sing song of Emelina Josephina Barela I think that Isabela Barela may not be a kind thing to do to a child.

Amelia - Although I love this name Amelia Barela is too close to Amelia Bedelia. That and I'm not a big fan of Amy especially since we already have an Emy.

And now for the boys names:

David - This one of course is high on my list. I have always loved this name and it's meaning. Con: I don't like the confusion of having two people with the same name. My original thought was to use this as a silent first name and call our son by the middle name of Roman.

Roman - A neat sounding name that you don't hear too often but it just means from Rome.

George - Pro: A solid name meaning farmer. Con: I do know a few already.

Charles - Pro: Another solid name that I don't think is used too often these days. Con: Not a fan of the nickname Chuck.

Avery - This one I like for both girls and boys however it means elf ruler and as our child will undoubtably be short would that be a cruel thing to do?

Adrian - For a very long time, before we started having kids, this was the name we wanted for a boy. However the idea has been faded plus it means dark/rich which isn't horrible but it is just sort of blah.

Gibson - I can see that some of you are scratching your heads on this one. This would have to be a middle name and although it doesn't really mean anything, son of Gilbert, it is my maiden name. But I am not set on using it.

Jude - I like the sound of this name but I am not 100% on it either. It just means from Judea.

Ryder - This name is fun and means mounted warrior. But something about it speaks cowboy and only cowboy and I don't want to corner my child.

Jack - This is one occasion where I might give a nickname as a given name just because Jackson is becoming so popular. But then we have the meaning of substitute that I have already gone over with Jacqueline.

Nicolas - Good name, although common, I would not go with the traditional nickname of Nick I would pull Cole out of the middle.

Evan - The newest addition to the list Evan has a great meaning for our family since it means young warrior and as I have stated Dave's middle name means warrior so this is especially cute for his son I think. However the newest children in our extended family have the following names, Emy, Ethan and Ewan. So perhaps Evan is not the best addition to that.

Atticus - I came across this one night and I know that Dave loves the character of Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird. But I am just not sure that it is a good choice.

Jedidiah - I came across this while looking for names that mean beloved to use with Evan. Really I am not a fan of it but I thought I would throw it out there anyway.

So as you can see we have quite the conundrum here, but we are open to suggestions. So suggest away. . .

Edit:
I think we may have narrowed our list a bit over the weekend:

Girls:
Evelyn
Isabel
Abigail
Coralie (means poetic maiden, Cora was my great-great-great grandmothers name)
Eloise

Boys:
Titus
Adrian
Jude
Roman
Atticus

Please keep the suggestions coming we don't really have much for middle name ideas. . .

That's What Big Girls Do

I have been blessed with a very industrious little girl. She loves to help and do all the things that her daddy and I do. Although I feel sorry for her in the sense that she inherited her cleanliness from her Grandma Barela. Now don't misunderstand me I love my mother-in-law and she is a very clean person, that's why I feel sorry for Emy, she is neater than I am. I will walk past the same piece of garbage on the floor, I am ashamed to admit, several times before I think, hmm I should throw that away. Emy sees it once, picks it up, and promptly takes it to the garbage. She is happy to put her toys away when asked and makes sure that when she returns her books to the shelf the spine is sticking out. A true blessing for me but I can see some frustration that might build on her part as she gets older, and if she has inherited any of her father's or my temper. I had better pick up the slack and be a better keeper at home so I do not cause my children frustration.

Lately we have been toying with the idea of potty training. A few months back she had showed some interest and so I bought her a potty seat. Not intending to do any serious training just to get her used to the idea of having one and what it's for.

Today has been a breakthrough day in the non-potty training- training. She has used her potty seat 3 times. Although I know that she is probably too young to be fully potty trained statistically, I still couldn't resist heaping on the praise and prizes that I felt she had "earned". But I am not getting my hopes up of a fully potty trained 18-month old or even at 19 or 20 months.

So after she used her seat this morning we went to the store and bought her a tiara, which came with matching clip-on earrings, and a pack of Dora stickers.

Potty Princess!

(It's empty, I wouldn't take a picture with anything inside I promise.)

This brought me to the realization that my little girl is getting so BIG so fast and is such a big help around the house. If I am cleaning she wants to clean so I will give her a rag and let her wipe things down.

Or if Daddy is working outside, which is where she would rather be anyway, she wants to help him.

Recently I discovered that she loves the carpet sweeper. Since the handle is adjustable I took out one piece and it is the perfect size for her.

