Thoughts...

I have one more week left of work, and trying to decide whether I should take a week off or get down to cleaning my house as much as I can. Only a couple of things at work that I need to wrap up DNA testing and basically making my notes coherent for the person who gets to replace me.

I actually broke down and spent some money last weekend, bought some baby books for Ali!! I hope she likes them, and they were all 40% off. Nothing particularly special to report, the childbirth classes have been helpful. Learning breathing techniques, pain reliving positions, what an epidural actually is etc... I still would rather not have one. Now I am just trying to think of who I can call to take me to the hospital if Preston is at work?? And I need to make my list of people to call. The main thing I am thinking of is my best friend E.

E...I am not sure of what to say to you, I cannot even comprehend what you may be feeling or going through. I just want you to know that Preston and I love both of you and are here for whatever you may need. You are stronger than I could ever be and I am still praying for you (yes.....praying, me) I'm not quite sure if it is helping but I am doing it non-the-less. I know of no two people more deserving and ready to become parents than you two and I know that you will make fantastic parents!!!!! Love you sweetie, and stay strong.

Yea for Indiana weather

For thoes who are not expierencing our fantastic Indiana weather right now let me give you an idea. During the day it is just warm enough for an exciting rainy/ snowy mix, but of course it starts to freeze over at night! So, when you wake up in the morning not only is the road and your car encased in a glittery icy sheen, but your drive way and walk is slippery fun!

But I do have completely unrelated news!! Not only can I feel the baby move but I can now visually see her cute little squirmy body move around!! It is a new and interesting aspect of being pregnant. First came the sickness, of which I wish upon no one. No individual should have to experience four months of nausea, and the sad part is I know I did not get the worst of the morning sickness, so to all who had worse than I; I am truly sorry. Then came the portion of "is that the baby moving, I can't really tell, but it is a weird feeling". Next came the extremely strong kicking and moving of which Preston could feel and is also not terribly fun when you are trying to fall asleep. Finally I am at the point where I can feel her and see my skin move!! It brings a whole new aspect of anticipation. It seems as though I am more excited than ever to see her and be able to hold her and take care of her!

Either way, this is a busy month for Preston and I, we have all of our classes (i.e. childbirth, newborn basics, breastfeeding and newborn first aid) to go to. This is also the last month of me being a sequence analyst for Purdue! So many changes, so many things to learn and retain.....I will try and keep everyone posted.

And try and get some pictures up.....sorry

We finally have agreed on a name!!!

Anyway onto the name for our baby girl. And coming to this name has been a very long, progressive and interesting journey. I have already had names that I liked for a girl and since my name is fairly unique I wanted to stay with something fairly unique. My initial name options were Alexia (Alex for short) and Kaylin....there was a third but cannot remember it at the moment. Preston almost immediately shot down Kaylin and I think the only reason he kept Alexia on the table was because he knew I really loved it. And of course it took him a while to pitch in a name that he liked. However, pulling teeth and constantly dodging his attempts of silly names such as 2 X 4 and beefowitz (thanks kyle), I got him to say the name April.

Now, I like the name April, even though it does remind me of the Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles and it is the name of a month I didn't say no because it was the only name he had pittched, and doing so would shut him down from pitching others and thinking I was closed minded. Meanwhile, I kept looking at other girl names from infinate lists and lists of baby girl names.

There were days where I would come home with a post-it note with names for him to hear or sometimes I would just e-mail him. Names such as Kira, Alana, Isabella, Taylor... I can't remember them all now but you get the picture. So, when he didn't shoot down a name and showed some interest in it, such as Kira, I would spend prescious time on thinking of a good middle name for it. Middle names are important to me, I don't want any words made from initals and I want the whole name to have a good general flow when it is said alowd.

In keeping with my inital name I came up with Alexia Lorraine (which is a family name for him) and Kira Belle, but he didn't seem to like anything. After general frustration because I am 7 months now and she is coming soon he told me that he really didn't like Alexia and didn't like the flow of Kira Belle. I asked him why he didn't like Alexia; he basically didn't see his daughter when he heard that name, which is something that I can understand perfectly he needs to be happy with the name as well. At least now I can let go of thinking of middle names for it.

But then something unexpected happened, he told me he like the name Alana, a good name and something I really liked as well. With renewed hope I started to think of good middle names for Alana. I tried to incorperate family names:

Alana Lorraine
Alana Kay
etc...

All of which I liked but didn't have a flow I could get used to and Preston wasn't too happy with either. Finally we decided and agreed on a middle name of which I love personally and I think flows well with Alana

Alana Laine

It is a cute and fairly short name, and I can call her Ali because I think it is cute!!

So that is the general story of how we agreed on a name for our first baby, it of course is subject to change because when she comes out she may not look like an Alana but I don't see that actually happening, I really love that name!!