What's in a Name?

I think naming a child is a huge first responsibility for parents. This is something Chris and I took VERY seriously. I couldn't wait to get baby name books from the library the minute I found out I was pregnant. We talked endlessly about girl names as well as boy names, but then put all the books away until we had the ultrasound.

Once we found out we were having a boy, we got down to business. Chris liked names like "Walker" and "Parker" and "Sawyer" and I did, too, but I just didn't like the sing-songyness of a first name ending in -er because our last name ends in -er. So a lot of name options got nixed just because of that.

I liked names that didn't have a nickname because I always hated getting asked in school if I preferred to be called "Rebecca" or "Becky" and I also didn't like that if anyone DID call me by my full name, it almost always meant I was in trouble for something.

Eventually, we settled on Owen Robert. His middle name was determined long before his first name. It's the name of Chris's favorite uncle who was just 7 years older than him and died when he was 21.

Since seeing "Legends of the Fall," I had loved the name Samuel. And I loved how in the movie, they never called the youngest brother "Sam" or "Sammy," just "Samuel." So that was our second choice and we immediately knew when we got news our second one would be a boy that he would be Samuel David (David for my dad, who died in 2001 shortly after we got married.) Funny thing is, almost immediately after he was born, Samuel became Sammy - it just suited him perfectly!

I love this picture of them because they were just about the same ages here as William and Luke are now.

We didn't have an ultrasound with William, but I was CONVINCED he was a girl. We picked out a name and I called "her" by it whenever I would rub my tummy, dreaming of future mother-daughter pedicures. Seven days after my due date had passed, Chris told me we HAD to come up with a boy name which I thought was a colossal waste of time. We were waffling between Jack and Luke (middle name would be Gregory after Chris's dad) when I said, "What about William? We liked that name at the beginning." Chris immediately said, "That's it. It's William." Two days later, William showed up.

Can I just tell you how difficult it is to come up with this many boy names? When we had the ultrasound for our last one and found out we were to add a fourth son to the mix, I was SO DONE picking out boy names. We really wrestled with it for a long time and this was definitely the hardest to decide on. My pick early on was Cash but Chris didn't like it. Another favorite was Gage, but both of those options seemed a bit trendy and didn't match up with the classic names we had picked for the older three.

We finally decided on Wyatt and the middle name would be Christopher, since we had pretty much run out of other male family members. We got into the hospital elevator on the way up to have him and Chris asked if I was really set on Wyatt. I'd been having second thoughts and told him I really still liked Luke. Less than an hour later, we welcomed Luke Christopher into the world.

But now I would like to present.....Jaden and Mike.

A few days ago William decided he would like to be called "Jaden" and we have to call Luke "Mike." Not sure why we agonized so much over their names if they were just going to change them anyway.

A Quote About Motherhood

“The most important person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral -- a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby's body.... The angels have not been blessed with such a grace. They cannot share in God's creative miracle to bring new saints to Heaven. Only a human mother can. Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other human creature. God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation.... What on God's earth is more glorious than this: to be a mother.”

Don't Wanna Miss a Thing

I sure do miss these little guys....
But that's all coming to an end very soon.

In the last seven years, I have worked a minimum nine hour day. My job now requires me to work no less than 9.5 hours a day, even in the winter when there is literally NOTHING to do. I have to sit there....and sit there....and sit there....and at 5:30pm I can finally leave. In the summer when we hit wedding season, I have to work the minimum of 9.5 hours every day but then also 12-14 hours on Saturdays. I barely have time to see Luke, who reaches up and cries "Mama" now, as I'm trying to put makeup on in the morning. It breaks my heart every day.

I've missed so much of their lives...first smiles, first words, first steps. I'm absolutely determined not to miss any more. And that's why I quit my job today.

Am I scared? Oh gosh, yes, I'm scared! But it's an exhilarating scared, like on a roller coaster where you know there's gonna be a steep drop but then you'll go right back up again. This is risky, but all of life is risky. Helen Keller said "Life is a daring adventure - or it is nothing." I'll take the daring adventure.

I've been working on the website for my wedding planning business and my business cards are on order. I can't wait to get this show on the road and I truly feel that within a year I will wonder why I ever hesitated. But until then, I will be on my knees every night praying for God to help us make ends meet. I'm accepting prayers from anyone out there who wants to join me.

If you want to check out my website, here it is: www.somethingbluelakegeneva.com. I named the business "Something Blue" in honor of the four boys that I'm so excited to spend more than an hour a day with. Wish me luck!

Easter at Our House

We had such a wonderful Easter weekend! The weather was actually pretty nice - partly sunny and around 60 - so that helped a lot. On Saturday, Chris was at work all day but we had fun anyway. I took the kids to a local firehouse that does an annual pancake breakfast and egg hunt. Well, it was actually more like an egg GRAB because they just threw hay over a section of the floor in the firehouse and covered it with eggs. When the announcer blew the whistle, it was ON! I took a few pictures of that on my phone, but none that are really "blog-worthy."

The Easter bunny came on Saturday night and the boys woke up to this:
Those balls were a favorite of all the boys, even though they were meant for the little ones. There wasn't a TON of candy, but they loved every last bit of it and ate more than they should have before church.

Have you EVER seen anyone eat Peeps like this? He never even broke them apart!

All 4 boys got a camo hat in their basket and Luke absolutely loved his. He is into hats these days - mostly the putting them on and taking them off part. Within a few minutes of waking up he had already smeared chocolate all over his pj's so this is what we got to spend Easter morning with:

OMG, is there anything cuter?

