Monday, October 8, 2007

Baby Love (names, the room and the stuff)

We have 4 name pairs (first and middle names) picked out that both of us like. I’ve stuck with these pairs for awhile now, though the order of preference changes regularly. I remember doing that with my dog, as well, alternating the 2 names I’d chosen during the drive back from getting him. I’ve been trying them on for size, alternating each day. We are not sharing our choices IRL because of the opinions of our family (we have different tastes and offense is often taken when their advice isn’t) and we don’t want it getting back to them, so… I’ve shared with a couple of online communities, though I’m not sure if I’m ready to discuss it here. Part of me wants to as a record of everything in my pregnancy, part of me is constantly afraid of family members finding this blog, though I’ve done my best to hide my identity.

I have 4 names – each evoking a different feeling in my own mind – my Southern belle name, my Irish lass name, my sophisticated tomboy name and my classic lady name. I have nicknames picked out for 2, but for one, I think I prefer using the nickname more than the full name. In theory, I’m not sure how I feel about that. I did not learn my own full name for years – and was almost never called by it. I essentially had to switch schools (college) to get people to consistently call me by my full name instead of my childhood nickname. Even my husband and my in-laws refer to me by my childhood nickname, since they met me before college. Do I want to saddle my daughter with that? Of course 2 of my best friends (my childhood best friend and my current best girlfriend) actually prefer their younger-sounding nickname to their full name and even in their late twenties, they go by these names – who is to say my daughter won’t prefer that as well?

There is always one name (and it is consistently the same name) that is my 4th choice. I love the names in general, but it has always been more of my “fall-back” name. Like “well, if we can’t come up with something we like, this will do.” I’m thinking of bumping it to the background and replacing it with another option. I may have even found one, but I really only recently proposed it to Mr. Moose (and by that I mean this morning, via email though it’s been brought up before).

We registered over the weekend – it was long, a little stressful (as Saturday’s at Babies’R’Us tend to be very busy) and a lot of fun. Mr. Moose got burned out well before I did, but once he finally convinced me to stop and settle down, I realized how amazingly tired I was, too. I bought a sleeper that is very girly and yet incredibly practical. I will be an ideal “going home” outfit if I don’t find something else, but no matter what, I bought her the first girlie outfit. Maybe that’s silly – but it meant something to me.

I’m quite excited about the preparation of getting ready for baby. We began looking at the guest room/soon-to-be nursery over the weekend. I’m frustrated because we’ve been using the guest closet as a catch all for storage since we moved in – extra blankets/pillows/wrapping paper, games, trinkets, decorations that are too delicate to be left in our sweltering garage, etc. I have no place to put these things yet (obviously, some of them will be discarded in some way) and therefore I have no place to put the baby stuff, either. I’m ready to get organized and I can’t. I’m raring to go and get the space ready for the baby.

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