Hey there, Delilah.

She’s rapidly shedding her bad girl image and could become one of the hottest baby names of 2015.  Thanks to Kim R. for suggesting Delilah as Name of the Day.

Kim R. originally suggested Delilah way back, but I dismissed her as too tarty to be bestowed on an innocent babe.

Shows what I know.

In 2002, Friends’ Rachel says Delilah is her favorite name but worries it has a “whiff of Biblical whore,” Delilah ranked #706.  (Emma, her ultimate choice for her daughter, ranked #4 and has since taken over the top spot.)   Rather than damage Delilah, by 2003, the name had climbed to #614.

Along with Lily, Layla, Lila and other la, la, lovely L names climbing up the charts, Delilah is as hot as it gets, reaching #193 in 2008.  A parent might rightly feel that her Biblical baggage is a non-issue.

Still, the original Delilah casts a long shadow.  Her name comes from a Hebrew word meaning “to weaken”  and she did just that.  Delilah tempted Samson to reveal the secret of his considerable strength.  He confessed that his mojo was in his flowing locks and Delilah sold him out to the Philistines for cash money.

Trouble ensued.

Renaissance and Baroque painters depicted her treachery, from Titian to Tintoretto, Rubens to Rembrandt.  John Milton retold the story in his late seventeenth century Samson Agonistes.  Camille Saint-Saens’ 1877 opera Samson et Dalila remains oft-performed.  Delilah became a synonym for temptress.

Pop culture references continue to drive the point home – from a recent episode of 30 Rock to more songs that you can list.  Whether you’re into the Grateful Dead or the Judds, the Pointer Sisters or the Pixies, choose your genre and you can find a single about Delilah and her shears.

Many a female character has been redeemed, or at least re-examined, in light of twenty-first century values.  Once upon a time, Eve and Pandora, Helen and Delilah were all dismissed as troublemakers. While many of their reputations have been restored, there’s been less of an effort to recast Delilah’s actions.  Instead, parents seem to simply overlook the reference.  In some cases, Delilah’s meaning is given as delicate – not inaccurate, but the most favorable spin possible on her linguistic origins.

Of course, modern parents might be more familiar with syrupy easy listening deejay Delilah Luke, known for reaching millions of listeners with her syndicated call-in dedication show.  Of course, this could be just as powerful an unpleasant association.

But the radio is boosting Delilah, too, thanks to a gently romantic hit single.   The Plain White T’s “Hey There Delilah” took a few years to catch on, but eventually nabbed a 2008 Grammy nomination and the number one slot on the Billboard Hot 100.  The real Delilah – and yes, there is one – is a squeaky-clean Olympic hopeful, interviewed by the Today Show.

Where does this leave Delilah?  Many names, like Chelsea, were lifted up by a chart-topping single.  But those were names that were either unknown or little used prior to the song.  Delilah is truly remarkable because she’s overcoming the same sort of stigma that stops us from calling our girls Jezebel.

Regardless of the reasons, let’s call Delilah one name that has shed her shady past to take her place solidly in the mainstream.

I’m late with last week’s blog update, sorry. Crazy busy week, and we were away with no internet access for 4 days. Thank god for my iphone, I was starting to twitch a little!

I’ll keep this short, because I’m posting this week’s image/update tomorrow or Wednesday, and that’ll be a good one, from our trip this past weekend (see: Lila’s first plane ride! 28″ of snow! Lila’s first tractor ride! Lots of exclamation points involved!). In short, last week was low-key, just errands, napping, and hanging out. Still loving Mickey, and standing on her own for a second or two at a time.

You’ll want to go to my biz blog for the project image, but here are some old pics I was FINALLY able to edit while we were away. I can finally say that I am totally caught up on editing 2009 pics. No, SERIOUSLY. I can barely believe it myself. It feels awesome. These are from Nov/Dec.

And one newer one, from last week.

Erin, Leo, Sam, Amea-Grace, Lucy, Jade, Maia, Charlotte, Bronte, Lila, Ivy, Thomas, Sophie,

Matthew & Marcus, Quaide & Brathan, Mia, Livvy & Isla, Felix & Ruby, George & Harry, Leah, Luke & Finn.

