Baby Names?

For the record, Scottie and I are developing a list of names that we think would be appropriate for our soon to be son. We've decided not to discuss at any great length our preferences for first names with people, after a few conversations about various names yielded comments such as:
"Oh, no! Don't name him that!"
"I hate that name"
" I knew a ___. He was a ___" (last blank filled in with something bad)
"Well what about _____ in honor of _____" (may or may not be people we've ever heard of or met)
"I always wanted to name my boy ____. You should!" (No thanks. You had your chance.)

We don't want that kind of influence, pressure, baggage, etc.

The point of me sharing this is that the very first suggestion we received for a name (other than my grandfather's standard "Howard if it's a boy, Howardwina if it's a girl...") came from my uncle Rick. Before we even found out we were having a boy, my Star Wars obsessed uncle said to Scottie "Have you considered Anakin?"

Being as our little guy has been practicing Jedi tricks in my belly, that might not be so far off! I even got a text once it was public knowledge that we ARE having a boy that read: "I have a $100 bill with 'Anakin' written on the back". In all reality, that wouldn't even pay for the kid's legal fees to change his name once he got tired of being beaten up and not being able to choke people just by thinking about it.

Rest assured, we'll choose something that will fit him, have a special and significant meaning, and be able to transition from babyhood to adult with few issues.



And despite what my husband says, Anakin is NOT on our list.

Knoxville Slideshow

Ups and Downs...

When I was planning this post in my head before sitting down, I was only thinking about the wonderful positive things that have happened today...because the awful stuff hadn't yet occurred. Yin Yang, Good and Evil, Black and White...it all balances out.

I had a smashing time today after class hanging out with Kendra- before that even happened, I was hungry at the same time I was in Oxford (doesn't happen very often) which meant that I got to treat myself to a Wham-O at Bagel and Deli. This thrilled me to no end, as I've been thinking about sandwiches for WEEKS now. So, I got my sandwich, trotted over to Kendra's and we proceeded to stalk houses in Oxford, as she and Mike are starting their homebuying process over Christmas break. We found a few that we knew were already on their list, then went drooling into the really nice subdivisions...someday...
After all that excitement, I packed up and started my drive home. I took the sneaky back way into Piqua, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it shaved a whole 15 minutes off my drive time, and I didn't need to worry about being run off the road by copious amounts of semi trucks. That in and of itself excited me. The radio station I was listening to played only awesome music the whole time, and I discovered that we have a K-Mart within a few blocks of my house. (How long have I lived here!? I know, lame.) No more cross town trips to Wal-Mart or into the Troy Meijer for contact solution! W00t!!!
During my drive, I called Good Ol' Charlie Brown himself to see what he was up to, and a strange series of events began to unfold. First, he told me NOT to park out back (where our garage and carport is/my usual spot) and to park out front because he was "cleaning some things out of the basement that need to go to school". Um, weird, but ok. As I pull up to the front of the house, I see my mom's car parked there...also weird, as we usually see her on her home turf. But, I'm gullible and think very little about it. As I was enjoying my mom's company in our living room, I noticed a total mess of little white styrofoam-y flakes all over our floors. Again, I let it go, chalking it up to whatever Scottie had been doing in the basement. After a few minutes, he called out to me from upstairs by saying "Uh-oh!!! Honey, you'd better come look at this..." To my shock and surprise, there was a fully assembled BEAUTIFUL CRIB!!! for our baby boy. It's a four in one convertible, and apparently he's also purchased the matching changing table/dresser combo. He even put the bedding on it!!!! It's adorable, people. Seriously.

And now, the ugliness....

After the exciting reveal of the crib, we took my mom out for a late dinner at one of the finer establishments that Piqua has to offer- Z's. I had what was quite possibly the most questionable definition of a grilled chicken salad, and my husband had a "hamburger with cheese". When we got back, we discovered that our dog had made a mess upstairs, so we did the usual divide and conquer clean-up. As I was getting the mini carpet shampooer going, Scottie flushed a paper towel in our upstairs toilet. The toilet apparently disagreed, and overflow commenced shortly thereafter. Not only did it make a mess in the bathroom, but when we went downstairs, we found 30% of our 80 year old Hardwood flooring in the dining room SOPPING WET. A glance directly upward revealed a few drops coming from the ceiling, and a VERY soft ceiling tile. Upon further inspection, the ceiling seems to "bow" in one area... and I need to be clear that the bathroom containing the toilet in question sits directly above the dining room. Oy. So, we cleaned up MORE water, I mopped with anti-gross stuff, and we dug through all our house documents to find our home warranty.
WORD TO THE WISE: Not like I'm some kind of expert, but if you're buying a house, always always ALWAYS ask for a Home Warranty in your contract. While home inspectors are awesome (and you should always have one of those, too), they can't deconstruct the house to see what could maybe go wrong in a few months, etc. The seller of the house pays for it, so it's nothing but a good thing for you as a buyer! Commercial over.

