What's in a name

Someone once told me that one of the toughest things to do is to name a child. There are many difficult things in life, so I'm not sure I agree entirely, but will say that there's a lot of pressure to pick a good name. Kids are brutal with nicknames, initials can accidentally spell out bad things, and everyone has opinions on names of people they already know that can positively or negatively impact the decision. Even with Addison we still struggle with the dilemma of whether she should be known as "Addison" or "Addie" (or as my mother likes to say "Addie Mae"). There's a lot to consider.

So here we are, a few months before baby #2 arrives, and playing the name game. We have no idea if peanut will be a boy or a girl, which just adds to the fun. Now there are some general rules that we've been trying to hold to, such as no living relatives, no close friends or their children, and no celebrity names. Essentially we don't want to put pressure on anyone that we are naming our child after them.

In general I've learned that I like pretty names, so choosing girls names is much easier for me; boys names seem to be much more difficult for me. I even find myself liking a lot of boys-names-for-girls but not for boys. Example, I like "Kyle" for a girl but not for a boy, although I'm not sure if it is on either list at the moment. Derek tends to veto a lot of my suggestions, which is thankfully keeping the list to a manageable length.

I'm sorry to say that at the moment the list is in so much flux that I don't want to share any possibilities here yet, but perhaps as we get closer and start narrowing down the names list, I'll share it with y'all. But for now I'll continue to toss ideas around in my head while pushing Addison around on her new tricycle.

That new carpet smell

It seems that home projects always take at least twice as long as we expect them to, but I'm so happy that we've finally gotten around to replacing the carpets. I can't believe what a difference it makes!

I wanted to post some before and after pics so you could see. These are the before (although I grabbed the downstairs den shot after Derek had ripped up the old carpet, so it's a nice shot of the ancient linoleum we found underneath).

And then here are the after photos. Granted the color isn't that different, so I have to say that the pictures don't portray the true impact of the change, but trust me - it is an amazing difference.

Something we hadn't considered when scheduling this (we had the carpets replaced one week before Christmas), was that we needed to paint the walls before the new carpets went in. And since it was mandatory on my list that we paint - I really hate the creamy-avocado-beige that the walls were, we added a lot of painting to our to-do list at the last minute.
Thanks to some nap time and late night painting sessions, we got it done. And now the living room is a cape-cod blue, and our foyer and hallway are a nice sage green. And the carpets are beautiful!!

Yes, I realize that the joy I get out of new carpet secures my position in adulthood and potentially is pushing me towards middle age quickly, but I don't care. The carpets are just that nice; especially after living with stained, dog pee covered ancient carpets for over a year. Merry Christmas to us!  

Birthday Monster

Now that most people know that we are expecting another little one in May, I guess I can start blogging again. And just in time - Addison turned 2 on Monday.  I haven't a clue why, but most toddlers seem absolutely enamored with Elmo, and Addison is no exception. So, for her birthday party I decided to make her Elmo cupcakes. I think they turned out pretty good for a first try.

Since red frosting is next to impossible to make, I made homemade buttercream frosting and with a lot of red food coloring managed to get it to a dark pink. To make him look furry, I topped each cupcake with red sugar sprinkles. The eyes are marshmallows I cut in half, and stuck a chocolate chip to the sticky side. The nose is half of a marshmallow that I had previously rolled in yellow food coloring and let dry. To make sure everything stuck to the cupcake, I put the eyes, nose, and chocolate chip mouth on before the frosting had time to set, and then applied the sprinkles last.

Although there were a lot of steps, none of them were too difficult, and the finished products were a hit. Addison had a great time playing with her friends, although she got a bit shy when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

And now the holidays are over, birthday was a success, and we can relax into the normal routine again. Ha, whatever that means.