On the right hand side, I added a poll so you can vote on whether you think this baby is a boy or girl. We find out one week from today! BTW, I'm not tech-savvy enough to make "your title" go away, so I think it'll just have to stay.
If you want to base it on some old wives tales: I haven't really been sick at all, I don't really care for sweets (usually...sometimes I do want something sweet), no heartburn. Just ask if there's something else you need to know to make a prediction.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Baby Names
One of the most important things we get to do is name this baby...who will become a child, then an adolescent, then a teenager, then eventually an adult. It's not like picking out a stroller or crib bedding. Those things only affect the child for a little while. But a name is something they will keep for the rest of their lives (unless they hate it so much they change it). It's a big deal. It's something we've been putting a lot of thought into.
The name can't be only baby or little kid appropriate. This mostly applies to cutesy or trendy names. You know, the names of kids who have not yet grown up so their name still sounds like it belongs to a baby. For boys, I put most of the names that end in -aden or -ayden or some other variation of that in the category. They're not bad names at all; it's just hard for me to imagine adults with those names, even though it will inevitably happen.
The name can't be too wierd. I'm sure there are plenty of people in the world who give their kids some crazy strange names, but of course the people we only hear about doing so are celebrities. If you name your child Pilot Inspektor ( like actor Jason Lee) you have the potential to limit their career options. Although, I suppose if they're the child of a celebrity, jobs and making money may not be such a big deal. I don't think all wierd celebrity baby names are bad, though. Apple is kind of a cute name. That doesn't mean I'd ever name my child that.
The name can't be too popular. I experienced it first hand. I was one of many Jennifers. My name is the most common one for my age group. Nowadays, I think there is enough diversity among names that a strong concentration of one or two names doesn't really happen anymore. Unfortunately for us, the name we want to use as a boy name is extremely popular now. That wasn't the case a few years ago. The same goes with the name Mia. We've liked it for along time, but now it's like in the top ten baby names all of a sudden. It's not a bad thing. It just makes me think twice before naming my child that. By the way, we will not be naming our child Mia if we're having a girl.
If it's a boy name, it has to sound distinguished. At least my husband thinks so, and I agree with him. We've actually looked at a list of English kings to get baby name ideas. We don't want it to sound too pretentious, though. My husband actually has a good, strong, English king type name, but I'm not on board with the whole junior thing. If the baby is a boy, we're leaning toward giving him the same first name as my husband, though. The toughest thing has been picking out a middle name. Nothing sounds perfect yet.
I like the idea of literary names, as in names from books we love. The middle name we have picked out for a girl comes from my favorite book. For a boy middle name, we've discussed Holden (as in Caulfield from "Catcher in the Rye"). However, I didn't just love that book and the character is kind of strange and the whole associated with John Lennon's death thing turns me off to it. Lennon's killer had a copy of "Catcher in the Rye" on him when it happened. Now I know most people don't know that, but I do and I think it would bother me! Biblical names are good, and we've discussed some of those for boy middle names. Nothing has really stood out, though.
So all that to say, I think we do have a girl name picked out. However, I don't want to share it yet in case we change our mind or if we're having a boy. I think we have the first name of a boy picked out, but it could change. I keep thinking we'll come up with something better although it never happens. We do not have a middle name for a boy picked out and that has been THE hardest thing to decide on. So if you want to help, we're trying to come up with a middle name for William (he will go by Liam, which is the super popular name).
The name can't be only baby or little kid appropriate. This mostly applies to cutesy or trendy names. You know, the names of kids who have not yet grown up so their name still sounds like it belongs to a baby. For boys, I put most of the names that end in -aden or -ayden or some other variation of that in the category. They're not bad names at all; it's just hard for me to imagine adults with those names, even though it will inevitably happen.
The name can't be too wierd. I'm sure there are plenty of people in the world who give their kids some crazy strange names, but of course the people we only hear about doing so are celebrities. If you name your child Pilot Inspektor ( like actor Jason Lee) you have the potential to limit their career options. Although, I suppose if they're the child of a celebrity, jobs and making money may not be such a big deal. I don't think all wierd celebrity baby names are bad, though. Apple is kind of a cute name. That doesn't mean I'd ever name my child that.
The name can't be too popular. I experienced it first hand. I was one of many Jennifers. My name is the most common one for my age group. Nowadays, I think there is enough diversity among names that a strong concentration of one or two names doesn't really happen anymore. Unfortunately for us, the name we want to use as a boy name is extremely popular now. That wasn't the case a few years ago. The same goes with the name Mia. We've liked it for along time, but now it's like in the top ten baby names all of a sudden. It's not a bad thing. It just makes me think twice before naming my child that. By the way, we will not be naming our child Mia if we're having a girl.
If it's a boy name, it has to sound distinguished. At least my husband thinks so, and I agree with him. We've actually looked at a list of English kings to get baby name ideas. We don't want it to sound too pretentious, though. My husband actually has a good, strong, English king type name, but I'm not on board with the whole junior thing. If the baby is a boy, we're leaning toward giving him the same first name as my husband, though. The toughest thing has been picking out a middle name. Nothing sounds perfect yet.
