Tuesday, October 20, 2009

What We've Been Doing

So. exhausted.

It's like I have a tiny little person inside of me stealing all of my energy. Weird, I know, but it's the only explanation I have for dropping off the face of the earth every now and then. Usually right around 7:30 at night.

Last week was an unusually busy one, which also may help explain my absence from the internet world. I try to maintain a daily schedule that keeps me at home for most of the day since the little'uns are just plain happier, but it was not in the cards last week.

There was a lot of running back and forth to school for various reasons, which culminated with going in to pray the Rosary with Fiver's class last Friday. Let me just say that it was more awesome than I imagined. It took all my energy to keep my heart from exploding, that's how sweet the children were.

Also, I am loving Fiver's teacher so much that I'm wishing I could win the lottery and pay her to be his private tutor for the REST OF HIS LIFE. I think it doesn't hurt that he is a little enamored of her.

The rest of my time has been taken up by The Great Seasonal Clothing Switch of '09, which is always a back-breaking good time. This year, however, I have been very pleased to discover the joys of sharing clothing among sets of children of the same gender.

Sally and Bun are finally at a size where they can start using many of the things I have saved from Francie and Fiver. It is like a little treasure hunt for me, and I get to see some of my favorite outfits repeated for another year.

The only thing I struck out on this year were coats for Sally and Bun. I don't have hand-me-downs that are the right size for them this year, and since we had SNOW last week (really, Mother Nature?), I had to break down and buy them new coats. Arg.

Next year, though, I'm good to go.

In addition to all my sorting fun, I've also been figuring out what to do with all those buckets of apples we picked. We've been eating apples every day, drinking fresh apple cider, eating apple crisp, and I'm ready to make applesauce this week.

Forget the flu shots, we're working on keeping every doctor in the tri-state area away. (Except you, Rob, my dear. There's no way you're getting out of this booby hatch without me.) (And apples or not, don't forget the flu shots. We need 'em.)

In Numero Cinco news, things are going well, as far as I can tell. All the sickness has gone away, and I have a round belly to show. No more people wondering if I'm pregnant or I've just had one too many helpings of apple crisp.

It's hard to believe that I am almost to the halfway mark with this pregnancy. I have felt the baby move, but the movements are still irregular. That is all perfectly normal, but I am not perfectly normal, so of course I worry. Rob spends a lot of time telling me that he thinks the baby is fine. Poor man with the crazy wife. (And St. Gerard Majella has been hearing from me as well.)

At my last doctor's visit, I got the paperwork for my 20 week ultrasound, so now the great debate has begun. You know the one: should we FIND OUT?!?! I mean, I have a sneaking suspicion that this is a BABY, but should we find out which kind?

We have not purposely found out with any of the other children. Francie, Fiver, and Sally were all surprises, but we ended up knowing Bun's gender at the very end.

We couldn't help it, it was like the perfect storm of factors: I had serial ultrasounds for the last weeks of my pregnancy, Bun was an exhibitionist, and Rob reads ultrasounds as part of his job. It was only just a matter of time, my friends.

Now that I've had it both ways, I cannot decide what I want to do this time around.

Also, many of you have asked what I am going to call this baby here on the blog. And to that I say: No clue.

Bun was originally named because he was the Bun in the Oven, but I think he will keep the moniker "Bun" even though he is fully baked.

Instead of Bun in the Oven, I think of him as a Hot Cross Bun, thanks to his temper. I know he is feeling his two year old oats, but he is by far the most short-fused of the children. His frequent ear-splitting shrieks of protest leave no doubt about that. Good thing he is a generally happy guy. And that he's cute.

But all that leaves me no closer to a blog name for this baby. Forget a REAL name, how can you have a baby without a suitable internet pseudonym? Let's get serious here. I'd like to keep it in the literary vein of the other kids' names, so maybe this is a wait-until-the-baby's-born kind of situation.

So I ask you, my friends:

A: Did you find out your babies' genders ahead of time? Why or why not?

B: Any suggestions for this baby's blog name?

18 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I did find out the gender of all my 4 kids except the first. The last one we found out because I wanted to know if the baby was going to be able to share a room with our current youngest. How about Peanut for a nickname? We called our youngest Peanut even before we knew the gender. It stuck for the first year or so =)

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  3. 1. Did not find out with 1, 2, 4, and 5. With #3 just had a feeling it was a boy and wanted to confirm, was also going to our third child born in 23 months (10/01, 10/02, 10/03) and we needed to know what we needed. After that, we just like being surprised. Since I have c-sections, the gender is the one unknown in the great delivery drama. But Husband is leaning towards finding out this time, so we'll see.

    2. I have no idea. I'm going to switch to first and middle initials on my blog, because I am tired of thinking of pseudonyms.

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  4. I think I prefer the mystery approach to baby's gender. I fell in love with Squirt right away but that moment of his birth wasn't quite as, hmmm.... I can't come up with just the right word but it was the same feeling as finding out about a surprise party before arriving. You still enjoy the party but that moment of opening the door isn't quite as squee-ish.

