Baby Names

Joshua and I made a pack a long time ago not to share the potential names we had set aside for future children. And, while we are still doing that (for the most part), we have recently realized that some of the names we really like are fatally flawed when paired with our last name.

For example, I love the name Flynn for a boy because it is my maternal grandmother's maiden name. But paired with our last name (Chisholm, pronounced Chis-um), you get Flynchism, which sounds like a disease of flinching! I also like the names Leigh or Lynn for girls but they lead to more diseases: Leechism and Lynchism, the disease of leeches or the disorder of lynching people. No good at all. Ha ha ha.

What's funny about it is that Joshua does not hear these oddities in the names at all and thinks that I'm making it up. But when I tell friends, they immediately exclaim "oh no!" so I know I'm not too crazy.

All this being said, maybe some of these names will be used as middle names. And then, when we need to use stern voices with our children, using both their first and middle names, we will also be insulting them. Two birds. One stone.

New (to us) Car

Joshua and I are slowly realizing that we are totally creatures of habit. For example, when we want a break from cooking, one of us will suggest that we go out to eat. Then without discussing details, we walk to the same restaurant, sit at the same table and often eat the same meal. It's comfortable and easy. Sure, we could try new restaurants -- we live in the mecca of eateries -- but eating out for us is more about sitting down and chatting for an extended amount of time without having to worry about the dishes.

With the coming of a little one and the fact that our current vehicle was too small to fit a car seat comfortably, we decided to invest in a second vehicle. Not surprisingly, it is a near replica of our current vehicle, just an extra two doors and hatchback. Take a look.

Our current car, a red Toyota Echo Our new car: a red Toyota Matrix The three years as a one-vehicle family was great but certain priorities made getting a second vehicle more appealing. Mainly, since I am planning on staying home with the baby full time, it will be nice to be able to drive up to Brian and Bridgette's house to visit during the daytime, go to some of the larger parks in the area for longer (and less trash-filled) walks and go to some of the museums/the zoo. Plus, with the hatchback, the dog won't have to sit on the babies lap, which is always a plus.

We were lucky that our friends, Dawn and Jason, just happened to be moving to Birmingham for the next two years and needed to sell their car. They gave us a great deal on it. They really loved the car and took good care of it. We can already tell that it is going to be a great addition to our family.

Side story: When we were test-driving it, Joshua kept telling me to imagine a screaming child in the backseat and then asking me if it was still a comfortable ride. He's a nut, which is why I love him so much.

Photo update

Patrick and Carrie, who are getting married in just over a month, stopped by a few weekends ago for a visit. We were able to have an impromptu bbq with them, our former apartment neighbors Robin and Bobby and our current neighbors Erin and Randy, which was super fun. Patrick and Carrie gave us our first baby gift. It was wild how overwhelming this gift felt to both Joshua and me. It just seemed unreal that, in less than six months, we will have a little body to put inside that baby outfit. What a wonderfully mind blowing thought.

On Memorial Day, we were able to attend my cousin Peter's chili cook off and beer fest. Joshua made a big batch of chili and we had a fun time hanging out with Peter's family and neighbors, including the adorable and dinosaur-growling Sine, pictured below.

One recent evening, around 8 at night, we were suddenly plagued with the burning desire to build a trellis for the flowers and ivy that have been booming in the planters I built last summer. We are excited for the ivy to grow up (literally) and cover the wall with foliage.

Lastly, some folks have been excited to see my pregnancy bump. Even though I'm now 15 weeks along, I'm not showing much. Here's me showing Shanti my belly after I went on an enjoyable walk in the rain with Joshua and Simon. She was unimpressed.

More Good News!

In other news, I was offered and accepted the Fels internship position with Project H.O.M.E., a local non-profit with an amazingly holistic approach to making long-term, sustainable changes in the city. The project I will be designing and implementing deals with a recent calculation of the cost of homelessness in Philadelphia which was done in order to show the cost-effectiveness of permanent supportive housing. Basically, in a similar fashion to Malcolm Gladwell's examination of "Million Dollar Murray", who cost Reno over a million dollars to not help him out, this new report from the University of Pennsylvania will be used to make an argument that transitional housing in neighborhoods not only increased the value of the housing but has tons of other secondary benefits as well. Not exactly sure which way the project will head, but I'm excited for the process!

