The Name Game

4 months! Hard to believe!

For whatever reason this week I seem to have freaked about trying to find a name.  Jason and I have two good ones we like so far (one for a girl, and one for a boy), but I don't want to have a name entirely picked out... I'd like to have a few that we like to pick from when the baby is born, especially since we'll know the gender ahead of time (I want some element of surprise).  Let me tell you.... being a teacher (especially a teacher that teaches and remembers the names of 500 kids) and trying to find good baby names is incredibly difficult!!  When going through lists of names I nix about every other one because "I teach/taught a ____ and he/she is too ______".  Don't get me wrong, it's not like I dislike every student I teach... but they all have their own personalities and have all left their own impressions in my mind.

On top of that I find going through baby name lists difficult and painful! Again, about every other names leaves me like "what are people thinking!?!" I mean "Barnabas"... at least it's not "Apple" or something, but come on... I guess I like fairly common names, but I don't want a name that's so common it's a top 10 name... I don't want my child to have to be "Jason F" or "Amanda F" their whole life because there's always another person with their name.  (Yes, Jason was the #1 name for pretty much all of the 80s so he always had several Jasons in his class, and even at work). 

So, in search of more "common" names I have turned to Facebook friend lists instead of baby name lists... and yes, you're own Facebook friend list may not be safe!  It seems to be a good way to find long lists (though, thankfully, not 100,000+ long lists) of fairly normal names, AND it gives me a good idea of the overly common names (Laura, for example, is friends with 9 Davids and 1 Dave... how did you manage that by the way??).

In any case I think we're still pretty much at square one.  I did find a cool website though that I'll eventually post a link to where I can list all the names we're thinking of and people can vote on their favorites.  Of course, it will come down to what Jason and I prefer, but I'd love to see how certain names sit with other people.

So, week 16 now!  That means I will be posting a belly pic later this week!  For now you get to see what part of the fruit salad our Floodling is now, and read about what he or she is up to in my belly!

An avocado is longer than a naval orange I'm assuming, because in my mind it's certainly not  bigger...

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too and their tiny bones are forming meaning the little one can now pick up your voice. Eyebrows and eyelashes are forming, and the patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.