escape

So I didn't post anything last week.  In my previous blogger life, I thought the world would end if I missed a week.  Readers would take to the streets in angry protest.  I would lose all my momentum and be unable to pick up where I left off.  If I missed one post, I might never ever blog again.  

It's safe to say that my position on this may have mellowed a little bit.  For one thing, I'm trying to get in the habit of not stressing over things that are a) unimportant or b) utterly out of my control.  I haven't mastered it yet, but I think this might be a useful thing to have in my skill set in a few short weeks...

Besides all that, last week was just plain busy.  I worked some extra hours.  There was a last minute doctor's appointment to address the fact that my feet had suddenly become the size of dachshunds.  (The verdict: typical pregnant lady swollen feet.  Go figure.)  We took a quick tour of the birthing center where we're planning to have this little muffin next month.

And we went for a long, long walk.

On a day that started out sunny, I woke up wanting to be outside.  Really, I wanted to go on a three-day camping trip somewhere on the coast, but that didn't seem to be in the cards. And I don't know how well I'd do these days, lying on the ground with a sleeping bag.  So instead, we took a mini-field trip to Discovery Park.

It was nice.  The sky threatened rain that never fell.  The trails were mostly empty.  When we did run into other people, they would smile at us and give my belly a knowing look.  We stopped to rest about twenty times on our trip down to the water, mostly discussing whether it was a good idea to walk all the way down, knowing that we'd then have to walk all the way back up.  We're no quitters, though, and we did eventually make it to the shore.

The trip back up was rougher.  I had to stop to sit down about every half a minute and we didn't make very good time at all, at least for the first stretch.  Then things leveled out a bit and I managed to get enough air in my lungs to actually look around and enjoy the scenery.

Definitely an afternoon well spent.  Hopefully, we'll manage to cram in a few more like it in the next few weeks.  If not, there's always time after the baby comes.  I told my man we should walk this trail again in about three months and that he should be the one to carry the baby next time.  He seemed a little dubious about the idea.  Actually, his exact response was "No."

I'm pretty confident, though, in my ability to change his mind.  Besides, by then, it will be two against one...

And, oh my gosh, thanks to you all for your baby-naming ideas last week.  Crowdsourcing is always a fun way to brainstorm.  I think we're still stuck on the short list that we started with, but who knows, maybe one of your brilliant ideas will crop up in the end.  Apparently, we have several days to stick a name on the birth certificate, so things really could get down to the wire...


If you're wondering about last week's poll results, an overwhelming majority of you agreed that the biggest baby naming faux pas is giving your child a name that's hard to spell or pronounce.  Which, I'm sad to say, might mean that Aloysius and Siobhan are out of the running.

serious business

Okay, okay.  Joking about baby names is one of my favorite things to do right now, but I should have known better than to indulge in the practice in last week's post.  To the handful of you who were either appalled or delighted by our Joy of Cooking-inspired frontrunners, I apologize and officially retract said name ideas. (Sorry, Tim.  I know you were really attached to "Poach.")

People take this baby naming business very seriously.  I don't blame them.  Names are important.  I've spent the last thirty-some years convinced that I had the wrong name, and while it's too late for me, there's still time to make sure that our baby-to-be has the right one.

Lest you worry about our qualifications, let me assure you that my man and I have been amateur name critics for years.  We're apparently incapable of watching movie credits without reading half the names out loud, deeming them good or bad or just absolutely outrageous.  We know what we like.  And what we definitely don't.  Fortunately, we usually agree.

At one point, I suggested that we start a naming service.  We're both somewhat underemployed right now, and I thought this might be just the sort of niche we've been looking for.  It would allow us to be creative, to work for ourselves.  And we are very good at coming up with names.  Boy names.  Girl names.  Cat names.  We have more names that we could ever possibly use ourselves.  (Case in point: our dwarf hamster has at least three different names.)

Somewhere around the five or six month mark of this pregnancy, I toyed with the idea of bringing home some baby name books, but I never followed through.  Then I spent about two days obsessed with a website called Nymbler, which takes a list of names that you like and offers a giant pile of other names allegedly inspired by your original list.  This kept me occupied for a brief window of time, until my computer stopped loading the website properly. (Word of advice: Don't spend two days compiling a giant list of "maybe" baby names on a website unless you're sure you won't be upset by the prospect of abruptly and permanently losing access to said list.)

So now we've gone old-school, with a little notebook full of names and tiny scraps of paper that I've written things down on so I wouldn't forget them later.  We've spent a fair amount of time discussing our options.  Honestly, though, I don't think we're any closer to a short list now than we were when we started.

Here are the criteria:

1. No "L" names.  Unless we suddenly decide otherwise, baby's last name will start with an L, and I just don't like alliteration that much.

2. No "J" names.  Unfortunately, there are already way too many J's on my man's side of the family, and while I might be able to tolerate just one more, my partner-in-crime has made his feelings clear on this.

3. No flower names for girls.  Or, presumably, for boys.  Again, this isn't my rule.  I like names like Violet and Daisy.  Not enough to really fight for the right to use them, though, I guess...

4. No "hipster" names.  Granted, this one is wide open to interpretation.  For a taste of what we're up against, trying Googling "hipster baby names."  Atticus and Clementine are definitely out.  While my man came up with the "hipster name" rule, I would at least say that I'd rather not have our child share a name with four or five kindergarten classmates.  If it's incredibly popular, we're probably not interested.

5. No creative spellings and no "invented" names.  This one is my rule.  Everyone has to make their own decision about things like this, but this is where I stand.  I'm an English major.  Sue me.

So that's what we're up against.  That and a deadline of, oh, let's say fifty days.  I'm pretty sure we'll eventually work something out, but I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being an incredibly last-minute decision.

So here's your chance, people.  While I'm not quite ready to put the matter up for a popular vote, I definitely think we could use some public feedback.  Any names we should--or shouldn't--consider?  Other tips or suggestions?  By all means, comment below!

(Speaking of votes, the winner of "Most Useless Piece of Baby Gear" in last week's poll? The wipes warmer, of course, by a landslide.  Thank you, poll participants!  Rest assured, we will not be investing in said warmer.)