Landing this position was a blessing. Being pregnant and looking for employment wasn't exactly the situation I wanted to be in when I graduated from my master's. I just hated the idea of starting a job and possibly being introduced as "that new girl who is already 4 months pregnant." There has been a position at The Reinvestment Fund which I have been eyeing for a while now (maps + economic policy = totally up my alley). However, I couldn't get over the fact that I would be applying for a full-time position knowing full well that I would not be willing to work there past November. Maybe a similar TRF position will be available once all the kids are reared!

But in the meantime, I'm excited to begin working with Project H.O.M.E. and to finally tell people more openly that I'm expecting. I was so worried that telling people would come around to bite me in the butt. Actually, during the interview, I told the Project H.O.M.E. interviewer that I was pregnant because she asked, "Why are you applying for an internship when you already graduated and could be applying for full-time positions?" After I told her, she said, "Whoa, that isn't something people usually share, but I understand because I have been in the same situation of applying for a job while pregnant." Then we talked about when I was due and other little things about pregnancy. She seemed totally supportive and understanding. But, more than anything, she seemed to appreciate my honesty. This seems to mean that I'll be going into a supportive environment, which makes me exceedingly happy. And maybe they will be able to hire me on a little longer for other projects after the Fels position ends ... at least until the baby comes. That would be ideal.

Plus, Project H.O.M.E.'s co-founder and Executive Director, Sister Mary Scullion, has just been named to TIME Magazine’s list of “The 100 Most Influential People.” Impressive.

Most Exciting News Ever

We are expecting a baby at the end of November!


Joshua is excited to wear this shirt. He surely will make a fantastic father. He has been the most wonderfully supportive husband these first three months of pregnancy.


Our families were super excited with the news. My brother and sister-in-law are also expecting, along with three of my cousins. They are all due between now and November when we are due. Baby boom!

We told the Thompson parents the good news with shirts that say "Fantastic Nana" and "Fantastic Padre," which are their chosen grandparent names.


Joshua made me a great Mother's Day cake to celebrate the coming of motherhood. I could not be more excited about my upcoming new role in life.

In the meantime, I've been excited by the pregnancy process. Luckily, after over a month of feeling off with morning sickness, it has started to lessen. I have to admit that I felt like it was never going to end.

This past weekend I purchased some pregnancy pants, which was exciting. Even though I'm not "showing," I'm slowly getting bigger. In pregnancy clothes, I look pregnant. Funny how that works. I'll be sure to post belly photos in the coming months.

Master Chisholm

Another item checked off my life's to-do list!

Program to fix up homes in last phase

By Deborah Hirsh • Courier-Post Staff • May 16, 2009

State, local and church officials Friday announced the third and final phase of a program that grants forgivable loans to Camden residents looking to fix up their places.

The Camden Home Improvement Program, also known as CHIP, offers eligible homeowners up to $20,000 in loans to fix their homes. Priority is given to repairs that affect the safety of residents, such as rewiring a faulty electrical system. However, grants can also be awarded for fixing basic systems, preventing deterioration and enhancing the exterior facade. If the homeowners stay in their home for five years, the entire loan is forgiven. They can sell the home before that, but must repay all or part of the loan depending on how many years they stay.

The idea originated from Camden Churches Organized for People and Concerned Black Clergy, who said the state's $175 million economic recovery plan had not done enough to improve the city's neighborhoods.

Since the program first launched in December 2006, more than 130 homes have been rehabilitated and dozens more are in progress.

An additional 83 are expected to be rehabbed in this final phase. Homeowners in Fairview, Morgan Village, Parkside, Lanning Square, Central Waterfront, Cooper Grant and downtown will now be eligible to apply.

State agencies anticipate eventually giving out $8 million to up to 300 homeowners across the city. Of that money, $5 million comes from the Camden Economic Recovery Board, $2.5 million from the Department of Community Affairs and $500,000 from the city of Camden.
Gloucester City contractor Munawar Bashir, 44, said the program has not only helped homeowners but also kept him and other local businesses afloat.

Bashir said it wasn't long after he and his brother started their company in 2005 that projects began to slow down. Sometimes, he said, people would hire them and then they didn't have the money to pay for the job.

"It's cold winter and no jobs, I'm just crazy running around," he remembered. "I lost everything, house and car."

He heard about the CHIP program in 2007 and applied to be one of their designated contractors. If not for those projects, he said, "I would have lost everything."

