A lovely weekend

We had such a nice weekend. Well, actually it was just a nice Sunday but it was SO nice that it makes up for a rather lackluster Saturday.


***Just deleted like, 8 paragraphs of absolute drivel. Trust me, you're welcome.***


Ok, so, where the hell was I? Oh yes, a good weekend.

In no particular order...
-bought my Ergo - yes, I do plan to be a hippy baby-wearer type parent. (cloth diapers too, baby!)
-purchased the Ergo with proceeds from a giant baby/maternity consignment sale from which I earned $135
-had an awesome time with Morgan and Conor, and yes, even Tucker, at the park.



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-Enjoyed a BBQ with great friends and great weather. And cupcakes!

Its raining again today but at least the weekend was perfect.

Oh! Got my CBEST test results back yesterday and I passed. Woo hoo! Grad school here I come!

Backyard

We spent some time playing in the backyard the other day. Well, Conor played with Nana and I played with my new camera. A girl has GOT to have her priorities straight!

The sun was behind Conor in a lot of these shots so they turned out really dark. I did my best to lighten them but the color ended up looking kind of washed out and faded.

I love this one.

Down the slide!

kisses. cute.

I'm king of the world! Or at least king of this plastic play structure.

Did I ever show you these?

I was going through our pictures today (we have over 4000 most of which are total crap) and came across these. Cute, cute, cute.

He wants to be just like Daddy

What's in a name?

*That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet*

When I was pregnant with Conor we had his name picked out even before we knew he was a "he". In coming to our decision Morgan and I actually got into some pretty big arguments because we each had pretty strong ideas on what our (future, possibly hypothetical) son would be named and neither of us liked the other's name. I liked the lovely Matthew Charles and Morgan liked (God help me) Owen something or other. Seriously, GAG. (Haha, Babe, aren't I FUNNY?)

When we decided on Conor Patrick is was honestly like the heavens parted and a grand light shone upon our heads while a chorus of angels sang a celestial song. OK, perhaps a bit of hyperbole there but his name just clicked and there was no questioning it.

So, when we found out we were having a girl we began thinking of girl names and kept waiting for the heavens to part again. We developed a short list (Allison, Leah, Maelle and Finley) and I began to doodle her name everywhere. I"m pretty sure that was in December and as the months ticked by and all the other soon-to-be-moms began revealing their baby names I began to get a little panicky. But the heavens just wouldn't part. We liked all the names and some we felt were unbearably cute and perfect but nothing SANG to us. I really wanted to have some singing.

I never did get my singing but eventually I kept running the name over in my head enough times that it BECAME her name.

Ladies and gentlemen, the next time you see my belly, you will know it is the current residence of one Miss Finley Clare Walsh.

I love this name for so many reasons the first of which is the way we came up with it. So, we're sitting around one night watching Law and Order (because that's how we roll, yo) and one of the characters is this guy named Finn. (Incidentally a really bad Irish mobster.) And we both agreed that it was really cute name but it seemed like a nickname not a full name. So I got to thinking about full names from which we could use Finn as a nickname (this was when I was certain I was having a boy)...Finnegan, eh...Finneaus, bleck...Finley, oh that's cute, but that's a girl name and we're having a boy so...

So, a few weeks later and surprise (to no one but me) we're having a girl! So now Finley becomes a reality. Or at least a very real contender on the short list of girl names.

Ok, so the second thing I love about her name is the family tie that she unintentionally has. Turns out that Lyn's father's mother's maiden name was Finlay (possibly even Finley but I think it was Finlay) so even though we weren't shooting for a family first name, we got one by completely random default. I think that is just really cool. Also, her middle name, Clare. My great-grandmother's name (my mother's father's mother) was Clara. And while I couldn't quite stomach Clara I love, love, love Clare. Also, there is County Clare in Ireland and Morgan and I love tying in our Irish heritage.

