Why Herbie?

I know you've seen pictures of him in my first post, but you may be wondering how Herbie came to be the mascot of my blog. I wish I could say he's been in my life for ages & we have a long history of mischief, but that isn't true at all. If my blog had a different title, Herbie might never have been chosen as my companion.

My sister & I kicked around a few ideas for blog names, but actually came up with The Upside Down Turtle while joking about T-shirt designs for next year's MS walk. Some days with MS are good & I can move along, slowly, but I get there eventually. Then there are the days I feel exactly like an upside down turtle. My world has been flipped, I can't walk, & I'm completely stuck. The blog title was perfect, and better yet, available.

Once a title was chosen, I knew my blog would need photos....lots of photos. I'm not exactly the most photogenic person & I absolutely despise having my picture taken. If my title was going to mention turtles, I would need a cute mascot to match. My sister & I looked at tons of cute potential buddies, but ultimately I kept coming back to the same stuffed turtle. There was just something about him that none of the others could match. He was the one and would need a perfect name.

Herbie means "illustrious warrior". I talk about MS a lot and my daily struggles with it and I wanted my companion to have a strong name to reflect the challenges we would face (corny, I know). I looked up names meaning strength, fighter, warrior, etc. In the end, my top three were Finian, Herbie, & Gus. You of course know which won out after the kids took a vote. Ta-da! Herbie was officially born! The kids wanted to make sure I shared some photos of his first day in his new home, so we picked a few for your viewing pleasure!

He's arrived!!!

Lazing on the swingset while watching the kids run around

Naptime snuggles