A Walk in the Woods

Nearly 60 degree weather, but obviously winter is still with us. It was a wonderful morning yesterday. I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.

Rock on Man!

I swear that Eli's vocabulary is doubling weekly. He repeats everything we say these days and has way more words than I can count. Some of the cutest ones include "panegaroo" (kangaroo), "Gin-ya" (Virginia, his babysitter), "Hi-lowww" (Hello, drawn out as if searching for someone), and "Baby Bruvver." He's also doing lots of two and three word sentences like "teach me" (he and Chris play school using the vintage school desk in his room and his easel/blackboard), "Hi Mama" (as in Hi, Mama, you still love me even though I was really rotten just now, right?), "Monkey fall down" (Monkey has fallen - more accurately was thrown- out of the crib), "All wet" (to report a diaper leak) and "poopy n'there" (to report a dirty diaper - we're so excited by this one!).

Eli is also really into music and singing, often singing in his crib when he wakes up in the morning. He got two guitars for Christmas and is making use of them both. Here he is in a video clip. His '80s band stage persona is really shining in this and he makes up for lack of tune with volume. We're so proud, do we have a rock star in our midst? Play at your own risk.



In other news, baby brother is still enjoying himself on the inside. I think he's going to be a party-animal like his brother because he regularly treats me to vigorous rounds of what must surely be dancing. We'll be down to 4 weeks-to-go on Sunday and I for one am glad to be on the home stretch. The crib is up, the clothes are washed, extra food is stored in the freezer. There is still a lot of work I wanted to get finished before he comes, but we're essentially as ready as we're going to get.

And the Winner [of our baby name game] is.....

Silas McMillan with 4 votes.

I must say that if we were counting on you all to give us decisive information, we were sadly disappointed. I think you are as flummoxed about baby names as we are judging from the close results! The other tallies were as follows:
Finley Bruce 3
Sidney Bruce 3
Ezra McMillan 2
Ezekiel Lee 1

You might be wondering how we came up with some of these names so here are a few explanations:

McMillan was Chris' grandmother's maiden name. She was a smart, loving lady who Chris and I both thought the world of.

Lee is Chris' middle name.

Finley was my great-great grandfather's middle name (his first name was Major; I never knew him, of course, but we're working under the assumption he was a good guy).

Bruce was Chris' great-uncle's name. Chris knew him well and he was definitely a good guy.

Ezekiel is a name that pops up on my father's side of the family tree quite a bit during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Sidney is just a name we like, but it was inspired by my great-grandfather's nickname "Sid" (his real name was Shadrach McCoy, so you can see why the nickname was necessary).

Silas and Ezra are names we like.

So now the next wait begins.....Chris and I do have a favorite among these names, but we both feel the need to see the baby before we decide for sure. We're six weeks and counting until the due date on February 27th!

The New Year

Chris' Papaw always said that whatever you do at New Year's you'll do all year long. If that is true then we're in for a crazy year because our New Year has been unusually busy so far.

Every year we get together with two of my good friends from high school. It is nearly twenty years now (yikes) since we graduated, but it is always so good to see them and catch up with their families.

Eli loved hanging with the big kids: Colleen, Harley, Bryan, and Jada.

It was so strange to transition from Chris and I both being home with Eli for over a week to both of us being gone all day long after New Years. I'm working extra hours to hang a new history exhibit at the museum. I am really fortunate to be able to only work part time normally because these longer hours are killer. You'd know why if you saw the size of my belly at this point. I am now officially doing more waddling than walking.

Eli is doing his own preparations for the arrival of "baby brother."

We think it was these changes in Eli's schedule that made him try to abandon napping over the weekend. After a VERY long afternoon on Saturday, we were determined that a nap would be had on Sunday. Our first attempt failed, so we bundled up and braved the 25 degree weather (not counting the wind chill) and went for a walk along the river. For the record, my mother was appalled that we'd take Eli out in such conditions, but he did better than we did and the best part was it worked - nice long nap!

Don't forget to log your vote on our baby name poll below....Ezra is leading the pack at the moment with Silas coming in at second. The voting will end on Monday!

Name that Baby!

So Chris and I thought it would be fun to see what all of you thought about some of the name choices we are thinking about.

Disclaimer: 1) We do not promise to choose the name that wins. 2) We already have a favorite among these names. 3) We do not promise to actually use any of these names if they don't seem to fit when we finally meet the new baby.

That being said, we're anxious for your responses so please vote! We'll announce the winner in about 2 weeks.