Nick Names

Before I named my children, I was very conscientious of nicknames they may be called.  However, you can't quite predict the things that you call your own children.  I know some people nickname based on personality or other characteristics.  We mostly just do play-on words with the names we picked for our kids.

Jackson is called Jax, Jack attack, Action Jackson, Jackstonian, Jacksta, Jackston . . . all logically stemming from Jackson.

Hallie, on the other hand, is getting a bit  'off the charts' nicknames.  It started with Hallie Gallie almost exclusively, then Hal-Gal, and somehow we started Halsee  and Hals . . . (Maybe because Jacks ends with an S and we didn't want her to feel left out?)  Then Jackson was interested in the song "Hallie, Gallie, Bo ballie, banana Fanna fo Fallie, Me My mo Mallie, Hallie."  And he almost always nicknames her Mallie (Maui) and Mals.  so we started all sorts of different letters Hals, Mals, Pals, Gals, Sals, and then Sally, Mallie, etc.  My SIL was here in Phoenix and called her Hallie Berry . . . so you can see why all week I've been calling her Sals-berry . . . totally logical nickname, right?

We love her and her huge smiles and happy, contented personality (as long as big brother isn't tormenting her or her mean mamma isn't abandoning her).  She is super active (rivaling her big brother).  A kind lady was trying to help me a couple of weeks ago in church as I was husband-less . . . she mentioned that she really got her work out trying to hold on to her!
Hallie will eat anything and everything as long as it is real food and not baby food mush.  She loves to chew, with only 2 teeth . . . She learned to clap last week and is waving and giving kisses.  She is also standing on her own when she accidentally lets go.  Yes, she is only 8 1/2 months old . . .

Jackson is really growing up a lot, too.  He loves to show us just how tall he is several times a day.  He tries out new vocabulary words to make sure they work (My shoes are 'totally ruined'! or "Otherwise . . .") He is eating really well (although he is picky).  He is actually going to bed great.  I think that having Hallie in his room is good for him.  Maybe he was scared to sleep alone and that is why he was coming out so much before.  Nap time, on the other hand, is completely non-existent.  

He prays for new friends here.  The other day I really feel like he was following the spirit.  We just prayed for new friends and in my morning prayer I prayed for a way to serve others.  After waving goodbye to dad, He asked to go across the street to 'find new friends'.  We were in jammies and sweaty running clothes, but since no one was out, I thought I'd humor him for a minute.   He saw some weeds and asked if we could weed her yard (He is obsessed with weeding right now).  Right then, the woman came out of her garage (I thought to go to work) and said Jackson yells, "Can we pick your weeds?"  She laughs and says that she was just headed outside to do yard work.  Together, we picked weeds, and talked.  Turns out she just lost her job 2 days before and so I got to talk a bit about our family's struggle and how Heavenly Father makes it all work out for the best.  I hope it was helpful to her, because I'm not sure how many weeds we actually pulled!  I was grateful for the chance to get to know someone and share the love and guidance Heavenly Father has showed us recently.  I hope that my testimony might lift others that are going through a trial of unemployment now.