What's in a name?

HENRY IAN CUSICK

As we have been narrowing down the name selection for little Cashew, these three have made the final round: Henry, Lucas and Ian. We have no strong particular meaning behind any of them except that we like how all three sound and that Peanut's only viable suggestion on the topic of naming his little brother has been something sounding like Ian (which followed after the suggestions of  "doggy" and "book").

So as a little back story, when naming Peanut, if you didn't already know, we may have been inspired, just a little bit, by the characters on the epic TV series, LOST. That said, this little nugget of joy is what has kept our family laughing all morning. Here is an email my sister in law just sent:

Hey Brother!

So it just occurred to me that if you name the new baby Henry or Ian, you will be continuing your theme! I don't know whether or not you realized this, but the actor who played Desmond on Lost is Henry Ian Cusick. Therefore, you should totally go with either Henry or Ian.

Also, Cusick was born in Peru and speaks fluent Spanish and has a Scottish accent (his mother is Peruvian and his father Scottish). Thus, he is awesome. He also appears to have a son named Lucas. So even that would b only one degree removed from the theme.

Well there you have it. Thank you Holly! I will second your motion that he is awesome. Just like our son is awesome. And we should continue to make sure that our next son is also awesome. We are feeling fully inspired now to move forward with our name choices.

This does not resemble obsessive behavior in any way, does it?

Where'd Everyone Go?

It's quiet around here. Katie's been with us since January and is now gone. Then, my brother joined us, and then left with my Katie. Rob's Sister and my nephew (I'm an aunt...that's still fun to say even though it's been a reality for almost a year now) also joined us for the last week and now everyone has vanished. I've become accustomed to much more noise chaos and a whole lot more bodies around the house. 

Now it's all over. Seems only appropriate that we should add another baby in the next few weeks.

Well we had a great time with everyone! Here's what we were up to...sightseeing (we learned that a BOB double stroller can fit on the Metro), swimming (the younger cousin enjoyed the water much more than the older cousin), walking through Harper's Ferry (discussing whether West Virginia was a suitable vacation spot), berry picking (so many berries means giant disgusting poopy diapers for days, a very cute messy monster face and delicious jam for the next few months), and cake making! We made Katie a good bye cake. It's a garden with mini carrots, lettuce, cabbage, spinach and tomatoes growing out of the crushed cookie, cocoa and brown sugar dirt. That sounds like the best kind of garden.

Growing

Is it really mid August? I am so far behind on this blogging thing. Everything around here is growing, especially me, and I can't keep up. This is an old picture. I am definitely 34 weeks right now but sorry, 32 is as close as I can get for the moment with phone pics.

More importantly Rob's resume is growing. He is the man of the hour. Last Saturday, Rob donned his very first pair of bike shorts (a major feat all on it's own) and a nervous-eager smile in order to compete in his first century ride. We dropped him off at 7:30am to start the grueling endeavor to conquer 103 miles and 7000 feet of climbing in the tree lined rolling hills of Boonsboro, MD. He had never ridden over 60 miles in any single ride before that so who knew what would transpire. As luck and will would have it, he finished the ride! I am so proud. I am even more proud that these words left his lips as he collapsed onto a bench to scarf down his post race food, "OK Anna, I'm ready for you to join me next year". He will do it again!

Let's continue the theme here. Peanut is growing...exponentially it seems. At his latest check up, he was 24.5 lbs (25%) and 35 in (97%). Where did this height come from?! The Mr. is the thin one in this bunch so I understand where he gets that. (The pediatrician also told me I was petite so that's probably where he gets it. Ha ha. Petite? Bless her. She will have my business forever.) To accompany this physical growth is a surge in the amount of difficult behavior. This is directly proportional to the shortening of the length of my fuse of patience. Anyone have any exciting discipline tricks up their sleeves? 

This hard behavior in conjunction with my limited ability to bend over is in turn is growing the list of things we need to buy for the house, in order to keep things out of sight for the little man and his upcoming little brother. I am also wishing we could grow a cash tree somewhere. I am currently working on sanding and painting this $15 yard sale beauty of a buffet/dresser, so we have some more storage space in the living room.  The right paint color is still eluding me. I will keep you posted.

Speaking of growing trees, we have some things growing beautifully in the backyard: tomatoes, flowers, rhubarb, green onions, basil, cilantro. If only there weren't so many green tomatoes in the compost bin thanks to Peanut's eagerness to help.