Oscar & James, Ryan & Lauren, Luciella, Oscar & Maggie, Courtney, Olivia, Violet, Quinn & Cody.

Erica, Simon, Max, Samuel, Grace, Esme, Alex, Hamish, Grace, John, Aaron, Wolf, Sophia, Conn,

Keegan & Brenna, Soliana, Degen & Betsity, Bidya, Shreezana & Jessica, Fatima, Zeeba & Aram.

Milly, Monty & Matilda, Zoe & Sam, Jakeb & Kodi,

Corey, Cerys, Benjamin, Izzie, Trent, Mackenzie, Te Aowai, Thomas, Mitchell, Tamihana.

The dashing Ralph Fiennes wore this choice to an Oscar nomination in 1996’s The English Patient.

Thanks to Kelleita for suggesting László as Name of the Day.

Kelleita initially suggested Ladislas.  Also spelled Ladislaus, both are common Latin versions of a whole cluster of Slavic names.  There’s also the forbidding Russian Vladislav and the truly inscrutable Polish Wladyslaw.

László is Hungarian, and despite the exotic spelling, the pronunciation is straightforward – LAZ lo.  The host of Sirius Radio’s Technofile wore the phonetic spelling Lazlow.

He qualifies as a bona fide classic in Budapest and remains in the Hungarian Top Twenty today.  But in the US, László has never cracked the Top 1000.

The name has held on in Hungary doubtless because of the eleventh century saint, King László I.  Born in exile during a time of civil unrest, László eventually held the throne and expanded his rule into neighboring Croatia.  It’s said that he his prayers worked miracles, and one László legend is depicted on the walls of many medieval Hungarian churches:  Before ascending to the throne, László spied an enemy soldier kidnapping a Hungarian girl.  László gave chase and, with the girl’s help, lopped off the bad guy’s head.

The name traces back to the Slavic elements meaning glorious ruler, an association strengthened  by in light of his reputation.

In 1992, Michael Ondaatje gave the name to his English Patient, who wasn’t English at all, but a Hungarian desert explorer.  If you’re the one person who hasn’t seen the movie, I’ll spare you the spoilers, but Ondaatje based the character on a real life explorer by the same name, also active in 1930s Egypt.  Like the fictional figure, he was suspected of spying.  Unlike the English Patient, the real life László Almásy lived long after World War II, doing time in a Soviet prison and eventually ending up back in Egypt as part of the Desert Research Institute in Cairo.

The silver screen gives us a second Laszlo, Casablanca’s Czech resistance leader, Victor Laszlo.  If you remember, Ilsa met Rick in Paris, believing her husband dead.  He’s a noble figure to Rick’s opportunistic cynic, but it is Rick’s sacrifice that ultimately saves the day.

Others have worn the surname, including:

• Hungarian-born writer Miklos Laszlo, best known for penning Parfumerie, which later became The Shop Around the Corner;
• Philip de László painted the well-born in the early 20th century.

A few other usages are less inspiring:

• Cartoon Network’s Camp Lazlo includes a Brazilian spider monkey named Lazlo;
• The Dr. Who universe includes a part-human, part-pig answering to the name;
• 1985’s Real Genius – featuring a pre-Top Gun Val Kilmer – included a mysterious character called Lazlo Hollyfield, a genius who retreated to an underground labyrinth rather than let his groundbreaking research be used for weapons technology at fictional Pacific Tech.

All of this lends Laszlo a vibe somewhere between quirky and heroic.  With lilting-L names from Lila to Lily all the rage for girls and Leo quite current for boys, Laszlo isn’t as far out as he first appears.

It’s an offbeat choice.  But if you’ve just met yet another baby Silas or Rufus and worry that your favorite names are rapidly becoming mainstream, Laszlo might just be different enough to satisfy.

Alice, Aurelia, Beatrix, Clementine, Clover, Celeste, Dorothy, Evangeline, Freya, Gloria, Gwyneth, Hazel, Holly, Hermione, Inez, Isadora, Lila, Maeve, Madeline, Orla, Polly, Simona, Tallulah, Willow.

