Week #37: Is This a Real Hint or Are You Just Playin'?

Well it's Week #37 and the final countdown is on!  Exactly one month from today we will be making our journey to the West Coast to meet our sweet little granddaughter and reunite with her wonderful parents.  She is one lucky little girl as family and friends have already showered her mom and dad with many thoughtful and useful gifts in preparation for her arrival.  The cubbies in her beautifully decorated room  are stuffed with  adorable toys, books and CDs and I am imagining that her closet already rivals her mom's.  ("Every girl needs a blazer," right, Aunt Kathleen?)

Speaking of her mom.... this week's name was actually suggested by Baby Girl Mulvaney's mother!  I don't know if it's "the one", but for sure it's a name that has special meaning for BGM's mom and her family.  It has strong biblical roots and is derived from a Hebrew name, meaning "oath of God" or "God is satisfaction". In the New Testament, this is the name of John the Baptist's mother. Then there's "The Queen".  And the beautiful movie star with the violet eyes.  And if those aren't enough hints, let's just say this week's name is a thoughtful tribute to Baby Girl Mulvaney's west coast aunt, her mom's sister, who is sure to be one of her biggest fans! 

West Coast Aunt and BGM's Mom

There are very few songs out there that reveal the "full name" but the one that BGM's mom suggested captures one of its many derivatives.  While this song was composed by Larry Williams in 1958, it was actually made famous by the Beatles ten years later on their Help! album.    Who knows... BGM's parents have been pretty tight-lipped, but could this be a HINT?  It won't be long before we find out, folks!

The Beatles, Live from Shea Stadium (1965)

Week #36: A Quick Re-Cap and an SOS from Wile E. Coyote!

Already we're at Week 36 and less than four weeks out from Baby Girl Mulvaney's due date.  So let's pause to review the names that have been suggested so far, in the order of their appearance in this blog:

Ruby  ...Cecilia...Caroline...Valentina...Claribel...

Maria...Corinna...Molly...Grace...Lily...

Tessie...Rosalinda...Lucy...Maggie...Winnie. . .

Of those names, my favorite is probably Caroline. It's that Neil Diamond thing.  It's the Red Sox.  It's that Kennedy connection.  If you're from Massachusetts, you know what I mean.

My intuition tells me that if I were to get any clue at all from Baby Girl Mulvaney's parents, they would tell me:  "None of the above."  So with less than a month to go, I am determined to keep "helping" the expectant parents with just a few more suggestions for that perfect moniker. From time to time, my co-workers write names on post-its and leave them in my mailbox at school... and believe it or not, today I received a suggestion all the way from Denmark!  (Congratulations on YOUR new baby, and thank you, Stephanie!)  If my readers have any ideas for the next couple of weeks, please let me know soon!

For now, I'm gonna tap into the wisdom and thoughtfulness of the paternal grandfather-to-be.  For once, I will ask him for his opinion and really pay attention to it!  At this point, I need all the help I can get!  

Grandpa's choice reflects that melancholy, Irish side of him which he relishes. It's a name of Hebrew origin which means "delicate or weary."  Biblically, it is also the name of Jacob's first wife, who became the mother of Dinah and six of Jacob's twelve sons.  Who else has this name?  My school secretary (who he empathizes with whenever he sees her), and the fictional princess of Star Wars.  

So here you go .... a little suggestion from a very blessed and happy grandfather-to-be all the way from beautiful Western Massachusetts - sung by one of his all-time favorite artists.  (And yes, that's a young Bruce Springsteen on back-up guitar!)

From Black and White Night, by Roy Orbison

Week #35: Happy Mother's Day, EQM!

Week #35.  This Sunday, May 12th, will be EQM's first Mother's Day.  Next year will definitely be more exciting for her with Baby Girl Mulvaney in her life, but let me be one of the first to wish EQM a very happy Mother's Day 2013!

Let's kick off Week #35 with a beautiful photo of the happy parents-to-be at their baby shower last weekend.  

