Niamh Marie

This just happens to be my 50th blog post. And for the last 50 blogs, I have used Neve to spell my little girl's name. But there's more to the story of her name...

When we became pregnant (and I say "we" loosely of course), Beth and I thought long and hard about baby names. We went through a lot of books and resources, but we always seemed to come back to one particular girl's name. And that name ended up sticking... Niamh. Niamh is an Irish Gaelic name that is pronounced pretty much like Eve but with an N in front of it. If you can't wrap your head around the fact that Niamh is pronounced "Neve," it might help to know that in Irish Gaelic an "i" makes a long e sound and "mh" makes a v sound. That has kind of helped me with the pronunciation (and with explaining it). 

So, when we found out our baby was going to be a girl and made the final decision to use this Irish name, we had to decide whether we wanted to spell it Niamh or use an anglicized version such as Neve. We went back and forth, debating the effects on us and her of having to pronounce the name to probably 99% of the people (in America, at least). So, we came up with a compromise that we were going to use both spellings. Niamh is on her birth certificate, but we reserved and still reserve (until Niamh/Neve tells us otherwise) the right to use Neve in certain situations for ease of use or just because we feel like it.

And we do use both. It's actually kind of fun. Niamh's favorite blanket that we got from our neighbors has Niamh on it. Neve's toy train is spelled Neve. For the doctor's office, we use Niamh. For Great-Grandmas we use Neve (most of the time because even Neve seems hard enough for them). When N receives gifts, we get spellings all over the place. Which actually doesn't bother me at all, I enjoy seeing the creative ways her name is spelled.

For the past 50 blog posts, I have spelled her name "Neve." For the next 50, I'm going to try and remember to use "Niamh." I want to be fair with the spellings of the name. Because at some point, we're going to let Niamh decide which spelling she prefers. And I don't want Neve to think that I prefer one spelling over the other. Because I don't. I've grown to love both. And to absolutely love my little "bright" and "radiant" Irish princess.

In Irish mythology, Niamh was the daughter of the God of the sea and a princess of the land of eternal youth. But that's a story for one of the next 50 blogs...

Have a great night!

Not quite THAT amazing!

 OK, these pictures from the last blog aren't 100% real.  If they were, I wouldn't be taking a picture of it. Mom would kill me.  I'll explain how I photoshopped them next week.

Here are some real pictures from the last couple of days...

Can you hear me?

Crazy hair, courtesy of Mom's slobber. Seriously...

 She's losing her sock AGAIN...

 This one just makes me smile...

 Trying to get a silhouette of that nice, round head...

Have a great weekend!

I'll explain these pictures next week...

One-Handed

Neve never ceases to amaze me. We were upstairs hanging out when I stepped out of the room for a second. When I came back, this is what I found...

I don't know if Ollie hoisted her up or what. But she was even able to hang on one-handed.....

Crazy, huh?

Have a great night!

Mobile

From now on, I think I have my work *more* cut out for me. Neve is officially mobile...

If you look closely, you can actually see a baby in that picture. Following "Neve's Route," you will recreate Neve's trek scooting (backwards) through the living room. I guess she was sick of her toys and wanted to explore. I took off her socks for her to give her a little more grip. It still probably took her almost 30 min. to make the trek. She was full of concentration...

I guess no more going to do laundry or something while I leave her sitting in the middle of the room. And it's definitely time to get that baby-proofing finished.

Have a great night! Happy Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday!

Happy Mardi Gras!

We had a fun weekend enjoying just a little bit of the Soulard Mardi Gras festivities. Neve was in a festive mood...

Don't worry, Neve didn't have to do anything too crazy to get those beads. Beth and I were reminiscing throughout the day about our past Mardi Gras experiences. We both agreed it's quite different with a baby!

Those sunglasses Neve is wearing in the pictures above actually came off of a Build-A-Bear. That's why they're a tad bit small. Surprisingly, Neve is pretty good about having decorations/bows/ribbons on her head and face. Even toys. Sometimes I'll stick a toy on her head and she'll just go about her business until it falls off on it's own. Here's Neve in Daddy's new favorite hat (that she actually got me for Christmas)...

After looking at these pictures, Beth just reminded me of the issues that Neve has with socks. When I'm dressing Neve, I can never seem to find socks. Maybe part of the problem is that Neve can't seem to keep both socks on! Check out the above pictures... in one set her left sock is falling off and in the other it's completely off. And those pictures were taken on different days. Saturday after the Mardi Gras parade, we went to a mall and a lady stopped us while we were walking to tell us Neve was losing her sock. At that point, she only had one on. So, Beth had to backtrack our steps to look for the other sock and ended up finding it half way across the mall!

Speaking of the parade, guess who continued to stalk us...

OK, maybe it's the other way around.

Have a great night. Happy Mardi Gras!

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday..

Beth is working late yet again tonight. 10pm on a Friday? That's like 300 hours or so in the last 3 weeks. No exaggeration. Poor Mom.

