A Name for Little Brother.

His name will be Daxton Spencer Hale.

Daxton - Warrior who conquers great obstacles.
Spencer - Dispenser of provisions.
Hale - Healthy and hearty, free of disease.

I thought I would go ahead and share his name with you, since we are upon the heels of meeting him (I hope?) and we have been calling him by his name for months now.

Stevie and I wanted to find something in the same genre of Everett's name, with a bit of an English background, since we both have English heritage. We went through lists of names, rifled through books, and of course did tons of Google searches. When we were in London this summer we even looked at all the street names, and kept speaking them aloud, seeking to hear just the right fit for our little boy. We came across the name Daxton in an online search, and continuously said it out loud to ourselves. It sounded so different, so uncommon, but was it too different? We tossed the name around for about a month before deciding on the perfect combination. And Everett has everything to do with us finally settling on it because he refused every other name we tried out - he literally yelled "No! No! No!" to every name option, and when we asked him what his baby brother's name should be, he responded every single time with "DAXTON!!!!" It was one of our road trips games on the way home from our month in New York - how many times we could get him to plead with us what his brother's name should be.

Daxton Spencer Hale. He sounds like quite a Brit, eh? Spencer is my maiden name and I've always known I wanted to weave it into a family name somehow. I'm excited that Daxton will be the keeper of that bit of heritage.

We also like to choose a bible verse to declare over our boys, to hang in their room and remind them of who we see them as - like a seal upon their lives. It took me a while to find the perfect verse for Daxton, but when I did, Stevie and I read it over and over again like, yes.

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best, and may be pure until the day of Christ; filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God."
- Philippians 1:9-11

We are so excited and so ready to meet our baby boy. I am a few days shy of 39 weeks, so lets get on with it, mister Daxton! I can't wait to meet you!

P.S. - When we decided Everett's name.
P.P.S. - Custom name print by Jenny Highsmith - isn't she crazy talented? She's my go-to for hand-lettered prints.

Preparing for a New Baby.

He's coming soon. It's only a matter of time now.

I've been a little anxious, not necessarily about the baby coming (because I'm excited to meet him!), but more about all the things I want to get done before he comes. And I also feel pretty limited, because some days I feel absolutely fantastic and super productive, and some days I have a lot of back pain and contractions and I'm restricted to sitting or laying on a heating pad to get some relief. Those days are tricky, figuring out how to still have quality time with my toddler, even though he's super active - "Mommy, play golf with me!", "Mommy, play choo choo with me!" I want to enjoy every single one of these days, I want to relish the marrow out of each moment with my family, and I want to remember.

I am preparing for the new boy. I am preparing for a shift in season. I am preparing for my life to never look or feel the same again. It's sort of hard to prepare for the unknown, but I am doing my best based on previous experience. I just know there are always wild cards! But in an effort to be ready, in mind and body and spirit, I am focusing my dwindling energy in the following areas:

Spending Quality Time with Family.
I shared last week about how we made time to get out to the Pumpkin Patch. It was so so fun, playing around the farm with no agenda except to HAVE FUN. We are making an intentional effort to do some special family things before baby boy #2 arrives. We are also just making time to be intentional with seemingly uninteresting things - like encouraging Everett to help me bake muffins for him (he stands on a stool and helps me dump flour and honey into the mixer - yes, it's a complete mess), like flopping into piles of leaves out in the yard, like making a trip to Target a special mommy-son date with a treat at the end :) I'm just trying to make everyday moments charged with life, because soon these days will be over and the season will look different.

Finishing Last-Minute House Projects.
I've been very reliant on my family members for these projects, and I am so so grateful that they are willing to oblige me. Last year we were gifted a beautiful mahogany dining room set that I've been slowly repainting a chalky, antiqued white. It's been a long process, something I started when I was newly pregnant (don't worry, I've been using a safe paint!), and I am just jonesing to get all the pieces finished up before the baby arrives. Taking a month to go to New York and then having some pregnancy setbacks (AKA being forced to sit and lay) kind of threw off my time line for completing this project, but I am still attempting it while I can! We will see how far I get.

Washing/Folding Baby Clothes.
This one is so therapeutic. Pulling out all the newborn/baby items from their storage space in the attic has been super soothing for me - the nesting urge is so present and real right now! Folding and washing these sweet little baby clothes has flooded me with memories of Everett's first few months. I'll admit, those were hard times for me, and I've been flooded with reminders of sleepless nights and zombie-like days and the unending cry of my colicky baby. But they were also significantly rich times, knitting my heart to the eternal spirit of my beloved boy. I am in awe that I get to do this again; I am so privileged to be entrusted to foster another little soul within my care. I am so excited and nervous, all at once.

Assembling Baby Gear and Creating "Stations".
Stations are going to be my best friend, according to all my mama friends of multiples. I am assembling swings and rockers and pack n plays strategically in different areas of the house (including next to this bed of mine) so that my new little guy can hang out while Everett plays and while I scurry around and do dishes, fold laundry and you know, do the life things.

Buying Last-Minute Items.
Everett might have broken our baby monitor (he's such a Bam-Bam), and we might have lost the cord to his sound machine while we were in New York. There are all kinds of little things that need some upgrading or replacing, and I have been slowly making these purchases so that our budget doesn't balloon out of control in December, which is already the most expensive month of the year. Thankfully, we have most everything we need, so I've just been filling in the blanks here and there. The Cat & Jack section at Target has been a nasty lure, but I've resisted the temptation to buy all the things. I still need to make a few necessary purchases - can anyone recommend some bottles and nursing bras that you really loved?

Blog Collaborations.
I am so grateful for this blog of mine. I love writing and sharing and I especially love the record it's served as a place for our family memories to live. It's opened up some really fun, unexpected opportunities over the past year, and I can honestly say there is nothing that I would rather be doing with my margins of time. In fact, I am trying to figure out how to continue to grow this space and balance the whole motherhood gig. And from now until Christmas I have some really fun collaborations ahead that I'm excited to share, so I am in the process of getting those buttoned up :)

What advice can you lend a mama in the final stage of pregnancy? Any last-minute preparations you made before your baby arrived that made all the difference? I am so open to all input over here - please share in the comments friends! xox

P.S. - I forgot to mention that I got my nails and toes done this week. I rarely forget to pamper ;)