Sophia loves Buddy.

Sophia loves her brother. A lot. She follows him around, yells at him when he gets too far ahead of her in a store, constantly tries to sit on his lap, and hugs him every chance she gets. She also calls him Buddy. I don't know why. We often referred to him as Brother when she was little instead of Connor, so I am guessing that has something to do with it.

It is pretty cute the way that she loves that boy, but tonight on the way home to Fort Wayne from Topeka, it was just flipping adorable. Connor had fallen asleep and was laying his head near Sophia's car seat with his hand resting there as well. Sophia starts giggling like she just won the lottery and says "Mama, Buddy hand." I turn around to look and see that she is very sweetly holding his hand in hers with one hand and gently patting him on the head with the other hand. She is also grinning ear to ear because she knows that if he was awake, there is a 60% chance that he wouldn't be letting her do either of these things.

And I am kicking myself because my camera isn't in my hands where it should be to capture this adorable moment, but is instead, locked securely in the trunk.

The origins of a name.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a child in the womb must be in want of a name.

Ben and I really only have one rule when it comes to naming our children. All names must be agreed upon. This one rule is really all it took for us to come up with such gems as Connor and Sophia. The spelling of agreed upon names has no such rules. However, it is a battle that I typically choose not to fight.

Very early on in this pregnancy, I was reading Sense and Sensibility. Note: by reading, I actually mean watching the BBC version that came out a few years ago on television, but reading makes me sound smarter. Additional note: I have, however, read Sense and Sensibility before...and I mean the book. While watching the movie I realized how wonderful all the daughter's names are in that book. I promptly paused the show and went to make a grand declaration to Ben.

I told him that if this child was a girl, I would only agree to one of the following names, Elinor, Marianne, or Margaret. He agreed that they were all lovely named, but that he most preferred Elinor. As we both agreed on this name, and because we all know that Elinor Dashwood is a very sensible and lovely girl, this child's name was set.

Then came the spelling part. I wanted to spell the name as Jane Austin does, Elinor. Ben however, felt like the name seemed incomplete like that and wanted Elinore. I offered several reasons why it should be spelled without the last 'e'. They are as follows: 1. That is how Jane Austin spelled it and she probably knew what she was doing, 2. Spell check thinks Elinor is a perfectly fine, but thinks Elinore is misspelled, 3. I wanted Sophia to be named Sophie and he wanted Sophia. He won.

After a few days I realized that like many spelling battles, I wasn't going to win this one. The problem was this - Ben took debate in high school and I didn't. It is that simple. Honestly the problem is this - Ben doesn't care if we don't sort out how to spell this name until the day this child is born. I, on the other hand, feel a compulsive need to know right now how we are going to spell her name so that when she is born I don't have to think about it.

So, I have already given up on this one and have firmly wrapped my mind around this daughter of ours being named Elinore. Plus, the little 'e' at the end does add a little flair.

She looks kind of like an alien.

When I showed Connor the pictures of his new sister he promptly let me know that she kind of looks like an alien. He is pretty much right. A sonogram picture of a baby almost always looks a little bit like an alien, but hey, she's a really cute little alien.

And there she is...our own little alien baby. To be joining us in late March or early April. We are very excited that she is doing so well and hardly believe that we are already almost to the halfway point of meeting this little one.

Is that a milestone?

For the past six years there has been a standard operating procedure when it comes to sick kids. This may sound kind of familiar to many of you. Essentially I woke up to the sound of Connor crying in his room. I went in to check on him and he told me one of two things, either a) I just threw up all over the place, or b) I'm going to throw up all over the place. In which case I did one of two things, either a) began to clean up vomit in his room, or b) rushed him to the bathroom. The rest of the night could be summed up in one word: repeat.

Last night I encountered a new experience. I woke up to the sound of someone puking in the bathroom. A quick check indicated that this person wasn't me (which lately it would have been) and it wasn't Ben. Since Sophia hasn't figured out that she can crawl out of her crib yet, I got out of bed to check on what could only be Connor throwing up in the bathroom. As I was leaving the room, he was coming in to tell me that he was sick and that he needed to throw up some more. He then calmly left the room, got sick again, left the bathroom, and crawled into bed.

I followed him to him room to check on him and asked him if he was okay. His response? "Yeah...just sick, Mom."

It suddenly hit me in this moment that my little boy is actually a little boy, not a baby, not a toddler, not a preschooler, but a little boy. A little boy that doesn't need me so completely anymore. This transition has taken six years, but also feels like it has happened in an instant. It makes a mom proud and also makes this mom feel that, like my son, I must be getting older.

Stationery card

Getting a jump start on Christmas.

Flourishing Noel Religious Christmas Card

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Book Sale Time...Again

It was that time of year again last week. The time of year where Lynne and I take a week away from our regular work and go home sore, bruised, dusty, and battered. It is book sale time.

Here are the pictures to prove our worth.

Before

In the process of setting up.

Ready to go.

Isn't it beautiful? (Just say yes).

 Auction Table

The masses arrive.

The shopping commences.

Great deals are had by many.