Little Human #2 Has A Name!

We have chosen a name for the new little girl human!

Evelyn Scout

With Bella, we seemed to lean towards slightly foreign names; we considered Mercedes, Sophia, and Isabella. This time around, we were looking at more vintage names: Penelope, Josephine, and Evelyn. I don't know why it seems like we stay in the same "family" when we are dreaming up names.

We chose Evelyn because we like the sound and we love the nickname "Evie." Evelyn just sounded so pretty to us. When I suggested it to Steve, it clicked with him right away! Scout is from To Kill A Mockingbird. The little girl in the book is precocious, inquisitive, and fights for the under-dog...what more could you ask for?

Bella has a fun middle name, courtesy of her Daddy's choice, so it seemed normal to choose a unique middle name for this little one, too. I like how certain names just click with parents from the start. Once I thought of Scout as a middle name, I couldn't get away from it. Steve was the same way with Evelyn; no matter how much I talked about choosing Josephine, it just didn't sound right to him. When we talked about Evelyn, you could see the light bulb go off.

Come April, we will welcome baby Evie into the world! We can't wait!

We let Bella do some artwork on my belly. I wrote "baby evie" and she did the rest! She loved it!

Our Little Girl Humans

I feel like so much is happening with Bella and the baby that I want to write some of it down to remember...

Little Human #1

Bella is so verbal that I can't believe I was ever worried about her talking! (Rookie mom mistake!) She talks and sings constantly throughout the day, and is getting better at pronouncing her words correctly.

She can count all the way to 14. I have no idea where she learned this, but she did. She can't say all of the alphabet yet, but she must love numbers and counting.

She LOVES animals and has to have her little zoo with her at all times. The contents of her menagerie changes occasionally, but right now, it's her giraffe ("faff"), lion ("rawr"), and a dog. She sleeps with them, takes them all in the car with her, and sits them on the table next to her when she eats.

It is fascinating and hilarious to listen in on her imaginary playtime. She and her animals have long conversations and sometimes they even sing. They talk about Toy Story and Cars, and she lets them know when the good parts are coming up.

Bella's favorite movie is currently Cars, but Toy Story and Tangled are close behind. She absolutely adores Mater and Buzz! Her squeals and screams when they come on the screen are deafening.

We have started reading a verse each night at the dinner table and including Bella when taking prayer requests. She seems a little put off by the fact that not every verse is the story of Baby Jesus, but we're hopefully teaching her that they are all connected.

We are working very hard on teaching her to obey the first time, especially when it's something she doesn't want to do. Some days include more spankings than others and we are praying for lots and lots of patience!

She is humorously polite, and is very good at saying please, thank you, yes ma'am, I'm sorry, and no thank you. Sometimes Steve and I offer her something we know she doesn't want just because it's so funny to hear her say, "No. No, take you, Mama."

Little Human #2

The main difference I notice between Bella and this new little baby is how active the baby is! Bella was not this mobile, at least note this early; this new baby is constantly rolling and moving around!

We are about 6 months along and still looking forward to a homebirth. I'm mentally compiling a list of things we'll need here since we won't be in a hospital. Whenever I get nervous (and I do!), I Google videos of waterbirths and remind myself how many women have done this before me.

Most of my fears about a homebirth are really irrational and have nothing to do with the safety of me or the baby. I worry about whether people will get bored just sitting around and waiting for me to pop this baby out. I worry if I'll manage the pain okay or if I'll be a crazy screamer. I worry about doing embarrassing things while in the tub like pooping and who will see it. You know, fun stuff like that! Not life-threatening issues involving the baby, just poop!

Another big difference with this new baby is my dreams! I am having such crazy dreams every night! I know that's typical for pregnancy, but I never experienced it much with Bella.

I'm definitely more tired with this one, especially taking care of two toddlers, but I'm hoping that my nesting urges will continue to override the sleepiness!

The baby name discussion has been shelved for now while we have other things going on. Last night, I thought of Evelyn and calling her "Evie." I don't know what it is about old-fashioned names this time around, but I'm really drawn to them.

I still can't believe that we're only about 4 months away from starting the newborn process all over again! Steve is really excited! I think with Bella, he didn't know what to expect, but now he's chomping at the bit to have her here!

Beginning A New Year

We are definitely ready for the new year! We didn't make any resolutions, but we did take advantage of the long weekend and get a ton of projects done around the house!

Our main goal was to clear out the guest room that will become the nursery, but we also cleaned out the attic and the garage. We threw out so much junk and excess; we had about a dozen trash bags lined up on our curb next to the cans! About 90% of what we did, no one would ever be able to tell, but we can tell and it's so nice to have it all cleared out.

Here a few of the projects we tackled. Steve was amazing! He did such a great job with all of our lights and wiring; he swears he could wire a fan in his sleep after this weekend!

In our kitchen, we have a big window looking out to the back yard. Since we've moved in, there has been a tall, pub table in that spot with two chairs. Bella's new table from Grandpa Wires wasn't getting used as much in the playroom, so we moved it to the kitchen window. I put up some of her artwork, so it would be on her level, and she seems to really like it! Bella and Rex eat breakfast and lunch there everyday now, and it keeps them from eating on the coffee table and getting food in the living room.

One of the things we've wanted to do for awhile now is move one of our lights in our kitchen closer to the window. Steve did a great job with all of the wiring and new chain!

This is right above Bella's table, and the new location makes it so much easier to walk by without bumping your head!

