The Name Game

Why is choosing a baby name so difficult?  I know there are some people out there who know the name of their baby right away--and four or five months into the pregnancy already have all the bedding monogrammed and everthing.  Ami and I find it a little more difficult and will most likely not have a name for our little baby boy until he is born and we have a chance to see his cute little face.  In the meantime we have established some ground rules for the names and we have had many suggestions from our friends. 

Rule # 1:  The name must be more than one syllabal.  Since we have a one syllabal last name, we don't like the way two short names sound together, i.e. Zach Kron,  Joe Kron, Bob Kron, Zane Kron, Tom Kron, Jack Kron

Rule #2:  The name cannot be shortened into a nickname that only has one syllabal.  It's not that we are against nicknames or anything--we really like Zachary, but don't like the way Zach Kron sounds and more than likely at some point the name will get shortened.

Rule #3:  The name cannot end with the letter N.  We don't like the way the 2 N's sound at the end of a first name and then end of our last name.  This eliminates all the Brandons, Aidens, Haydens out there. 

Those are the main rules--we have some others such as we don't like the way the long O sounds with our last name, something like Joseph Kron is out.  We also don't want an odd spelling or really unique bizarre name.  We want it to be easily pronounced and spelled correctly. 

So here is what has been suggested by our friends so far that fit within our "Rules" and a few that don't.

Trevor
Jared
Garrett
Sawyer
Hawthorne
Elliot
Beckett
Harper
Finnegan
Cabot
Caleb
Holden
Carter
Reddin
Marcus
Collin
Raymond
Blake
Byron
Kipling
Fenton
Marlowe
Miles
Heathcliff
Linton
Lockwood
Atticus

Our friend Marissa even had her high school students suggest names for us.  They came up with:

Bennett
Davis
Grady
Quincy
Tanner
Kyler
Moses
Maddox
Preston
Wyatt
Eli
Elijah
Jacquizz
Hunter
Carlos
Maurice
Spencer
Xavier
Liam
Ali
Jeremy
Lebron
Levi
Waldo
Alfonso
Israel
Emmett
Cory
Tucker
Alister
Alex
Brady
Brody
Parker
Andrew
Patrick
Felix
Isaiah
Mitchel
Joey

Hmmm.....I wonder what we will choose.

All I Want for Christmas is a Clean Room

Creating room for the baby has involved more that just picking out a color scheme and theme for the nursery.  We've had to completly relocate our office.  We took time off work to purchase a new desk for our loft and go through all the papers and stuff we had shoved in our office.  Our office is now out in the open and we cannot just shut a door so that people do not see it.  We have gotten rid of so much stuff and are having a garage sale on Saturday to try and sell the rest.  But progress has been made and we now have a baby's room in the making.

Before:

Daddy bringing the new furniture up the stairs.

The blinds need to be replaced, but this is the color sceem of the room--Navy blue, kind of an olive green, and dark brown (or espresso).

All of the stuff on the walls still needs to come down, but you can see the furniture fits.  

 

Now the fun part begins!

A trip to the doctor...

Today was my monthly check up with the doctor.  My work schedule has been so crazy that I couldn't book my normal "first thing in the morning appointment" and thought that I could sneak in an end of day appointment.  I arrived promptly at my scheduled 4pm appointment in the waiting room full of other pregnant Moms to be and waited patiently for 40 minutes before they office girls called me up and told me the doctor was running about an hour and a half late and if I wanted to see the nurse practitioner--I quickly remembered why I liked scheduling my appointments first thing in the morning.  Needless to say I read alot of magazines in the waiting room today including the December issue of Pregnancy and Newborn.  I have to admit, being this the 2nd time around, I haven't read nearly as many pregnancy books, blogs, or magazines, but think that I better get up to date as there are alot of new products on the market as I learned from my reading today.

First up was the Milk-Saver found appropriately on http://www.mymilkies.com/. 

The milk-saver is easy to use; simply slip into your bra-cup on the non-nursing side before you breastfeed. The milk-saver collects the breast milk that is leaked out when your milk lets down. You can store this milk and save it for any time its needed.  The milk-saver makes breastfeeding easy. The patented slim design makes the milk-saver nearly imperceptible when worn. A stylish and durable case keeps your milk-saver safe and clean when you're on the go.

Next was a must have: The Kush from http://www.kushsupport.com/. 

