What's in a Name

Chris and I have held on to the same name for a boy since we first talked about names for kids back in college. We fell in love with the name Caedmon Heath. Heath is Chris' middle name. When we found out we were pregnant with this baby it was a no brainer what his name would be if it were a boy. I casually flipped through a name book and picked out lots of names that I liked for little girls. And although I did share this list with him, we didn't talk a whole lot in case it was a boy and we didn't want to "waste" time talking about a girls name. So, this week when we found out we were having a girl we pulled the list out and started talking a lot more seriously. It basically came down to two names. I like having a nickname for the child. Both names had wonderful nicknames. One name I liked mostly for the nickname. And I felt like that wasn't a good enough reason to name a child for.

Yesterday I received an email from Chris that stated he'd really been thinking about a certain name and thought it was just perfect. And I couldn't agree more.

So, without further ado, Lil Pea can be replaced with:

Caedance Olivia Graves

Caedance is a name I found awhile back that I fell in love with because it is so close to our boy name. Another reason I love it is it means Rhythm. Obviously we are a musical family, so we felt like this was perfect. Also, Olivia is a name I just recently added to the list of names I like. After the ultrasound appointment the other day, Aby was asking what we would be naming the baby. She suggested several names, but said "Mom, I really like the name Olivia." Chris decided he liked it as well. So, we thought it was special that she got to help name her little sister, and she was over the moon. Olivia means Olive Tree, which is a symbol of peace.

So, Caedance Olivia means rhythmic peace!! =)

Pink, Pink, and Pink

Monday was a very exciting day in our house!! We have been guessing and trying to figure out whether our new baby would be a sweet girl, or a rough and tumble boy. The appointment was at 1, so we let Aby go to school just long enough to be counted present then we took her out for the rest of the day. Being the natural student she is, she was a little concerned about missing school, but she soon decided she didn't care. We rode to Temple and on the way they both fell asleep. Keep in mind this is about 10:30 in the morning. They were either tired from the crazy weekend, or so exhausted with anticipation =)

We went and ate lunch at McAlisters Deli. I find it rather ironic the connection we have with this restaurant. Chris and I ate there when we found out Aby was a girl, and we decided on her name there the same day. We also ate there before each childbirth class that we went to. That was only like 2, but still!!! For McKinley we were discussing what we would name her there. I remember Chris thinking that people would see her name and not know if it were a boy or girl name. So we wrote it on a napkin and asked a waitress walking by to tell us which one she thought it was. She said girl ;) So then for this baby we eat there and sat at the same table of when we found out Aby was a girl. Why I can remember that from 7 years ago and not what I ate for breakfast this morning is beyond me!! Today was fun because as we were sitting there in walked Nana and all her friends. So, the girls got to "eat" with her too.

After we ate we went to the appointment. The girls were bouncing off the walls and had to be told numerous times to calm down. Luckily the waiting room wasn't very crowded. It was fun to watch Aby's face as we watched this little one on the screen. Aby's class learned about skeletons around Halloween, so it was kinda fun for her to get to see the backbone and ribs, toes and feet on the screen. Lil' Pea was not very cooperative. Curled up in a ball and didn't want to move. We didn't get a profile picture at all. We ended up with a heart pic, foot pic, and GIRL parts picture!!!

That's right we are having a 3rd precious little girl. Lil' Pea is now Miss Pea. We are so excited. Aby had been wanting a brother all along, but she didn't miss a beat in saying she was excited about a sister.

The afternoon was rather hard. We went to my parents house and of course couldn't tell them anything because we were having Chris' parents and sister over for supper to tell them then. We speaker phoned in my brother and Carrie. We ended up watching Tangled and then Chris took the girls down to the river to take pictures. Finally everyone else got there. We had bought a giant Easter egg and filled it with a little moss and a bright pink butterfly hair clip. We had my mom and Jackie sit on the couch together and then Aby gave them the egg to open together. It was fun to watch their expressions. Everyone was very excited. Then the name game started. We have had our boy name picked out since before Aby, and we had a list of lots of names for girls with about 4 as top runners. We didn't share them though =)

That night when all was said and done Chris and I finally had a chance to reflect on the day. He felt like he needed to tell me that he really was very excited about another girl. I of course knew this. And I wanted to tell him that I completely believe that there will not be a more adored Father then he will be with these three little girls. There is just something about the father/daughter relationship that is so extremely special. And lucky Chris gets that three times over. He immediately wanted to start talking names, which he's not ever done before. It's always been me saying "I need a name soon!!!" He's always said "We have 5 more months, do we have to decide right now!" =) So, it was fun to sit and chat about names.

