My dear baby girl,
It's true what they say about subsequent children: there's often plenty of time to document the road of the first born because distractions are limited, but with each additional child life gets a little more crazy and finding time/remembering to document each step of the journey gets more difficult. I've not written much about this pregnancy with you, so I'll try to do a little bit of catch up.
You are already a handful. So loved, so anticipated, but giving me a really hard time! Of course, it doesn't help that I'm older, and this is my 5th time being pregnant in 4-5 years, that's been pretty rough on my body, but you seem to have decided not to make it any easier on me. I've had to take medicine every night to combat all-day-sickness for our duration together, the boys gave up at the end of the third trimester. You will be persistent. I've been more emotional, hormonal, frustrated, stressed, and generally grumpier, this makes me a little concerned for when you reach adolescence and join me on the hormone rollercoaster. The boys might need to invest in a clubhouse in the backyard with your father... but that's ok, I know we will manage.
You've also been much more active than your brothers, or I've forgotten exactly what they felt like. Not only are you a mover and a shaker, but you claim ALL THE SPACE. Between headbutting me in the bladder while simultaneously kicking me under an upper left rib, punching my right waist, and booty tooching just next to my bellybutton, you appear to be determined to use up every bit of real estate you can manage, and are doing a great job. As much as I complain about being incredibly uncomfortable, I LOVE to feel and watch you move. In fact, you move so much and so often that when you aren't having a dance party, I get worried. Allow me to tell you about this Halloween when you decided you were just too tired, or had shifted into a position where I just couldn't feel you as much, certainly not in the same way I was used to. I got so worried and anxious your aunt Judi took me to the hospital so we could monitor you, only to immediately discover you were moving so much they had trouble getting the monitors in place. You were just playing hard to get, and the next day you were back to your usually obviously-active self. Not even born yet and already giving me gray hairs.
It will one day become apparent to all three of you kids that Mama is A Worrier. Just ask your Opa Bullach, this is a genetic thing. It also means that I get stressy, which isn't good for my blood pressure and in turn stresses out the medical professionals seeing us through this pregnancy. Yesterday at our routine OB appointment my blood pressure was running high. A lot of that was because I had only just realized the day before that I needed to change our scheduled delivery date. The one I had chosen nearly two months ago and felt so comfortable, happy, and prepared with. Then, I needed to change it AGAIN because the first change didn't allow enough time for us to get out of the hospital by the end of the month, which is when my current insurance plan ends. Health insurance. This whole debacle, and the reason we will be meeting you sooner than we anticipated is because health insurance is crazy and confusing. And stressful, and now we are back to yesterday and our second visit to Labor and Delivery for monitoring in a week (remember Halloween?). The good news is my blood pressure settled out, which means the problem was just stress and not something really bad, like preeclampsia. The other good news is you did great and are looking just fine, which is always so reassuring. Let's see if we can work together to get us to your new delivery date, deal?
In the meantime, I'm going to hopefully hold up my end of our little bargain by trying to take things a little easier, a big challenge when you have two awesome, rambunctious brothers to juggle. I am semi convinced that all your activity comes from the fact that you can hear them and our family chaos and are just getting yourself ready to keep up, maybe even lead them around by the nose when you're mobile. I know you'll fit right in and I can't wait to see the three of you together and share in the joy you'll create in our home. I know there will also be plenty of craziness and frustration, but it will all be worth it. You, just like your brothers, are so dearly loved already and we can't wait to hold you, smile at you, give you kisses (Toby, for the record, has an excellent head start as for weeks he has been saying your name an emphatically, repeatedly kissing my tummy. I don't think he really understand what your addition will mean, but he seems excited about you and that's awesome).
Friday, November 10, 2017
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
The Name Game
The Story of Flynn Lathan:
Clif and I thought we should be prepared with a boy's name, just in case, as we waited until our sonogram that would tell us if we were having a boy or a girl. In the beginning we really wanted a girl, were scared of the concept of having a boy, and had been prepared with a girl's name for years. Boys names, however, were a big challenge for us and we spent several nights pouring through name websites and lists, trying to find even a few that we both liked.
Flynn was at the top of my list, and had been since high school. I'm fairly sure it took root for me when I heard it in a favorite song one day. I suggested it to Clif, and followed up with Lathan (two friends have this name; one as a middle, the other as a last - I just thought it was nice and unique), and he pretty readily agreed. Little did I know at the time it was really only because he was SO SURE we would have a girl (I was convinced otherwise)...
Sonogram day came and low and behold we find out we are expecting a boy. Clif and I do not do well with secrets or keeping exciting information, at least that is ours to tell. We are notorious, eager sharers and were ready to announce our baby as soon as we found out. The trouble was, now faced with the fact that our first was a he, Clif wasn't so sure about our name selection any more. This broke my heart, as I had been so excited about the name. He wanted to decide quickly! Right then! Announce the gender WITH our chosen name! But I wasn't ready to give up on my dream of having a Flynn quite so fast. I said I needed time to mourn my name and try to open myself back up to other options, but Clif, ever so eager, I suppose wasn't ready for me to adjust my brain and semi-reluctantly agreed with our first choice.
It's pretty funny, looking back, at how silly the whole path was, but now that we have him I couldn't imagine Flynn by any other name, it's perfect!
