The Name Game

No, it's not what you are thinking....we are not revealing the name until baby Delo comes popping out. What I am talking about is the naming of the grandparents, more specifically the grandmas.

There are so many options out there - NaNa, Nonni, Nene, Granny, Grandma - to name a few. In my family, we went with NaNa. The thing I remember most about the names of my Nanas is how I was taught to distinguish between the two. You see to a 2-year old still learning to talk, the last names of DeLorenzo and Satterfield would have been butchered since kids are better with the 1 and 2 syllable words. So what did my parents do, they named them by where they lived....thus NaNa Watson (who lived in the community of Watson) and NaNa Big Hill (who lived at the top of a big hill).

And then we have the other side of the equation....does Christine's mom want to be called a spanish name or a more traditional English name. Spanish for grandma is "Abuela" and the nickname is "Lita" so they called their grandma "Abulita." I kind of like that.

My nieces call my mom NeNe but she has not decided if she wants yet another grandchild screaming "NENE!" all the time.

It seems that it is always something to think about....

On another note, our friends had their baby last week so I guess I will be able to call Charlie and get some hands on experiences from him for his first week as a Dad. It's all about the sharing.

Lost in Translation

Let me start by saying that I love my mother-in-law. She is absolutely the best! But I am just getting used to what my wife and her siblings have been used to their whole lives.....being amused by not understand something that she has said. You see, she is Mexican born, and though has spent most of her life in the US, has a definite accent. They all have a lot of fun with her when she says certain things and sometimes she is the last one in on the joke. I am finally getting used to the fact that it is standard family practice to laugh and poke fun....and you know me...always the wise ass!

So now that the stage is set, we were having dinner this past weekend at my inlaws....some wonderful home-cooked Mexican dishes (sorry Todd and Greg....I get the bulk of the cooking now...the price for you boys being away). Anyway, after dinner she was telling a story about something and all that we heard was "have you ever had 'hashish'?" Well, immediately Christine and I are cracking up, and her father joined the fray shortly....and she just kept going. The story went on about being on the streets in Mexico and seeing "hashish" and even selling it....my eyes were watering and I thought Christine's water was about to break she was laughing so hard.

We obviously knew that her mom was not a childhood hash dealer but we had no clue what she was trying to say. When we all quit laughing hysterically we were finally able to get the correct word from her......HEAD CHEESE!! She was talking about head cheese....that lovable treat that is not actually cheese, but rather a jellied meat dish made from the head of a pig or calf which typically takes the form of a large sausage and is served sliced as a cold cut. Mmmm...yummy!

I guess I would need the 'hashish' in order to ever eat the 'head cheese.'

And now...the rest of the story. How does this tie to the DELO CHRONICLES you may ask? What does this have to do with getting ready for a baby? Well, as it turns out..everything. You see, I neglected to mention that my mother-in-law is going to be the baby boy's nanny. You can't imagine how excited we are to have a family member serve in this capacity and we will be forever grateful. I am already very hopeful that our children will be bilingual from the start.

But back to my point; you see when you have a baby's grandma/nanny that cannot pronounce everything correctly (e.g HECHINGER's), you have to be very careful what you name your kids. I would not want the boy to not be sure of what his name was because grandma can't pronounce it correctly. The poor boy could have an identity crisis before the age of 2.......no I am not giving away the names yet!! The naming issue will be next another post.

The things you never thought you would have to worry or think about. And in case everyone is wondering....my beautiful wife is doing great! We are at 28 weeks and the baby is now kicking up a storm...baby classes start this week....now that will be a fun post!

Withering Weekends

We have all grown up constantly measuring time. How many more days till Christmas? How many days till school is out? How many vacation days do I have left? We all have done it our whole lives.

This past weekend I was talking with one of my buddies, also expecting soon, and we were talking about the weekends we had left to get things done before the baby arrives.

I just thought...WOW!

I had to get out the calculator. At 40 years, and 8 months, I have had the last 2115 weekends all for myself. Sure I had commitments and things to do with other people, but they were still based on things for me. I was in charge of my time.

Now I just had to come to the realization that I have exactly 13 more weekends until the baby is born and then they all belong to him. Think about it, I will spend the following 1000 weekends devoting my time to my son....through childhood, sports, academics, special field trips, etc.

All of those weekends, so many things that I have done.....the trips, the fun, the memories. Now I have just 13 left and then I have to focus on someone other than myself....to give my time to the development of my son...........13 weekends left.......I better go and start planning for this one!