I am greatly anticipating getting to meet this little princess. And to know that she will be the perfect completion to our family. God obviously knows the plan for our family and He must have an awesome plan for this little baby as well. I can't wait to see how it unfolds.

Easter 2011

This Easter was filled with lots of excitement and enthusiasm. We started the weekend of with an egg hunt and picnic for Aby's class. Our neighborhood is filled with lots of little pocket parks tucked between the houses. The kids walked to a nearby one.

Some special moms hid all the eggs.

They had made their own bunny basket during the week.

Once they found their eggs they got to sit and eat lunch together.

Mrs. Hale had planned games for them to play before going back to their classroom. They each got a partner for an egg toss.

Then they had a relay race where they had to hop like a bunny with it's carrots.

Chris and I could not have asked for a better group of kids for Aby to start her school career with. I can't believe there is one month left. But that's a different post ;(

Saturday we woke up and went to a neighborhood egg hunt. That was fun and it was neat to see the different neighbors out there. I don't have pictures to upload because they are on Chris' fancy camera =)

Sunday, as usual, was a hustle and bustle of a morning. The Easter Bunny doesn't come to our house until the afternoon. We had a wonderful Sunday morning with nearly 450 people showing up to all 3 Quests at church. There were so many new guests that it was hard to make it around to greet them all. Plus there were only 15 minutes in between each one for that made it more difficult. The brand new playground was up and running. It was so fun to watch all the kids playing and having their egg hunts all morning long. These kids have been salivating for weeks over this playground. And I must admit the twisty slide is mighty fun to go down!!! My parents and grandfather came down for church, and then we all went up to Temple to have lunch at Don and Jackie's. Leasha, Brian, and the girls were also there along with Chris' grandma and aunt.
Here they are opening their Easter baskets.

Mac got some new toys for the water table.

Aby got some new coloring books and a 1st grade workbook.

Then the hunt was on.

It's hard to believe how quickly these two are growing up. And I can't believe that next year there will be one more added to this picture. We are very excited about the fact that we get to find out tomorrow what God will bless us and complete our family with. We are content with boy or girl. We know no matter what this new little child will be a joy and we look forward to seeing how they will fit in with the mix.

Dancing Queen

Aby has been taking dance since she was 18 months. She is a Dancing Queen!! A few weekends ago our town had a festival called the Red Poppy Festival. Aby's dance class had the opportunity to dance for the community.

Aby and her Buddy

Can't wait for the recital!!!!

4 Pink Earrings

A few weeks ago I was changing out Aby's earrings and McKinley was watching. When we were finished she asked me if she could wear some earrings. I told her that she had to get her ears pierced first. That Aby's earrings are not stickers. She immediately told me that she wanted her ears pierced. I just let it go, because obviously she didn't have any clue as to what that really means. At the beginning of this week she asked again if she could have earrings and I brushed it off. Then this morning she was looking through my jewelry box and found the drawer that has all of Aby's earrings. She told me again she wanted earrings. So, I had mentioned this to my friend Lisa and she said she wanted to get Addison's ears pierced. So, we planned on doing it tonight. We brought Aby along for some encouragement. Aby was very into encouraging the girls, and then got sidetracked by all the pretty things in the Claire's store. Who can blame her though?

We let the girls look through all the earrings, and they both chose sparkly pink studs.

Here Mac is waiting to get started.

Getting her ear all cleanAfter finding the perfect placement.

This is Talia! She was wonderful and VERY picky about the placement of the dot. Of course I was grateful for this. We certainly do not want crooked earrings.

Here they are telling her to keep her hand in her lap and then to look straight ahead. It was kind of comical. They each got on a side and counted off!

It took her a minute to register what had happened. I of course couldn't (wouldn't) get a picture of her crying. It lasted for about two minutes. Talia put the special water on her ears to cool them off. This seemed to "help".

Here is the end result. She was very excited when she saw them in the mirror.

Then she got to pick out a sucker.

Then it was Addison's turn. We ended up separating them. Lisa took Addie window shopping while Mac had her turn. Luckily there was a Build A Bear right across the hall. Unfortunately they walked out at the wrong time, right when Mac started crying. =)

1..2..3..

Both girls really did a great job. Thankfully the tears didn't last too long. Especially when it involved getting a sucker. They also both really enjoyed getting to show off their ears to their Daddies. This is just one more adventure the two buddies get to share together.

