Thank You!

I am overwhelmed by the responses to my blog post yesterday, and I want to thank everyone who took the time to comment on my Facebook post as well as everyone who sent me private messages. I am very blessed to have so many friends and family who care about me and my family. I am doing okay. Monday was a rough day. We all have them, but for some silly reason I feel the need to share mine. Writing about the day is my way of unpacking all the thoughts, concerns, emotions and ideas that tend to pile up and weigh me down. There is no greater feeling than when a post is finished, particularly one like yesterday's, and I can hit Publish, sending all of my concerns off into cyber space. Once my post is published, I am ready to start a new day with hope and enthusiasm. It works!

I am also able to learn from the previous day's mistakes. I was not prepared for Monday. I should have recruited some help, particularly with Thing 4, but now that I have a long list of potential babysitters thanks to yesterday's post . . . tee hee!, I hopefully will not make that same mistake again. So, thank you everyone for being so considerate, for caring about me, for reading this silly little blog and for just being you. You are awesome, and this girl loves you!

Anyhoo . . .

Let's talk about Thing 5's name - Harriet Winona Grace Webster.

It's a mouthful. When she was born and we told the nurses and doctors her name, one of them laughed and said:

Well, she is all ready for a career in country music.

I admit it is a crazy name. You will probably never meet another Harriet Winona Grace, and that is okay. In fact, that is why I love it so much. This name has been reserved for my baby girl ever since I became pregnant with Leif, and the more I get to know her, the more I think it suits her to a tee.

When I tell people her name is Harriet, I get one of three responses:

First, there are those who are in utter shock and do not know what to say. They tend to make a noise like:

Ohhhhhhhhhh . . . .

followed up with:

well, you don't hear that name too often.

Then there are those who absolutely love it and their response tends to go something like this:

Harriet! I love it! I just love old names. What a beautiful name for a beautiful girl!

and so and so on.

And finally, there are those who loathe the name and they tend to cringe in horror:

Harriet?! . . . Seriously? Harriet?

Unfortunately, all of Harriet's grandparents had this response, but I am happy to say that they have either warmed up to the name or have finally realized it is not going to change and so have stopped saying anything about it.

I adore the name Harriet and have for years. When Zoe was a little girl, I bought a book for her titled: Harriet, You'll Drive me Wild. It is about this adorable little girl and all the mischief she manages to stir up in a day. To me, Harriet is the perfect name for a little girl because it is spunky yet classic, it is unique and it is strong. Whenever I think of names for my girls, I try to imagine them presenting their dissertation on some grand idea in literature, the sciences or business and having a fellow academic introduce them:

It is my pleasure to present Harriet Webster . . .

But it also has to be pretty enough for someone to whisper:

Harriet, I love you and nothing will ever change that.

without that person cringing in horror . . . tee hee!

And both Mr, Level-Headed and I agree that Harriet is the perfect name for our final Baby Girl.

Harriet's middle name is her grandmother's middle name and completes our obligation to name each of the grandchildren after one of their grandparents. I should note that this obligation is something Mr. Level-Headed and I imposed on ourselves because we were both given one of our parent's names and like that family connection.

Zoe was named after my mom: Zoe Elaine

Elliot was named after Mr. Level-Headed's dad: Gerald Elliot

Avery was named after my dad: Avery Derrick Kurt

and Harriet was named after Mr. Level-Headed's mom: Marylee Winona

Yes, Leif was left out of this tradition, but his name is a Danish name and was given to him to acknowledge my father's Danish heritage.

Now for Grace. Well, I believe that names have to roll off of your tongue. They need to sound nice when they are said aloud; therefore, we added Grace at the end to soften the sound of her first two names. We also wanted to include Grace because both Mr. Level-Headed and I realize that both of these babies that we have been blessed to have later in life are only a part of our family thanks to God's grace. He did not have to give them to us. He especially did not have to give us two of them, but He did, and for that we will be forever grateful.

We love you, Harriet Winona Grace, name and all: