This is Going to be Difficult

Before we left on vacation I set a goal: let's try to pick a name.

I thought it was a great plan. We could tell our child in a few years that we took a vacation to choose his/her name. We didn't have any bigger plans for this trip, so I expected to have plenty of time.

Four days and hundreds of miles later, we haven't agreed on much. Most of the time, we were both marvelling out loud at all the really bad names in the baby books. I honestly don't get what some people are thinking when they name their kids.

So far, I think Kelly and I have only agreed that Rose is a good middle name for a girl. It sounds nice with most other names and she can choose when to use it. That leaves three more names to pick out.

We've agreed on some basic rules:

1) I won't allow any gender neutral names (like mine). And, I don't want us to pick any names that have multiple spellings, either.

I don't like having to correct everyone and now that I'm older I wonder how much these accidental aliases are affecting my credit score (among other things). Just between us girls, I once received a sample tampon sent to "Erin Kreel." I considered sending a letter to the company telling them where to stick it.

2) Any name has to pass a basic playground smell test. I know kids are creative and they'll find plenty of ways to tease each other. If a name doesn't pass at least the "Banana-Fanna" song it's out! It's the least we can do.

We each have some other general rules. I don't like long names (three syllables is pushing it). And, Kelly wants the child to have a cute nickname.

Cravings and Recommendations

On the advice of "Mrs. Elliot," Kelly read The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy while we were on vacation this past week. She was kind enough to share all the really graphic parts with me, too. This book is definitely a must read for first-time mothers. It really does cover a lot of the things you don't want to know but should, and it's entertaining, too. Kelly was laughing out loud every other page or two.

One of the things she read about early on was "sympathy weight gain." Supposedly, the father to be will sometimes gain weight during a pregnancy. I'm afraid that I'm going to become walking proof.

Kelly and I have discovered that when her tastes changed, mine changed right along with them. Maybe it's all the hormones dripping from the walls. When she started craving dairy (cheese in particular), so did I. All to often our eyes light up together at the grocery store.

We've always been of similar mind when it comes to snacking, but this is getting weird. I don't think we've ever said "I could really go for..." "Yeah. Me, too," this much before.

Aren't We Forgetting Something?

A friend of ours asked Kelly if she thinks about the baby all the time now. She was surprised to hear her say that she's not obsessing over it. I was too, to be honest.

Earlier that day I'd been thinking about how little our routine has changed since we found out Kelly is pregnant. I started wondering if maybe there was something we ought to be doing. But what is there to do?

Sure, we need to get the nursery finished, stock up on baby stuff, pick a name, baby proofing the house, and plenty of other things. But, what should we be doing right this minute?

I would've thought that there'd be so much more to do. Somehow, I didn't think there would be time to watch the second season of House on DVD right now.