Meet my friend Layne

I had a tie-dye and painting party at my house today. You know, the kind where you invite your friends over for something fun and hope to get some work out of them. I did manage to get work out of them, but tie-dye was much more fun.

Anyway, several of my friends have little kids--well, all of them. And I heard a few times, "Heidi, do you have a carrier I can use?" Well, yes. I have several as a matter of fact. But you don't get the *pretty* ones since there is dye (and hopefully paint) flying around.

Layne's little guy is going to be two at the end of the month. And he was tired and just needed to be held. So I gave her a carrier. And he was happy and she was happy.

Did I mention that in less than three weeks she's due to have twin boys??? I think she looks beyond gorgeous!

Baby names--why is it so difficult??

I think we finally did it. I think we finally decided on a name for this baby. We don't currently know the baby's gender, so we have two names--obviously a girl name and a boy name. It's been interesting. Plus, we aren't HUGE on sharing names before the baby is born. (Though I must confess that I have asked opinions in private out of pure desperation.)

The boy name wasn't too hard. Really, it wasn't. The girl name is the one that's given us trouble from the very beginning. We seem to have established a pattern with the first two and it's getting difficult to keep it up. Plus, there should be a law against naming pets people names. About 4 of the names I would have seriously considered would be shared with dogs I know. I just can't do that.

So, our 4-year-old is also in on the decision. She gets a yay/nay vote, though I'm not convinced it really counts. She's probably more of a pawn between mom and dad. But her reactions have been quite funny. In the car about a month ago I asked her, "What do you think of the name __________ if this baby is a girl?" She literally wrinkled her nose, shook her head slowly while looking at me like I was totally nuts and said, "I don't like it."

I finally narrowed it down for daddy. "These are my top three. You can pick." And the little pawn got a say as well. "What do you think of naming the baby _________ ?" And she says, "Princess ________________." **a pondering pause** "I like it!"

And so did daddy. Though I finally had to ask him pretty blunty to get a straight answer. No, it hasn't been a point of contention, at all. But sometimes mama just has to put her foot down a bit less gently.

Baby, you now have a name. Maybe by the end of next week mama will have the house ready for you to come home. But feel free to make your appearance whenever you are ready.

How old am I???

I've actually been wondering that on and off for about the last four months. Dumb, but true. Since realizing that I really had no idea what number to throw out when asked how old I am ("Something that starts with a 3?"). I've just been too lazy and too busy to worry about doing the math. It's kind of been a joke in my head. You know, "You want me to do what? I don't even know how old I am. Are you sure you trust me?" And really there isn't any changing it anyway.

So the other night my husband and I were discussing his upcoming birthday. And he says something like, "Yea, 31 this year."

Ummm . . . honey, let's do the math. But I don't think you are 30.

Turns out he was off by 2 years. Two whole years. He's going to be 33. "How did that happen?" he asks me.

Shoot, I don't know. We had kids? We're busy? We really don't care how old we are? (He claims we just got the vacuum that is 11 years old and broke last week--finally, after threatening for about the last two years.)

Apparently this age thing is bothering him. He brought it up again today, out of the blue. "So I'm going to be 33, and you are going to be 34 at the end of the year?"

Yup. (About as sympathetic as I can get these days.)

And Grace is going to be 5?

Yup. And in a couple weeks, we're going to have another baby.

Oh yea.

Yea. We need to get ready for that.

Yup. But right now I can only accomplish anything that can be done from the waist up. Pregnant tummies get in the way you know. Can an old man like you help me out?

Are you sure you trust me with that? I don't even know how old I am.

Please pray. :-)

Pray this baby comes on or before the 10th of July.

To explain: My great grandmother was a beautiful lady. The most beautiful lady I've ever known. And I was quite close to her. Growing up just down the road helps quite a bit. DD#1 has grandma's name. And I wanted so badly for DD#2 to be born on grandma's birthday--her 100th birthday. We missed it by 2 weeks. Now I have another dream.



Great grandma died just a couple weeks before Easter--she was 102. She still had her mind and was quite healthy. It was one of those deaths that you don't know how what to feel. I am sad she's gone, but at 102 with the life she had, how can I be sad? How can I not be so honored by her life that her passing only becomes another reason to celebrate?

We all packed up and headed over (a 10+ hour drive) but DD#2 ended that trip by throwing up for the first two hours and we came home. I missed that service for her, but so did half the rest of my family. At your yearly reunion we are going to have the burial (she was cremated) on Saturday.

My dream is to have this baby in time that I can recover enough to go to the reunion and the service. I can't miss both of them. And, I'd love to honor her the next day at church (the church I grew up in and DH and I were married in) by having this little one baptized. A memorial service honoring a full and beautiful life one day, and a baptism looking forward to another full and beautiful life the next.

I can't think of anything more beautiful right now.

In stocks listed!

And they are a good bunch. At least I think so. I was putting the Earth Targets on tan straps together and decided that is the one for me. I think it has a little bit of everything, and it's rich and pretty.



In three weeks (maybe more, maybe less) I'll have a new little baby to use it with! It just makes me warm and fuzzy thinking about it. **sigh**

He doesn't have a queen

New in-stock carriers coming soon!

Up to 9--on chocolate straps and on the new tan color straps.