Zoos, cousins and photo shoots, oh my! (Days 4-9)

On Tuesday we went to the zoo. (Kathryn was pouting a few feet away during this photo.) It was super hot outside and the zoo was overflowing with people. I couldn't believe how packed it was for a non-holiday, beginning of the week kind of day. The zoo also seemed rather small compared to Nashville...then I heard that Nashville is one of the largest zoos in the country and I realized I had been spoiled there.

From Tuesday until Friday, we stayed at Ashley's house. Her new baby Scarlett was such a doll. I was hoping she would still seem like a tiny newbown. She is around 7 weeks old here but you probably wouldn't guess it. Scarlett was a 9 pound newborn too (like Rachel) and she already seemed so "grown up". =)

Rachel loved her right away. She grabbed her hand and just kept looking at her and smiling, like she was greeting an old friend.

Joseph slept in Benjamin's room and they woke up early each morning to play together.

They both love reading.

My mom and I spent a lot of time shopping for coordinating outfits for our extended family photo shoot on Saturday. David was kind enough to watch most of the kids while we were out. I had my hair cut the night before the shoot--a risky move, I know--but I was happy with the way it turned out and I'm now the proud owner of bangs...again.

All the kids...these are just candids from my cell phone. We were just waiting for everyone else to get there.

More candids. Kathryn didn't hardly crack a smile the whole time. Davey would only sit in that red chair.

Sam was cracking jokes in Spanish, so only a few of us were in on them. Here's (almost) the whole crew getting all set up for the big group shot. Little Davey was being a stinker, not wanting to sit where the photographer put him.

In the end, the photos turned out pretty nice, considering we had 10 adults and 7 very young children.

May Happenings

Here's a little update from the month, I have more pictures on my camera, but don't want to download them right now (so you may never see them).

I spent my birthday* money on a window. Yes, it's totally worth it. Our laundry area was super dark, so I hired a window guy to come cut a hole in the wall and install a window. All the extra natural light is so awesome! (Thank you to my mom, mother-in-law, and Aunt Carroll for funding this project). But, as you can see, Plan A didn't work out (due to some electrical cords in the wall), so we centered the window, instead of putting it over the washer or dryer and having a larger space for a cabinet. The window looks great, but we still need to tape, texture, and paint the new drywall that we installed to cover up Plan A. When it's done, you'll get a picture.

David's parents came to visit last week. They were here a few days and we spent all day just enjoying having Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Laura with us. It was like Christmas for the kids. Rachel and I got sick and spent a lot of time sleeping, so I was grateful to have the extra help.

This was their first time meeting Rachel. We saw them 6 months ago before Thanksgiving and baby David was really shy around them the whole time. This time, he was much more outgoing and loved spending time with his "Papa" especially. 

This is a dress we got at a yard sale for Kathryn. She wants to wear a dress almost every day right now.

Rachel is 4 months old! She is very active now trying to roll over and reaching for toys. She's not content to sit and play in her swing anymore...though she does occasionally nap there still.

                                     

Her face lights up with a huge smile whenever she sees a familiar face (or anyone who gives her a big smile a little attention). She gets really excited whenever Mom comes around. She likes to coo and babble and "tell stories".

This weekend David starting working on our deck. It's rotted and decayed very badly in most areas. A while ago David actually fell through one of the boards. Today he and a friend ripped the whole thing out. We're only going to rebuild part of it, the section around the right side of the house where the door is. I'll keep you updated on that.

*I celebrated my 30th birthday this month, but let's not talk about that.

Names

Choosing names for our children has been more difficult than I thought it would be.

Let's take a stroll down memory lane. 

Remember when Joseph was born and we named him Christopher David? He still has a quilted blanket from my aunt with that name embroidered on it. We liked the name, but it wasn't the right one for him. So when he was 8 weeks old, we changed it to Joseph Ephraim, and that name has fit him very well. [There's more to the story, but that will suffice for today].

When Kathryn was born, we took our time naming her, to make sure we got it right the first time. Five days was all it took to settle on Kathryn Grace.

We knew David's first name before he was born, before I even knew I was pregnant. So, he was easy...except for his middle name. We still debate that one. His birth certificate says Jesse, but when he was blessed, David (his daddy) didn't include a middle name.

Sarah was the easiest to name. We knew that we wanted her to share her middle name with her birth mom, and we also consulted with her birth mom to make a list of acceptable first names. We had it down to two choices when she was born, but after meeting her it was easy to decide on Sarah Elizabeth.

Fast forward to January 24, 2012 when we welcomed this little lady into our family -

We tried to have a short list of names to choose from when she was born, but by Christmastime all the kids had started calling her Anna. I thought it was a nice name -- one that honored both of her grandmothers (LouAnn and Marian). But I wasn't convinced that it was her name. Before she was born I spent hours on baby naming websites, skimmed through three different baby name books, and even polled my friends. 

After she was born the kids continued to call her Anna, and without another name possibility, we just decided to "go with it". The days passed and I tried to figure out what her middle name should be. My midwife was getting impatient for us to fill out all the legal forms.

Then I started to think that maybe Anna wasn't her first name after all. It just wasn't working. Maybe it could be her middle name? So we thought of numerous possibilities and name combos. But nothing seemed quite right.

One Saturday evening as I was dressing her for bed and thinking how she didn't really look like an "Anna" to me, the thought came to my mind: She looks like a R__________(I'll tell you the name at the end). She sure did, but it wasn't one of my favorite names, so I didn't think too much about it, until the next day...

That Sunday at church my friend Kim asked me if we had decided on her name. (Hmmm...I didn't realize that anyone knew we were undecided at this point). I answered that the kids called her Anna, but that I wasn't sold on it. That's when Kim told me that she thought my baby looked like a R_____________. (The exact name that I had thought of the night before).

That night I told David about both experiences and he responded with, "That's what I said the day she was born!" Ooops, I guessed I missed that comment. So, we tried pairing this new name with Anna, either as first or middle name, but they didn't fit well together. David said she needed an "E" name to go with her other name.

A couple of week ago David woke up in the middle of night with the thought: Her name is R_____ E___. He woke me up to tell me. We decided that we would take the hint, so we've officially changed this sweet baby's name to...

Rachel Eve

 David and I haven't had too much trouble switching to calling her Rachel. Joseph has it down too. Sarah and Kathryn are working on it. But baby David is adamantly against it. He calls her Anna still and gets mad when we correct him. He says "NO, NOT!"

On a side note: we noticed a few weeks ago that miss Rachel was born on the same date that her great Grandma Wiseman passed away, one year later. (See this post).