GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

Words have meaning and names have power....Author unknown

The search for a name has begun in earnest. I had my favorite girls names, I knew what I didn't want for a boy but what I might like. Joe didn't like any of them. The one thing I had made known years before we even started trying to have kids was I never wanted to name a boy directly after his Dad. Growing up we had my Dad John and my brother John or baby John as he was and still is, much to his dismay, known. With Joe's Dad passing and finding out it was a boy, everyone in the family began saying we should call him Joseph Michael...... I decided that maybe we could but call him Michael, Joe wasn't too opposed. I don't like Michael though (no offense to anyone out there called MIchael) and being Irish they'll call him Mickey back home. A friend gave me a book the other day with baby names from around the world which I have slowly been going through, making a list of anything that might remotely sound okay and Joe last night began asking about them. This morning he started looking through the book himself and he came to a decision- he would like a name with a meaning. The meaning he has chosen - GIFT.
So anyone out there who knows of a name meaning gift spit it out, let me know. Or even a synonym for gift that I could look up names under.

Girls names where so easy!!

Shopping has commenced...

We never bought a crib for Keeva as our old bedroom was too small and the stairs to the upstairs bedrooms were too steep for me going up and down with an infant. Plus there was no bathroom upstairs. This time around I have a room to decorate as a nursery and I am so excited. Only problem, I have a hard time being too typically babyish......I don't want to do the typical blue for a boy but I really don't like the unisex patterns that are currently out there. So I found this.....


Okay so your saying very babyish, but, I'm not getting the whole kit n' caboodle. Just the window valance and the bedding. The colors in it are very nice, bright but muted if that can be! The red is gorgeous and the brown cord trim is great. I think I'm going to paint the room a wheat color and I've ordered a glider in a nice brown brushed suede like material. I'll admit this was my gift to myself, my splurge. I spent so many uncomfortable hours on the floor nursing Keeva or just trying to get her to sleep that I promised myself extreme comfort this time and boy is this chair comfortable.
The killer piece though is the crib, and I got it on sale, how excited am I. Now who can't love that. It's different......not all slats like most cribs, and no fluted edges. It goes all the way to a full bed which I think will be great in teenage years. I can't get a picture of it to post but, here is the link. I can't wait to start pulling the whole room together. I'll have to though....the furniture won't be in until January so I guess I'll have to busy myself redecorating Keevas room. I want to do something special for her so she doesn't feel as if it's all about her "baby brother". She wants to go girly girly of course. I guess I'll have lots to keep me busy!

She Writes

The day before yesterday Keeva was busy as usual copying down phone numbers from infomercials, words from cereal boxes, anything she could find. She never stops, even in the car she has a pad and pen and copies down words from sign posts or numbers on buildings (she cutely calls these phone numbers!). One of the things she copied down was the word Love that is written on a Teddy Bear my Dad had given her. When I was tidying up this morning I found this note.......

Okay so it's no novel but, my four and a half year old has almost strung sentences together....and there all about love! My heart melted when I saw it, then when I realized she had done it all by herself.......genius! Harvard here we come.

It's a........

BOY!!

Yep we're having a boy......Keeva has decided to call him George. We're having a bit of trouble convincing her that George George would be a bit strange!

A Sad Goodbye

Last month we said goodbye to Joe's dad, Papa. He had been living in the nursing home with Joe's Mam for a month when an MRI showed he had end stage cancer throughout most of his body. They gave him six weeks which was then shortened to within a week. The day after this he slipped by his bed and broke his hip and two days later we were called to say goodbye. It was thankfully a peaceful passing. He told Joe he loved him, kissed his wife, took a few deep breaths and left us. The fact that he was in the same room as his wife in the nursing home meant that Joe his Mom and his sisters got to spend time with him afterward before they removed him to the funeral home. It was actually very nice as they got to say goodbye to him in private and his Mom, being in a wheelchair, could sit right by him without a coffin in the way and process what had just happened. He hadn't wanted any wake or funeral so this was a great benefit to everyone. Joe has been up and down. He was very close to his Dad and misses him greatly, but he carries with him now some great childhood memories. Papa will be missed but we know he is looking down on us smiling!