Sugary Sweet (and Orangey, Too!)

I went in for my glucose test today.

First of all, it's cruel not to let a pregnant woman eat first thing in the morning. Not that I'm always hungry right away, but I do get the jitters if I don't eat within an hour of getting out of bed.

Second of all, it should be illegal not to let a pregnant woman drink anything (not even water!) for 12 hours. (Seriously, though; who doesn't drink at least something before the test? I always do.)

Thirdly, why is the testing lab never open on a Saturday? That would be convenient, you know, while our hubbies are most likely home to watch the kids. Instead, they make us drag our kids with us to the lab, where they (the kids) proceed to whine because they can't have any of the sugary drink. Then, we either have to stick around for an hour (whatever!), or drag our kids around town, praying we make it back in time to have a needle shoved in our arm (for at least the third time this pregnancy) while our children watch horrified and fascinated.

Not that this is how my morning went. Oh, no. Cinderella didn't actually whine about not getting to taste the drink (which I don't think is that bad, honestly; at least the orange one; I've never bothered to taste the others). She was more into looking longingly at my "orange soda" and wondering why she couldn't have any.

We then somehow managed to get the grocery shopping done and back to the lab in under an hour.

Fortunately, it's all over. Unless it's like last time. Last time I had to go into the hospital and do the three-hour glucose test. Talk about misery! An extra two hours without eating. And honestly, how many times can you go out and run errands in a small town? At least I didn't have a child with my that time.

Now, my stomach is happily digesting my lunch. And I need a nap.

Wordless Wednesday--My Ballerina

Ballet is over until the week after Labor Day.
No more performances.
No more hair gel.
No more itchy costumes.

I'm going to miss all of that! Spring is so far away!
At least she'll have practices every week.

**********
For more photos, check out 5 Minutes for Mom.

And We Have a Name (I Think)

Yea! We have a name for this child!

For now.

(And, no, I'm not going to share it with the interweb. Sorry.)

We might change the name later, but probably not.

I hope not.

It's not that I'm incredibly attached to the name, I just want this process to be over for good.

Thank you so much to everyone who gave us names or naming advice. I appreciated everything immensely!

Some of the names were on our humongous list already. Some of your suggestions made it onto our list.

In the end, though, we just narrowed it down.

The funny thing is, the name we chose wasn't even one of our favorites. We both liked it; we both kept it on our lists as they got smaller and smaller; we both chose it as our top name once the original list was narrowed down to two.

It's one we kicked around after Cinderella was conceived and before the ultrasound, but we had completely forgotten it while pregnant with Sleeping Beauty.

Funny how things eventually come around again, if you give them enough time.

I will tell you this much: it's Biblical (even though we got it from the Bible, that wasn't one of the criteria for picking a name); it's unusual but with a common nickname; and I suppose it's a little obscure, though normal.

We don't think the name is that unusual, but we've thought about it off and on for almost five years. We're used to it.

And while you don't hear it very often, there's nothing weird about it.

It's a good, solid name.

We've gotten mixed reactions from the few people we've told, but everyone agrees the nickname is more than acceptable.

I guess you can't please everyone.

Especially Cinderella. More on that later.

So Tired

Prince Charming the teacher is back at school today. No students, just teacher stuff for the next two days.

So, it's just me and the girls.
Very pregnant me and two very energetic girls.
Very pregnant me who doesn't sleep well at night and two very energetic, bouncing off the wall, wanting constant attention girls.

Sigh.

It's going to be a looooong week.

What's in a Name?

Help!

We are having the hardest time naming this child.

Cinderella was named before we were even married (and even thinking or doing anything about conceiving a child, just so we clear up any thoughts going through your pretty little heads right now).

Sleeping Beauty was named within days of us finding out she was a girl.

This one? We don't even have a short list for this one.

Why is naming this boy so difficult? The girls were easy to name.

Here is a little insight into our dilemma:


*Neither one of us is crazy about having a "Junior," so this just isn't an option.

*Too many boy names are just too popular, or weird. We're not into weird.

*With Prince Charming being a teacher, there are simply too many names that are "taboo." You know, bad associations, and whatnot.


So, where does this leave us?

With an unnamed child and a mother frantic about finding a name for him.

So far, all I have is his blog name (the Little Prince), but a blog name doesn't really translate into real life very well.

So, again, I say, "HELP!!!"

Help us name our child!

Please suggest lots of names for us to consider. I promise I won't make any snide or negative remarks about anything you suggest. We've covered a wide range in the weeks since our ultrasound.

PLEASE HELP US!!!!

Email or comment; I don't care which.

JUST SUGGEST LOTS AND LOTS OF NAMES!!!!!!

Please?

A Perfect Evening

102 degrees with really low humidity.

No clouds in a gorgeous blue sky.

No wind.

Freshly mowed grass.

A gigantic inflatable water slide.

A small, plastic toddler slide.

A kiddie pool full of cold water.

A tankini bottom that still fits despite my burgeoning belly.

Shade.

Childish laughter.

Girlish squeals.

An impromptu picnic outside on beach towels.

More water play.

An ice cream cone packed tight.

Air drying.

Air conditioning.

Dry clothes.