On Friday, he and two employees put siding on an East Camden home, one of about 35 grant projects they've worked on so far. Bashir estimated that 90 percent of their jobs come from CHIP.

If there were enough money to meet the high demand for the grants, contractors would have even more projects. Aida Figueroa, who manages the project through Cooper's Ferry, said she has a wait list of more than 250 people who applied for the second phase of the program but weren't able to get funding.

Church leaders said they hope to find a way to continue the program because helping residents improve their homes can trigger a domino effect throughout the neighborhood, increasing depressed property values.

"That one that stands out has encouraged some of the other people on the block to fix up their houses, too, at least on the outside," said the Rev. Willie Anderson, of the Gateway neighborhood.

The program "definitely needs to be done again," he said. "We've got a lot of working poor that's doing all they can just to stay in their homes and pay their taxes. They just don't have the money for a new roof or a heating system."

Community Garden (a.k.a. What Joshua Does with His Days)

Vacant city lots transform into family-tended gardens
By Lavinia DeCastro • Courier-Post Staff • May 10, 2009

Less than a year ago, 9-year-old Alex Checo came home from a school field trip clutching a small tomato plant. "He was so excited," said his mother Martha Checo. "He said "Mom, let's go. We have to plant it.'" Checo didn't share her son's excitement. "At my house, we don't have the space to grow a garden," she said.

She did it anyway, setting the plant down in the small patch of dirt at their Cramer Hill home.
"We had so many tomatoes, if you came in and took a couple, we wouldn't even notice," said Alex, a student at the St. Anthony of Padua School.

Although the family's garden is still small, they now have room to grow as many vegetables as they would like. The Checos were among the first families to sign up for their own plot at a new community garden in a city-owned lot on the corner of 29th Street and River Road, across from Von Neida Park. "We're going to have more throughout the city," said City Council President Angel Fuentes during Saturday's groundbreaking ceremony. "This is just the beginning."

The garden, one of about 20 sprinkled throughout the city, is the result of a partnership between the city, a group of local churches and the Camden Children's Garden. About half of the community gardens in Camden are on city-owned properties, said Children's Garden Director Mike Devlin. The other half belongs to faith-based organizations, he said.

"This is a good partnership with the churches," Fuentes said. "Imagine if each church could select an empty lot near them and beautify it. I think it would make a huge difference in the city."

The lot in Cramer Hill is among the 5,000 to 10,000 abandoned properties in Camden.
For the past five years, the lot was a neighborhood blight. Trailers that served as a police substation from 1994 to 2002 still sat there, abandoned. "We put up the trailers and within a couple of days, folks came here and firebombed it," Fuentes said, blaming the damage on drug dealers who sold their wares on the corner of 28th and Heyes streets. When the city restructured its police department the trailers were no longer needed.

Tired of seeing the abandoned structures, four Cramer Hill churches belonging to a group called Camden Churches Organized for People decided to do something about it.

"We got together with the Children's Garden and asked: "What can we do with this site?' " said Mandi Aviles, director of youth ministries at St. Anthony. With the help of a group from Volunteers of America, the staff at the Children's Garden prepared the first nine plots to be planted then used part of a $250,000 Robert Wood Johnson grant to supply seeds and plants. Those who participate in the program have to sign an agreement with St. Anthony and the Cramer Hill community garden committee to take care of the land. "The first step is to get the gardens going," Devlin said.

On Saturday, volunteers were busy planting the more than 500 plants and seeds bought with grant money. With a little help getting started, neighbors usually stick with it, Devlin said.
"Gardening is popular in every culture," Devlin said. "It's as popular in Haddonfield as it is in Camden." And the demand is growing. There are more community gardens popping up this year than any other previous year, Devlin said. So many, in fact, that Camden County ran out of the wood chips it has provided free of change for many years. The wood chips are used to divide the plots. "We used them all up," Devlin said.

Membership in the Children's Garden club has climbed to include more than 70 families and 30 nonprofits. For their $25 to $60 annual dues, members have access to free plants, seeds, fertilizers, fencing and other planting materials. The National Gardening Association estimates that 9 million more households will be gardening this year, a 19 percent increase from last year.
For the residents planting the gardens, the benefits outweigh the amount of produce they can harvest.

"I think it's going to restore a lot of the hope that was lost here," Aviles said. "We see so much negative that we forget that there are things that we can do that are positive if we just get together and do them."