Abraham, Avery, Ambrose, Atlas, Barnaby, Bartholomew, Baxter, Dashiell, Ezra, Evander, Fletcher, Felix, Frank, Grant, Guy, Hugo, Henry, Harvey, Ivor, Julian, Jasper, Jude, Leon, Orlando, Phineas, Rafferty, Remy, Samson, Sebastian, Sullivan, Solomon, Theodore, Thatcher, Willoughby.

Lila will be one year old in one month.

O.

M.

G.

I am speechless at how quickly the last year has flown by. There were times when I felt it couldn’t move any slower, but wow, here we are. We are planning her party (well, one of us is), and it just feels surreal! I was going to write a “Dear Lila, you are 11 months old” post, but I’ve decided to save it all for the Big Post in a month. I should start writing it now though!

Lila’s latest “trick” that makes us stop everything is when she decides to stop holding on to anything, and just stands there. STANDING. On her own. EEEK! She realizes what she’s doing after a couple of seconds, and immediately grabs on to something, or sits down quickly, as if she couldn’t believe she was doing it either. She now likes to “walk” everywhere, holding on to my fingers. It won’t be long now!!

Lila also had her first ear infection last week, so we had to cancel our trip to see Lila’s grandma, grandpa, and great-grandma over the weekend. We have rescheduled though, so we will get to see everyone soon! I’m a bit nervous about her first plane ride, but I’m hoping she once again proves me wrong and is a great traveler. If not, well, it will just have to be cocktail hour when we land–at 10am.

My latest project post is up on the biz blog. My parents were here this week, watching my niece. She was pretty sick last week with pneumonia, and was in the hospital for a few days. But she is on the mend, thankfully. We spent a couple of days with them, I love how comfortable Lila is getting with people. She no longer screams if I leave her side, and recognizes them when she sees them, with a little smile and a shy wave.

Here are some extras from the past couple of days. Be sure to check out Week 4 over at MJP too! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

(saying “hellooo”!)

(Grandparents/family, don’t worry, I will be uploading ALL new pics to Lila’s galleries for you very soon! Like this weekend. Promise. And I have a BUNCH, b/c I am trying to stay on top of editing this year. So far, I am totally caught up!)

Lila & Elden

I can’t remember where I saw Elden.

What do you think? I know Lily has been so popular. I love Delilah but hubby doesn’t Lila could be a compromise.

What names are you loving?

I have updated the biz blog with this week’s photo!

Lila is still sick…it’s been a fun week. We found out on Wed that she has an ear infection, so we had to postpone our plans for this weekend (Lila’s first plane ride!). But we will be making that trip soon, with a healthy little girl instead, which will be much better all around.

We’ve pretty much stayed close to home this week, b/c of her cold and ears. She’s been napping great this week, and I’m sure it’s b/c she’s sick. She’ll be back to her catnaps in no time, yippee.

She’s also started saying mama again! Not all the time, and if you ask her to say it, she’ll reply with “DADA!”. Fresh. But she is waving hi and bye to everyone she runs into, and she blows me kisses all day long. It’s the best.

We met with Early Intervention this week, and her coordinator said that Lila is doing awesome. She also warned me that she’ll be walking soon–time to finish up that babyproofing! Lila is pushing all 138 of her pushtoys around the living room–she’s not so great at turning them, so she just walks until she crashes into something, and then turns around to look at me like “hellooo, help, please!”. She also LOVES dancing. She’ll “dance” (read: bob her head from side to side) for no reason at all. But she’ll stand up and dance like a maniac for Mickey. Mickey is her favorite these days, and I think it’s adorable. I can’t wait until she’s old enough for Disney World.

We are starting to plan her first birthday party (OMG, SOB), I can not believe it’s been a whole year almost.

I’ll leave you with a couple of outtakes from this week’s project. Happy Weekend!

Passei tanto tempo remoendo meus próprios traumas e a dor pela perda da Carol que só ontem me veio uma questão que até então nem por segundos havia me ocorrido. Será que ela entendeu o que aconteceu naquele sábado de setembro? Foi tudo tão rápido que nunca parei para pensar se a Carol ouviu o nosso choro e notou de alguma forma que naquele momento, por mais esperanças que ainda pudessemos ter, sofriamos pela proximidade evidente da morte dela. Quando a pergunta pipocou ontem na minha cabeça foi tão inexperado que me assustei. Foi como uma mensagem instantânea que pipoca na tela do computador, um lembrete, e tira a nossa concentração.