EQM's sister, Liz, and her boss and friend, Chris, planned and hosted the event at Chris's beautiful home in San Diego.  I love the fact that it was a co-ed shower and I'm sure Matt did, too!  Since Baby Girl Mulvaney's nursery has been decorated with a Winnie the Pooh theme, Chris and Liz added some really sweet "Pooh" touches to the event.  So adorable!  The "parents-to-bee" received lots of wonderful gifts from friends and family members, including some really nice books for their sweet baby girl.   Her grandparents look forward to reading some of those books to her!

So with a June 12th due date fast approaching,  there's not much time left for me to come up with that perfect name for Baby Girl Mulvaney.  And I also know that her parents may not need or want my suggestions at this point.... but I can have fun, right?   The parents-to-be certainly aren't giving us any hints, so let's just roll with this until Baby Girl Mulvaney arrives and we find out!

This week's choice of name has an obvious connection to the Pooh theme, and it would be a nice shout out to one of Matt's great-aunts, a retired kindergarten teacher, who is the kindest, sweetest lady ever.  Its origin is primarily Welsh and the meaning is all encompassing:  fair, pure, happiness, holy, blessed reconciliation, joy and peace, first born daughter.  Wow!  This name has it all!  And believe it or not, the most famous individual with this name is a bear who happens to be Christopher Robin's best friend. Why not?

Week #35

Week #34: And Now, For a Commercial Break

Sammy, Kathleen, Keith, Kayleigh, Sue and Steve

Week #34 is pretty exciting all around for our family, hence, I'm a little late with the blog

this weekend. My niece, Kayleigh, was married yesterday to a handsome fella at Ebbing Springs Church in Glade Springs, Virginia. My niece is a beautiful, sensitive, sweet soul and I wish her and her new husband, Keith, a lifetime of love, good health and happiness together.  As if that weren't exciting enough, Kayleigh will top that off today with her graduation from  Virginia Intermont College. 

Most of the McCormick family spent the weekend at the General Francis Marion or "The Lincoln" as the locals call it. The General Francis Marion is a beautifully restored roaring 20's hotel in Marion, Virginia, at the foothills of the Southern Appalachian Mountain range.  The southern hospitality here has been wonderful and the landscape in these parts is quite pretty.... lots of rolling hills, green pastures dotted with cows and horses, and more churches than I have ever seen in one place.  There's no question we're in the Bible Belt!  Smoking is common in these parts, but drinking alcohol is a bit more "secretive".  As one bumper sticker said, "I don't know Jack, but I do know Shine!"  The wedding was dry, but have no fear, the McCormick family was here.  We came prepared and drank our spirits, secretively, at the "dry" wedding.  Grandma McCormick's purse was so heavy that I grabbed it from her moments before she was about to be escorted down the aisle so it wouldn't weigh her down!

It is the day after the wedding and as I now sit  with Steve, Kathleen and my nephew, Sam, in TriCities Airport in Blountville, Tennessee, my thoughts  turn to Baby Girl Mulvaney, whose parents will be the guests of honor today at a baby shower in San Diego.  Matt's sister and I would love to be there, but since that's not possible, we made sure that our presents have arrived on the West Coast and we send our love and best wishes to Elena and Matt for a wonderful day.

Back to the original purpose of my blog... suggesting a nice name for Baby Girl Mulvaney.  With all that was going on this weekend, including our family celebrations, the Kentucky Derby and Cinco de Mayo, I had a lot of inspiration for names.  But you know what?  Being with family and watching my own children and my nieces and nephew grow up, graduate from college, get married and have children .... well it all makes me very nostalgic.  Instead of proposing another name today, I have decided instead to share a special song that was commissioned for the Kentucky Derby about two years before Baby Girl Mulvaney's mom and dad were born.  I listened to it frequently while I was pregnant, and later rocked my first born to sleep while this song played in the background on an antique radio.  Years later, Dan Fogelberg's voice and beautiful lyrics still move me.

So I'm taking a commercial break this weekend to share the song that has such special meaning for me.  Today it makes me reflect on the beautiful southern landscape that I was introduced to this weekend, and along with a wedding, a graduation, and a baby shower, the lyrics really resonate:  "The chance of a lifetime in a lifetime of chance."  It certainly is.  Congratulations to the Bride and Groom, to the new college graduate, and to the parents-to-be.  XOXO

Dan Fogelberg