The Ultimate Baby Name Showdown!

Well folks, it's here: The Ultimate Baby Name Showdown! Aren't you excited?!? (Ok, maybe it's just me.)

The top two vote-getters from each poll (for both boys and girls) are listed on the right, so go ahead and cast your vote. FYI, where there was a tie, I just chose the name I liked best.

I can't wait to see the results!

We have a date!

There are many not-so-great things about having c-sections, but I have to admit, I really like the fact that I get to know the baby's birth date ahead of time. It certainly helps with the planning of babysitting for the other kids, etc. And it doesn't hurt that the doctor usually schedules the surgery for about a week ahead of your due date. That is stellar! So... we now have a date for the surgery. Drum roll please...

Friday, November 28th!

Whoo hoo! And yes, that's the day after Thanksgiving. Perfect timing, actually. I would hate to have missed out on the opportunity to go crazy with Thanksgiving dinner, especially with the "I'm pregnant so I can eat as much as I want" excuse. It's a beautiful thing.

If they make me fast ahead of the surgery, then I'm having Thanksgiving at 7 a.m. "Wake up kids, it's time to have turkey!"

(I don't think they do ... I really should remember that, huh? It's only my fourth. Oh well... maybe I'll eat a pie or two ahead of time, just in case.)

On another note, the results of the 2nd round of baby name polls are as follows:

Girls
Evelyn - 12 (35%)
Josephine - 10 (29%)
Alice - 9 (26%)
Mary - 3 (8%)

Boys
Jack - 16 (48%)
Linus - 7 (21%)
Charles - 7 (21%)
Gordon - 3 (9%)

Later this week I'll take the top two from this poll and the top two from the last poll and we'll have an ultimate baby name showdown! I'm excited! I love seeing everyone's responses. I have to admit I was surprised at how well Linus did. *I* like it, but that usually doesn't mean much. :)

Baby Name Poll: Round 2 (plus, I'm off the ice)

Well, my friends, you were right. A week of consistent vitamin taking has significantly reduced my ice craving, and I'm feeling almost normal again. As normal as a pregnant woman feels, anyway. Hats off to Jay, Jeremy, and Diane, who all diagnosed my craving correctly. I can feel the iron pumping through me even as I type.

And now, as promised, a new baby name poll! The results of my previous poll can be found here. Please vote in both polls, since we need both a boy and a girl name. Perhaps later I'll pit the winners of this poll against the winners of the previous poll and we can declare an All-Time But Non-Binding Winner!

Now go vote! (Consider it practice for November 4th.)

Baby Update

I realized I haven't really been talking about the pregnancy that much lately, and I suppose it's because there is just so much else going on. Now that the school year is in full-swing, and Jay is working 12 hour shifts, I don't spend nearly as much time on the computer. I guess that's a good thing, though. I was starting to get a wee bit of an addiction.

So, I am 29 weeks along and feel about 50. The older I get, the more energy pregnancy zaps out of me. I am healthy and all is well with the baby, I'm just even more tired than usual and have all sorts of fun aches and pains. I don't think I'm going to be able to walk the girls to school much longer, which really stinks. I always feel kind of silly driving to school since we live so close. You know me, I try to keep my carbon footprint low. ;) But, I don't really have much choice, so Al Gore will just have to get off my back.

Here I am, at 29 weeks, looking slightly frumpy:

And despite the fact that approximately 50 people told me how huge I am at church last Sunday, the doctor says I am measuring "right on target." So take that, people!!!

(I sound kind of bitter, don't I? Sorry. Blame the hormones.)

As far as cravings go, I'm craving anything icy. I'm going through Otter Pops like mad, and I'm eating the ice out of my water. (Very strange for me considering I usually like room temperature water.) I wonder if there's any old wives tales that can decipher this particular craving for me?

On the subject of baby names, we've taken a backward step. We had a boy name and a girl name all picked out, but as the Big Day approaches, we are starting to reconsider. Jay doesn't know why I insist on researching baby names so early in the pregnancy, because I always end up second guessing myself near the end. But hey, if I didn't start early, I'm pretty sure the baby wouldn't have a name until he/she was 3 months old! Hmmm... maybe a new poll is in order. I will put one together soon.

