Roses v. Thistles

"What's in a name?  That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."  As much as I like Shakespeare and his writing, he got this one wrong.  With Tommy and Katie, we just knew what their names would be.  With this pregnancy, we were absolutely convinced that we were having a boy, and a boy name we had.  We were so certain that we didn't even discuss girl names.  But then we had an ultrasound last week.  And we saw some girl parts.  I almost asked Dr. McKinley to check again because he was wrong, but then he had another technician come in for 3D imaging, and she confirmed it.  Guess I don't need further checking after a second opinion.  So then who is this girl?

That was Friday.  All day Friday and Saturday, I thought about names.  Sunday, we stayed home from church for health and sanity reasons.  I searched through dozens of baby name websites (which are all obnoxious and aggravating to use), and only ended up getting more stressed and filled with anxiety.  I can't call my child by object names (girl, baby, little woman, etc).  She is a person and needs to have an identity and that's all stripped away by object names.  Shad finally told me I had to stop and he took over searching.  I didn't like much of what he came up with and he admitted that he's not very good at naming girls.  So we quit and decided to finish watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  Shad said, "Hey, what about Cassidy?"  Gross.  That name just makes me want to wretch.  So I countered, "How about Butch?"  Then Shad suggested Sundance.  I was fully prepared to shut that down as well, but thought about it for a minute.  We both said, "Awww, Sundance!" at the same time.  We laughed at ourselves, but the more we thought about Sundance, the more we fell in love with the name.  And all my stress and anxiety was replaced with peace and calm.  And then Shad suggested Victoria for a middle name and that just fits so well.  Even having several days to think it over now, we still love it and smile every time we think about Sundance.

I told Tommy that our baby's name is Sundance.  He can say the name.  He just gets a little confused each morning when I ask him if he remembers our baby's name.  "Barnyard Dance!"  It's one of his favorite books.  No, her name is Sundance.  "Oh wwwrrrrright!  Sunnnndance."

So here she is: Sundance Victoria Kendell

We had an ultrasound today!

Completely threw us for a loop--she's a girl!  We've been absolutely convinced baby was a boy.  I almost asked my doctor to check again, but then he brought in another tech who knows how to do the 3D imaging and she confirmed gender.  Guess we'll have to come up with a girl name now...

A Little Diva and A Superhero

 

Wearing Dadda's coat

Well in case nobody figured out from what I've already written, Katie is a born Diva.  Just thankfully rounded out by her adoration for her dear older brother.  She loves playing dress up, wearing jewelery daily, and now we've made some new discoveries: shopping, leg warmers and blankets.  She loves to play with money and I think she's got the idea of what it's for.  Last week when we were hanging out at Shopko, Tommy was playing in the toy aisle learning about Captain America and Iron Man, and that they're part of The Avengers.  And Katie...well, she was across the aisle in the jewelery section.  Another day when we were at Dollar General, she found an aisle that had glitter lip glosses on the bottom shelf and helped herself to a collection.  On Sunday, I needed something warm for her legs and the sweater stockings I had sewn were needing repaired.  So I found a pair of the leg warmers I made for her baby self.  She's worn them every day and night since then.  At her demand.  She just loves them.  And then blankets.  Well, from what I understand of teen females like Lori, their beds are generally filled with all manner of blankets and plush, cuddly things.  Katie's got that figured out already. She needs to have 4+ blankets, 2 stuffed bunnies, 1 dog, and a baby in her bed.  And she loves cuddling with whatever blanket she can find around the house.  Hers are required to stay in her bed, so she finds the big people blankets that we have.

Have I mentioned this girl's love for food, too?  She loves food.  Yesterday, I had planned on BLTs + avocado for dinner, but then I saw that the avocado wasn't ripe.  So we pulled a DiGiorno out of the freezer.  While that was in the oven, Katie found my cup of Cookie Dough Dip that I had made (seriously, that stuff is amazing and for real healthy, too. Check it out!) It was love at first lick.  Anyway, I found her with it and her eyes just lit up and her mouth went babbling to tell me how amazing it was.  I sat down with her to help her eat it, but even after that, she continued scraping and licking the cup clean.  It was a delightful momma-daughter moment of sharing a love for cookie dough.

 

And then she followed me into the kitchen where there was 2 minutes left on the oven timer.  I turned on the oven light to show her that there was pizza in the oven.  Holy cow, I don't know when I've seen my girl so excited over something!  She just couldn't contain herself!  She started stomping her foot (a new expression of joy for her), clapping her hands and yelling, "Pi-ta! Pi-ta! Yay! Yay! Pate! Pate!"  So we got plates out and then had to stall until the timer went off.  "Bee! Bee! (Beep) Yay! Pi-ta!"  She was all shrieks of delight when it came out of the oven.  I've also never seen her so patient for food before.  She was just happy as can be to watch me slice the pizza and serve it onto the plates, and wasn't yelling at me to go faster like she usually does.  Much of her latest vocabulary is food related--pizza, hot dog (another exciting, obsessive food for her), ketchup, spoon, bowl, plate, cup, (rice) crispies, etc.