After naps, Chris hid about 100 eggs all over the yard and the boys had a GREAT time finding them. We're definitely going to do that every year for as long as they are still interested. Such fun!

It was a wonderful treat to have a Sunday when neither Chris or I worked (first time since March 27) so we enjoyed the time together as a family, as well.

I am loving that the boys are all understanding the real meaning of Easter now, thanks in part to the wonderful children's program at our church. Owen and Sammy also go to AWANA on Wednesdays and already know a lot more Bible verses than I do (not saying much!). Even William is paying attention. The other day he pointed to my Bible and said, "That's about Baby Jesus. It's NOT about Dope." (Dope is the cat, for anyone new to the blog.)

Hope you all had a Blessed Easter!

Just a Few Pictures

This is how he looks first thing in the morning. You do NOT want to mess with him until after he's had his coffee, obviously.

And this is what he looks like the rest of the day:

All smiles and sweetness...and then you turn your back and he's thrown your wallet in the toilet.

Last picture. Owen's hair looked especially good that day and I wanted to take a picture. So I got him to sit in the usual picture-taking spot (the fireplace) while I grabbed the camera. At the very last second, he made this face: Of course I was NOT happy with this, but he was incredulous. "But that's one of my cool looks!" Chris and I were both curious to know what other "cool looks" he has up his sleeve. Guess we'll just have to wait and see what he comes up with.

Happy Sunday!

Anticipay-ay-tion

Whenever I try to say that word, I end up sounding like Carly Simon.

This picture was taken yesterday. Owen sat there waiting like that for close to an hour. It was to be his first sleepover and boy, was he ever excited! I don't think Chris or I expected a midnight phone call for us to come get him, but neither one of would have minded a bit if it had come - might have been a little flattering, actually, to think he would miss home that much. But, no, the call never came and I picked him up at noon today. He seemed really happy and really tired and a bit different to me...like maybe he grew up even more overnight. Or maybe I just haven't noticed how much he's growin up every day until he spent a night away from me. At any rate, he's back home where he belongs and we're back to the normal noisy chaos, which feels good.

Another reason for the title of this post is that I believe our two months of waiting is almost over, or should be over this week for sure. For those who don't know, Chris and I have been trying to make a huge change in our lives, one that will require a lot of sacrifice and faith in God for help.

For the last 7+ years, I have been the primary financial support of the family with Chris being a stay-at-home dad and working part-time to supplement. This has put a strain on all of us because although it might work best for some, Chris and I are traditional people and instinctively long for the traditional roles. It's been a long 7+ years, but I'm thankful for how things have turned out because it's my job that got us out of Detroit and to a beautiful part of the country that we'll be happy to live in for the rest of our lives.

Anyway, Chris's supervisor lost her job about two months ago and he posted for her position right away. It took about 3 weeks before they called him for an interview and then they told him it would be 2 weeks until they had a decision. At the time he interviewed, there were three applicants total. It's now been 3.5 weeks since his interview, and he heard through the grapevine that all told, there ended up being about FIFTY applicants! Apparently that's why it's taking so long, because they had a ton of interviews of both internal and external candidates. So although Chris is very good at his job and is a great interview, competition for this postition is quite steep.

It's been a looooong time since I've prayed for something this hard. I think it's only prayers that will help at this point, whether he gets the job or not. The position would be Monday-Friday from 7am-4pm, so would allow a lot more family time than we've EVER had. There are so many, many ideas I have for making the most of that family time but everything is on hold now and has been for what seems like FOREVER. But, again, I believe the waiting will come to an end this week because they had their last interview on Friday.

I will just have to keep praying that no matter what happens, we are able to pull through as a family. If he does get the job, there will be much rejoicing but also some apprehension, as it will be a pay-cut for the family. But we will figure it out as we go along and I've got a few ideas up my sleeve for ways to pull in some additional income in my spare time. So please pray for our family this week, if you can, and we'll continue to hope for the best.

Reptilian Voyerurism

I have a funny story to share from a couple weeks ago when the weather was nice and I was home with the boys on a Saturday.

Note: I was originally going to call this post "Snake Porn" but decided to take the high road.

We were all enjoying the sunshine, except for Owen who had done something (can't remember what) to warrant being sent to his room for a bit. When I came back outside after talking to him, Sammy said "I think I see a snake!"

Naturally, I was excited. Some moms wouldn't be, but thankfully I grew up with two brothers who taught me the joys of creepy, slimy things. So I ran right over and found a VERY long snake next to one of the basement windows. Upon further inspection, I found it was actually TWO snakes who were stuck together: it was a mother snake giving birth!


I right away called for Owen and gathered all the boys around to witness this "miracle of life." I pointed out how the "mama" snake's abdomen was moving, clearly trying to push out the rest of the baby. I even showed them the "umbilical cord." The only thing I didn't quite get was why the "baby" snake was a) almost as big as the "mama" and b) why he was kind of dusty, not "fresh-looking" like I would think a snake who was fresh out of the shoot was. After about 5 minutes of taking pictures and ooh-ing and aah-ing over this beautiful display of nature at its finest, the neighbors behind us came over to see what we were all gawking at. I told them what was going on and showed them how the snakes were still connected and Nick took one look and said, "Um, Becky....they're breeding."

As soon as he said it, I knew he was right. Oops! I told Nick I was really thankful for his choice of words since the kids were still right there. It was really funny. Nick even went and got his computer so he could read all about what the miracle of birth for snakes is really like. I guess they give birth to a lot more than one baby at a time - more like 30+. The most on record for a gardner snake was 98 babies at one time. WOW! The boys were undetterred and continued to play with what they called "mother snake" and "baby snake" for the rest of the afternoon.