The Story of Tobias Hunter:
After the drama of Flynn's name, I thought we better be prepared out of the gate for having a second boy and get ahead of choosing a name so we didn't have Drama: Round Two. Truth be told, I was convinced our second would also be a boy just because we had wanted a girl so badly (I was now on Team Boy and ready to have another), and because we struggled so much with boy names.
One evening Clif and I were back to our ritual of pouring over baby name lists, trying to find some that matched. We were more casual about it this time, and had only tossed out a couple of options when I suddenly burst out, "What about Toby?" (admittedly thinking briefly of a favorite childhood movie...). Clif, without skipping a beat with, "How about Tobias"? Perfect, I said! Clif then followed up with Hunter and we both loved it. What a different experience than we had with trying to pick Flynn's name. It was quick, easy, and just clicked into place.
Not long after we had dinner with Clif's parents to share the name we'd picked. After telling them our choice, I remember his mother giving us a thoughtful look. Flynn was a very unique name and they had wondered how we came up with it, I thought maybe they were wondering the same about Tobias. A few days later we saw them again and she exclaimed that she remembered why that name had struck her as so familiar. When they were preparing to bring Clif home they had narrowed their choices down to two names: Clifton and Tobias (which had been selected by her brother). They chose Clifton because it was more universally pronounced, while Tobias had a range of pronunciation variations. Since they traveled internationally so much they thought Clifton was the better option. Clif had never heard that story, which made the name so much more special to us.
The Story of Kaileigh Samara:
Clif and I have had this name chosen since not long after we started dating. In the years we've been together, any time we talked about having children we would day dream about Kaileigh. I can't remember which of us came up with the first name, but I knew I wanted to spell it like that so we could call her Kai. Clif offered Samara, the 'nature name' of a friend of his from college. Samara has several meanings in different cultures, but it is also the name of any winged seedpod, like maple 'helicopters'. We've loved the name for almost a decade and were excited to learn we would be able to use it for our sweet girl.
Clif and I thought we should be prepared with a boy's name, just in case, as we waited until our sonogram that would tell us if we were having a boy or a girl. In the beginning we really wanted a girl, were scared of the concept of having a boy, and had been prepared with a girl's name for years. Boys names, however, were a big challenge for us and we spent several nights pouring through name websites and lists, trying to find even a few that we both liked.
Flynn was at the top of my list, and had been since high school. I'm fairly sure it took root for me when I heard it in a favorite song one day. I suggested it to Clif, and followed up with Lathan (two friends have this name; one as a middle, the other as a last - I just thought it was nice and unique), and he pretty readily agreed. Little did I know at the time it was really only because he was SO SURE we would have a girl (I was convinced otherwise)...
Sonogram day came and low and behold we find out we are expecting a boy. Clif and I do not do well with secrets or keeping exciting information, at least that is ours to tell. We are notorious, eager sharers and were ready to announce our baby as soon as we found out. The trouble was, now faced with the fact that our first was a he, Clif wasn't so sure about our name selection any more. This broke my heart, as I had been so excited about the name. He wanted to decide quickly! Right then! Announce the gender WITH our chosen name! But I wasn't ready to give up on my dream of having a Flynn quite so fast. I said I needed time to mourn my name and try to open myself back up to other options, but Clif, ever so eager, I suppose wasn't ready for me to adjust my brain and semi-reluctantly agreed with our first choice.
It's pretty funny, looking back, at how silly the whole path was, but now that we have him I couldn't imagine Flynn by any other name, it's perfect!
The Story of Tobias Hunter:
After the drama of Flynn's name, I thought we better be prepared out of the gate for having a second boy and get ahead of choosing a name so we didn't have Drama: Round Two. Truth be told, I was convinced our second would also be a boy just because we had wanted a girl so badly (I was now on Team Boy and ready to have another), and because we struggled so much with boy names.
One evening Clif and I were back to our ritual of pouring over baby name lists, trying to find some that matched. We were more casual about it this time, and had only tossed out a couple of options when I suddenly burst out, "What about Toby?" (admittedly thinking briefly of a favorite childhood movie...). Clif, without skipping a beat with, "How about Tobias"? Perfect, I said! Clif then followed up with Hunter and we both loved it. What a different experience than we had with trying to pick Flynn's name. It was quick, easy, and just clicked into place.
Not long after we had dinner with Clif's parents to share the name we'd picked. After telling them our choice, I remember his mother giving us a thoughtful look. Flynn was a very unique name and they had wondered how we came up with it, I thought maybe they were wondering the same about Tobias. A few days later we saw them again and she exclaimed that she remembered why that name had struck her as so familiar. When they were preparing to bring Clif home they had narrowed their choices down to two names: Clifton and Tobias (which had been selected by her brother). They chose Clifton because it was more universally pronounced, while Tobias had a range of pronunciation variations. Since they traveled internationally so much they thought Clifton was the better option. Clif had never heard that story, which made the name so much more special to us.
The Story of Kaileigh Samara:
Clif and I have had this name chosen since not long after we started dating. In the years we've been together, any time we talked about having children we would day dream about Kaileigh. I can't remember which of us came up with the first name, but I knew I wanted to spell it like that so we could call her Kai. Clif offered Samara, the 'nature name' of a friend of his from college. Samara has several meanings in different cultures, but it is also the name of any winged seedpod, like maple 'helicopters'. We've loved the name for almost a decade and were excited to learn we would be able to use it for our sweet girl.
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