I like the idea of literary names, as in names from books we love. The middle name we have picked out for a girl comes from my favorite book. For a boy middle name, we've discussed Holden (as in Caulfield from "Catcher in the Rye"). However, I didn't just love that book and the character is kind of strange and the whole associated with John Lennon's death thing turns me off to it. Lennon's killer had a copy of "Catcher in the Rye" on him when it happened. Now I know most people don't know that, but I do and I think it would bother me! Biblical names are good, and we've discussed some of those for boy middle names. Nothing has really stood out, though.
So all that to say, I think we do have a girl name picked out. However, I don't want to share it yet in case we change our mind or if we're having a boy. I think we have the first name of a boy picked out, but it could change. I keep thinking we'll come up with something better although it never happens. We do not have a middle name for a boy picked out and that has been THE hardest thing to decide on. So if you want to help, we're trying to come up with a middle name for William (he will go by Liam, which is the super popular name).
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Almost 17 Weeks
I'll be 17 weeks pregnant in a couple of days. So far, so good. Of course, pregnancy has its quirks, but overall this hasn't been bad at all. Knock on wood. I've had a lot of years to think about what it would be like to be pregnant, and I always thought it would be...not so pleasant. As in I'd be sick all the time or I would worry all the time or there'd be something wrong with the baby. Stuff like that. I know there is still plenty of time for something to go wrong and bad things to happen, but I'm thankful so far that all has been well. It has far exceeded my expectations.
I can't say I was one of those people who had to experience being pregnant or their life would not be complete. In fact, I was totally ok with the idea of never being pregnant. I've always wanted to be a mother, though, so I'd figure we'd adopt...which we may still do one day. But since I've been blessed with this opportunity, I'm very thankful that I'm getting to experience it. Now I can't believe I was fine with missing out on this. I think the timing is quite interesting. It certainly changed, or delayed, our plans. Since I've been pregnant, the main Bible verse I think of is Proverbs 19:21: "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Even though life is kind of crazy at the moment (mostly because I don't have a job...still), I know it will all work out in the end. I'm hoping someone wants to hire me soon. I was hoping to land something before I was showing, but that's not going to happen now. My belly popped last week. So while this whole baby thing is the most significant thing I've done with my life, I'm feeling discouragement like I've never felt before. Unfortunately, I think being pregnant will work against me now, even though it shouldn't. If I can't get a regular job, hopefully I can string together enough temp work until I have the baby. I would've never thought it would take me more than three months to find a job. This is one time when I wish God would let me know the plan. I would probably feel much better then.
HOWEVER, I'm thankful I have a husband with a full time job and that I"m working at least half of the month of December at a temp job, even though it means getting up at 5:00 in the morning. I"m thankful that this pregnancy has been so easy so far and has not kept me from doing anything or prevented me from working. This baby knows what's up. He/she totally helped me out with not showing for as long as he/she could so there's no hard feelings that now he/she needs more space. (I'll be so happy after December 28 when I can just type he OR she.) I like my belly. I admire it every time I look in a mirror. It's not that big yet, but it's a baby bump for sure. It literally happened overnight. I woke up one day and my pants (that were already 2 sizes bigger than what I was wearing) didn't fit. Crazy. Maternity pants are awesome, though.
I can't say I was one of those people who had to experience being pregnant or their life would not be complete. In fact, I was totally ok with the idea of never being pregnant. I've always wanted to be a mother, though, so I'd figure we'd adopt...which we may still do one day. But since I've been blessed with this opportunity, I'm very thankful that I'm getting to experience it. Now I can't believe I was fine with missing out on this. I think the timing is quite interesting. It certainly changed, or delayed, our plans. Since I've been pregnant, the main Bible verse I think of is Proverbs 19:21: "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Even though life is kind of crazy at the moment (mostly because I don't have a job...still), I know it will all work out in the end. I'm hoping someone wants to hire me soon. I was hoping to land something before I was showing, but that's not going to happen now. My belly popped last week. So while this whole baby thing is the most significant thing I've done with my life, I'm feeling discouragement like I've never felt before. Unfortunately, I think being pregnant will work against me now, even though it shouldn't. If I can't get a regular job, hopefully I can string together enough temp work until I have the baby. I would've never thought it would take me more than three months to find a job. This is one time when I wish God would let me know the plan. I would probably feel much better then.
HOWEVER, I'm thankful I have a husband with a full time job and that I"m working at least half of the month of December at a temp job, even though it means getting up at 5:00 in the morning. I"m thankful that this pregnancy has been so easy so far and has not kept me from doing anything or prevented me from working. This baby knows what's up. He/she totally helped me out with not showing for as long as he/she could so there's no hard feelings that now he/she needs more space. (I'll be so happy after December 28 when I can just type he OR she.) I like my belly. I admire it every time I look in a mirror. It's not that big yet, but it's a baby bump for sure. It literally happened overnight. I woke up one day and my pants (that were already 2 sizes bigger than what I was wearing) didn't fit. Crazy. Maternity pants are awesome, though.
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