Dear Mili

Dear Mili,
     I'm sure you have gone walking in the woods or in green meadows, and passed a clear flowing brook. And you've tossed a flower into the brook, a red one, a blue one, or a snow-white one. It drifted away, and you followed it with your eyes as far as you could. And it went quietly away with the little waves, farther and farther; all day long and all night too, by the light of the moon or the stars. It didn't need much light, for it knew the way and it didn't get lost. When it had traveled for three days without stopping to rest, another flower came along on another brook. A child like you, but far far away from here, had tossed it into a brook at the same time. The two flowers kissed, and went their way together and stayed together until they both sank to the bottom. You have also seen a little bird flying away over the mountain in the evening. Perhaps you thought it was going to bed; not at all, another little bird was flying over other mountains, and when all was dark on the earth, the two of them met in the last ray of sunshine. The sun shone bright on their feathers, and as they flew back and forth in the light they told each other many things that we on earth below could not hear. You see, the brooks and the flowers and the birds come together, but people do not; great mountains and rivers, forests and meadows, cities and villages lie in between, they have their set places and cannot be moved, and humans cannot fly. But one human heart goes out to another, undeterred by what lies between. Thus does my heart go out to you, and though my eyes have not seen you yet, it loves you and thinks it is sitting beside you. And you say: "Tell me a story." And it replies: "Yes, dear Mili, just listen."




This is from the long lost story by Wilhelm Grimm, entitled "Dear Mili". We love this story (and this letter). It certainly inspired us to affectionately call Amelia our dear Mili.

Baby Names: Amelia it is!

Caleb (the husband) here...as I'm sure most of the friends and family have heard by now, Sarah-Jean and I found out Friday morning that we will be welcoming a baby girl to the world! We are very excited by this development.

Now that the gender has been established, the next task is picking a name. Lucky for us, we've been tossing around baby names since before we were married. We've settled on Amelia as our daughter's first name. We are both very excited to meet our darling Amelia...

The next and perhaps more difficult task is deciding a middle name. After an exhaustive effort, we've narrowed our list of names down to Jean and Jolean...we will update once we've made the final decision.

This truly is an exciting and magical time in our lives...we are so happy and in love!

Drum roll please!

It's a girl!!!

Countdown

T minus 11 hours... and counting.

=)

TuTu's and Clown Wigs

So the Husband has declared that if the Bean does turn out to be a girl, I will be limited to one tutu for all of the Bean's toddlerhood.  And I say, if I can't dress my kid up in ridiculous outfits for my own amusement, what's the point? 

I kid.  ...Mostly.   I remember during college espousing my adamant desire that, should I ever choose to procreate, my children would be dressed exclusively in androgynous yellows and greens.  I vehemently opposed the idea of dressing up my hypothetical children in "gender specific colors".  Especially dressing up little girls in froufrou dresses or the unimaginable tutu.  And then my niece was born and a strange thing happened.   I felt an overwhelming desire that she be the owner of a tutu.  And I made that happen.

As far as I can tell though, she's not yet been irreparably damaged and confined to stereotypical gender roles.   It's true, she does have a play kitchen and a multitude of "babies" which she cares for... but she also loves "big trucks," dump trucks, airplanes, "helicoplys," and tractors like they're going out of style.  I still like the idea of dressing my kid, regardless of gender, in greens and yellows, rather than blue or pink, but that might just be because I like green and yellow a whole lot more than blue or pink. 

So in conclusion, if I can only buy a Beanette one tutu for all of toddlerhood, that's ok.

Because it won't keep me from dressing her up in something equally as cute.  Like this.

Place Your Bets!

Assuming all goes well next week, we could know the Bean's gender as soon as next Friday!  Which means if you don't make your predictions soon, you may forever miss out on your chance to say "I told you so" and prove once and for all you are more of a genius than our mutual friends and family.   

So in the spirit of that fun, Caleb and I put up a little baby poll on the right.  You can see how others are voting and then leave a comment with your guess.  Along with any accompanying "old wives' tales."

Don't worry, we'll put a full fledged Baby Pool for the due date, etc. at some point.

Amelia or Owen

So Caleb (the husband) and I may know as early as next Friday if we're expecting an Amelia or Owen to arrive in May!  Our official "determine the gender" ultrasound is not until the end of December, but we know an ultrasound tech who has offered the hook up and swears she can tell as early as 16 weeks.

Here's hoping the little Bean or Beanette will take a good picture!