Memorial Weekend with Nanna and Pappa

So we had a surpirse return of Nanna this last weekend and this time, to the delight of the children, she brought Pappa. Who is a wonderful photographer and took a few pictures of the kids.

She is reading a book.

So this is Where the Wild Things Are. . .

A visit from Nanna

My mom came to visit a few weeks ago and here are a few fun shots from her time with us here.

Mom terrified that Emy is going to kick Elly in the head.

Emy would not leave this flower alone.

Here are the results of that.
And we are happy again.

My mom, sisters and our children.

On Saturday we went down to the Farmer's Market in Vancouver. We mostly played at Esther Short Park. They have a few water features that the children love to play in.

Ethan ended up stripped to his onesie and soaked through.

Emy didn't have a onesie so we just let her soak her dress instead. She loved it.

Back home this is where she likes to sit and "make soup" or throw rocks

Here we are visiting with G.G. and Grandpa Carlos at Jessica's house.

The kids (Dave included) had a great time in E.'s sandbox on the back deck.

We had a blast Mom come again soon and Emy requests that you bring Papa. :)

Eloise Josette

Here are some pictures of our new little one, Eloise Josette. She was born on April 14th and weighed . . . are you ready? 9 lbs and 1 oz!! She was 19 and 3/4 inches long.

The first few pictures here were taken at 3 weeks by Day by day....with the McCavour Family

Here are a few shots from the hospital shortly after she was born.


And here we are at home. . .

The first of MANY sister talks . . .

Snuggling with mom

Picnic / Belly Photos

The other day the weather looked decent and I was dying to use my picnic basket again. So we decided to take our lunch down to the water front in Vancouver and have a little picnic followed by a nice walk along the water.



While something came up and took too long and the weather report said it would start to rain and the clouds rolled in so I thought let's picnic on the back porch instead. And so that's what we did ;o). Of course the rain never came and the sun came back out but by then we were too committed to change plans. So after our lunch of macaroni and cheese, BLT or ELT's(hard boiled eggs, lettuce and tomato. . . I ran out of bacon), and Weinhard's root beer (pregnancy craving, I normally HATE root beer) we walked around our yard. Which my husband has made into a wonderful place to spend time. He is always hatching new ideas of how to make it even more beautiful and useful. I will have to show you the fire pit sometime.

He also took a few pictures of my basketball of a belly before it is gone by this weekend . . . wishful thinking? We'll see.

Animals and Eye Glass Cases (nursing shawl and hats too.)

So here are a few of the crafts that I have been entertaining myself with lately.

For Christmas I made a few Colorful Ribbon Glasses Cases that turned out to be a big hit with the glasses wearing ladies in my family.

This colorful one I made for my Aunt.

This one was for my Grandma

And this little gem I made for my sister-in-law, Nay.

My sister purchased a great little book for me, Easy Crochet Critters, with the request that I make her son an alligator, lion and hippo. While I have only made him the alligator, I have been having a blast making other animals for my own daughter and my other nephew and niece (I promise your pink camo lion is coming).

Here is my strange elephant, E's alligator and, my favorite, the hippo.

And here is my lovely daughter modeling a nursing shawl that I made for either myself or someone like me depending on if we have a boy or a girl.

Here are a few "hunter" hats that I made, they are so fast, easy and I think, adorable. The one on the left isn't actually finished, I still need to tie in the ends and put the ties on it.

And another little hat just waiting for the appropriately colored ribbon. Although I think this is more of a girl hat.

All links are free patterns (except for the book) so please try them out.

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 ;)