Our warranty is going to cover any plumbing repairs that we'll need to have...and it's only costing us $50. So, I'll go ahead and place that under the "neutral heading"; good that it's covered and we don't have to pay a lot to get the problem diagnosed and repaired...bad that we have to deal with it in the first place.

No house is perfect, just like no marriage is perfect.
I love my house.
And even though he doesn't really think so right now, I love my husband. Plumbing disaster and all :)

PS!

Decided it was time to change the title, since it's not really mandatory that I hide what I'm writing about from co-workers anymore. Since my poor husband resembles Good ol' Charlie Brown physically, he's been calling me his Little Red Haired Girl since we've been dating. (Those of you that actually know him probably won't believe that he's that sweet :) )
Strangely enough, when I thought about it, most of our friends fit a Peanuts Character in one way or another. And like my description says, no one really wants to be Pigpen. Between you and me, I think it's Red Dog. (Love you, Greg!!!)
I've got nominations for Peppermint Patty, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder and Rerun (Linus and Lucy's younger brother). The part of Snoopy will be played, of course, by Koko. Comment and see where you fit :)

Love to all!

By request...

So, I was encouraged via (someone else's) text message the other day to *ahem* ".. update (my) damn blog". :)
Happy to oblige.

Let's back up to where we left off.... the ultrasound to determine (or not?) baby's sex. When we scheduled the appointment, we were told that taking the earliest available appointment that day would guarantee that we got in and out pretty quickly, as it's the first appointment, and our Dr. had a far lower chance of running behind. Not the case. Scottie didn't want to miss this ultrasound, one because he missed the very first one we did (where the baby is giving us the "metal" face), and two because he wanted to find out the sex. So, we scheduled it early, at time that would not conflict with his classes at all, giving us plenty of time for the appointment.
We then proceeded to wait more than an hour before being seen by our doctor. I let the staff have it. Not that I'm more important than ANYONE else, but for the love of Pete, if something is preventing him from keeping his appointments on track (like DELIVERING BABIES...) then LET US KNOW. We finally get into the ultrasound room, are told that all the scary blood tests came back negative (Cystic Fibrosis, Spina bifida, etc.) everything gets going, we get a little peek at our baby (mostly the butt cheeks, but it's a really comforting feeling to see what's going on in there) then the doc has to leave for a C-Section!!! Not to mention that Scottie had to cancel a class just to accommodate the extra wait time, and now we have nothing to show for it. GAH!!!
** I wish to interrupt this rant to explain that I am actually glad that he left my ultrasound to attend to another patient's c-section. I would want the same if I were in that situation, of course. I am a rational person. HOWEVER. Coupled with the frustration of the incompetent (and rude) front desk girls, the hour long wait, and the bladder I was not allowed to empty, this made for a VERY frustrating experience**

Good thing to come out of this: we got to go back and get an extra peek!

So, Take 2. 8:45 am Thursday, November 13th. The next day.
I forget the envelope, the paper, the poem.... everything cute that I had decided on. Why I didn't leave it in my purse, I'll never know. So, Scottie got his wish, and we asked the doc to tell us. A few swipes of the wand later and we hear "Oh! You've got a boy!" Exactly what I thought!!! So, we're having a boy. Boy boy boy boy boy. Even though I "knew" it all along, it's still an amazing thing to consider. We'll have a son. We don't have to pay for a wedding with this one! (unless he is duped into marriage by some whiny girl that wants a big wedding but can't pay for it and we love our son too much to tell him that he's making a huge mistake... oops...) We have a list of names that we're working with, but we will not name him until we see him. Period. Scottie even has a student that made a list for us... adorable.

Daddy has already painted the nursery, and we bought bedding and a stroller/car seat system a few weekends ago. The little kicks and flutters that I was feeling occasionally have turned into very regular occurrences that can be both felt and seen from the outside. Last night I woke Scottie up because baby was making my belly dance. There are times that it feels like he's working on choreography from the Matrix in there...or at least practicing a bicycle kick. Yes, it's a VERY weird feeling (like a strong but irregular muscle spasm), but also very reassuring that everything is ok and working in there. Scottie and I can't wait to see and hold him, but we've been telling him that he's not allowed to come out until Daddy's birthday (March 7th... he'd only be 2 weeks early). I know it's unlikely, but I'm praying that he makes his appearance exactly on his due date: March 20th. I may have mentioned this, but that's my Poppa's (mom's dad's) birthday, and it would just be so very special to give him a great grandchild as a birthday gift.

Not to make this whole thing about my pregnancy, but in addition to the journal I'm keeping with thoughts for my son (to be shared when he has reached an appropriate age), this is a good way to record things that are going-on. Plus, I have very little else going on other than teaching lessons and volunteering to teach 5th and 6th graders 3 days a week. (Volunteering= Free...). And piano class, but who wants to hear about that? I would only be bitching about how whiny undergraduates are in general as well as how generally frustrating singers can be... and that's just not good karma.

Have a few more stories (Thanksgiving- with pictures, and Black Friday madess) to post, and will do so at a later date.

Peace. (And I mean that now with all sincerity, because I'm having a baby that could very well be drafted during his lifetime. So, PEACE DAMMIT.)