Thursday, October 29, 2009

25 weeks

This week hasn't exactly gone as planned.  After fighting what I thought was a cold, yesterday I was officially diagnosed with the H1N1 virus (swine flu).  Luckily when my fever developed on Tuesday evening, my doctor put me on Tamiflu just in case.  Between that and having the H1N1 vaccine in my system since last Friday, my body is fighting the virus well and my case seems to be fairly mild.  The baby is still kicking a ton which is comforting. 

Jason had already taken off of work this week for house projects...it's been nice to have him taking care of me.  It probably goes without saying that he hasn't been able to get to many of those projects yet.  He started painting the nursery today - it is GREEN.  Check it out (this is the sample - real pictures to come):




We were able to register on Sunday at Babies R Us and Target.  As expected, it was completely overwhelming.  Kidding - it wasn't that bad.  There were some decisions to make in the store, but doing research in advance helped a ton.  My only suggestion to Babies R Us is to provide motorized carts for pregnant women - walking around/standing for 3+ hours is pretty tough on the lower back these days!

Hopefully baby bump pics will resume next week when I'm showered and wearing more than my PJs. :)

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Names That Didn’t Make The Cut

Guest Post by Jason Huffman

As Ashley mentioned, we spent last weekend holed up in a cabin in the woods. We started with a book of 100,000 names, picked 90, reduced those to 60, and now, have whittled down the list to 6 finalists. And while we are saving the winner for his birthday, I can safely announce my choices that didn’t make the cut:

1) Suck Chin: I found this gem in the 100,000 baby name book. I can almost guarantee that he won’t have to worry about being confused for any other Suck Chin in his kindergarten class. This isn’t a name – it sounds like a make out move that went terribly, terribly wrong.

2) US Census: The US Census publishes a list of names that have no duplicates in the country. If we choose any of these, there will only be our son and one of these poor souls. I am all about individuality, but heaven help these children. I can’t include a photo with any of these. None of them would be appropriate. Well, maybe the burger, but it would have to be a great burger.

- Ghoul Nipple
- Envy Burger
- Noble Butt
- Good Hell
- Naughty Bishop

3) Turd Ferguson: “It’s a funny name. Funny like an oversized hat.” Enough said. Take that, Alex Trebek.

4) Mr. Jack Basvalk: For some reason, this name was immediately nixed after I explained its origin to Ashley. I think it sounds 1950’s cool, or perhaps he would grow up to be a private eye or trench coat wearing detective (see left). Ashley’s interest in this choice ended when I revealed that “Mr. Jack Basvalk” uses the first initial of every girl I dated in my life. How cool is that? He could tell all his friends how he got his name and receive instant street cred and popularity. And if I am lucky, my son could carry on the tradition with his son. A side note: if any girl I dated is reading this and doesn’t find her initial, do let me know. I still need a middle name.

5) O’Shervin Belbertwald: I really thought this one had a chance. We really wanted to work in a family name. Unfortunately, our fathers didn’t give us much to work with on this one. My dad’s name is Belvin. Ashley’s dad holds the title of Herbert Oswald. I don’t want my son to be beat up, so these three were eliminated. However, I tried to rearrange the letters to create a new name using all the letters. Not bad, eh? Sounds like a noble, Irish leprechaun with magic powers. Show me a parent who doesn’t have these hopes and dreams for their child. I did some Google research and found an “O’Shervin Belbertwald” in a wee part of Ireland. His Facebook photo is on your right.

So while you won’t know his name until February, you now know what he won’t be called. But these names are going in my desk drawer. We hope to have a second kid some day, and I think these would work with a girl just as well.

-Jason

24 week update

Today was our 24-week appointment.  Everything went well and we heard the baby's heartbeat, which is going at a strong 150 beats per minute.  Apparently my blood pressure was a little high but not enough to cause the doctor concern.

We had a wonderful weekend in the mountains and had relative success with the baby's name!  While we haven't picked "the one", the list has been narrowed down to 6.  If that doesn't sound very impressive, keep in mind that we started with 90.  Those of you who know Jason know that he is very thorough, so we went through every boy name in our baby name book and wrote down anything remotely appealing.  All that to say that we're very happy with our list of 6 right now.  It's going to be really hard to pick just one because I like them all!

This week my homework is to research baby products so we can register this weekend.  I'm feeling a little excitement and a little dread about this process.  It is very overwhelming!

A couple photos from the weekend...







Thursday, October 15, 2009

Time for a getaway

So much planning and so many decisions!!  As much as we are anticipating our little one, it is hard not to get overwhelmed.  Picking a name, putting together a nursery, registering, showers, reading up on pregnancy info...all of this on top of daily life makes things a bit crazy.  This weekend we are headed to the Blue Ridge mountains for a much-needed getaway.  This is an annual tradition that Jason and I started very early on in our marriage.  We almost decided to skip it this year due to a very full calendar - thank goodness we didn't!  I doubt we'll be able to keep this tradition going after the baby is born, so we'll enjoy it while we can.  The only item on the weekend agenda is picking the baby's name.  For those who are curious, I'm afraid you'll just have to wait...we are keeping it a secret until he's born!  However, I think Jason is working on another guest post related to the name, which is sure to entertain.  Stay tuned!

Here's a sneak preview of the nursery furniture we've ordered:


Monday, October 5, 2009

A World of Worry

Happy Fall!  My belly is starting to look like the pumpkin we got this weekend.



(not our actual pumpkin, but close enough)

I have really enjoyed being pregnant.  While I haven't felt my best and it certainly isn't glamorous, having a baby in your belly brings a special meaning to your life that can't be described.  I've recently realized that this new venture also comes with a whole new set of worries...

First Trimester:
  • Not being ready to share the news, but feeling like everyone around me MUST know that I'm pregnant
  • Nausea/morning sickness means a very unbalanced diet - is the baby getting enough nutrients?
  • Do I get allow myself to get emotionally attached or protect my feelings in case something goes wrong?
  • How do I think of this "thing" inside me as a baby instead of the blob it looks like on the first ultrasound?
Second Trimester:
  • When will I stop looking fat and start looking pregnant?
  • Have I felt the baby move today? (Baby Huffman is very active, but he has a pattern of 1 or 2 active days followed by 1 or 2 less active days, and the latter can be torture!)
  • Where is my belly button going? :)
  • How in the heck are we going to get everything done before he arrives?
  • What IS a bumbo, a boppy, a bumper??
As the third trimester and baby's entrance into the world approaches, I'm sure the worries - and the fun - will continue.  I wouldn't trade them for anything, and I can only figure that this is God's way of preparing us for parenthood!