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.