Finally, on a quick look through babycenter.com's list of the most popular baby names, Finley ranks at number 608. We almost changed it to Olivia Clare (we would have called her Liv, how cute is that?) but then I discovered that Olivia was the #4 most popular name in 2009 and we were going for a little bit more distinctive (I know, I should have picked 'Taneha'!) and so she became Finley.

Ahhhhhh, it feels so good to have it out in the open. I have a daughter and her name is Finley.

The Name Game

Have no fear, our darling daughter now has a name!

But I'm not going to tell you just yet. First, a story.

When I was 12 my best friend was Erin Walker (actually she still is, but whatever) and we had always been teased (actually we still are, but whatever) about our same names. We've been called all sorts of really cool things like Erin Squared, or Big Erin and Little Erin, or Erin Times Two. You know, all really, really clever monikers for friends who happen to have the same names. I can't imagine how people came up with those. Seriously.

So, one day I'm in Drama Club (oh yes, I was in Drama Club) and we were giving our names to the really cool 9th grader who I happened to think was super, super cool and she goes "I know your name is Erin (SQEE!) but how do you spell it? Is it E-R-Y-N-N?" And I had to hang my head in shame because my name was NOT spelled in that super cool way that Kimi St. Romaine thought (yes, that was her name, talk about cool spellings!)(now that I think about it, her little sister's name is Erin so she really should have known how to spell it for crying out loud). The very next day, I began writing Erynn S. at the top of all my school work.

Friends and family teased me and assured me it wouldn't last. HA!, I thought. I'll show them. And it stuck. For the next 15 or so years. At the time I changed it back, I had actually been spelling my name with a Y and 2 N's for longer than I hadn't been. Take THAT friends and family! Yes indeed, I did show them.

Where am I going with all this? Oh yes, the name. So, I decided to change it back to Erin for a couple of reasons. First, spelling a name with a Y and 2 N's just to be different is silly. Especially if your name is not normally spelled that way. i fully support non-traditional spellings (unless your name requires an asterisk, question mark or other seriously bizarre ornamentation) but only if it is a part of your God-given name. Not some lame-o attempt at identity differentiation from when you were 12.

Additionally, I was pregnant and considering that Morgan and I had actually fought over Conor's name I was like, I'll be dammed if he goes and changes the spelling of his name after all the thought and arguments we've put into this. And so, I became Erin and I really confused all my (Facebook) friends who only knew me at Erynn. I also took some well deserved ribbing from my family. Whatevs. I can handle it. They put up with my silly spelling on birthday cakes for years.

Seriously, I keep writing and I can't get this to wrap back to where I want it. I'm annoying myself. I'm going to stop and finish this up tomorrow.

Pictures

Prepare to be riveted.













Thanks to everyone who contributed to my birthday/early graduation gift. I love it and could not be more thrilled!

Morgan can hardly keep it together for presents. Birthdays, Christmas, any event where presents are well, present, he can hardly keep it together. But its not presents for himself that get him all excited, no its giving presents to others. (Actually, he gets adorably uncomfortable when on the receiving end.) I can't tell you the last time I actually waited until the actual day, be it Christmas or my birthday, that I have had to wait for my present. At Christmas this past year I made him wait until at least Christmas Eve but I could get him to wait no longer.

My birthday turned out to be no different. He came home from buying the present and insisted I open it IMMEDIATELY. Truthfully, I do like to wait until the actual day (or at least the actual week!) but its also very hard to turn down presents. Especially when Morgan is making up such convincing reasons as, "well, when I walk by you'll see it".

I made him wrap it at least.

Yes, he did do this all by himself.

And the card is really, really nice. Even though it is only the bottom of a Winco shopping bag.

A camera! A nice, new D-SLR! Whoo hoo. I am crazy excited and fear that I might become one of those people who carry their giant cameras everywhere they go. Whatevs, I LOVE it.

C is awake now or I would post some pics I took this weekend. Stay tuned. Yes, you will be riveted. Promise!