The New Name Dilemma

I know we took a while to name Eden.  I know we disagreed.  I had favorites that he didn't like and... well, I don't know if he really had any favorites.  

But it was supposed to be easier this time.  I already had it narrowed down to two beautiful and perfect names that everyone could love.  What's to be difficult?

As of yesterday, it's back to the drawing board... or the baby naming books and websites, as the case may be.  It turns out that there is someone that couldn't find it in his heart to love my name choices.  

You know, sometimes I want one of those husbands that just says "whatever you think, honey" to things like decorating and baby naming.  But most of the time, deep down, I really appreciate that my husband cares to take an interest in creative things.  It's just harder to enjoy those moments when his taste clashes with mine.  I'm really praying God will just drop the name into both our hearts and cause us both to feel those warm-fuzzies I felt with the names I liked.

He still needs to look at some books for himself, but here's some new combinations I came up with... because I know you're still curious.

Zoe Olivia

Zoe Adelle

Juliet Aurora

Arielle Olivia

Ariel Charlotte

Gemma Charlotte

Color, Fun, and Mommy Attitude

All the maternity photo shoots I had when I was pregnant with Eden ended up being very colorless... white, black, and peachy skin.  I love those photos.  They are natural, light, beautiful and they exemplify what I felt then.

This time around, I want to throw some fun in the mix.  I want to inject some color and I want my mom to go crazy with angles and to photoshop it up afterward.  Saturate colors, pick one color to highlight, add a tint, an effect, etc.  

I want this album to have some attitude.  This might be the last one, so baby, here I come!

OK, I realize this first inspiration pic doesn't really meet the requirements stated above.  I couldn't help but pick it though as it exemplifies what I have written above my ticker.  I think it would look even better with a couple of robin's eggs in there for a punch of color.

Belly Shot:19 weeks

We both got to see our little girl kick for the first time today!  She was moving around a lot and I thought I would just check and see if I could get a visual if I lifted my shirt.  Sure enough, I saw a little jump!  I immediately told Chuck to look, hoping against hope that she would kick like that again.  She did!  So fun.  I love this part of pregnancy!

Who's Afraid?

Not me.  I'm so impartial to what you think that I'm going to just put the names we have so far right out there for your critical pleasure.  

Everyone loves Eden's name so much that I'm pretty confident in name choosing now.  Besides, I'm usually so infatuated with the names I choose that I can hardly be shaken by someone else's opinion.  Anyway, I know you're curious...

so far I'm strongly considering:

Juliet Olivia

Violet Olivia

Those are the two big contenders in my mind right now.  I searched online last night with an open mind for new options, as I've had these for quite some time.  I found a couple other choices that I enjoyed for a minute, but nothing lasting.

If you have any names you are dying to suggest, feel free.  Just make sure they don't mean "difficult child" or "shrew" or something similar.

Pictures of Our Girl

The Big Announcement

Last night I was thinking about all the folks we know that have had boys recently or are pregnant with a boy.  I've felt for a few weeks now that ours would probably be a boy too.  Today, the baby cooperated and we saw it.  Yes, we saw "it."  

We saw those three tiny lines that can only mean that the baby is female.  :)

Eden will have a sister in November!  I can now go as girly as I want with all the things I've been holding out on.  I've been thinking about dressing up the walls in her room a bit.  I need to paint the rocking horse Grandpa made for us.  I don't have to worry about putting aside gender neutral clothes.  I can buy more bows!  And the list goes on... :) 

Two girls.  How fun.

The Name Dilemma Continued

The excitement is building to a ridiculous level as we get closer, day by day, to knowing the sex of our baby. I don't think I was even this excited the first time. I'm getting stronger and stronger boy feelings. In fact, when looking at baby names yesterday (Chuck was on call and I was bored without him, although I don't really need much excuse to look at baby names) I completely lost interest within minutes of calling up a name list for girls. I already have two names picked out that I really like, but I'm becoming unenamored with them, so I thought I'd reopen the subject. Nope, just not interested... and girl's names are usually my favorite to look at.

I think God took it one step further with me last night as far as boy's names are concerned.  You'll remember He had spoken to me a week ago about not limiting my choices by coolness factor.  Well, there's been another constant limitation as we've searched names; that it must begin with "C."  Now, I don't have a problem looking outside of "C" names, but it is a limitation that I agreed to a long time ago so that our son's initials would be the same as his daddy's.  God's going to have to speak similarly to Chuck if we're going to expand the field to include any name.  I decided to just go back to what was most important to me about my child's name, the meaning.  I really love that Eden's name is of Hebrew origin, so I looked at boy names of Hebrew origin to see if anything jumped out at me.  I got so inspired and found several names that I really like that also have great meanings, acceptable nicknames, are not too "weird," and compliment Eden's name.  It's like all the other stuff fell into place when I started with different priorities.

If nothing else, this has been a learning experience that will help me continue to listen for God's input, even on seemingly insignificant things.  It's also a confirmation that He still speaks to me and enjoys discussing whatever it is that's on my mind.  

Belly Shot:17 weeks

Finally!  A recent (as in, taken today in my living room with my new MacBook) picture of me and the new baby!  Here's another, just because I've been so lax.

