This week marks 17 weeks of pregnancy. I can’t believe how fast time is flying by and that I’ll be at the halfway point in just a few more weeks! In my Babycenter email this week it says that it’s time to start thinking of baby names. Why are baby names so much easier to come up with when you’re not pregnant? And then when you are it feels like this big responsibility to give your child a name that will stand the test of time… a solid name for life… one that looks good on a resume… sounds good for an NFL football player… or a boy band star, whatever. Ahh… why is this so hard?! We have come up with a name that is a front runner, but I’m not 100% confident it’s THE NAME so I don’t want a dirty look or snide comment to change my mind. I mean, finding a name you and your spouse both agree on is hard enough, let alone all your family and friends! With this being my third go-round with baby naming and dealing with the inevitable baby name shaming (LOL), I wanted to share Reasons To Keep Your Baby Name A Secret… Plus, Bump-date – Week 17!
What’s In A Name?
In my first pregnancy with Annabelle, I was steadfast on keeping her name a secret. I knew as early as 10-12 weeks what I would name her and I made a vow to not tell anyone, besides immediate family. I didn’t want anyone to say anything negative about it and color my opinion of the name, especially since it held a really special meaning for me and my side of the family. Sweet girl was named after my beloved Granny, who was Anna Grace, so Annabelle Grace was beyond perfect!
With Leo, I was a bit less guarded. I found Leo on a baby name list, thought it was adorable and super vintage — and I love vintage names! The name didn’t hold special meaning and it wasn’t a family name, so I wasn’t really fearful of anyone giving it side eye. It’s not like they were disrespecting my grandpa’s name or anything! We did give him a middle name that was a family tradition for boys, so he is Leo Joseph.
Negative Name Associations
So here we are again with baby #3 and naming is even harder than the first two! Perhaps because now that my kids are in school I’m around more kids and name associations are taking hold. If there’s a little kid that’s annoying or a bully, that name is out. Friend’s kid’s names are off limits, even if they’re purely Facebook friends at this point and we never see each other. I’m not trying to copy anyone else.
My bestie keeps texting me baby names and I seem to have a negative name association with nearly every one of them. She’s getting so irritated with me! I told her that I’m afraid to tell her the name I actually choose because she’ll probably talk mad shit about it because she didn’t pick it, LOL! She said: “Likely.”
Take this text conversation for example… (The blue bubble text is me. And I apologize if your kid, husband, brother, or dad is named Graham, remember what I said about name associations… ha!)
She then threw out a few names she couldn’t stand because they “sound trashy.” I told her one of the names she mentioned was my top baby name, just to mess with her! She replied, “well, I’m sure he won’t be trashy….” Haha — reasons to NOT share your baby names!!
Bump-date, week 17!
I look forward to my weekly Babycenter email that tells me how big the baby is each week, in particular, what fruit size it is. That’s my kid’s favorite part! This week the baby is 5 1/2 inches long and the size of a turnip. The funniest was when the baby was the size of a cumquat. I hate that word and hearing my son say it in his high pitched toddler voice cracked me up, lol!
The belly popped! Last week in my 16 week email it says I will begin to pack on the pounds because baby will grow more rapidly from here on out. Ain’t that the truth! I gained 3 lbs. in the last week, which makes sense because my belly officially “popped” over the weekend! One day it’s barely there, and the next day I’m full on pregnant looking! I may be able to feel baby kicks as early as next week, I’m so excited to feel the baby move. That’s the final part that makes the pregnancy feel totally real to me… the obvious baby bump, knowing the gender, and baby movement!
No immune system. I’ve been battling the worst, most violent cough for over a week. And it’s particularly horrific at night when I’m coughing so hard and dry heaving, TMI? Bedtime had become my nemesis. I think I’m finally getting over the cough, thank the Lord. I remember blogging about this stupid cough in my first pregnancy, too. You just have no immune system while the baby sucks the life out of you for 9 long months.
Fit pregnancy. I plan to do a full blog post on this topic soon, but I’ve been religiously hitting up my local Orange Theory Fitness classes three times a week to maintain my endurance and stay in shape while pregnant. Orange Theory is high intensity interval training, with a mix of running, rowing, and weights. Up until my 14th week I was able to do all the exercises without slowing down because I really didn’t even feel pregnant yet! But I’ve noticed I’m slowing down a little on the treadmill, ab work is a lot more difficult now so I have to modify, and that dang rowing machine wears me out! But I LOVE the work outs, especially the feeling I have when they’re over!
So now that you’ve been bump-dated, I’d love to hear your suggestions for boy names in the comments! I love hearing people’s favorite names, even if the image of said name may illicit images of a weird guy in a sweater vest, lol!
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