Summer 2011

What's in a name...

Norfolk, VA has been hit with this nationwide heatwave. Hit hard. 102 (heat index 115), that's just yucky. Luckily we have great AC and have been keeping cool inside this almost 100 year old house! But we did venture out today to have some new family pictures taken by our great friend Wendy. I wanted some pics of our little family of four before it grows plus one in TWO MORE MONTHS!! We are so excited about our new little man and wanted some candids of the girls and dad with "the belly". I decided we better do this now...A. because in next month we will be moving and have no time for nice family pictures and B. in two more months my belly will just be big and I don't really want to see myself in that "I'm going to pop" phase :) The girls did a good job with photo shoot, but credit really should be given to Owen for surviving the extreme heat, two little kids and a preggie wife! We should have photos back soon and I'll post them once we get them.

So...Owen and I thought we had nailed down this baby's name...
It was important to us to decide early on so we could tell the girls and they would start to make the connection between name - baby belly - baby when he gets here. We are still going with Benjamin, that hasn't changed. Baby Ben is what the girls call him (more SG than Cec) but we have decided to go with a different middle name. So to all the family we already told...stop telling people his middle name is Thomas...it just sounded too "Founding Fathers", like his name could be found as a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas is a great name, we've just changed our minds.

We do have a middle name picked but you'll just have to wait until he arrives!! Gotta keep some surprises here!!

And to close...a funny Benjamin story...
SG and I were having a little chat about our family. We talk about family a lot so she can keep all the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins straight :) and we think it will help her to understand that our family will be growing. I asked her who was in our family.
SG: "Mommy"
Me: "Mommy's name is..."
SG: "Stacey Lynn Williamson"
Me: "Very good, who else is in our family?"
SG: "Cecily Man-a-line Williamson, I'm Sarah Genevieve Williamson and daddy is Owen!" (she pronounces Madeleine cute!)
Me: "And...baby..."
SG: "And baby Ben!"
Me: "Yes, baby Benjamin"
long pause, a concerned look on her face, then thoughtful, then excited
SG: "MOM! We're going to have a Benjamin BUNNY?!"

The girls love the Beatrix Potter books and Benjamin Bunny is Peter Rabbits cousin. Poor girl, really thought (until I quickly corrected her) that there was a baby rabbit in my tummy. So sweet. Love that kid!

OCD SG?

Sarah Vieve loves helping me fold laundry and she's actually REALLY good at it! She was really bummed when she came to ask if she could help and I told her I was already finished. Well, my version of finished. I don't know why but I hate pairing/folding socks. So I told Sarah that she could do the socks if she wanted....and this was what I got. Wow, good work SG. A little OCD but wow, well done! I'm never doing the socks again, well, until she goes to college :)

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4th of July celebrations!

So I have no pictures to show for it...I could really use a new camera...but we had an awesome 4th of July. This was Owen's first 4th as a US citizen so I wanted to make sure it fun. We had relaxing morning with the girls and then went shopping together for BBQ supplies. We got home and Owen grilled up some yummy burgers and dogs and I did corn on the cob and fresh fruit. SG loved eating the corn, her first time eating it cob style :)
After naps we took it easy (the girls had both been sick last week and were hoping they would be well enough to go out that night for fireworks) and we rented the movie Mega Mind. Girls didn't really think much of it but Owen and I loved it! We were still stuffed from lunch but I made up some BLT's, bagged up some more fruit and veggies and made a super yummy GF-low carb trifle for dessert. We threw the food in the cooler and set out for the park for fireworks, entertainment and good friends at the harbor.
When we got there it was sprinkling a little but the worst of the forecasted storm was over. We hung out with friends, enjoyed our picnic dinner and the girls had a ball dancing to the live band. The city of Norfolk put on an amazing firework show with some great music!! The girls ran around like mad things in the light rain, dancing to the music and watching the fireworks above. It was such a fun time and we were so happy to share it with our Norfolk 2nd friends!
All in all, it was a great 4th of July! We are so thankful for all that we have and the many blessings that have come to us living in this country. And we are so very thankful for the many men and women who risk their lives to keep us safe!