DIYing. oh, and her name.

Yesterday after work I started Operation: Make this Cheap Laminate Bookshelf Way Cuter. Obviously everything in the nursery must contain the maximum amount of cuteness, and boring brown faux-wood wasn't really living up to the high standards I'm setting. Naturally, this required stopping by Lowe's to purchase paint and other various painting accoutrements. As it turned out, I had a Lowe's gift card that paid for all the things I needed to get for the bookshelf. And then as I was checking out I realized why I even had a Lowe's gift card: it was a Mother's Day present. My wonderful MIL is always so thoughtful and gives me Mother's Day cards and gifts, despite the semi-significant fact that I have yet to actually be a mother. But she always helps make a terrible day a little bit less so with her thoughtfulness. She knows how much I love flowers and plants and so a Lowe's gift card was spot on for a sweet present this past year...except then it rained for about 100 days straight. And I never got around to using the gift card because I never had enough dry days in a row to start new yard projects. So I forgot about the card, but today I remembered. And isn't it just a littttttle bit ironic that now I'm using my Mother's Day present to prepare stuff for my daughter's room?

Yeah. It's pretty fabulous to me. Definitely didn't think that's what I'd be using the card for back when I received it, that's for sure. It's funny to look back and analyze stuff, isn't it? Like around Mother's Day...I was busy having my huge annual pity party fest for myself, my MIL was buying me a gift card so that I could plant flowers that would cheer me up, and somewhere in south Georgia my daughter was a wee little bean sprouting and growing in her mama's belly. It's pretty awesome when you think about it. 

Speaking of my daughter...I guess we may as well call her by name. Our only reason for not using her name 'publicly' initially was that we love the name so much that if something had gone wrong with this adoption, we wanted to still be able to use the name on a future child. I picked this (first) name in 2002, people...I have history with it**!! So I would hate to just...not have it anymore. But then...I really think this is my daughter. And she needs a name, and this is the name, and if it doesn't work out, then oh well. I'll think of a new name for my next daughter.

Without further adieu...please put your hands together for our sweet baby!

Thus far the typical reactions we've had upon sharing her name have been:

-ALLISON? Did you mean to say ALLISON? (No, we didn't. But if it helps you to remember it better, pretend it's Allison with an E for Erika.)

-Ellison? Oh, are you going to call her Ellie? (Not planning to, but it's a sweet nickname and if that's what she prefers to go by, then by all means. I'm not anti-Ellie, but I'm naming her Ellison because I want to call her Ellison. Otherwise I'd name her...Ellie.)

-Oh! That's...pretty!

-I thought you said it was going to be a girl? 
 
-*gasp* LOVE IT! (Me too, thank you for giving the correct response.)

- Ellison Karina? That's a lot of syllables. Are you going to call her by both names? (So maybe it is a mouthful. But our last name only has one syllable, so I think it averages out. And no, probably not...except for when she's in trouble.)

So there you have it. We've been waiting and praying for Ellison for a long time...I can't wait to finally put a squishy little face with the name. And monogram the crap out of some stuff.

**We actually have a really long and cool story about her name-- it started out as just a name that I really liked, but over the years it has gathered a lot of meaning and significance in our lives. There are several reasons why we feel very strongly like it is the name meant for this child, and I hope that one day I will be able to share that exciting story with everyone.