    As for the blog alias what do you find yourself calling the little being? I've thought of my babies as Squirmy Worm, Thumper, Snuggly Wuggly and Grasshopper (it felt like a martial arts student was practicing in my belly). Any of those work for you?

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  5. Marguerite12:21 PM

    We never found out-as you know-even though I really wanted to and had the perfect oppurtunity with those weekly level whatever ultrasounds-Plus it gives up good phone conversations comparing pregnancies. I was thinking ypu shoud nickname the baby TB for tie breaker but my oldest pointed out it stands for tuberculosis.....so no idea on that one

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  6. We found out with all of ours. Mostly because my OCD husband NEEDED to know! I really didn't want to with the first one, but it was nice knowing what to shop for and how to prepare. However, you should have plenty for either, so the surprise would probably be fun...hmmm, I am having trouble deciding and I'm not even pregnant!

    As for a nickname...I got nothin' I mean my kids' nicknames are ridiculously unimaginative. good luck! I know you will come up with something adorable!

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  7. Hmmm, we did not find out with our first two and so far, we do not know the gender of baby #3. We tend to go with the last minute surprise. If hubby had said he wanted to know this time, I would have been on board- this is the first pregnancy where I have been tempted to get advanced notice. Hopefully, the answer will reveal itself to you--even if it is in the moment.
    My oldest has named baby #3 "Sassy" but I have not used it much in internet land...but that's the household name. And based on movement, this baby IS Sassy.
    I am no help at all, I realize this...we called our oldest "Baby Bean" for a while b/c in the first ultrasound, he looked like a kidney bean!
    Glad you are over the sickness part!

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  8. Found out Big Brother's gender and regretted it when he was born, and the doctor and nurses all yelled, "It's a boy!" We were like, "Yeah, we know." (Just like what T with Honey was describing) So for the other 2 kids, we let it be a surprise. Plus it was fun to drive other people crazy. "What do you mean, you're not going to find out?"

    I vote for Tiebreaker.

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  9. Tiebreaker! Maybe TeeBee, to avoid a sickness comparision. Plus, think of the little sibs drawing that out- TeeeeeeeBeeeeee. Or just Bee, as in Baby Bee or Bee for breaker- but then, we don't want to foreshadow, do we?

    There's always Tad, as in Tadpole (for the same reason as kidney bean). Or Zoey, as in Zygote. Or Banana, since babycenter.com says your babe-in-utero is about that size right now. That might be the most gender neutral, besides Bee.

    Or you could go with the amazing name of KRIS, as in Kristopher or Kristina the Astonishing. Just saying.

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  10. ooooh - or some variation of your intense apple efforts, like: Apple (duh!), Mac (as in Macintosh), Smithy (Granny Smith), Gala or Johnny... you get the idea. I'm leaning toward Mac for the Edinburgh connection!

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  11. ps- sorry to hijack your comments... but we didn't find out the gender with our only. I like the suprise factor myself, but if it'd be good for a planning REASON (room sharing, clothing, whatever) then go for that. You could find out and not tell anyone, hahahaha.

    and I'll restrain myself from further comments!

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  12. We found out with all three of ours. I liked knowing. I like Tiebreaker for the nickname. Marguerite, you're so clever!

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  13. We did not find out with either child. It makes all the pushing easier bc you are excited to find out what the baby is. It is also the last 'true surprise' and we wanted to be surprised. I say 'wait for it!'

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  14. I like tiebreaker too or in thinking about apples...applesauce or 'saucy' (prob only for a girl though) or cinco. It's a shame u already usd fiver. :)

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  15. Anonymous6:34 AM

    I found out with all three children because I have high risk pregnancies that require lots and lots of u/s and frankly, I just did not have the willpower to say no every time. It drove me crazy that the tech knew and I didn't.

    What about The Bean? Or what about Cinco? Isn't there some football player that goes by a spanish number?

    Oh, darn, I just read that my ideas were already taken. I've got nothing for you, girl. Howz that for helpful?

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  16. Anonymous8:01 AM

    We did find out the gender of all of them- we are most impatient. As for St. gerard- been there!
    Also, my name suggestions- munchkin!

    Try to get some rest.
    Happy Early Halloween!
    Mirabella MOM

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  17. We only found out the gender with Micah, and it's probably a good thing because we were actually hoping for a girl. I would have had guilt, crying over a boy, when there were bigger issues to worry about.

    I say go for it. It isn't like you don't already have a few of each. ;)

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  18. I would never be able to wait. It's one of the more unfortunate aspects of my personality.

    As far as a name...when I was pregnant with Bella, I showed my young nephew an ultrasound picture and he asked, "What is that, a chicken nugget?". So the in-utero Bella was called 'Nugget' for quite some time.

    Glad to hear you're doing well!

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