The Office Closet: {it's finished!}

New Year's Resolution/Goal #1 is well on its way to being finished: 

Jeff put up shelves in our office closet! 

We are not done yet, but--oh joy!--we are so close. 

Now it's just a matter of getting rid of stuff we no longer need or use {we're having a garage sale on Saturday to help with the process...we have a lot of stuff}. 

I was actually able to vacuum the floor in there today. 

I'm pretty sure that hasn't happened since, oh, August or so. Wow. 

Here are some pictures. 

The entire contents of the closet spilled out onto the floor.

A baby doll was, in fact, smashed in this process.
She is home from the hospital and recovering just fine.

 Sadie helped Jeff put the shelving unit together. And by helped, I mean scattered all the screws and small pieces all over the living room.

 Often times, home improvement projects require more work than expected.

Case in point: the pre-existing "shelves" in the closet.

Jeff had to tear them out. The previous owner used very long, thick nails to install them.

Once they were removed, we were left with this. 

And this. Good times.

After a patch and paint job, the shelves were installed. 

 And now the closet looks like this:

Why yes, that is my wedding dress hanging there. I never had it cleaned. Oops. 

Ah, organization. How I love thee.

Now I actually know where everything is located. We had so much space that we were able to move stuff from two other closets into this closet. So now baby #2 will have some closet space. 

Right now, I feel like Monica in this scene from FRIENDS {the best show ever. EVER}.

Next up: transition Sadie into a big-girl bed. Sigh and tear. 

What's in a name? {Part 2}

Yesterday I told the strange saga of my middle name. 

And at the end, I promised the grand revealing of baby girl #2's middle name.

But here's the problem: I can't decide.

On the name, that is.

I'm having a conundrum, if you will {if, in fact, one can have a conundrum. I think one might need to be in a conundrum}.

Here is part one of my conundrum:

Like I said before, my middle name is Marie and my grandma's first name is Maria. 

They have the same root and mean the same thing. Guess what their root name is? Mary.

Guess who's name is Mary? My mother-in-law's! Ding-ding-ding! 

When I had this realization, I got really excited, especially since none of the first names on our list go with Marie {or Maria, for that matter}. I decided to look up the meaning and see if there was another {read: more fitting} name that means the same thing. 

At the top of the list: Mae! 

I love it. It's short, sweet, and old-fashioned.

To make it even more special, we recently found out {well, I found out and Jeff remembered} that his grandmother's middle name was Mae. And she just passed away a couple of weeks ago. I think this would be a sweet way to honor her memory. 

Conundrum: Mary/Marie/Maria/Mae all mean bitter. I'm not a fan. 

Enter conundrum #2: 

 Sadie's middle name is Lynn {after my mom and Jeff's dad}. 

Sadie means princess, and Lynn means pretty or beautiful.

So translated and reversed, her name means pretty princess. 

Isn't that sweet?

We did not do this on purpose. 

I knew that Sadie meant princess when we named her, but didn't

know what Lynn meant until I looked it up the other day.

Conundrum: I kind of feel like it would be cruel and unusual to have one daughter's name mean

pretty princess and the other daughter's name mean "something" bitter, even if it is a family name. 

So, alas, now I can't decide. I would love to honor Jeff's grandma in such a special way. I won't go into detail, but I think she would be overwhelmed knowing that her grandchildren can look beyond her past and love her regardless of the mistakes she made. 

Enter middle name option #2 and with it, conundrum #3: Adeline, which I recently found out is also a family name.

It was my great-grandmother's name {rumor has it that she didn't like it, so she went by her middle name, Mildred, or "Millie"}. 

I never met my great-grandma Millie; she passed away when my dad was 16.

But everyone speaks highly of her. Especially my dad.

You see, she was his saving grace. 

His refuge, if you will, from a home that was--how shall I put it tactfully?--unpleasant, to say the least. 

He loved her very much and must have been devastated when she died. 

I know my dad would  feel so honored to have a granddaughter named after his sweet grandma. Someone to keep her memory alive.

It would truly mean the world to him. 

Especially since if I ever have a son, he'll probably be named after Jeff {Sadie would have been Liam Jeffrey and this one would have been Grayson Jeffrey}, so unless either of my brothers name their kids after my dad, he may not have any grandchildren named after him. 

And to boot, Adeline means noble. A name that seems fitting for my great grandma. 

Conundrum #3: honor Jeff's family or mine?

 I don't really like Adeline as a first name, so Adeline Mae is out of the question {though it is cute!}. 

What's in a name? {Part 1}

Several people have asked if we're going to share this baby's name before she arrives. 

Quite frankly, I'm not sure.

I liked the anticipation and surprise of not sharing Sadie's name until she was born.

Plus, I'm really not fond of other people's opinions when it comes to names for our baby.

Plus one more, I really have no idea what we're going to name her.

There are at least 8 names on the list (on Monday there were only 3). 

I am very indecisive when it comes to these things.

This is unfortunate since I get the final say on this one's name.

Jeff had the final say on Sadie's, so it only seems fair. 

One thing we have decided on is her middle name.

I like the idea of middle names having a purpose. 

My middle name is Marie, after my maternal grandmother.

Well, it turns out her middle name is actually Maria. 

Actually, her first name is Maria and her middle name is Priscilla. 

But all of her sisters (and there were lots of 'em) are named "Maria _____,"

so she just goes by Priscilla, and they all go/went by their middle names.

It's kind of confusing. 

And including me, she has FOUR granddaughters "named" after her. 

FOUR granddaughters with the middle name Marie.

And no one knew that her real name was Maria Priscilla until about ten years ago. 

They were all out to breakfast (my mom, her siblings, and her parents) and my grandma made a comment about how she didn't have anyone named after her.

They all sort of stared at her like she was nuts.

"Well, I don't."

"Um, Muh (that's what they call her. Weird, I know), 

you actually have four granddaughters named after you: Rachelle, Lindsay, Carriane, and Brittany."

"But their middle names are Marie."

"Exactly."

"My middle name is Maria."

"WTHeck? Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"I just thought you liked the name."

Good grief. 

I practically had an identity crisis.

So, alas, I think names are important. When they're the right ones. 

Tune in for {Part 2} to learn the middle name we've chosen for baby girl numero dos. 

It's a........

This morning we had our 18-week ultrasound.

And got to see our sweet baby. 

Do you wanna know the sex?

I bet you do.

The ultrasound tech said that baby has very long legs.

And we saw all 4 chambers of the heart.

And two cute little feet.

And some cute little fingers.

And a tummy.

And bladder. 

And we saw the blood pumping in and out a tiny little heart.

We also saw a cute little profile.

What's that you say?

You want to know the sex?

Okay fine.

It's

a

GIRL!

We are so excited.

Sadie is going to have a sister!