Surprises & A Baby Name Poll

Billy and I are in discussions about whether or not we're going to find out the sex of baby #3.  We keep going back and forth...each of us taking a different side every time we talk about it.  We were surprised with Max, but found out with Sullivan.  We always said we'd go back to not finding out for all our other children (exact # of said children TBD :).  

Not that our experience of knowing Sullivan was a boy wasn't special...at that time in my life I couldn't have handled many more surprises!  But with Max, hearing Billy say "It's a BOY!" was beautiful. Ah...I still get teary when I think about hearing those words from him at the end of labor when I finally met my sweet baby.  

Now that we're about three weeks out from our anatomy scan the pressure is on.  Currently I'm on the side of being surprised.  I don't care what the sex is.  We just wanted another baby.  I sometimes feel like finding out would be more for other people than for us. Stay tuned, though, because I haven't been the most decisive person lately.

In the meantime I will obsess over names.

People who know me well know that I'm mildly obsessed with names.  I always have been.  Even as a child I'd think about them.  Maybe it stems from having an incredibly common name?  I always dreamed that I'd marry a man with a beautiful exotic surname and "Sara Meyers" would be transformed into something unique.  And then I fell in love with Bill Murray ;)

December 2009 - Billy was up early experimenting with paint colors in the nursery.  He thought he was so clever painting the names on the wall as a surprise.  Update:  It was MAX! :)

We did this poll when I was pregnant with Sullivan (prior to knowing he was a boy).  It was fun to look back on the results.

So here are our picks for this baby.  I have so many boy names I like its truly hard to narrow down, but these are the ones we love.  

Baby Boy Names
	Fletcher William
	Beau William
	Silas William
pollcode.com free polls

And we're sticking with Emelia for a girl. It's been our girl name since before we were married.  We're thinking of switching up the middle name we've kept for years, though.

Baby Girl Names
	Emelia Lou
	Emelia McLain
	Emelia June
pollcode.com free polls

So cast your vote.  I think its so interesting to see what people think about names.  Especially, since I know most people won't tell me what they really think of the name Fletcher to my face ;) 

April: Real Life Moments

Better late than never ;)

Hopefully I'll be more on top of it next month as we're wrapping up May already!

My Super Boys ready to save the day.

Sullivan decided to unpack our winter gear that I had so carefully put away.

Sully and GG have a special bond :)

Max flying his first kite.  And enjoying a picnic lunch.

Giving Sullivan a little boost.  Max takes his big brother role very seriously.

They beg me to let them nap together every afternoon.  It's too sweet.

Sullivan's paternal side.  Taking good care of his baby.

Sunday trip to the Nelson.

A cold, rainy day spent indoors at Paradise Park.  Max liked the face painting station the best.  He was determined to have a beard just like Dad and carefully drew one on :)

Billy likes to come up with fun games to entice the boys to help out around the house.  One day he labeled bags for each of the boys and challenged them to pick up as many "spikey balls" as they could.  Whoever had the most would win a PRIZE!!  The boys got busy, but in the end it was a tie ;)  So Dad gave both boys a special little prize.

Another Beginning...

Click here for a big announcement on something very tiny.

The Mother of All Happy Hours

Another successful event in the name of helping less fortunate mothers.

Last year we hosted "Moms Helping Moms" and packed birth kits for women in Papua New Guinea...about as far away as you can get from Kansas City in many ways.  This year my friend, Jocelyn, who works for The Family Conservancy suggested hosting "The Mother of All Happy Hours" which was founded by Project 39 and benefits mothers right here in Kansas City.  I loved the idea of helping mom's within our own community.

My absolute favorite part of this program is that the donations we provide will be earned by the moms receiving them.  They take health classes, parenting classes, etc to earn credits which they use to "purchase" the diapers, baby clothes, etc  They're bettering themselves and also gaining a sense of pride.  

I could not love that more.

So Jocelyn and I threw together a little happy hour soiree' with a few appetizers and a good amount of wine and invited our favorite ladies.  Everyone brought a few things that a new mom might need...everything from adorable baby clothes to essentials like laundry detergent.  

Our youngest happy hour lady :)

A little raffle for our generous guests...Trader Joe's and iTunes gift cards, Philosophy products, candles.  Fun!

Our happy hour was just one of 35+ similar happy hours being hosted that same day.  Together we were able to contribute over 15,000 diapers, almost 30,000 wipes, over 5,000 loads of laundry and so, so much more.  Here's just a portion of what we collected...

Thank you to all of you who donated!

Wish Flowers

What would we do without kids?  They force us to see beauty in the ordinary...or even the common nuisance.  Dandelions for example.  No homeowner wants them in their yard.  However, the boys think they're magical.

We were on a walk a couple weeks ago and found a good patch of them near the park.  I realized the boys hadn't ever seen one up close.  So I picked one for each of them and showed them how to make a wish.  Max thought it was the coolest thing ever.  Since that day he loves pointing out what he calls "Wish Flowers".  What a sweet name for a persistent, undesirable weed.

Now it's a "thing" on our walks.  We stop and pick Wish Flowers when we see them.

The other day Max saw someone mowing them along the Trolley Trail and was devastated.
"Why would they cut down all the Wish Flowers?!" he said.
His face was so sad and confused as he watched all of those would-be wishes being wasted.
Such sweetness.

As Mother's Day approached Max asked me what I wanted for a present...  

"I don't need anything," I said, "Maybe just draw me a picture?"  

Max thought for a minute then said,
"What about a whole bunch of Wish Flowers tied in a bow?  
Then you could have all the wishes you ever wanted!"
  
I told him that a bouquet of Wish Flowers picked by him was the most special, thoughtful present I could imagine.

My Max has the most tender heart.  Maybe its just because I'm his momma, but the way his mind works takes my breath away sometimes.

For instance this weekend we went Wish Flower picking yet again.  But this time he had an idea to leave Wish Flowers on random door steps in our neighborhood for people to find.
I asked him how he came up with that idea and he just shrugged.
"Everyone needs a wish." he told me frankly. 

I love the innocence and the way children see everything in their own way.  I'll never look at dandelions the same way again.  I have so much to learn from these boys.