Sugar and Spice

Someone once told me that “A Son is a Son until he takes a Wife and a Daughter is a Daughter the rest of her Life! “ While I can tell you straight away, Connor will always be my little, precious, bouncing boy…I pray that there will be a time when he finds his own Blessed place, a true love, and an independent life.  While I hope the same for a daughter, I imagine a daughter reaches out to the other woman who understands her most.  A woman who understands life’s issues from a women’s perspective…dating, career, marriage, and glitter high heels!  These thoughts both scare and thrill me. One personal topic that is too difficult for even me to tackle on my blog is the turbulent relationship between my own mother and me.   I don’t have the experiences, and I have mourned the loss of them.  I struggle with insecurities all the time, and now I will have double the responsibility!  

This week I have been reminded of the words ‘God takes care of all things’ and that includes our insecurities.  Darren and I had purchased NOTHING besides the furniture.  Then we were given two beautiful and lovely showers…and Wahlah*…we now have an array of wonderful things that we desperately needed.  The message I learned once again (time and time again) is that God puts great people in your life, and there isn’t anything wrong with relying and accepting help.  Sometimes we just need to put those insecurities to rest and enjoy the Blessing that is family, friends, big brother, and a NEW BABY GIRL!

I just adored my baby showers, they were both so special to me.  My first one for Carlee was given by Sue and Jessica and included all my family and friends at my church.  Let’s face it…I have been living with 'Snaps and snails, and puppy-dogs tails' for 6 ½ years, sooo I really got into the 'sugar and spice and everything nice' (ignoring the fact here that I personally was born with 90% spice and 10% sugar).

sweet pea cake my step mom bought for us

table setting by Jessica

Party Favors



Sue got me this lamp, it is so feminine and pretty



people are here :)



Present Time!!



I love the "hairbow" hanging line 

so many people made the food so great

delicious

pink and green punch, matched the decor

clearly enjoying this part!

Big Brother is Ready

the children playing with Big Brother Toys

The second one for Carlee was given by the special area and exceptional needs team at my school.  Everyone was so giving and excited for me.  It was a really fun thing to do after a long day at work! (Well it was probably more fun for me).

this cake was sooo good, yummy.  Hope the doc doesn't give me a sugar test this week.

This was my favorite.  Each grade level was given ONE, PLAIN white onesie and had to decorate it.  Look what they did.  ADORABLE!

my favorite project- teachers are so darn creative

staff getting ready to SNACK

My TA (and adopted, young mother Ms. E.)

I love this part.



Look at all those gifts (and we all know teacher's are on a budget thanks to MORE BUDGET CUTS, but they still give and give).



I confess…I sneak into Carlee’s room and just run my hands all over the little pink bows, blankets, dresses, the little diapers, and onesies.  Little things are just so gosh darn SWEET.

 

 

 

Thanks to the kindness of those we love, it looks like Carlee is on her way to getting what she needs and a little bit, of what she wants!  I can’t wait to post pictures of Connor and Carlee’s new room, but I’m waiting for Carlee’s wooden letters to come in.  I will have to pick a day to take pictures BEFORE Carlee is born and a day when Connor is not home.  We know that a child’s room is complete when they are in it, but IT’S most CLEAN when they aren’t.

Meaning of a Name

What is in a name? Juliet told Romeo, ‘What's in a name? that which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet’.  As we know Juliet wasn’t very smart.  What if a Rose were called a Thornbristle, Cactilestink, or Buttweed…would it be the flower of love, the flower that people use for Valentines Day, or the flowers most used in a wedding bouquet? Oh, honey thank you for these beautiful Buttweeds!  I'm not so sure. 

I love literature, but I detest Shakespeare.  I blame him for the reason I scored a very low B in English.  The teacher actually wrote on my exam paper (interpreting a Shakespeare poem), “you poor dear, you have no idea what Shakespeare is saying, no wonder you keep failing these tests”.  

 It might be important to say not only am I a very southern girl, I was into hip-hop during this stage in life, and I spoke a completely different language.

But the REAL point I am trying to make here is…it’s really hard to pick a NAME for an unborn child.  It was quite the challenge at our house.  Darren loved the names Valarie, Paige, and Reagan.  I ADORED Kennedy, Katherine aka. Katie, and Elizabeth.  Every time we brought up a name, we argued.  We are NOT one of those cute couples that had names picked out for our children before we married, we could barely pick out the washer and dryer.  Luckily we FINALLY agreed on a name we both liked…..drum roll please….

Carlee Anne

We wanted to find a family middle name that would work with Carlee, like C. Spencer (after his dad and uncle) but we could never think of anything.   I used a name after one of my favorite children’s books and it worked perfect.  As soon as we chose Anne, we realized Anne is actually a family name too….Anne is Aunt Julie’s middle name and Ann is Nena’s (my stepmother) middle name. 

Being a teacher, the meaning of the names weren’t as important to me as picking a name that didn’t evoke memories of someone else, wasn’t so hard to spell, too radical, too common, and too hard to sound out.  It turns out that Connor actually means…STRONG WILLED.  Can you believe that?  I should have named him something like Zola which means Peaceful and Quiet. Like Shakespeare would say it’s what something IS, not named, and no one with 50% of my genes is going to be peaceful and quiet.  Carlee means Strong Female Leader (we need one more of those at our house).

So there you go. We have a Connor and a Carlee and couldn’t be happier.  We have cleaned out the spare bedroom, painted walls, laid new carpet, and last night ordered the nursery furniture.  A few more months now, and my anticipation is growing; along with the rest of me. 

I’m only 5’2 so I only have one direction I can go...OUT…and I  think major organs are being shifted, breathing is awkward at night. Mr. Shakespeare would say, How poor are they who have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees.   

I have no idea how that quote really applies to my blog, but all the 90s hip-hop lyrics I know are not appropriate, except maybe "cosmo says your fat, but I ain’t down with that…baby got back”.  Love Sir Mix a Lot, now that is a cool name!!!

and the Stork is bringing...........

This week has been exciting...looks like we are having a GIRL!  If the ultrasound picture is correct, the Sechrist family will be balanced out at last.  Even Connor seems happy, he has picked out a perfect name "PRINCESS CUPCAKE SECHRIST".  (I'm just jealous it isn't my name).  As you know I am super excited about the addition of a few girl things to takeover the snakes, lizards, wrestlers, and monster trucks at my house.  SO I'm getting visions of......

But we all know children have minds of their own...so I may be looking at visions of.....

Hey, if I'm the only with a crown, I can cope with that! :)

I am so Blessed to have people that have prayed over me and our family.  Although, I have gotten some worrisome doctor reports, things so far look good.  Sometimes the hardest part is keeping FAITH that everything will work out.  Still, I'm looking forward to a great Adventure.