A New Do'

A few weeks ago the girls and I had an appointment to go see Mrs. Susie! The plan was the two were going to go get their hair trimmed. Aby loves putting her hair into braids, ponytails, and pigtails. And she's been growing it out for a good while. A few months ago she told me she wanted to cut her hair as short as mine. I put her off because I didn't think that she meant it. I thought she'd regret it once she realized that she couldn't pull it all back. I knew it would be cute on her, but didn't want to listen to the whining. So, we made the deal that after she had her dance recital we would cut it however she'd like. Well the day we went she told me again that she'd really like to cut it. So we did.

Here's Mac getting her first real trim in Mrs. Susie's seat. She was a bit nervous, but did great.

Here Aby is with her new Do'. She LOVES it, and so do I. It's so much easier to fix in the morning. (That's a giant gumball in her mouth)

So, now she looks like her daddy, but with my haircut ;)

So Many Decisions...

One thing that I LOVE about planning for a new baby is getting to design the nursery. There are so many color schemes and decorations to choose from. I spent a "few" days during nap time just surfing the Internet looking for some different ideas. For little girls it's hard to find something different since we've already done 2 girly nurseries. Aby's room is Lime Green and Pink, and Mac's room is Robin's Egg Blue with lots of bright color accents. I think it's really fun looking at boy nurseries. It's almost like a foreign land for me. So, I wanted to post some of the ones that I really liked.

The room that is now the nursery (well it's actually a holding pen for all things that don't have a home after our major room switcharoo) was the playroom. It's a bright, sunny yellow. That color is nice for a playroom, but not so soothing for a nursery.

I love the bright walls with the monochromatic wall technique and the dark furniture contrast in this room.

(http://www.projectnursery.com/) In this room I am drawn to the geometric rug. Plus I really like the wooden letters over the bed. (http://www.styledecor.com/) This room is my favorite. I love the color scheme. I'm very drawn to orange, blues, and browns for little boys. I also like the paint technique on the wall. With a focal point like that you don't really need a lot of extra decor on the walls. (http://www.sprogsndogs.com/) The argyle wall in this room is very cool. It would be a lot of work, and not something that I'm willing to put forth the effort for, but it would be a great way to have the room last for several years. (http://www.newhouseofart.com/) Stripes are so fun!! When we first moved into our house we painted stripes on our office (now playroom) wall. I LOVE it. It's not an easy task, but Chris did a great job. Again I'm drawn to the same color scheme. (project wedding-potterybarn kids) I would not decorate any room like this, but I like how rustic it is. The part I love is the barn door headboard.

(http://www.designindulgencenursery.com/)

This room is set up exactly like how the nursery will be. On the wall across from the door is a large window with space on either side for bookcases. I actually was planning on putting the room together exactly as shown, minus the chair and the dog needs to be changed to a boxer. On the wall next to the door will be a dresser and then on the wall opposite the bed will be the changing table. But, in this room I like the monochromatic stripes. It's light and airy, clean and extremely bright. Plus there are the nice accents of orange =)

(http://www.anyoninteriordesigns.com/)

My favorite part of this room is the giant monogram letter on the wall!

(http://www.alistbaby.net/)

So, with all these choices for boys I've really not narrowed anything down. It may be dumb to have spent all this time picking out boy decor anyway. It may not matter =)

As far as girls are concerned I'm really drawn to the Owl theme. I think they are so cute.

(http://www.designeddesigners.com/)

I won't use this color scheme since I used it for Aby, but I love the wall behind the bed.

(http://www.potterybarnkids.com/)

This room is bright, loud and super fun!! I think I would get tired of this after awhile though.

(http://www.literaturesoft.com/)

I like the subdued walls, and I adore the animal cutouts on the wall. How could you not, it's Pottery Barn!! The bedding is so pretty. It reminds me of what we used for Aby's nursery.

(http://www.potterybarnkids.com/)

My favorite color is purple. I've stayed away from purple for a reason I don't really know. But I'm kinda leaning towards a gorgeous, glamorous purple room. I like the pom poms above the bed for a mobile affect.

In this room I like the almost gray walls with all the silver accents. Our furniture is a light brown, so I don't think it would go well, but I love the concept of this room.

I'm not a huge fan of the bedding in this room, but I LOVE the walls. Now we can find all kinds of neat wall decals similar to this one. So there are lots of options.

This time around I'm not purchasing the bedding. With the other two I went the route of getting the whole bedding, but we didn't use the top quilts that came with the bumper. And I end up making the same size quilt with satin binding that they end up using forever (Aby still uses hers). So, once we find out the gender (April 24th), then I'll decide on fabrics for the quilt and color schemes for the room. I'm also thinking about taking Mac's old baby bumper and recovering it to match the quilt. This way will be much cheaper and more meaningful to me. I've probably put way too much thought into this room, but I find it super exciting. Just a few more days and I can really start making choices!!