Baby names

Before I got pregnant, I thought I'd be a pretty calm mom-to-be. I didn't think I'd sweat the small stuff. In fact, I tried to make a secret pact with myself not to. I guess I'm doing relatively well holding myself to that pact...or at least trying to! The thing that I didn't realize is that it isn't possible not to have worries and fears and insecurities pop into your head..and obsess about them somewhat. At least if you're me:) I guess maybe it's how long you let them hang out there that's important.

My thought process usually tends to go down a path something like this before I can regain control: Am I eating healthy enough since I've been feeling so sick? Is my baby going to be normal? Will he or she have Downs Syndrome? Am I going to have a miscarriage? Did I breath too much paint in while hubby was painting? Are hot showers okay if it raises your body temperature too much? Why do they tell you not to take hot baths but never mention hot showers? Oh boy, my showers are definitely too hot. I need to take colder showers. I wonder if my make-up has aluminum in it? Why did my first doctor tell me Tylenol wasn't okay in the first trimester and my second doctor said it was fine? Why am I worrying about Tylenol when I haven't even taken it? Oh, I guess there was that one time right after I found out I was pregnant. Is there lead in our house? Please please please please please please please please please let my baby be okay. I'm trying to do the very best that I can!

I find that whenever I'm feeling stressed or worried about the many things there are to be stressed and/or worried about while pregnant it calms me down to think about something fun and simple....like baby names! I really like thinking about baby names. Maybe a little too much. I think it comforts me because when I think of baby names, when I actually assign a name to the little plum in my belly, it makes it seem so real. It makes my little plum a child who is healthy and safe; who has all the scary stuff out of the way...who has a name. I think I need to buy myself a GIANT book of baby names to read in bed before I go to sleep at night. Hey, whatever works, right? :)

Here are some names Jeremy and I have thought of that we both like:

Coen
Ezra
Keene
Micah
Jonah
Jonus
Tripp
Mazzy
Zoe
Piper
Beatrice (BeBe)

I would also like to say that I completely adore the name Clementine but I am alone on that one;)

UCLA Study

A study conducted by UCLA's Department of Psychiatry has revealed that the kind of face a woman finds attractive on a man can differ depending on where she is in her menstrual cycle.

For example: If she is ovulating, she is attracted to men with rugged and masculine features. However, if she is menstruating or menopausal, she tends to be more attracted to a man with duct tape over his mouth and a spear lodged in his forehead while he is on fire.

No further studies are expected.

On a brighter note...

On a much brighter note, for those of you who don't know (and actually read my blog).....We're pregnant! It's hard to be too bummed out about the winter with such good news growing in my belly. I keep meaning to post about it but, as usual, I've been a big, fat, blog slacker. Maybe this new endeavor will keep me busy with stuff to blog about:) This Thursday begins my 11th week of pregnancy, nearing the end of the first trimester. I'm already starting to feel a little bit better. The morning, afternoon and evening sickness now seems to be diminishing to mostly just evening sickness and a few waves of nausea throughout the day. I can finally look at vegetables again. Weirdest thing, there isn't a vegetable that I've met that I don't love; but for some reason, everything green and crunchy has completely grossed me out for the past month. Go figure. Pregnancy is WEIRD. All of the sudden, wham!?! You turn into some nutty, hormonally challenged wack-job who cries all the time and hates vegetables. Who knew?

We waited to tell people for awhile because of some early complications but everything is looking really great! We've had two ultrasounds and everything looked good. The last ultrasound was at 8 weeks and we got to see and hear the heart beating at both, which was amazing. I'll post the 8-monther. See if you can figure out which body parts are which:) Some days, I still cant believe I'm actually pregnant. It's so wonderful and overwhelming and cool and scary all at once!

Florida

It is our second winter in Oregon and I find myself missing Florida, almost desperately. I think it's partly due to my growing distaste for Oregon's winters and maybe partly due to our friends Joe and Tracey taking a two week vacation there to visit her parents for the holidays. I talked to Tracey on the phone today on the first day of their vacation and we reminisced about what it was like living there. I remembered the lovely saltiness in the air that hits you the second you get off the plane or walk out of your house in the morning. I remembered the smell of Eucalyptus in the air on the warm summer nights. I remembered that short year that Jeremy and I lived just a block from the beach in that condo, the sound of the waves crashing from our balcony. I remembered walking on the beach almost every night after work, the sea unwinding me like nothing else every had, mental stitch by stitch. The tide would mold the beach in a different way each day and it always seemed different and interesting, yet familiar.

Perhaps the nostalgia is brought on because I have no friends yet in Salem, after almost being here a year and a half. I had the best group of friends in Florida, my own little family that had pieced together in the absence of my real family being so far away. We had the best get-togethers and our home was always filled with friends and good food. I miss Susie and Ruth and Eric and Carol and Marianne. I miss Eric and Lisa even though they were hard to hook up with. I miss my old friends from Agcert and Rockwell. I know it's my own fault that I haven't made new friends here, I just feel out of my element. We've been fixing up the house so I haven't felt like having people over. The rain makes me feel depressed and anti-social. I didn't meet anybody through my work because it was a solitary job, not like the office jobs I've had in the past. I know it will get better but today is just one of those days where you have to let it all out and have a good cry. I haven't gotten to the 'good cry' part yet but I have a feeling it's coming.