Tinkerbell & Ariel on Ice, OH MY!

Katie called last week and so graciously offered us box tickets to Disney on Ice for over the weekend. With little ones, the box is the way to go...and what a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon considering the igloo that is Chicago these days. Some of Anna's favorites showed up to entertain...Mickey & Minnie, Ariel and of course, Tinkerbell. Below are pics of our cute little spectators--Thanks Katie!

Who is that photographer?

...it's me!! ;-) So, we've had our camera for over 2 years and neither of us have taken the time to really understand how to use it...our "auto" option is terrible, so our images are always either under or overprocessed. Because I LOVE photojournalistic style photography, I decided I should get to know our camera a little better. So I'm finally taking the time to learn...I just started, but here are some of my faves of the girls...

Giggling Little Girls--click play below

Just sharing the love...

Watch Out World!...Someone is Crawling!!

It's official, our Josephine Mae is a crawler! And, tear, just a few minutes ago I watched her pull herself up on our ottoman. Ok, where does the time go? Seriously.

I'm sure you've noticed by now that the blog got a facelift! I added some stuff, deleted some stuff...for now I like this...but I'm sure I'll change is up from time to time. Look around and let me know what you think!

Here it is by popular demand...

a pic (or a couple) of Anna' new do! I did the best I could...she would NOT sit still!

I picked up this cute little onesie today for Josie. It's not totally my style, but it was so sweet baby girl that I couldn't resist--

Speaking of sweet baby girls, I found out today that the next little one to arrive that we know will be 'Eliza'. I love it!...and am borderline obsessed with this name, a great variation for Elizabeth...which happens to be a strong family name on my mom's side...and you all know D.J. & I are very into regenerating family names. The first thing that went through my busy mind was how would this name fit into our sibset?...Anna, Josephine & Eliza...perfectly. But where did my girlfriend come up with this name for her soon to be little bundle of joy? I just checked it out on the official social security administration website and it was ranked 334 in 2007, so I think it's safe to say that it's not by any means a popular name and look back over the past, it never has been...perfect.

I don't have the answers to how baby names are chosen, but I'm fascinated by the cultural phenomenon that is baby naming. While preggers and contemplating names for our girls, I spent countless hours studying and reading up on naming trends. To name a human being...oh what a task!! I know there were times when my poor husband thought I was absolutely crazy when I would read to him excerpts from some name trending guru's naming theories...or when each night I would throw out several names to see his reaction...many times I would just get a crinkled up nose! Even now on long car rides, I want him to play the sibset game with me...it doesn't last long to say the least! Anyway, if anyone else is remotely interested in baby name trends, I highly recommend reading Chapter 6 of the book Freaknomics by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner...2 "rogue" economists. They basically believe that names are cyclical and in the book they attempt to uncover how naming patterns are driven. Their main theory is that names correlate directly to socioeconomic class...that the upper class drive the name game. So according to them, names trickle down through the classes. Here is an interesting excerpt from their book:

"But as a high-end name is adopted en masse, high-end parents begin to abandon it. Eventually, it is considered so common that even lower-end parents may not want it, whereby it falls out of rotation entirely. The lower-end parents, meanwhile, go looking for the next name that the upper-end parents have broken in."--pg 186

Hmmm, don't know if I'm completely buying it, but it's interesting. Let's take the number one name for the year 1900 for example. According to the ss administration the most popular name for girls that year was Mary, but Mary accounted for 5% of all female births. When you think of the thousands of names in existence, that is a lot of Marys!!! When you compare that to the number one girls name in 2007, Emily....Emily only made up 0.9% of all girls names last year. So because of the sheer number of babies born and probably additional naming options, it's not nearly as popular and little Emily has a much lower chance of running into another little Emily. What I do know is that there's no doubt that names seem to be cyclical...as those who own the names pass on, the name takes on a new life and become more prevelant. Take for example names like Linda or Peggy...names of the 40s & 50s. You never hear anyone calling out these names at the playground today. But, most likely, one day our future generations will be beaming with pride at their little Linda.

So I guess it would be ideal to name your child a name that transcends generations or transcends time...a name that over the last century has always been popular or one that has never been popular. But, honestly, who can really predict that...we do the best we can. In the end, just pick a name you love...because it's your child and it's one you'll say over and over again for the rest of your life! But Eliza gets a huge thumbs up from me!

Love, Encourage & Inspire...because your little girl is watching

I just love the quote I chose to start off 2009..."What the daughter does, the mother did". When I read this, I was instantly overwhelmed with a feeling of goodness and my eyes welled up. Nothing could be closer to the truth. All of my values, my morality, the way I treat others...these are all things I learned from my own mother---sometimes I have so much empathy for others that it feels like whatever they are going through is actually happening to me as well. I can only hope I pass on these virtues to my girls as they grow into their individuality.

I started noticing this art of imitation with Anna at a very young age...now i realize that she demonstrates it in so many ways....I see it in the way she loves to dance along to Beyonce & Britney, how she applies fake lipgloss like mommy, the way she holds her toy cell phone between her ear and shoulder, in her ability and desire to eat with chopsticks, in the way she walks around the house in my highheels, and in the gentle ways she kisses and loves her babydoll. These are all small little things, but I hope along with these little things I'm modeling for her the important lessons of life.

Happy new year to everyone! It is exciting for me to move into a new year...2008 brought us Josephine, a true blessing, but it was also the hardest year of my life. Going into 2009, I am filled with gratitude and looking forward to a new year of celebrations and miracles. December slideshow posted on right.