And her name shall be called...

Ok, several people know about our name choice by now, but I still haven't officially announced, so here goes...

She shall be called Eliana Sakura (El-ee-ah-na and Sah-kur-ah-with a slight roll of the 'r' on Sakura if you want to be super accurate).

Now I am a total stickler on names. It can't be too common, but it also can't be so different that it is freakish...does that make sense? I mean, our last name is Davis, so you don't want your kid to be one of 5 other kids with the same name in their class, ya know? That's how Ezra Nathaniel ended up with such a great name, after all. ;)

For me, a name has to have meaning!! Josh is less about meaning and more about how the name sounds--as in, it needs to sound cool to him. :)

Anyway, onto origin of this name...

Eliana is one of the names I had found when I was pregnant this summer (which ended in a miscarriage at 6 weeks). I had been looking on baby name websites and searching by meaning (imagine that, ha) using search terms like 'Lord' and 'God.' In case you don't know or have forgotten, Ezra means "God's helper" and Nathaniel means "gift of God." I like the idea of names with religious meaning that aren't overdone like Matthew, Joshua, etc. (absolutely NO offense to anyone with those names or who named their children one of these--they are great names, but see my reasoning above).

Aaaaanyway...the meaning of Eliana is "God has answered." At the time I first came across it, I thought it would fit if we had a girl since we were really hoping for one (although we would be pleased no matter what). After the miscarriage, I didn't delete the little 'sticky note' I saved on my computer with the names I'd found, and when we found ourselves pregnant again, the name Eliana stuck out more than the others because of it's meaning. We had been praying so hard to be able to get pregnant again and for God to help us deal with things if we couldn't, etc. I kind of had a peace just looking at that name and imagining a sweet baby girl that God might bless us with, so it was at the top of my list from the beginning.

Now, I know that the majority of you are thinking, "Ok, Eliana--I get it, maybe Elle or Ellie for short, but where in the world is that second name from?!" Long story short, when I was pregnant with Ezra, Josh gave me his two name choices, Sasuke (pronounced sort of like sauce-kay) for a boy and Sakura (pronounced as above) for a girl. These are Japanese names that he had come across in his avid Anime watching. I was dead-set against both of them, especially Sasuke and told him he had no idea what public school was like, that our kids weren't Japanese, etc. He had told me in the past he liked the name Nathaniel and when I was looking through a baby name book for a middle name to go with Ezra, I knew that I'd found his middle name as soon as I came across it. He appreciated it, but still kind of felt left out to a degree.

So this time around, we both were hoping for a little girl and he immediately started the Sakura talk again. Funny thing is, it didn't bother me like it used to. In fact, I kind of liked it. The meaning of Sakura in Japanese is "cherry blossom." In those first weeks of hoping and praying that this baby would be alright, I kept thinking of having a sweet little cherry blossom nursery to decorate. As we wondered if this baby would be a girl or a boy, Josh insisted it would be a girl and that he was right because he was right with Ezra. We sort of jokingly, sort of seriously called her Sakura, but others weren't quite on board with the name when Josh would mention it.

About a month before my birthday (in November), we were lying in bed one night and Josh said, "I'm going to give you an early birthday present. You don't have to name our baby Sakura if it's a girl." The weird part? I didn't feel relieved...I felt like I'd kind of lost something. I said, "I want too. I feel like that's her name now." Over time, the name has evolved into Eliana Sakura, but honestly, I would not be surprised if when she's born I take one look at her and decide she's Sakura after all!

For now, though, I think we're both pleased and set on her name.

And I can't wait to meet her! :)

Pink is no longer my favorite color

...Okay, so maybe it still is...but NOT in the realm of my eyes! :( I kept feeling like something was in my eye yesterday but figured it was allergies or something I couldn't see and would come out later. Last night I vaguely remember thinking my eye hurt as I was doing the "pregnant with a 2 year old in my bed" tossing and turning routine.

Fast forward to 5:30 a.m. Gotta get up to use the bathroom (I am pretty sure this baby girl is using my bladder as a lovely water bed) and I realize my eyes are stuck together. Well, mainly one eye, but the other one is blurry to look out of. When I finally cleared them enough and could focus in the mirror, I could tell my right eye was pretty irritated. Cue WebMD and Google search and I was pretty sure I had pinkeye in a few minutes' time. (Symptoms included feeling like something was in your eye, gookiness--my terminology, and redness.)

Even though my eye still isn't super pink or red looking, the corners are blood vessel-y (again, my terminology, lol) and it feels like I'm being stabbed in the eye with something the majority of the time.

Loveliness.

Well, the good news is I'm not at school so I'm not spreading it and I hope I didn't spread it any Friday. I was using hand sanitizer like crazy that day since I've been so sinus-y and had started to cough. Best part of the day was Josh let me get a nap after he showered and he watched Ez for a little more than an hour. I've been needing to rest for the sinus yuck anyway and it was so nice to not have to worry about anything and get to relax a bit.

In other news, we are pretty sure what we are going to name this little girl, but suddenly today I started having second thoughts and feeling torn about the first name. When I was pregnant with Ezra, I wanted to name a girl Evie, but it suddenly became very popular. I found a new name that I love, but today I had this, "do I really like it better than _______ and calling her Evie for short?" moment. I think the new name still wins. I just haven't had the time to devote to naming like I did with Ezra, plus there are so many more girl options (or at least it seems that way to me) that it can be overwhelming. Ah well, I'm sure the post announcing her name will be coming very soon!

