Ok, with a baby on the way, I’ve got baby names on the brain.  With 3 girls already, we’ve exhausted our supply of favorite girls’ names.  Since we just found out this one is also most likely a girl, we have been pondering ways to name the baby.  Our first 3 all have middle names that start with “A”s, so we’d like to keep that pattern.  The problem is, since we’ve used up all of our top choices by now, I would like to name this baby after a relative.  My relatives don’t have the best sounding names…  I don’t want to offend anyone here, so no offense, but Dolores (my grandmother), Phyllis (my mother), or even Lisa (my name = my husband’s idea to use it) just don’t appeal to me, to say the least.  I was very close to my deceased grandmother whom my husband never met, but her name was, GULP, Frances.  Now, I do not regret using the middle-names-start-with-A pattern at all, I think it’s cool and all of our girls have pretty names; so far anyway, but if we didn’t have to stick to the pattern, we could name her something we like with Frances as a middle name to use as the namesake.  But, with our lovely pattern at stake, if we’re going to use the name Frances, it has to be a first name.  After being blessed with 3 beautiful girls and getting to give them 2 names each of our choosing, I think it’d be nice to use a namesake this time.  But my husband HATES the name Frances.  I can’t say I blame him, he never met my grandmother, and I’m not a big fan of the name either, but I think it would grow on us and we could also call her by her middle name or a nickname.  And, let’s face it, we can’t get more flak than we’ve already gotten for naming our third child Disney!  That’s a long story, best to be saved for another post…  but let’s just say little Disney is our happiest baby yet, so who has any right to say what’s in a name?

Well, I suppose since this is my blog I can write about more than just subbing.  There is the retro-gamer in me, and I might say a few things here and there about it, but I think I should really just start another blog about it once this gets going.  There is also the church-goer in me.  I sing, do drama, and teach 4th/5th grades there, so it is sort of on-topic anyway, not that on-topic is a requirement for me… 😉

Tonight is the first night for Easter choir rehearsal.  Now, my church is a very large church meaning I will be one of 100+ in the choir, or one of about 30 men.  I will find out tonight whether or not I can actually do it- it all depends on whether or not we would have to sing at the end of the service- they do that from time to time.  If we do, then it would conflict with the kid’s ministry.  I can always be a little late to the class (I am one of several leaders actually as there are around 40 kids in the class each service) especially since they start with a game time, but it would be irresponsible of me to not show up for the teaching and small group times.  This is especially true on Easter, one of the two days of the year when typically more people show up than the norm.  To you who do: Jesus wants to see you in his house more! 🙂

Beyond choir, I also do drama for the younger kids, but we have next month off from that so there is no interference with it.  Well, gotta go.  It’s nearing rehearsal time.

Did you catch Barney today?  Probably not…  but I did so I’ll fill you in.  Baby Bop lost her blankie, prompting much song and dance.  Which got me to thinking…  how old is too old for a blankie?  Actually, this blog was inspired by my oldest daughter who is 8 and still has a blankie.  I suppose it doesn’t sound like a big deal if I just put it that way, I mean, it’s not like she carries it everywhere with her anymore…  it was actually pretty easy to get her to stop bringing it places with us, thank goodness.  But when we’re at home, it’s a different story.  It IS carried everywhere around the house.  And if, help us all, we should have misplaced the blankie somewhere during the day and she doesn’t have it to sleep with at night – let’s just say the ENTIRE family suffers until it is found…  So…  how old is too old for a blankie?  Worse yet, our 3 1/2 year old is now figuring out what a wonderful power trip she can take if she holds blankie hostage, causing ever-growing conflict.  Soon the 1 1/2 year old will be in on it too, probably just because she’ll decide there has to be something awfully special about that blankie based on the way her sisters are acting, but still, we don’t need any more conflict!  I think I will surf the net and get some feedback about this subject…  Dr. Phil once had a college-age guest on his show who still had her blankie.  It was nothing but a tattered piece of material, and I remember him joking, “Does it keep you warm?”  Hehe.  I remember in the movie Mr. Mom, the dad decides the kid is too old to have a “whoopie”.  I think they burn it or something cruel like that…  I would never do that, but I do worry that some day if I get frustrated enough, the blankie might meet some sort of tragic demise…  So, is 8 too old for a blankie?  She still sucks her thumb too, but that will be another blog all together!

      I am learning how to add pictures to my posts – hopefully!  This is a picture of my girls:

This is basically a practice post.  I need to see that I know what I’m doing…  It is so ironic that as I’m learning how to do a blog about how crazy life is with all these kids and all these pets, I’ve had to pause my blog tutorial several times to make lunches, quiet a screaming parrot, and change a poopie diaper!  My friend also has a blog on this site. Click here to see it.