A squeaky, antique rocking chair.

A cuddle with my 15 month old.

A conversation with my 4 year old.

An evening with my husband.

The knowledge that there will be no rock crushing at 7:00 in the morning.

The Dictionary for Sleeping Beauty Language Learners (SBLLs)

(Prince Charming first posted this on our private, family blog. It's pretty cute, so I thought I'd share it with the rest of the interweb.)

**********

Sleeping Beauty (who is now 15 months old) has picked up a few words lately. For all you SBLLs out there, here is an update on what she's saying and what it means.

1. "Dat" - a utility word generally thought of as the equivalent to the English "That." Sometimes finger pointing is an added feature of this word.
2. "Dat-dat" - The imperative of "dat." Usually accompanied with finger pointing and, in dire moments, squealing and an adorable full body bob.
3. "Dan-doo" - "Thank-you." Sometimes said prior to receiving anything and in such cases it is used as a means to request an item you possess.
4. "Mmmm-Mmmm-Mmmm" - "The particular item in my mouth is quite delicious and if there is more, I'd like some."
5. "Hut" - Current observations on this newer word lead one to believe that this term is intended to ask "what?" However, what a 15 month old is doing asking "What?" is beyond the research team.
6. "Shhhh" - Said with pointer finger tilted diagonally along the lips, sometimes with finger up one nostril. "Please be quiet. This is quite important to me and your constant chatter is impairing my enjoyment of the other, more harmonious, sounds in our environment."
7. "UH-uh" - "Oh no! I've dropped/broken something," or, "Something unacceptable has occurred and needs to be remedied."
8. "Kchh" - "A non-human creature has come into my field of vision." As of late, this word is being refined to referring to cats, but has been used to point out dogs and birds as well.
9. "Da-Da" - While the father of this child would take great pride in thinking that this word is a reference to him, the latest research points to this term as a means to call to family members, mainly Mom, Dad, and/or Cinderella.

Since I've Only Posted Pictures Lately...

...I thought I'd stick with it and complete this meme that my sister-in-law tagged me with about a month ago.

Here’s how you do it:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.























1. Hey Kids! It's Hilary Duff!, 2. Roasted Tomato Soup, 3. Holy Names Dome in Autumn Light, 2007, 4. When I'm sleeping, I slow down my breathing...Living in dreams, dreams that come true...thinking of the color blue... ZZZzzzzzz..., 5. the return of the king 009, 6. Cool it now..., 7. A witness of time, 8. day 58: creme brulee, 9. Questions, 10. Autumn walk, 11. the problem solver, 12. Oil Reserves in Doubt


Here are the questions (and my answers):

1. What is your first name? Hillary
2. What is your favorite food? Soup
3. What high school did you go to? Holy Names Academy
4. What is your favorite color? Blue
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Legolas (not Orlando Bloom, Legolas. Laugh away, if you must; it's more of a joke than anything.)
6. Favorite drink? Iced Tea
7. Dream vacation? Greece
8. Favorite dessert? Creme Brulee
9. What you want to be when you grow up? ???
10. What do you love most in life? Family
11. One Word to describe you. Problem-Solver
12. Your Flickr name. Doesn't exist; I don't have one

I'm not going to tag anyone this time. I seem to only tag the same people, but play along if you want. I'm curious to see what you come up with. Let me know in my comments if you do decide to play. I'm curious to see your answers.

Summer Fun Photo Contest

This is my entry into the Summer Fun Photo Contest being hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom.

The man in this picture, who may or may not be related to me genetically (hi, Dad!), will probably not be thrilled with this picture being posted on my blog.

However, I love this picture of him with Cinderella that I took two summers ago.

This was Cinderella's first experience with a Slip 'n Slide, and she loved every minute of it! Especially sliding into Grandpa at the end, if he couldn't get out fast enough.

This picture is of the two of them reveling in the glories of cool water on a warm summer afternoon.

Absolute bliss!

Wordless Wednesday--Our Vacation in Pictures (and Captions)

I suppose I could explain away my lack of blogging lately by mentioning that we were on vacation last week, but that's not really a good excuse. It's AN excuse, just not a good one. We WERE on vacation last week, but that doesn't really explain my apathy toward blogging lately.

Anyway, here is our week-long vacation in pictures (and captions). We had a long, tiring week, but it was fun. We were up and down the West side, from Renton to Bellingham last week, making Seattle our home base.

Good times!

At the Woodland Park Zoo with friends.

Riding the rides at the Seattle Center.

Getting wet at the International Fountain at Seattle Center.

(We didn't actually go up the Space Needle, but I thought this was a cool picture
through the water of the International Fountain.)

Tickling Grandpa at a Mariner's game. They actually won, believe it or not.
(Yes, I know it's blurry.)

At Clayton Beach down Chuckanut Drive just outside of Bellingham.

Having fun with friends in Bellingham.
(Prince Charming and I haven't seen them in four years.)

At the beach just outside of Marysville.

Ditto.

We came home and decided to blow this sucker up, even though it was cool and windy.
It didn't last long. We'll try again in a few more days.

**********
For more pictures (and probably fewer words), visit 5 Minutes for Mom.