Stay tuned,

Deidre ;)

And in the mornin'...I'm makin' WAFFLES!!!

So in my quest to be "Super Mom" I have been lacking by not making yummy breakfast on the weekends. This morning I decided Ez and I would enjoy waffles. If you've seen Shrek, you recognize the reference from Donkey I used for the title. It's one of my favorite lines.

One of my favorite childhood memories was staying overnight with my mom's parents, Grandma Pat and Grandpa Verdaine. When my sister and I spent the night there, one thing was always guaranteed--grandpa was going to make waffles in the morning! I don't know what magic he put into them, but he always made the best-tasting waffles in the world. I think my mom suggested once that it was old waffle irons that make waffles taste so good, but I think it was the old waffle iron-ER. I'm telling you, no better waffles exist in the world.

Ezra and I are thoroughly enjoying our waffles for breakfast, even though they don't even touch my grandpa's. I feel bad for not doing this earlier (we have eaten them before, but it's been a really long time), especially after I realized it only took a few minutes and dirtied just one bowl (and our syrupy plates). Then again, one reason I don't usually make breakfast on the weekends is that Josh isn't a breakfast person at all, and he is especially not a fan of waffles (I know, what's wrong with him, right?!). Since he's on a ski trip with the youth until tonight, I didn't feel bad for eating wonderfulness in front of him...although I probably shouldn't let it bother me since it doesn't bother him. I guess I have an overdeveloped sense of fairness! :)

I leave you with a few pictures of my little man enjoying his waffle (topped with butter, syrup, and bananas--gotta get some healthiness in there, and he seems to like the bananas the best anyway, ha).

Showing off his favorite part (banana):

Mmm...waffles!

You may be wondering what he is doing in this picture...

To help you find out, I asked him where his milk went...

That's right. He poured his milk into the drink holder and then filled it up with his leftover bites. Lovely, eh? This is the creativity of a 2 year old boy! :)

Until next time...eat more waffles!

~Deidre

A New Chapter

So...I'm pretty sure this blog will be schizophrenic. Part crafts, part recipes, and part family updates. But that's ok, you'll forgive me, right? :)

Today is the beginning of me keeping this updated (or so I hope). I am trying to get more organized in all areas of my life--home, teaching, spiritual, etc. Oh, so I guess that's another thing to add to the schizophrenia...sorry! Just try to hang in there with me and maybe you'll read something you like along the way!

The most obvious new chapter right now is our second pregnancy. We have been very blessed to become pregnant again after the miscarriage this summer (more about that here: http://memoirsofamiscarriage.blogspot.com/). We are told that this time we will be welcoming a baby girl. I am still not entirely convinced I'm going to have a girl. It honestly just seems too good to be true, since I am get extremely excited over all things girly and have been wishing for someone to put cute ribbons and bows on for so long. I just knew that I would end up with 5 boys and have to live vicariously through nieces and my friends' daughters forever!

We haven't even begun on the nursery yet. I'm still partially afraid to make a super-girly, beautiful room and end up needing to change it when we are surprised by a boy. I know I need to really get started on this, though, so tonight I'm trying to catch up on things around the house so I can get something done, nursery-wise. Luckily, my fabulous mother-in-law, who watches my son during the week, was a sweetheart and cleaned Ezra's room and did some dishes today. Josh did quite a bit of laundry last night in preparation for his ski trip (he went with the church youth group as a chaperone), but it still needs to be folded.

My main priorities tonight are to get Ezra and I fed, finish dishes and laundry, and try to come up with a game plan for the future nursery (our current "spare/junk" room). If you're interested in my nursery ideas, follow me on Pinterest and look at my Girl Nursery Ideas board. We will be doing cherry blossoms, if you can't tell! I really like the idea of aqua walls (plus if we get that, "It's a Boy!" surprise, it won't necessarily have to be repainted). The ideas on my board are about as far as I've gotten so far, but I have already enlisted the help of my Sister In Law to aid in creating the wall decorations.

Tomorrow's goal is to get into my classroom and absolutely work my patootie off until it is more organized. I have needed to do this for so long it is embarrassing, but I have major trouble asking people for help combined with a guilt complex that I don't get to spend enough time with Ezra and Josh already. I've just got to get over it and get in there and try to make some major progress without thinking about those things. Since Josh is out of town, I'm going to let Ezra spend some time with his Nana and Granpoo (Josh's parents--and yes, he came up with grandpa's name) while I get to work. I'm praying for extra energy tomorrow for sure. It's been hard to get things done because I seem to stay tired (even though I have to admit it's not as bad as my 1st trimester fatigue) from work, housework, and wife/mommy duties.

I really hope this didn't seem like I was complaining throughout. We are so very excited to welcome our little girl (due somewhere near May 28th)! And...I've learned if I write something down/share it with others, I am much more likely to get it accomplished, which is where my 'working on myself' complaints come in. I'll try to keep those out from now on, or at least to a minimum. :)

C'est la vie!

Deidre