Our growing family

When Evan was born, one of the coolest gifts we received was this book. The brother/sister team in this book even look like my kids -- Julia has dark pigtails and Evan has much lighter hair and a mischievous grin. The family is Jewish like ours and the age gap between the kids is about the same as our Julia and Evan.

They also have a baby sister named Clarissa.

For a year now, Paul's been talking about when we'll have our own Clarissa. It's become a running joke in our family -- I'll talk about being done with babies, Paul will remind me that we still need to have a Clarissa and I'll say that I don't care if she barks or purrs, but the only way he's getting a Clarissa is if she has 4 legs. It's all fun and everything, but I haven't been especially interested in the idea of a third child. And I sure as heck don't want one named Clarissa -- it's a lovely name and all, but it just aint my style.

This past week, Paul purchased a new laptop -- one with all of the bells and whistles he's been dreaming of. As he was setting it up the other night, he got to the point in the installation process where he had to name the new machine. He was about to give it our last name when I realized that this new computer was going to be his baby, and as such, there was really only one name we could give it.

So this post comes to you courtesy of our new baby, Clarissa. Betcha thought for a second there that I was pregnant again, eh? Perish the thought. At least now if it happens someday, the name Clarissa will already be taken and I won't be stuck with another Johnny name situation.