Now this product is not just for new moms--it is for anyone who needs sleep support for their breasts.   It is made from a lightweight plastic with a slip-resistant outer coating, Kush is uniquely designed to fit between the breasts to maintain a more natural shape while resting on your side. No straps, no underwires, no constraints, no adhesives and no garments needed - the slip-resistant surface and contoured shape help keep Kush in place as a woman rolls from one side to the other during sleep.

The next products are found at http://www.babybeminematernity.com/. Here you can purchase a blue or pink delivery gown with a matching pillow case. 

Last is the newborn navel protector found at http://www.jujuband.com/.  It helps aid in giving your baby the perfect "innie"  all for under 20 bucks.

As for the rest of my doctor's visit:  Every thing is great, I've gained about 19 pounds, my urine is clear (well it is yellow, but I'm assuming they meant "medically clear of any strange things that shouldn't be there), and my blood pressure is good.  I go back in January to take the glucose test  for gestational diabetes and we are doing the 3D/4D ultrasound. 

23 Weeks

Time seemed to be flying by, but now at 23 weeks, the time seems to be crawling by.  I have not been very good at taking belly pics this time around, but managed to take one this week as there is no hiding it any longer.  The baby must be growing because my belly sure it.  I am also feeling him kick and punch.  The movement isn't too bad right now but it is noticable.  Even Ami felt a little kick. 

We have spent alot of time at home trying to clean things out. Our garage no longer fits any cars and is now a giant storage area.  We have shredded at least 3 bags of paperwork and thrown out many more bags.  We recently purchased a new desk to fit into our loft, so this past weekend we took apart Ami's desk and put it outside for the bulk trash pick up.  It was a very old desk, made of particle board and half the drawers broke apart when we unscrewed it--so we don't feel bad about it.  The question remains aobut what to do with my desk, which is still in good condition.  We will either sell it--or I may put it in our bedroom and place my sewing machine on it.  It will look horrible in there, but maybe having a place for my sewing machine will help me to work on all the little projects I want to do.

We have decided that the new nursery wil have an animal theme. While cleaning things out I found this cute little turtle nightlight that I think will be a great addition to our little man's room.  I already have 2 big bags worth of stuff--some clothes I found on clearance and some of  the baby toys that Chloe no longer plays with.   Our results of our first poll showed that twice as many people liked the animal bedding.  I think I have changed my mind and don't like the Peek-a-Boo pals anymore. I don' think the brown fabric will look good with our espresso wood crib.  I do like this pattern, but have only found it as a custom order. 

 My friend Audrey said she has tons of the fabric, but that would require me to tackle another project or find someone to make it for me as I really don't want to spend $120 on a bumper.  The Pottery Barn striped pattern is looking better and better.

Please vote: Help me design our nursery!

I'm pretty sure the colors of the nursery will be blue, green, and brown but I can't decide whether to go with the adorable animals and dots or simple sophistiacation with the stripes.  What do you think?  Help me decide--vote on the side panel

Option 1: Kids Line Peek-a-Boo Pals

Option 2: Pottery Barn Kids Kasey Striped

Over the hump

We made it over the hump and 18 weeks to go.  At my last doctors appoiuntment, everything looked good.  Baby's heart rate was strong, my blood pressure was good and I'm gaining about a pound a week.  The baby is the size of a banana and probably weighs in at just over 10 ounces and should be slightly longer than 7 inches!

The baby's growth will grow just a bit as the baby concentrates on developing his organs and nervous system. Right now the baby's intestines will slowly start to contract and relax and your baby can now swallow and absorb fluids via the amniotic fluid. While this may seem strange, this actually encourages your baby's digestive system to mature fully. 

The baby may also start hiccupping, but I haven't felt it yet.  I have felt a little bit of movement, but not much.  I'm actually looking forward to feeling his little kicks and punches . It lets me know he's having fun in there.

Shopping Spree

Our little baby boy will have a place to rest his head.  Today we purchased his crib and dresser.  Like we did with Chloe, we bought a convertible crib that can be transformed into a toddler bed and then into a full size bed with headboard and footboard.  We also purchased a dresser and hutch.  The dresser will serve as the changing table and then the hutch will be added later for more shelving to store all the trophies this little one will win.  Our crib is ready to be picked up this weekend, even though it will still be a while until we clear out the room.  The dresser and hutch are on back order--which is typical--so we should have that in about 9-11 weeks.  But here is a sneak peak from some pictures I found on the internet.