And Dad. I had to put Neve to sleep again tonight. For some reason it was a huge pain. Neve cried for about a half an hour. She didn't seem to want to go to sleep. So I let her "read" a book for awhile but I could tell she was tired. I called Beth to vent and afterwards my Dad called. I noticed that Neve really calmed down while she was listening to me talk on the phone. So, after I hung up with my Dad I continued like I was still talking. At first the conversation with myself was going pretty smooth. I was talking about Words With Friends (what my Dad and I were talking about). But somehow the conversation stalled and went south. I ended up saying something like "After Sunday is Monday, after Monday is Tuesday, after Tuesday is Wednesday" over and over. It was kind of embarrassing. Nobody else was in the house besides the dog, but the monitor was on and I know that Ollie was laughing at me downstairs. It's actually not that easy to have a phone conversation with yourself. Try it!

The Giraffe made an appearance again the last few days. Our neighbor was getting ready for the Mardi Gras Parade tomorrow. Can you find the giraffe in all of these pictures?

There's actually a giraffe AND an elephant in one of the pictures! The elephant is tough to find...even Beth had trouble.

The next pictures do not have any wild animals. Well, maybe a little. But I wanted to show you the outfit that got an "...Interesting" out of Mom...

I'm not sure how to take that. But I thought it was cute!

Have a great night!

The Ultimate Night Light

After I put Neve to sleep tonight, I sat up in her room reading for a bit. This is the window I get to look out over. Well, sort of. It's looking through the laundry area and bathroom. But it does make quite the night light...

Now there's some inspiration to get Neve sound asleep!

Here are a couple of pictures from today. I noticed Neve messing with a strap to one of my camera bags and it sort of looked like a mustache on her. I wasn't able to get the perfect mustache shot, but I think she looks pretty darn cute in these...

I meant to post this next picture a few days ago, but never got to it. Neve's 2 front bottom teeth are doing great. I notice them quite a bit now when she's talking or laughing or screaming. Here's a better picture of them (with Grandpa holding Neve's mouth open)...

Have a great night!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Those flowers are from Grandpa. Thanks Grandpa! (I tried to take a picture with the flowers a little closer to Neve, but that was a bad idea. We ended up with the vase on it's side and flower pieces all over.)

Here's a bouquet that Neve and I made for Momma today...

The "flowers" are actually made up of double sided photos of Neve. If you look closely in the bottom picture, you can actually see Neve's eye peeking over one of the blooms. It's just a little creepy and not done on purpose, but Mom seems to like them. 

Have a great night! Happy Valentine's Day!

Parental Advisory. Explicit Content. Seriously.

Ok, Mom gave the OK. Here's Sir Winston ChurchHorse being violated...

Hahaha. Time to give the horsey a little bath I guess.

Teef

Neve had a rough day today. We (Grandpa, Neve and I) went to do some maintenance on one of our rental units. Neve was not happy about that. Grandpa had to eventually drive Neve around the neighborhood while I did the work. I think Neve must be in a little pain with her new teeth. She officially has 2 that have poked through now...the bottom middle 2. Here's the best picture I've been able to get so far...

Mom's trying to put Neve to sleep as I write. I can hear on the baby monitor that it is taking a little work. This is the first day in a REALLY long time that Neve hasn't been perfect for me, but she has been having some issues at night getting to sleep.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but my arm is sore from shooting Play Ball Hoops in the baby room...

Yes, that is an action shot. And I think I missed off of the wicker rim.

We just had a little episode with our dog Ollie and one of Neve's Christmas gifts. Grandma gave Neve a stuffed animal rocking horse. I think all of the granddaughters now have this toy. Some of my family calls him Clip-ity Clop. We call him Sir Winston ChurchHorse.

Well, I was playing with Neve in her room just a little bit ago. And I look over and Sir Winston ChurchHorse is being humped by Ollie! Which is surprising because Ollie never does that. I immediately yelled at him. Afterwards, I was actually a little disappointed that I didn't think to get a picture first. So, when Beth got home lo and behold Ollie started to do it again. So I grabbed the camera BEFORE I yelled at Ollie...

BUT I'm not sure if I'm going to post that picture on this baby blog. It might be just a little inappropriate. I think I may ask Mom first. But stay tuned...

Have a great night! I know Ollie won't!

Baby Blessings Part I

The feeling when she FINALLY goes to sleep...

The smile just for me when she wakes up...

Watching her experience something new...

 

TO BE CONTINUED...

Have a great night!

Baby Book Sidenote...

We're pretty sure a tooth has made it's way out of Neve's gums. Beth found it early this morning. I think I can see it. Neve doesn't like my hands all up in her grill so it's hard to check out. And really hard to try and take a picture of. But I'll keep trying.

Congratulations Neve on a big milestone!

Tough Cookie

Neve had her 6 month wellness doctors visit yesterday. She weighed in at 14 pounds, 14.5 ounces and measured in at 27 inches. Of babies her age, she's in the 26% of weight and 88% of height. She received a couple of shots. She literally only cried for about 5 seconds. And then went back to smiling at herself in the large mirror in the doctor's office. She was in love with the examination table paper liners. She made a huge mess crumpling them up. But had lots of fun.

I think Neve is at the perfect age. She's becoming more interactive every single day (both physically and verbally) and she's not really that mobile yet. So, I get to sit her down, put some toys in front of her and watch the fun. I get to do things like this...

And sit her in the recliner to just chill...

(As long as I'm only a couple of feet away and paying really close attention, Momma)

Have a great weekend!