Kandiss and Khrystyne

Yep, those are real names. Kandiss was on What Not to Wear, and Khrystyne is the name of an actress that was on Law and Order. Yikes...
Now, some people may say that I can't talk, considering I named my oldest daughter Tempe, which is anything but a conventional name. But Tempe is legitimate. It's the name of a gorge in Greece, and it's the name of a city in Arizona. If I had named her Tempy or Tempie or Tempee, then I would be just as ridiculous as the women who named their children Kandiss and Khrystyne.
Why do people insist on butchering perfectly good names? Who can take someone named Khrystyne seriously? And if people want to be unique, they should choose a unique name with a normal spelling... because Kandiss is pronounced the same as Candace, so if you just hear it, you have no idea how "unique" that person is.
When I was pregnant with Helena, I frequented a baby names online bulletin board, and you would be amazed at how passionate some people are about names--even more so than me! Strange spellings was a big pet peeve, but some other things that are apparently naming faux pas:

• Giving girls traditionally "boy" names. All the mothers of boys claim that when you do this, you steal the names from boys. But it's interesting that many names you consider girl names, like Leslie or Ashley, used to be boy names.
• Trendy names like Shayley, Kayley, or Kinsley. I've even seen charts with beginnings, middles, and ends, and you just mix and match to get your perfect trendy name.
• Themed families, be it a letter theme, a nature theme, or a city theme. EXPLANATION: We do not have a themed family! Tempe is named after a city, but Helena is not. Helena is not even pronounced like the city. Hel-Ay-na, not Helen-a. That brings me to my next point...
• Made up names. We thought about spelling Helena "Helaina" or "Helayna" or something like that, but it made the name sound made up.

I guess that concludes my rant on names. Names are my one true passion, I guess. Some people are passionate about art, or music, or sports. But not me. I am passionate about names, and I will probably never get to use any of the names that I really love... like Juniper, Milo, Pallas, or Rex. Too bad.

Exhaustion

It's 11:00 and Helena has been crying for an hour and 52 minutes. She went down at 8:00--like always--and woke up around 9:00--like always.
This has been going on ever since I got back from Tennessee. It's exhausting. It's frustrating. It's discouraging.
I spend all day long with both girls, mostly at the house or within a 1-mile radius of it, and by the time Jason gets home, I am eager to spend some time with him. I work all day long to make sure that Helena eats and naps on a good schedule, in hopes that keeping a routine will help her sleep better at night.
But every night the same thing happens.
I don't know what to do about it. My gut says to let her cry it out! But we are all sharing a room right now, and so if we let her cry, it wakes Tempe. Plus, Helena doesn't "cry it out". She gets more and more worked up until she is screaming bloody murder.
So, we rock, and we pat, and we walk, and I try to nurse, and some nights it works, and some nights it doesn't. I try to remind myself that she is just a baby and she can't tell me what she needs. I try to remind myself that this too shall pass, it's a part of life, I'll miss it when she is grown, I'm lucky to have her even if she is crying, etc, etc.
But all I really want is a few hours of peace with both of my kids asleep.

i am...

i am: a girl
i think: about Tempe's apple birthday party
i know: that i am not informed enough about the presidential candidates for this election
i want: to buy a house :)
i have: two daughters and a husband
i dislike: bugs
i miss: my couch
i fear: something happening to me and having to leave my girls
i feel: stuffed
i hear: a Food Network challenge
i smell: not-good-diaper smells
i crave: peace and quiet and time with Jason
i usually: go to bed too late
i search: for a way to get Helena to go to bed early
i wonder: if Helena will ever go to bed early
i regret: not going to school at UW when Jason started law school
i love: reading in bed
i care: about my girls' happiness
i always: do laundry on Wednesday
i worry: about my plane crashing and me dying and no one taking care of my little girls
i remember: the first day that i noticed Jason
i have: more than i deserve
i dance: rarely
i don’t always: shower every day
i argue: with Jason about baby names
i write: in my blog, of course!
i win: when we play Rummicube (usually)
i lose: at Scrabble
i wish: my girls wouldn't have to deal with teenage drama
i listen: to the Starting Line when Jason isn't around
i don't understand: why some people have so little tact
i can usually be found: with Tempe and Helena
i am scared: of mirrors, thanks to the preview for the movie "Mirrors"
i need: to floss my teeth more regularly
i forget: the purpose of sine, cosine, and tangent
i am happy: when i am playing with my family

A Visit with Grandma Lisa and the Gang

Tempe and Helena and I just got back from a 3-week visit with my family in Tennessee. Flying cross country by myself with a toddler and a baby was super fun, as I'm sure everyone can imagine, but it was worth it! We had a wonderful time with my parents and my brother and sister. Tempe and Helena especially loved spending time with their grandparents, Grandma Lisa and the Big Kahuna.
We did a lot of fun things while we were there--a performance of Beauty and the Beast by Bravo, the community theater that my whole family is involved in (Jeff stole the show as LeFou); the zoo; a really great children's museum; a performance of The Jungle Book by Bravo (Mom directed). But the best part of our visit was just being involved in the every day things that my family does. We enjoyed going to the neighborhood pool almost every day, watching Arrested Development and The Office in the evenings, helping Grandma cook, and hanging out in the backyard with Buddy the dog. Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip!

Tempe liked helping Grandma Lisa bake zucchini muffins.

Mommy and Helena on the carousel at the zoo.

The Big Kahuna learned how to do things one-handed so that he could hold Helena as much as possible.

Tempe's favorite part of our trip by far was going to the pool with Grandma Lisa every afternoon.

Two {Tags}: Part 1b

{5 bands I listen to now}

Ok, so I don't really listen to Sufjan Stevens unless Jason actually puts it on for me.... but I do like him. I just don't remember that without help.

mewithoutYou is one of my absolute favorite bands in the universe TIMES INFINITY!!! Unfortunately, most other people hate them. We went to a concert where they opened for Coheed and Cambria (I went for mewithoutYou) and no one else knew who they were. It was sad. If you want to hear something really awesome, try listening to Gentleman--it's me and Jason's song :)

The Mountain Goats are another band that Jason introduced me to. Actually, I think every band I am listing here is something he introduced me to. My favorite song by the Mountain Goats is No Children, but I don't want people to think it's because I can relate to having a loveless, bitter marriage. Our marriage is great.

What can I say about Bright Eyes? Who doesn't love Conor Oberst? He's like Dashboard Confessional, only all grown up and not a crybaby anymore. I wanted to dance to The First Day of My Life for our wedding song, but I thought it might be a little morbid to dance to a song that says "I'm glad I didn't die before I met you". But I am glad I didn't die before I met Jason.

I bet my parents would really love Alkaline Trio.

Other bands that get an honorable mention: My Chemical Romance (Cheers, Helena!), At the Drive In, Cursive, and Conor Oberst's side project Desparacidio (sp?). I like when bands incorporate rhythmic clapping into their music, like At the Drive In.

Ok, now I tag.... Janice Hewitt, Amanda Dambrink, Cari Potter, Kathryn Anderson, and Rachel Whitchurch!