A Good Kind of Stumble

When I was preggers with Eden, I used Mustella belly cream to prevent stretch marks. My cousin used it and swears by it. They say stretch marks can't be prevented and that they're genetic, but my cousin's mom and sister both have them and she does not. She totally attributes this to the Mustella and told me when I got pregnant that I MUST use it. It's not cheap stuff, but we sprung for the $36 price tag and, lo and behold, no stretch marks. I didn't really expect to have any because my mom doesn't, but it was nice to buy some insurance. This time around, I bought Curell from the drug store. This past week though, as my belly has begun to grow, both Chuck and I have grown a bit nervous. We didn't really want to spend the $36 again, but we just can't be sure that it didn't help last time. If I could pay $36 for a complete guarantee of no stretch marks, I sure would. We've been toying with the idea of buying another tube, but hadn't really decided yet.
The decision was made for me when, today, in Bath and Body Works in the mall, I stumbled on the best sale ever! This particular location is a test location for new products and they happen to carry the Mustella line of mom and baby products. I actually went into the store, not because of the sale signs, but to spray some of Mustella's lovely delicate children's perfume on Eden. I love the way it smells and it's fun to surprise her with a spritz. The whole wall of Mustella products was gone. It had been put into bins marked at 75% off! I got three tubes of diaper rash cream (to my horror, I found out this morning that Arbonne no longer makes their baby line which sold the ONLY diaper cream that works for Eden), and a tube of the stretch mark cream. I also got a couple of hair products and a super-yummy strawberry lemonade body scrub, all for less than the price of the stretch mark cream alone! Yea for sales!

Tiny Movements

Chuck felt the baby move for the first time yesterday! I've been putting his hand on my stomach for about a week, hoping he could feel what I have been able to for a couple of weeks. Baby seemed to get really still when I would get really still for him to feel and I could just never catch it at the right moment. I'm really eager for him to feel connected to his child (he hasn't been able to come to any of my OB appointments... completely different from when I was pregnant with Eden) and I'm just thrilled he could finally feel him or her squirm.

The Name Dilemma

I wrote a couple of posts ago about our "C" name dilemma. This morning at church, we sang about the power in the name of Jesus. Being the questioning thinker that I am, I wondered to myself (because Chuck wasn't there) why God gave his son such a common name. Why Jesus, which would be like "Bob" or "Joe" today? The name Jesus stands out in our culture, but in a Hispanic culture today it wouldn't. Is it weird for them to place such authority and reverence on that name?
As I was considering this, I felt like God said to me, "I named Him that because that was the name I chose for Him." Then I felt like He related it to our dilemma (God's so cool that way to show he cares about the silly stuff we worry about). He said "You need to quit worrying so much about the uniqueness and coolness factor of the names you choose and just let Me name your child what his name is supposed to be." Whoa! Sorry God. I am obviously getting distracted and liable to get in the way of His plan for my child's name. Definitely don't want that.
I felt a really strong impression about the name we had chosen for Eden if she was a boy, "Caden." I had pretty much thrown it out because it has become so common since we had Eden, but I feel like we are to strongly consider it again.
Does this mean we are for sure having a boy? or was God just using this dilemma as a teaching moment for me? Guess we'll have to wait 10 more days to know the answer to that question.

The Big Deal that is Being a Mom

Today in church, we had baby dedications. It was not something I was looking forward to, since it takes away from time for the sermon and our pastor tends to have a hard time cramming in everything he wants to say on any given Sunday. I wasn't resenting it or anything... I'm really glad they do baby dedications and our dedication of Eden at our church in Augusta, Georgia was very special. It turned out that half my notes for the morning were made during the dedication. The pastor's wife admonished the mommies about their responsibilities and Pastor Hale charged all the daddies with theirs. It really was inspiring to hear them each speak from their hearts about parenting and the wisdom they've gleaned through their own experience. I wrote myself a list of things that really struck me.

My Charge as a Mother is to:
Show my children what it is to seek God.
Introduce my children to the presence of God.
Fiercely guard my home from anything that would crowd out the Master.
Be the source through which my children first experience God's love.

I don't know exactly what yet, but I'd love to make some sort of art piece with these things or the essence of these things on it.

And the Award Goes To...

We have a winner! I never had that ribbon made, but if I had, I would have given it to the cashier at Sally's Beauty Supply. She was the first to ask about me being pregnant. As I was checking out, she asked if I wanted to try their brand new pedicure skin-slougher-off-ers for just a dollar. I declined. She then put her hands out like she was going to tickle me or like she was squeezing something imaginary in the air space just in front of my belly and squealed, "OOOooooh! Is there a bun in there?" It took me just a second to transition from foot scraper to baby in utero, but after blinking a couple of times, I figured out what she was asking and confirmed her suspicions. She acted like she was a girlfriend of mine and got so excited. She smiled, squealed some more and clapped her hands. Awkward... I thanked her for my purchase and left.

Observations

I want a glass of wine.

My thighs are getting thick again.

My energy levels keep changing.

I can feel my baby move every day. I'm starting to get a "cute" belly. There's only 22 more days until I know if it's a boy or a girl.

We cannot, for the life of us, agree on a "C" name for a boy. It's not that I really want something Chuck doesn't or vice versa... we just can't find a name that meets our criteria. We want a name we like (duh), one that's a bit unusual (to compliment Eden's name), one with a pleasing meaning, and one that will have a nice nickname. The one's we like right now, all have one of these criteria missing.

Caden - great meaning and nickname, but... sounds a lot like Eden, maybe too much - has become VERY popular

Caleb - great meaning, but... it's fairly common - there's a Caleb in our past that colors the name

Camden - not sure about "Cam" - "from the winding valley" isn't a very inspiring meaning

Collier - nice southern sounding ring to it, but- "Col"? - "coal miner" is awful