What's in a name?

I wrote in a previous post that I was intrigued by everyone's desire to know what we were naming this precious little girl and their willingness to offer suggestions. Drew and I truly did not make a final decision on her name until the night before we went to the hospital. In fact, Drew was still questioning me the morning of her delivery to make sure I wanted to stick with what we had picked. I have to admit it wasn't his first choice, but it was always mine. To me, family names and names that have a meaning behind them are very special. And, that is exactly what the name Sally Sharp is for me. My mom and Grandmother's (mom's mom) first names are Sally (my Grandmother goes by Sally and my mom's name is Sally Elizabeth, and she goes by Betty). Sharp also comes from my mom's side of the family. My great, great Grandfather was John Sharp Williams. He served as a United States Senator and maintained residence at his family home, Cedar Grove Plantation, outside Yazoo City. I have always been fascinated by him, and obviously, I love his name. He had a daughter named Mary Sharp and a daughter named Sallie as well (I chose to go with the spelling of my Mom and Grandmother). My Grandmother says she remembers calling Mary Sharp, "Aunt Sharp," as she was growing up. I thought that was interesting, and thus the name Sally Sharp was created in my mind. I've had many people ask me where her name came from and if it was family, so here is the explanation of how we came up with sweet Sally Sharp. I love it more now than I did before I named her, and I think it fits her perfectly:). Oh, and for now, we are going with the double name--Sally Sharp. I'm thinking it might stick this time (we started out with Avi Grace, but Drew and I mainly call her Avi now).

And this is the only picture I have been able to capture of proud big sister and her baby sister. For some reason Avi does not want us to take any pictures of her. She keeps saying, "No pictures today." I'm not sure how I managed to snap this one, and I didn't even realize I had it until I was going back through pictures yesterday! Hopefully she'll warm up to the idea. She is still loving "the baby" as she calls her most of the time, and she wants to kiss and hug her all the time. It's very sweet, and Sally Sharp is one lucky little girl to have such a sweet big sister.

Sally Sharp Anthony

Sally Sharp Anthony was born Wednesday, July 21 at 7:53 a.m. She was 8 lbs 1 oz and 19 inches long. She looks SO much like Avi did when she was born. We've determined Avi had a bigger nose at birth, but their faces look very similar! Speaking of big sister, she is adjusting very well so far. She LOVES her baby sister (I was a bit worried in the hospital; her first reaction was more of ignoring the baby). She gives her lots of hugs and kisses, and she is copying everything I do with baby sister...and I mean everything. It's quite funny. Overall, we are doing great. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. We're glad to be home and adjusting to our new life! I'll post more pictures soon...just wanted to get a few up to show her off!

Five years ago today...

Five years ago today our sweet Austin was born. It is extremely hard to believe he would be 5 years old today. What would his personality be like? What would he look like? Interesting questions to ponder, but we just have to continually remind ourselves to be thankful for the time we had with him. We are also over the moon thankful for our adorable Avi Grace that God blessed us with and another baby girl that God will bless us with on Wednesday! We miss his sweet smile!

But WHY, mommy?

I found myself cracking up at Avi several times yesterday, so I thought I would share with you some of the things she said that made me laugh.

1. I told her it was time to get dressed for church. She said, "Am I going to wear a dress?" I said yes. She said, "Oh, I LOVE dresses, mommy!"

2. Her new thing in the past few days has been to ask WHY about EVERYTHING. Yesterday she asked me why several times in a row (and it is usually, But why, mommy?), so I asked her if she had to ask why about everything. Her response: "But, why not, mommy?!"

3. As she was eating dinner last night, I gave her some applesauce and a regular spoon. She said, "This is not my spoon. I want a colored spoon with some color on it!" Really? A colored spoon with color? So, I went and got her a plastic spoon that was colored, and she said, "Is it pink, mommy? I LOVE pink." She's not opinionated or girly!

4. Again, as she was eating dinner, all of a sudden she busted out with, "Does everybody have a daddy?" Interesting question. The easy answer...yes, sweetie, everyone has a daddy. I tried to go on to explain to her that her Papa is my daddy and her granddaddy is her daddy's daddy. Not sure that really went over well! Probably just confused her more.

5. Lastly, I took Avi to the dentist about a week ago for the first time. I didn't expect her to love it or anything, but she really acted like a baby while we were there. She wouldn't lie in the chair and she whined and cried the whole time we were with the dentist. Not fun. When we finished there, I told her I was pretty unhappy with the way she acted while we were there. I guess that was the first time I had used those words with her, because now at least 2 or 3 times a day she asks me, "Mommy, are you happy?" Wow. Maybe telling her I was unhappy was a bad choice of words? I don't want her to be worried about whether I'm happy or not! I am reassuring her we are happy, but she keeps asking!

My reaction: WHOA

Soooo, this is what Avi looked like one day last week when Drew brought her home from school! All I could say was, "WHOA!" The pictures really don't even do it justice...she was absolutely dirty from head to toe. Right before Drew got there to pick up Avi, her teacher said she fell on the playground and got mulch ALL in her hair. The entire part of her hair was jam packed with mulch. The only thing I could think was how in the world am I going to get that mulch out of her hair?! Just washing it didn't do the trick. I had to run her hair under the faucet in the tub for several minutes to work all the mulch out! The bathtub was FULL of mulch, which she thought was hysterical until later that night when she saw how dirty the tub was. She asked her Nana to clean it out it was so dirty!

Obviously Avi thought being so dirty was funny! Oh, and of course she was wearing her "extra" clothes when Drew picked her up. It must have been one of those days!

Her flip flops were permanently embroidered on her feet!

Happy 4th!

We had a fun, family-filled weekend celebrating Independence Day this year! On Saturday, we spent the day with my family. Both of my sisters were here with their husbands/families. We spent the day playing games and we ended the day with a great supper my mom and dad cooked. On Sunday, we stayed around our house until mid afternoon, and then we went over to Susan and John's house (Drew's aunt and uncle) in Browning Creek to spend time with his family. We enjoyed another great supper and the fun fireworks. Avi was mesmerized by the fireworks this year (she was scared of them last year). All in all, we had a fun weekend. Time to get back into the routine tomorrow. Only 2 weeks left until new baby Anthony arrives!

Avi hugged Abbi before they left, and I was grateful to get a good snapshot of them together.

Avi is very into "watching and helping" anyone cook these days. She loves to stand in a chair next to me and help me stir. Lots of fun.

She was so proud of her "little ponytail" I put in her hair yesterday. Usually I just put a barrette or a bow in, but her hair is thicker now, and the little ponytail seems to help the bow stay in better. She loves it.

More fake smiles! They're growing on me, though! I tell ya, she really is a sweet child, and she brings us so much joy. Oh and, that gap between her front teeth is awesome! I love it.