Some of the folks in our neighborhood are getting very creative about finding ways to do physically-distanced trick-or-treating. They have built all kinds of contraptions to deliver candy from their porches to the side-walk. There are chutes, pulleys, and zip-lines, all decorated in fun and scary themes. One house was even giving out hand sanitizer in a basket ahead of time in preparation for Halloween. As Hendrik pointed out, it is the perfect year to incorporate masks into Halloween costumes! I wonder what kinds of things kids will come up with?
Month: October 2020
Nora walks Orion
We’re now having even more fun walking Orion, because Nora is helping!
She loves the moby wrap, and has been snoozing happily (or staring up wide-eyed) during our strolls.
-Hendrik
Signe – the story of her middle name
Picking her middle name was quite a challenge. The first name was easy. Nora was one of the few names that we both liked, plus as an added bonus it was my grandmother’s name.
But we were down to the wire on picking the middle name. We didn’t finalize it until the morning we left the hospital and we had to turn in the paperwork for the birth certificate. The problem was that we had a long list of criteria and nothing quite fit every point:
- Sounds good with first and last name
- Not too popular/common (because to our surprise, Nora is)
- Doesn’t end in an “a” (because Nora does)
- Not too girly
- Short – ideally two syllables (because last name is long)
- Germanic/Scandinavian origin
- Cool meaning
- Cool story behind the name
We searched through books and websites of names. At one point we got so desperate that we downloaded the social security database of all names used in the US since 1880 and wrote a script to search it for substrings we liked. By the time we went into the hospital, we had been working on the middle name for about 6 months. We had a short-list of about seven names and hoped to pick one while we were there. Maybe seeing her for the first time would help us decide?
When we checked into our labor and delivery room, the nurse came in and introduced herself. “Hi, I’m Signe,” she said. We looked at each other. That’s a cool name! I wonder what it means? What language is it from? We looked it up and quickly added it to our short list. It is a Scandinavian name meaning “new victory.” We still agonized over the decision for another five days but in the end we loved the name and it met all of our criteria! Plus now we have an extra cool story about how we, the least spontaneous people in the world, did something spontaneous when we picked our baby’s name.
Fall colors
The leaves on our Japanese maple now match Nora’s hair:
This is my favorite time of year as well as Nancy’s.
-Hendrik
Four Weeks!
The first four weeks went by so slowly and so quickly, simultaneously. Powering through the sleep deprivation and exhaustion made time seem like it was dragging on but looking back at it, it’s all a blur (probably due to our hindered ability to form memories with no sleep). I’m sure the next month or two will be like that as well.
Orion still tries to lick her every chance he gets and when she cries he barks along. It is going to be a big adjustment for the poor little poodle and he’s far from settling into a routine.
Hendrik went back to work (from home) last week. Taking care of her is definitely a lot harder alone although he still manages to find time to hold her while he works during the day so I can do other things (like clean up after her and eat) and most importantly, take a nap. I don’t know how I would survive if he actually had to go to the office. I guess the pandemic is good for something.
Family Portrait
After three weeks, we finally got enough sleep to realize we should take a family photo before Nora gets any older. Bonus: Nora is giving a thumbs up in the photo. We must be good parents!
EisenOrem Adventures 