Naming The Baby - Part 2

In case you missed Part 1 of this 2 part series, you can check it out HERE.

Let's recap ... Crystal and I in an effort to decide on a name for a boy setup a March Madness style bracket of 16 names and let about 200 of our friends and family on Google+ vote on them.  Hilarity and good times were had, and in the end we came upon the name Ian James Partridge should the baby be a boy.

People so enjoyed the whole thing that we were asked by some to do a girl name bracket, even though we'd already picked a girl name (quite easily in fact ... like it took an entire 5 minutes of discussion).  We decided "why not?!" and setup another bracket of 16 names - with our chosen name thrown into the mix) to see what would happen.  We made sure to make mention that we have a name chosen already, so the winning name is just for entertainment purposes only.

Crystal didn't know it (until she read this post for the 1st time) that I had in-advance clued in our friend Obi Debo (who during this whole baby name bracket process found out that we'd like him to be the baby's Godfather) about one of the names in the list - Harley Lynn ala Harley Quinn, the Joker's girlfriend in the Batman universe - because he's got a particular soft spot for the character.  I thought he might want to have something fun in store.

Telling My Boss I Am Pregnant

While we often try to be humorous and entertaining on this blog, there are going to be occasional posts like this one where the topic is on the serious side.

I had just turned 8 weeks pregnant and had an ultrasound set for the following day.  I was at my job for almost three months on a temp-to-hire and was close to being hired on.  Because of a number of pregnancy related appointments I had coming up, I decided that it was time to inform my boss.  My thinking was that it would be better for them to know so they would understand why I would be having a number of appointments in coming weeks.  My appointments were all set for either early in the morning or during lunch time so that I wouldn't miss a lot of time at work.

By Ohio law no woman has to tell their boss until they are 15 weeks till due date - by which point you're going to be unmistakably showing.  From what I can tell, it seems most people make their pregnancy known around the end of the 1st trimester.

So, I arrived early at work on Monday and went into my boss's office, sat down, and told her that I was 8 weeks pregnant. She seemed excited for me and congratulated me on this "wonderful time in my life." A weight seemed lifted off of my shoulders as going in that morning I was fearful for the worst.  She notified the HR department, and there seemed to be no problem.

Seeing Mini-Minion for the very 1st time!  8 weeks & 2 days.

The ultrasound appointment came.  Rob and I got to see our baby for the very first time.  Everyone at work seemed excited for me.  The two women at work that I had grown close to both told me that I was doing a fantastic job and that they'd be insane to let me go and not to worry about it.

Friday arrived - work week finished.  I said goodbye to everyone at work and drove home.  About 15 minutes after walking through the door I received a phone call from the temp agency I was placed through.

The "Cool Parent"

Children are unpredictable.  Anyone who says otherwise is lying to you.  As much as I would love to have this whole raising children thing planned out from beginning to end, it's an impossible pipe dream.  Kids will find a way to do something at some point completely unexpected that will throw you for a loop.  Every child is different and you have to figure it out as you go along.  With this in mind though, Rob and I have discussed our strategy for parenting because any plan is better than no plan at all.

While this may be tempting, this is definitely not a good long term parenting strategy.
Image Credit: Life At The White House Blog

In our very first discussion about the ways in which we will raise our children, we decided most important of all - we are a team.  We don't correct each other in front of the child when one of us is playing the "parent" role, we don't say yes when the other says no, and if either one of us have a problem, we will discuss it in private out earshot of any little ones.  This is especially true as children grow older and become more sneaky in their efforts to get what they want.

Naming The Baby - Part 1

As is happening at an increasing rate, the people of Google+ are meeting each other and ... um ... well ... we've started following nature's course.  Crystal and I personally know of 3 brand new babies in the last 6 weeks as well as a number of other expecting plussers besides us.  So ... how exactly do you name a "Baby Of The Plus"?  Crystal and I feel we've stumbled upon a fantastic way to do it.

Our story begins about a month ago with the two of us discussing names, as any set of expecting parents would.  In a matter of about 10 minutes we were able to come to a 100% agreement on what name we'd use if the baby is a girl (to be discussed in part 2).  In about as little time, we were able to choose a middle name for if the baby is a boy - James - after her father and my grandfather (and great grandfather and uncle).

When considering names for my children ... I totally admit to looking for references to people or characters that I like ... bonus points for geek cred.  I suggested we could name the baby Lucas.  She quickly realized that though a nod to George Lucas, it would also allow me to say to the baby lines like "Luke, I am your father" and "use the force Luke" ... and while she found it funny she wasn't 100% convinced.

In what felt like no time at all, Crystal suggests we should name the baby Rick so that he'd be "Rick James" ... seriously!  She said she'd teach the baby to go around saying "I'm Rick James, bitch!"

Hilarity ensues.

Boobamorphosis

There's no really polite way to say this ... but ... when it comes to boobs, I am blessed with my share ... and probably someone else's too.  This blessing isn't without its curse, mind you, such as back pain from carrying around melons on my chest all day.  No joke.  I weighed them at one point.  They weigh as much as a pair of melons.

I digress.

Like many women, the first thing I look forward to at the end of the day is to take my bra off.  After my 5th week of pregnancy, though, I developed what might best be described as comfort issues.  While removing my bra still feels great ... there's now a noticeable soreness when my boobs are no longer being supported by devil's contraption around my chest.  I'm hoping that I won't have to suffer through any other boob related issues until the third trimester.

My hope, unfortunately, was short lived.

A few weeks have passed and I had a job interview.  After arriving home from the interview, the first thing I wanted to do was get out of the nice clothes that I was in and get into some comfortable yoga pants and a tee-shirt.  I'm telling Rob all about the interview as I pull my favorite grey Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup Champion shirt over my head.

Uh ... Houston we have a problem. The shirt stopped short of clearing over my aforementioned blessings.

"What the hell?!" I proclaim loudly.  Rob busts out laughing at me as a look of horror spreads across my face.  "How does this even happen?  I am 10 weeks.  Are they supposed to grow this much this fast?!"

Rob is now leaning on the bed because he's laughing so hard.  In between the laughter and gasps for air he exclaims, "I don't see the problem."

"Oh shut up!" I yell as I pull the shirt back up over my head and retire it to the back of the closet, where hopefully one day I will be able to fit into it again.  I grab a looser fitting tee and start my massive grumble fest.

I research to see if my boobs are supposed to get bigger this quickly.  Sure enough splashed all over What to Expect When Expecting's website are articles that confirm that I will be dealing with bigger boobs throughout the pregnancy.

I look down at my belly, which doesn't even have a bump yet, and exclaim, "What are you doing to me? You are grounded!"