Baby Names... Poll Results

The results are in!

For the boys, Henry and Calvin tied for first place with 37% of the vote. Edmund came in a distant 3rd, at 13%, and Edward came in at 10%.

I want to take this opportunity to say that Edward is in the running because of my wonderful grandpa, not because of Edward Cullen.

To recap:

Grandpa, yes.

Vampire, no.

(Although, he doesn't burn my retinas.)

The girls results were as follows: Katherine, with a convincing lead at 39%, with Eliza and Penelope tied for 2nd, at 25% each. Poor Maggie came in last with 10% of the vote.

Thank you all for participating! It really is fun to see everyone's choices. Jay and I have agreed on a frontrunner name for both a boy and a girl, though I'm not going to divulge them here. MuHAHAHA! I will say that the frontrunners are among the names that were in the poll. (Which, for me, is saying something.)

Baby names... Poll time!

Methinks it's time for another fun-filled poll!

The last poll indicated that 66% of you think Baby #4 is a boy, 11% are thinking girl, and 22% of you copped out and chose "one of the above." I don't know why I even gave you that option. I should have known better.

And now it's time to poll baby names. Yee-haw!

My love for names knows no bounds. I don't know where the obsession comes from. Perhaps it comes from having the 2nd most popular name of the entire 1970's. (My sister, Jennifer, beat me by having the #1 most popular name.) Having such a popular name regulated me to being "Amy T." my entire schooling life. I didn't mind too much then, but looking back now I realize there was a reason I secretly wanted to go by my middle name. (Janelle, thank you for asking.)

Anyway... enough about me and my neurosis.

Note that the winning name doesn't automatically get bestowed on Baby. In fact, knowing me, the baby could very possibly be named something else that's not even currently on the list - like Cletus.

Yes, I just watched Hoosiers.
No, I wouldn't seriously chose Cletus.
At least not today.

And with that... check out the polls to the right and cast your votes! Make sure to vote in both polls!

Baby Names... Part 2

The other day as we were driving in the car, Jay and I started asking the girls their opinions on baby names. Why, you ask? That's a good question. It's not like I'm really going to take their opinion into account. (I know that sounds mean, but read on and you'll see why.)

We started with girl's names:

Jay: How about Jane?
Girls: No.
Amy: How about Margaret?
Girls: No.
Jay: How about Alice?
Girls: No.
Amy: How about Evelyn?
Girls: No.
Jay: How about Katherine?
Girls: No.
Amy: Okaayyy... How about Taqueria?
Girls, in happy shouts of exclamation: YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We didn't even bother to ask them about boy names after that.

Taqueria Fear... honestly.

Baby names... part 1, undoubtedly

In honor of tomorrow's ultrasound (where we're not finding out the gender... I think...), below is the first in what will most likely be a series on baby naming in the Fear Household. What can I say, I love this part of pregnancy!

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I often joke with Jay that one of the main reasons I married him was for his last name. Let's face it, as much as I honor and respect my maiden name, Fear is a lot cooler - and shorter - than Teutschman. However, when it comes to naming babies, it can be a little difficult to work with. I am forever vetoing perfectly good first names based on their relationship to our last name, which any experienced baby-namer will tell you is a good practice, anyway. In our case, however, some of the combinations we've vetoed are pretty funny. Therefore, I submit to you a list of:

Baby Names That Are Permanently Out of Consideration (so don't ask!)

Noah Fear

Will Fear

Warren Fear

Neville Fear

Lucy Fear

Helen Fear

Oh, and any combination such as Isaac Michael or Ivy Margaret, due to the unfortunate initials I.M. Fear. (And no, Natalie's middle name is not Olivia.) By the way, I do realize that Bea Fear is almost a sentence and therefore should have been vetoed, but since her full name is Beatrice we went for it anyway. It was a tough decision, I assure you.

Are there any other funny "Fear" combinations you can think of, without making up first names? (Showno doesn't count, people.)