And for her hard work Daddy always has time for a little dance and a dip with a kiss.

Signed:

Mommy to the Industrious Potty Princess Emelina Joleen

P.S. There was an adorable picture of Emy trying on one of my unmentionable tops but I decided that was better saved for private family viewing only ;)

Little mommy

The other day Emy decided that her baby doll needed a bath.

Then it was time for baby to eat.

While I was doing the laundry Emy felt that it was imperative that she wear my sweatshirt. Which only lasted about 5 minutes before it ended up on the floor.

I snuck this picture around the corner of the coach. She was being so quiet and good just reading books to herself. It was too cute.

Birthday

So I had a wonderful Birthday this year. I pretty much ate the whole time! It started out with a real date! Dinner out with the husband at one of my many favorite restaurants, Thai Orchid. Delicious spring rolls and the calamari isn't bad either.

The day of my birthday Emy and I enjoyed milk and coffee in bed. Which only lasted a few minutes since she got bored and wanted to jump on the bed, since I had a full cup of coffee I decided this was not a good plan and we ventured out to see what Dave was making for breakfast.



After Breakfast Dave and Emy did some coloring.


This is Emy Cheeeese face. . .

Then Em and I played dress up in my great grandma's jewelry. After we got everything put away I enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Olive Garden, followed by a delicious Ham dinner at a friends house. Like I said I ate most of the time.

The day ended as all days should. . . with Emy wearing my shoes. She makes my size 5 1/2's look big!

Recent Crafts

I thought it would be fun to post a few of the recent things that I have made, excluding of course those made as Christmas gifts.

Here is a gorgeous shopping cart cover that I made for my sister.

And here she is with her adorable son modeling the bag that it goes in. Love how we figured out how to make it have a sling strap. Totally a last minute idea but well worth the time it took to remove a few stitches.

I also recently decided that Emy's baby doll needed a blanket and since I have a ton of extra fabric from various projects I decided to make it a quilt. And since I can't figure out how to rearrange the pictures these are in reverse order.

Emy prefered to sit on the blanket at first but now she has gotten the idea that it is for the baby.

Blanket in action . . .

just the pieces. I decided to make it a bit smaller but this was the original design. Not bad for my first quilt experience and a big thanks to my husband for helping place the squares. I tend to like things that are in a pattern and I wanted this random so I needed help.

Reasons we should never get rid of Peny

Last year just after Thanksgiving Dave's brother brought a stray dog over to the house. Before seeing the dog I said "There is no way we are keeping another dog, we have already had two besides Tika that we had to get rid of we are done with big dogs." And then they brought her in. . . Almost a year later we have never regreted keeping her. She is so gentle with Emy and Emy loves her. So here is a little reminder for myself why I love Penelope Anne Miller-Barela. (Fun to note that as her name started out as Peny my habit of extending names took over. I had no idea this was actually the name of an actress.)

Also I am beginning to think that Emy and Peny have a deal going to starve Tika. Tika has a habit of bringing bites of food out onto the carpet to eat. Emy has taken to stealing Tika's food and feeding it to Peny.

However I think Tika got them back today. After Peny had eaten Tika acted like she wanted outside so naturally I opened the door for her, she ran out and then back in. So I closed the door and started to walk off. Tika again whined at the door so I went back and this time my walking by aroused Peny from a deep slumber and Peny darted out the door as soon as it was open. I turned to see that Tika had gone out but instead she had slipped into the laundry room to eat in peace. Sneaky little thing. Who knew Yorkies had such brains. Now why can't we get her to sit on command? Selective smarts. . .

Emy's favorites

I walked into Emy's bedroom the other day just before bedtime to find her reading Goodnight Moon to her Seahorse. She was holding the Seahorse with her feet.

I couldn't help post this one. It is just too funny.

Okay so this child can't just eat one piece of fruit, or anything for that matter, at a time she has to shove as much as possible into her mouth. This is her eating apple pieces.

Her new favorite place to sit. I often find her here with her silky blanket, a few stuffed animals and a book or two. Although before the baby comes we will have to explain that sitting ON the baby is not such a good idea.

After working on a sewing project in quiet for a while, I turned around to see what Emy was up to that was keeping her so quiet. She was sitting on the coach with my mantilla on her shoulders and my bible open on her lap. Very encouraging considering I had a bit of a temper tantrum myself earlier that morning. Hopefully this is a sign that she will copy the good behavior. ;)