What's in a name?

Several people have asked us about Mirabel's name. We started looking for baby names probably 1-2 years before we started trying to have a kid, knowing it would take us a long time. We searched through name books and online sites, and after MUCH effort, had narrowed the list down to 4 names for each gender by the time I went into labor. (This effort involved ranking, spreadsheets, analysis of historical name trends, the approximate percentage popularity and how many people in a school of 2000 would have a name based on its specific popularity ranking- yes, we're both detail oriented.) Dave had wanted to get the names down to one; I thought having a few to choose from would be nice; since I went into labor early, I got my wish.

We wanted a name that was unique but pronounceable when you see it, has a good meaning, and that sounded pretty for a girl and strong for a boy. We named her the day after she was born and picked from our list of Clarissa, Greta, Mirabel, and Rosa. We both liked all four names (unlike our boys name list) so it was more an issue of picking the one that seemed to work best for her. We ultimately selected Mirabel, which means "wonderful" or "marvelous" and is derived from Latin. (The French/Spanish meaning is "beautiful view" which is nice, too.) Her middle name is Grace, so her name means "wonderful grace" which we mean to reference the wonderful grace of God in calling us to him through Jesus.

We plan to call her Mirabel (no nicknames for general use, though I have several pet names started, including "Baby Bell," "Mirabella-boo," and "Sweet Pea.") I'm sure she won't let me use those forever, but for now she has no choice. :)

We have sleep-through!

For the first time since who knows when, we got more than 6 straight hours of sleep. Miss Mirabel went down around 11 last night and awoke at 5:30 this morning, fed and then slept until 8:30 (along with her dad). Who knows when it will happen again, but it's amazing how rested I feel. :)

Life in the Past Lane

Mirabel and I joined other Living History Society of Minnesota members for a picnic and croquet outing yesterday. She was cute as can be in her 1860s garb. She did have a marvelous bonnet made by the Widow Brown which she wore for nearly all of the day, but by the time we got around to taking photos, the bonnet had come off in an attempt to get her to go to sleep. Alas, that was fruitless (she slept approximately 3-4 hours from 4:45am to 9pm yesterday- yikes!) But she did sleep like a log last night.

We'll get a better close up of her at a future event, but here's what we have for now. My favorite question from the public- “Is that a real baby?”

Up North, Eh?

The Pestels are heading north of the border next month...Dave and I honeymooned in Winnipeg and we're going back for a week to celebrate our 5th anniversary. Mirabel will be coming, too. We found a B&B that takes kids and lets us use their laundry facilities, both requirements with a small child that manages to get a lot of clothes and cloth diapers dirty each day. The B&B is a little further out of the city than we were last time, but it's near a bus line (and the University of Manitoba), has walking paths and lots of old tree-lined streets, and should be a relaxing place. We had such a good time when we were there before- it's as if everyone is so cold for most of the year that when summer finally does come they are all outside having fun, festivals, and generally enjoying the warmth.

We are just barely ahead of the passport requirement- Mirabel's birth certificate will be enough (along with us and our passports). Mirabel went to Mexico in-utero and now to Canada...this kid is going to be a world traveler before she knows it!

Mirabel is doing a little better on the crying front- yesterday we had a great day. She ate, actually entertained herself for about 15 minutes looking at one of those black/white contrast things that help develop eyesight, and slept for regular intervals. Unfortunately, that led to an hour of frantic monkey from 11-midnight, but then she fell asleep after feeding and did pretty well overall. I'm really glad that I am able to take three months off. I don't think I'd be ready to go back to work next week with my sleep-deprived self!

It's my party and I'll cry if want to....

Crying seems to be Mirabel's theme of late. We can't figure out why, but most of her waking time seems to be spent screaming. It has nothing to do with diapers, feeding, or temp as best we can tell. We're taking refuge in a factoid Dave's sister shared (crying peaks at 3-5 weeks) and that we are trying to figure out what we can do with her. Being near a warm body seems to help, but that impedes our ability to get anything else done!

Here's a link to some pictures I uploaded to Snapfish. I'm new at this, and blogspot doesn't allow mass photo uploading. You can use my Snapfish account to view(polkstina@hotmail.com for the username and seepics as the password).

**NOTE** Please only view the pictures, don't order anything as any information you put in will be viewable by everyone else. If you want the pictures, email me and I'll send them to you directly.

Happy Graduation to Me...

I finished up my MBA this semester, graduating on May 1. Although, I actually skipped graduation. May 1 was my official due date, and I didn't plan to attend the ceremony (thinking it wasn't good to plan on attending something where I'd either be VERY pregnant or else just have had a kid.) I borrowed a set of graduation gear from one of my classmates that graduated last semester just in case I was able to go, so I can at least have pictures. (Check out the weird hood- and funky sleeve hood thingies!) I ended up staying at home with Mirabel on graduation night, but I'm truly finished just the same!

My graduation gift to myself is to read the Harry Potter books. I haven't done so before now, and have wanted to the whole time I've been in school. However, I know myself well enough to know that my homework would have suffered, so I didn't allow myself to even start the books. So far, I've read the first three books in the past three days. Now I'm getting ready to start book 4, but I've had to put a bit of stop on it while I catch up on laundry. :)

Living Green Expo

We took our little earth baby to the Living Green Expo this weekend. It's a major event held annually at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, conveniently within a couple miles of our house. There are exhibitors of different "green" products, including food, farmers, cloth diapers, cloth bag totes, energy, green building/remodeling and the list goes on. They also have some seminars, though we had to cut back on our normal sun-up to sun-down exposure due to Mirabel. She was a fussy monkey last night from 3-5am so we are home now and taking a little nap soon. We got a ton of cool free stuff and coupons and purchased a new style of cloth diaper and some eco-friendly cleaners. We'll see how well they work.

Well...off to bed!