Dinky Doodle

Today I was listening to Amelia sing "Yankee Doodle". She had sung it several times before I realized that she thinks the song is "Dinky Doodle". I wonder how long they have sung that in school and whether anyone noticed that she didn't quite have the lyrics right. I ended up giggling a little too much over it, and she got upset with me. I told her that I love her version. It is almost as good as her version of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" which goes "Baa Baa Black Sheep, Heavy Heavy Wool". Cracks me up every time...

Believe it or not, we have a name (and a story)!

I have waited a little while to post this, just because we have waffled so much over names over the past three years, but I think we have finally made a decision. Natalie. Natalie has actually always been on our list and one of our favorites and has always had a lot of meaning for us. We even considered it for Amelia's name, but decided that she just felt like more of an Amelia (and boy were we right!). Even though it has been one of my favorites for as long as I can remember (my favorite doll growing up was even named Natalie) I have always been hesitant because it has become so popular and I worry that there will be five Natalie's in her class at school. However, we got a wonderful sign that this is what our next daughter's name should be and have decided that it really is the perfect name...

When my mother-in-law was sick toward the end of her life, she told us about all the things that she wanted us to look for in her house after she was gone. She had made detailed (and I mean DETAILED) lists of which items she wanted each of her sons and daughters-in-law and Amelia to have. We found a list of her jewelry and who each piece should go to and why. I guess I should back up and say that although we have been in the process of adopting a second child for a very long time, my mother-in-law rarely mentioned it, and rarely commented when we mentioned it. Amelia was the light of her life, but she rarely spoke about her future second granddaughter. My mother-in-law's name was Nancy. When we found the list of her jewelry, at the bottom she listed that her "N" pendants should go to "Erica and Brian's next daughter if her name is something starting with an "N", like Natalie..." I don't recall ever mentioning to her that we had considered that as a name. When I saw that she had not only thought about our second daughter, but had planned to give her something that had been hers, I started to cry so much that I had to excuse myself from the room. Brian knew exactly what I was thinking. It really meant so much to both of us to know that she thought of her, and to see a name that we had both always loved in that context and in his mom's handwriting, we knew that we had found our name. It makes us so sad to think that she and Brian's dad will never know Natalie, but I think it gives us comfort to know that she at least thought, even briefly, of her granddaughter being named Natalie. So she will be named Natalie, in memory of Brian's mom.

Strawberry picking

Yesterday Amelia and I and friends of ours all went strawberry picking at a local farm. It was a beautiful day, and the girls loved picking the strawberries. I wanted to get enough to make some freezer jam and have enough to make strawberry shortcake. I should first tell you that I haven't gone strawberry picking as an adult, so my mom has always been the person to tell us how many strawberries we can use. Last year we picked raspberries and it took a huge amount of raspberries to make five jars of freezer jam so I assumed it would be the same with strawberries. I was so wrong. We picked WAY too many strawberries. We filled two of the containers in the photo above. I feel like I have done nothing but mash up strawberries all weekend. So far I have made 11 jars of freezer jam, 1 strawberry pie, eaten several bowls of strawberries on my own and encouraged everyone else in the family to eat as many as they could, given large bowls of strawberries away to neighbors and family, and we stil have a huge amount that I need to figure out what to do with. I think tomorrow I will put the rest in freezer bags for strawberry shortcake later in the summer. We sure did have fun though! And to show you that I haven't learned my lesson yet, I am already planning to go blueberry picking next month!

Another bad day at the movies

Last night Brian and I took Amelia to see Up. We had all been looking forward to it based on all of the ads that have been on the D*sne*y Channel for the past several weeks. It looked adorable. If you haven't seen it, don't read this post. I don't want to spoil anything for you. I guess overall the movie was good, but not at all the cute, funny and uplifting movie that we had expected it to be. Firstly, for those of you who have seen it, you can imagine that it wasn't the best movie for people who have just lost their parents/parents-in-law and have spent several weeks going through old photographs of them and thinking about their lives. I know it was just a cartoon, but that part was really hard for Brian and I.