 

Tommy has made some amazing leaps and bounds in the past couple weeks with food.  Two weeks ago, we went to Subway for dinner.  Eating there is an exciting treat for the kids.  Tom loves to pick our Subway seat (the same one every time), and have Subway water in a cup, with lid, straw and ice.  Anyway, we noticed that he was picking out the green peppers and cucumbers from the sandwich.  Not to dispose of them, but to eat them separate from everything else.  I went to the grocery store that night and bought a pepper and cucumber for him.  He now eats veggies daily and is even getting closer and closer to the full number of servings!  I've started giving him his veggies as an appetizer to his lunch while I make the main lunch.  He knows I won't give him his sandwich/mac&cheese/hot dog until he eats the veggies.  So that usually happens pretty quickly.  I also used that technique today when we had Manhattan Salmon Chowder and grilled cheese.  He didn't get the grilled cheese until the soup was down to just broth for dipping.  He's also been getting better about eating what we eat for dinner, instead of taking his one bite and then going for PB&J.  He still prefers to avoid pizza though.  Weird kid.  Another veggie discovery was from my dear Colorado friend, Robyn Bailey.  She had written on her blog about Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal.  I had to give it a try.  Make your oatmeal as you normally would, and mix in pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie seasoning.  We also needed some brown sugar to sweeten it some, and raisins.  But now Tommy asks specifically for Pumpkin Oatmeal.  And he has second helpings.  He'll also eat salad with me.  He likes the chopped celery because he can actually eat it.  Final veggie discovery (I know this is a lot, but I'm so ecstatically pleased with these breakthroughs when I've struggled since April to get this boy to eat any veggies): green peas!  Yes, I was beyond pleasantly surprised when I asked him to try a bite of my steamed frozen peas and he loved them!  Holy moly, child!  And I think to myself, "What a wonderful world!"
 

Tonight we watched The Avengers after dinner.  Tom had a rough time with dinner tonight, and the thought of The Avengers helped get him through it.  Besides, I've had a bit of a frustrating day and needed to have something calming for us to do while Shad is gone to his Young Mens activity.  At one point, Iron Man came flying onto screen and I was getting Tom ramped up excited about it.  I told him, "Here's Iron Man!  RRRRawwwrrr!"  However, I was quickly corrected with, "No, Mom. It's not da Hulk. It's Iron Man."  He has to watch this movie (and other such Boom Bang movies) with his gun collection.  He shoots the screen during all the action scenes.  Katie has to be armed as well.  At one point, I heard this quote from Tom: "Hulk! You kidding me? Right now?"  I don't know what Tommy was scolding Hulk for, but it was funny.

 

A couple days ago, while I was trying to get us dressed after breakfast, I had to go downstairs to get an article of clothing.  The kids followed me.  They just didn't follow me when I went back up.  So I waited patiently, figuring that they'd come back to find me.  I mean, they were only in their diapers and knew we were trying to get dressed.  Psh!  Right.  Totally overestimated their concern for getting dressed.  Instead, Katie found the box of Life that I missed when I cleaned up breakfast.  Tom came upstairs to report, "Mom? Katie make a mess... I not mad at you."  I thought it was sweet that he said "I'm not mad at you."  It's something we've been saying a lot lately just to clarify when we correct his behavior that he's not in trouble and we're not mad.  So, to report his sisters mess and say that, was like telling me not to be mad about it.  It put a smile on my face:)

Sporting her leg warmers amidst her cereal mess.

 I feel like I've been extra prone to stress and subsequent frustrated/angry outbursts lately.  If Shad hasn't been working overtime, it's because he's sick.  Sick Shad is worse than Gone Shad because that means one more person with demands for attention and care, and still no help with housework or kids.  You can ask any family member or roommate I've lived with and they'll tell you that I've never been one to be stressed over having a messy living space.  Somehow that's changed.  I feel like I've been getting more and more agitated with the state of my home.  I've got a long list of things I need to do or take care of, but heaven help me if I can just keep up with the daily messes and laundry.  And scripture study for my Sunday School class.  And I'm supposed to be trying to write lesson plans, too?  Well, that's a joke.  It's getting more and more complicated with coordinating topic themes, vocab lists, Key Functional Expressions, multiple variations and backup plans for each lesson, and templates...incorrect ones and then correct ones (I still have yet to see that one).  And then needing to take care of myself on top of all that--eating, vitamins, exercise, spiritual, emotional, etc.  Somehow I need to find a balance in things so that I can have a clean home (or at least a couple clean areas in which to find temporary peace and sanity), daily prayer and scripture study, exercise, and complete my wishlist projects.  Oh, and still be able to have some "me" time for hobbies.  Luckily, I count sewing as a hobby, because now that my machine is $45 "fixed" (I don't think it is, but I've possibly found some internet help), maybe I can continue working on my Christmas sewing list.