I love love love names and name meanings.What my real first, confirmation, and middle names mean.

You are the total package — suave, sexy, smart, and strong.
You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know.
You don’t always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don’t have as much going for them as you do.

You are usually the best at everything … you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic “Type A” personality.

You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You’re always up to something.
You have a ton of energy, and most people can’t handle you. You’re very intense.
You definitely are a handful, and you’re likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you.
You never give up, and you will succeed… even if it takes you a hundred tries.
You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice.

You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people.
You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts.
You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.
You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.
At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow.
You are light hearted and accepting. You don’t get worked up easily.
Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.

You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It’s easy to get you excited … which can be a good or bad thing.
You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don’t stick with any one thing for very long.
You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.

You are incredibly wise and perceptive. You have a lot of life experience.
You are a natural peacemaker, and you are especially good at helping others get along.
But keeping the peace in your own life is not easy. You see things very differently, and it’s hard to get you to budge.

You are full of energy. You are spirited and boisterous.
You are bold and daring. You are willing to do some pretty outrageous things.
Your high energy sometimes gets you in trouble. You can have a pretty bad temper at times.

You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless, and you have a lot of questions about life.
You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. Youre most comfortable when youre far away from home.
You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble.

You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out.
Success comes rather easily for you… especially in business and academia.
Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. Youre a strong person.”http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyournameshiddenmeaningquiz/”>What's Your Name’s Hidden Meaning?

IMG_4323
Originally uploaded by SarabellaE

Messy baby photos available.

I love this one to pieces.

IMG_4422
Originally uploaded by SarabellaE

I believe Lucas has made a huge leap in his cognition. I see it coming through in surpising ways. On January 13 he built a huge block city with almost perfect symmetry. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him build anything with any care for that aesthetic. I took lots of pictures.

I have also been taking pictures of some of his lego creations. They have also ramped up in complexity, indicating to me a change in his spatial thinking and engineering ability. We’re talking helicopters with spinning rotors, mummy’s tombs, and—of all things—a bird. I’ll post some of those soon.

Sometimes I sit back and realize that I’m just here to provide a warm place and food so that this genius can unfold in the universe. It seems determined to do so.

Asher ate stewed onions for dinner tonight. It was the weirdest thing. I put one on his plate just to touch and he picked it up, placed it in his mouth, munched it, and swallowed. He then ate tons of them and was clearly disappointed when there were no more. Then he ate half a slice of bread dipped in beef and onion gravy. 

This morning I put on my favorite pair of jeans in the whole world. They fit.  

I love Dr. Atkins.

We are 1 month and 3 weeks into our low-carb diet. We indulged in extra carbs on Christmas day, but then went right back to it. I have lost 14 pounds. I have met my first goal. I would love to lose about 5 more pounds, but am very, very satisfied with my progress. If those last few pounds come off gradually but steadily, I’ll be thrilled. We are no longer on induction, but are trying not to eat too many carbs in any given day. 

Ian’s really done well. I won’t reveal his stats, but let’s just say they are impressive. He has really taken to our new way of eating and says he feels fantastic. What’s more, he has been inspired to try new recipes and new foods. His cooking is wonderful and he cooks for me all the time! We have recently enjoyed salmon with hollandaise sauce; scallops with leeks and spinach; omelets with bacon, sour cream, and green onions; steaks; chicken stir fry; and much more. Go Ian, go Ian!

I’ve been walking more and am thinking about investigating a personal trainer.

We just returned from a lovely reunion of the core friends of the Working Moms’ Group that I was a part of and organized for two years when Lucas was a toddler. Deidre hosted it at her place and Kelly and Ambrosia, Karen and Toby, and Crystal and Kayla attended, as well as the four of us. Deidre has a 4-year-old (Alex) and a new baby (Jace) who is 9 months old. It was surprisingly fun to get together again, perhaps it was because of the long hiatus since our last gathering, or perhaps it was because it didn’t have the obligation of being an official Moms’ Group meeting. Or maybe it was because the whole idea of the Sunday supper was Deidre’s and not mine, and I didn’t have to bang a drum to get everybody on board. It just fell together beautifully and effortlessly. 

Today was pretty cool. It started with our cleaning ladies arriving at 10 and thoroughly cleaning my house until about 1:15. They do such an awesome job and I’m thrilled to have this help. Everything in my home is sparkling right now. It won’t be long before we clutter it up again, but for this one day it’s been perfect.

Lucas is feeling better, and I’m no worse. I have a little bit of a sore throat, but it doesn’t seem to be developing into anything major. 

Asher had good naps today. This afternoon I snoozed with him for a little while, which was a rare indulgence. Lovely.

I finished chapter 9 glossary terms. One more chapter’s worth of glossary definitions to go. 

Ian came home from work a little early, which is always a treat. I love him so much and want to spend more time with him, without kids. It’s a problem we are working on. Starting next week we’ll be taking a drawing class together on Thursday nights for a month. If we like it and we can keep swinging the babysitting, we’ll try to continue beyond that. Our goal is to do a painting class soon too. 

Our new wood window blinds arrived today. Ian hopes to install them in our bedroom this weekend. They’ll class up the joint, I think.

We went out for sushi for dinner, which pleases my Atkinsing palate immensely. Asher decided he liked the tofu pieces in the miso soup and gobbled them up. We rounded out our evening’s entertainment with a trip to Barnes and Noble. We picked up a couple of birthday gifts there and I got a new dictionary. Yay!  

Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 12:32 PM
To: editorsforum@yahoogroups.com [Bay Area Editors' Forum]
Subject: RE: [editorsforum] Silence

Hilary Powers, Goddess of Word, wrote: “Your voice is assuredly welcome, and your specialties are fascinating, being different from mine! The relief of attending to someone else’s triumphs and problems (instead of one’s isolated own) is immense. 

“More to the point, are there any BAEF members in Sacramento who would like to get together THERE from time to time?

Dear Parnasus,

Happy belated birthday, my dear! Sorry I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday on your actual birthday. I hope your special day was wonderful, in spite of the usual demands of house, kids, job, chores, etc. You are a ray of sunshine even when the world is dim and gray. Thank you for all that you do. You walk in beauty through each day, giving and creating safety and love. I admire you so much for that. I hope your party is fabulous! You deserve it!

Your friend,
Sara