The worst part of going to this movie was that Amelia was completely beside herself for the entire movie. Most of the scenes were scary to her, and parts were so intense for her that she was sobbing on my shoulder and saying (loudly) that she just wanted to go home. The people around us must have thought that we were the meanest parents because we didn't take her out of the theater when she was freaking out, but honestly I wanted her to stay to see that everything ended OK. If we had left during the worst part for her (when the explorer captures Kevin) she would have asked us for weeks what happened, and we wouldn't know. I was hoping that she would feel better about the movie if she saw a happy ending, but even the happy ending didn't help. She was pretty upset until she fell asleep when we got home. It isn't the first time that she has reacted like this during a movie. She was very upset at R*atat*uille and Happy F**t as well, but I think this movie bothered her the most. I don't know why she has such strong reactions to movies that we see in theaters, maybe the darkness and the large screen and the loud sounds make everything more intense. At any rate, I think it will be quite a while before we try to see another one.

It wasn't all bad, and I think I would have enjoyed the movie if Amelia hadn't been so upset. I thought that the dog was adorable. It just wasn't the cute movie I had hoped it would be.

Shopping for shorts - wish us luck!

It is unheard of...Amelia has actually outgrown all of her shorts! To help you understand just how monumental of an occasion this is, she has worn many of the same shorts for three summers, and some would still fit around her waist but they were getting far to short to be appropriate. I had her try on all of her shorts the other day, even the hand-me-downs from friends, and I was shocked that most of the ones that I was still willing to let her wear are really tight on her. We are used to her pants getting too short way before they get too tight, so I think we were just shocked to have something fit her too snugly. My mom called yesterday to see what we were planning to do today and asked if she could come visit for the day. I told her that we would love to see her, but that she would have to accompany us on a shorts-finding mission. This might be tricky since usually shorts that fit her in the waist are still around the 3T-4T size and are then not long enough for her. Are there any stores other than Ch*ldren's Pl*ce that make shorts with an adjustable waist?

UPDATE: We were very successful at our very first stop - T*rget! All of their girl's shorts and capris had adjustable waists, and she even fit into some of the 5T outfits. My Mom came with us and we had so much fun picking out the outfits and Mom even ended up buying most of the clothes for her. Thanks Mom! Amelia is now all set for the summer (and judging by the waist sizes when they aren't adjusted, she will be set for at least next summer as well!)

Brian's mom

We have sad news. Brian's mom passed away a week ago Friday, only two months and a day after his dad. She had been sick on and off for a long time and went into the hospital with severe pneumonia on the Friday before Mother's Day. About a week later, they told us that the antibiotics weren't helping and she was put on comfort care and then hospice care. Brian and I and his brothers were at her bedside for almost a week, and she passed away very peacefully. The past few weeks have been so difficult and we feel lost. It is hard to imagine that Brian and his brothers have lost both parents in such a short time period. We were prepared on some levels for his Dad, but not for his mom. We have spent a lot of time this week going through old photos, and we all know that we need to start the process to sell his parents house, but it is so difficult to do. His parents lived there for over fifty years and the neighbors are like family. We will make it through this, but it is difficult to think about how much will be different this year and in all the years to come. Amelia was very close with Brian's mom, they were buddies and loved to pick raspberries from the bushes that grow at their house. We have talked about planting some raspberries at our house in her memory.

Ironically, Brian's mom died on the day Brian was supposed to have his shoulder surgery. He postponed the surgery when we knew that she was so sick and still has to reschedule it, so we don't know when that will be. Although the adoption is the farthest thing from our minds right now, it is still difficult knowing that this will be pushed back as well, probably into 2010. I will have to tell our agency that we can't look at files until much later this year. It is probably for the best at this point, we have so much else to deal with right now.

My wonderful husband

Look what my wonderful husband is making for us! We have wanted to put built-in bookcases on either side of our fireplace since we moved to this house. Brian has decided that this will be the one project he finishes before he has his surgery in a few weeks. He has been working like a madman to complete this. It isn't finished, but when I woke up this morning he couldn't wait to show me that he finished one side AND FIT ALL OF OUR FAMILY GAMES INSIDE!!! These games have been in a pile in the corner for at least two years and we couldn't stand looking at them. This is better than Christmas! Both sides of the fireplace will have a cabinet on the bottom and bookshelves on the top. I will definitely post photos of the completed project, but I was just so excited about this that I couldn't wait!