This nasty Crayola crayon fan was in the guest room when we moved in. I hate this thing with a deep passion. It's just so ugly!

The new one Steve installed. (The first one we bought and installed was broken, but we didn't discover that until the entire unit was completely done. Steve had to do undo everything and take it back to the store. Not a fun time, but he was incredibly patient!)

Our next project that we need to tackle...removing this awful beach border from the guest room...

And painting the room a nice, light grey for the nursery!

New Year's Eve

We had the most productive day ever! I am finally getting over my cold, so we used the first day of our long weekend to clean out the attic, the guest room, AND the garage! The garbage men will probably hate us, but Baby Girl #2's nursery is actually starting to looking like a nursery! Whew!

Our New Year's Eve date...


Crab angels and sushi from our favorite Thai restaurant in downtown Atlanta! It's so delicious and absolutely worth the drive! We finished up all of our housework, picked up our order to-go, and bought Bella some chicken nuggets on the way home; then we snuggled into bed and watched To Kill A Mockingbird. Who doesn't love Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch? It's one of my favorite movies of all time, and the reason I want our daughter's middle name to be Scout.

We may even make it to midnight...

Thanksgiving And Christmas Pictures

I was finally able to load pictures from four different cameras and choose some special ones from our holiday travels. We spent Thanksgiving in Ohio with Steve's family and were in Florida for Christmas with my family! It was a busy two months, but always worth it to see family!

These are a little dark because we're in the basement, but it's the only family picture we remembered to take this year during our fake Christmas!

The whole Wires clan! We'll have a new little one next year!

Playing with the new table and chairs that Grandpa made her! This was a special request from Mama this year, and I was so excited with how they turned out!

Grandma got Bella a Beauty and the Beast tea set to go with her new table!

Watching the sunset and eating ham dip!

Waiting for the burgers to be done and enjoying the beautiful weather!

Chasing the seagulls!

Hubby and wife shot...what a handsome man I married!

Bella and Rachel waiting to start The Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve night

Waiting for morning...we let Bella open her Christmas PJ's, but that was it!

Our stockings stuffed with goodies on Christmas morning!

Bella opening her giraffe from Mimi! She loved her stocking presents!

Steve opening his new tie-downs. "Boy" gifts are not as exciting

Still dressed up from church and unwrapping her new art easel made by Papa!

Trying it out! Plus, I had to include a picture of her beautiful hair!

Christmas dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Zinn

The "kid" picture with Grandma and Grandpa. We've eaten, enjoyed a wonderful service at church, sung carols, opened presents, and now we're ready for our comfy clothes!

Merry Christmas to all and to all, a good night!

Wonderful Christmas Chaos 2011

Does anyone actually have a relaxing Christmas? You're going to have to tell me how you do that. We had a short but great trip down to Florida this past weekend! We made it in around 3 AM the "morning" of Christmas Eve and left the morning after Christmas; like I said, very quick.

On Christmas Eve, we mostly just hung around my parents' house. We spent some time in the afternoon with my grandparents and my uncle and his wife. We don't get to see my uncle very often, so that was really nice. For dinner, we took burgers and ham dip (a Meyer family favorite...not served together!) down to the beach and had a cookout. It was about 70 degrees and so beautiful! We sat at a picnic table, ate a ton, and took turns walking Bella down to the water to play in the sand. We got to watch the sunset and listen to Christmas carols on Steve's iPhone.

Our Christmas Eve tradition is to watch the old 1970's version of The Christmas Carol. We only made it about halfway through before Mel and I fell asleep, so we had to finish that the next night.

I love Christmas morning in my parents' house! We still do stockings for all of the adults and we pile onto my mom and dad's bed. (Yes, even Steve...he felt very awkward that first year!) :)

After stockings, we ate breakfast and got ready for church. Mel and I sang a duet together and we sang a trio with dad. Bella behaved so well during the service! It really helped that it wasn't a full sermon, but the funniest thing was that she was singing Little Mermaid songs during all of the hymns and carols! Imagine trying to sing Hark the Herald Angels Sing while Bella is busting out Under the Sea!

We came home to open presents and have an amazing roast that my mom cooked! Some favorite presents this year...Bella got an art easel, handmade by her Papa! It looks super cool and Mimi got her all sorts of art supplies to go with it. My favorite present was a sheet set for our bed! It sounds lame, but it's really expensive to buy sheets for our Olympic Queen-sized bed (a foolish newlywed purchase...not the bed, just the odd size) and we haven't slept on an actual bottom sheet for about two years. You can see why I'd be excited for a new set! Steve loved a Chipotle gift card from Mel and a speaker/charger station for his iPhone. We are spoiled!

All of my pictures are on Mel's camera, so I'll have to post those later. I also need to include some pictures from the great time we had at Steve's parents for Thanksgiving and an early Christmas.

Next year, we'll have Christmas in our own home for the first time, Bella will be 3 1/2 years old, and Baby #2 will be 8 months old! Speaking of babies: My favorite name is still Josephine Scout, but we're a little stuck over possible nicknames.

"Horsey" With Daddy

Now that Steve works downtown, his commute can sometimes cut into his playtime with Bella. They have a standing bedtime date that includes singing, reading the "Baby Zheeshush" story, and prayers, but they both love any extra time they can get! Tonight, it was playing horsey. Bells loves horses and they traipsed up and down our hallway for about 10 minutes tonight! My favorite was her whinnying and saying, "yee-haw!"