Não consegui conter as lágrimas nem ser racional o suficiente para buscar explicações. O que me lembrei rapidamente na sequência foram flashes dos últimos dias da avó do Isi no hospital. Eu sabia que a dona Lila ia morrer em poucos dias, estávamos lá esperando o fim. Eu já namorava o Isi há razoavelmente pouco tempo, uns 2 anos talvez, mas tinha um carinho inexplicável por aquela mulher tão forte apesar da aparente fragilidade física. Apesar de não ter laços de sangue, sentia que de alguma forma tinhamos uma ligação forte. 

Na última vez que estivemos juntas a Dona Lila já não falava, então antes de ir embora fiquei segurando a mão dela por algum tempo. Eu chorava descontroladamente enquando ela me olhava e apertava suavemente os meus dedos, como se me consolasse, e eu me perguntava se ela entendia o que estava acontecendo.

As lágrimas eram o sinal claro da minha certeza de que nada mais poderia mudar naquele momento, era apenas esperar o tempo cumprir seu papel. Tive medo de me despedir e dizer a ela o que tive vontade: “fica com D’us”. Na verdade queria acreditar que ainda haveria uma chance no dia seguinte e fui embora depois de um simples tchau. A dona Lila faleceu de madrugada.  Dias depois eu sonhei com ela, ainda em uma cama de hospital, mas já sentada. No sonho ela falava que estava melhor, para eu não me preocupar e transmitir a mensagem ao Isi.

yang terpenting pada hari hari ulang tahun adalah
hadiah kasih sayang dari Tuhan dan orang-orang tercinta

selamat ulang tahun Lila
hope you will make your mom and dad smile and proud

postingan ini dipersembahkan khusus untuk Lila yang udah buat Goat Quiz di padeblogan

Week 2 of my photography project is up on the business blog! Click here to go read/see, and don’t forget to leave me some love over there!

Added bonus, here are a couple of pics I took of Lila yesterday, along with the one I posted for the project. Enjoy.

So Lila is sick. AGAIN. She doesn’t even go to daycare, yet this is like cold #4 since October. Sighhhh. I hope no one wants to come over soon, the house is covered in a thin layer of slime these days, lol. Ewww, I know.

I don’t have too much new to report on these days. Lila’s favorite things right now are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (which we’re watching a lot of today…since we’re not napping, and hating everything except Mickey) and clapping–if she hears people clapping on tv, she’ll stop whatever she’s doing and join in.

I haven’t done my photo of the week for my project yet, but I will link here when I do.

I’m going to keep this post short and sweet, she’s awake and bellowing to be rescued from her Evil Crib. But I’ll leave you with these adorable pics I took last week. Some of you may have already seen one on Facebook, but the others are never-before-seen! Exciting, I know.

Happy Tuesday!

(totally not amused by me using her to test out my new photography props, but check out the pointed toe, haha)

And my favorite:

Ok, ok, I know, I’m sorry!! Forgive me, please. I’m back. With resolutions. I don’t really like making resolutions, b/c I never keep them. But I have one that I NEED to make this year.

And that’s to blog here. I am resolving to blog here once a week (at least). I want this record for Lila, for us, to be able to look back on. Time is FLYING by, and she’s going to be walking any day now, so I need to get these memories down before she’s driving off to college next week.

The holidays were wonderful. Crazy, hectic, exhausting, and wonderful. Our house is now overrun with toys, and Lila is having a ball playing with everything. I’m now on to thinking about her FIRST BIRTHDAY, OMG. I should start writing that post now, so it’s done in time.

I’m keeping this short, b/c Lila is of course waking up from her nap, as she always does when I start blogging. We have a Flip video camera now, so once I figure out how to post those, I’ll be adding videos on here too! Yay! In the meantime, I have started a new photography project for 2010, and will be posting it on my business blog, so head on over there to check out a new pic of Lila!

Ok, fine, I can’t not post one here too. Here you go!