Thinking up names for our baby has been difficult. I’ve read (yes read…not skimmed) three baby name books so far! I’ve visted countless web sites. For awhile, I was hoping by some miracle the kid would be born wearing a nametag. Knowing my luck, it would read something like “??????”. And what in the world would I do with that?

There are a few names that I sorta like, but they would sound terrible with our last name.

Here’s our naming criteria:

::Name cannot begin or end with “A”

::Preferably, name will end with a consonant

::Name must be easy to spell

::Name cannot be in the top 20 most popular baby names according to the Social Security Administration

::Cannot have a “acks” or “ecks” sound in the name. Example: No Jackson, Maxwell, Alex. Sounds too sing-songy with last name.

::Not too unique, since our last name is. But not too common either.

::Names cannot be nouns (other than simply a name) and cannot be verbs

::Must go well with our last name

::Cannot look or sound like “Shane” or “Kacie”

::NOT gender-neutral

::We like classic, sort of “old-fashioned” style names

Want to leave suggestions?

Today marks 14 weeks. By all charts, I’m for sure in my 2nd trimester now. Sheesh, only 2/3 of the way to go!

Not much has changed since last week. I’m feeling fine. Still tired.

I mentioned that I was sort of bloaty, but when I was talking with my mom, she said it might be a little bit of bloat, but more likely it’s my guts being smooshed together.

I guess when you’re housing a 3.5″ long baby, your guts have to smoosh together to make room.

Despite this gut-smooshing, a stranger on the street wouldn’t think anything of it. Heck, even Shane teases me about not looking like a preggo.

Which is fine, actually. I read a chilling news story this morning about a crazy person who killed a pregnant lady and cut her baby from her.

It’s rare, sure, but it happens often enough to make me fearful of being largely pregnant and alone in public or in private with someone who isn’t family or a trusted friend from my pre-pregnant days.

I know that most people who might offer me baby clothes or whatever have nothing but the best of intentions. But it’s those nutjobs out there who could cause such gruesome harm that make me think I should be wary of just about anyone.

It’s a shame, but it’s the world we’re living in.

*Shudder*

Anyway, on to happier things. Baby is probably flipping and doing somersaults and stuff. I can’t feel it just yet, I think. They say the first movements you feel could be interpreted as feeling flutters or gas. I definitely know what gas feels like, so hopefully I’ll be able to make the distinction!

Here’s the development this week according to BabyCenter.com:

This week’s big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he’ll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you’re having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby’s stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon— and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body’s growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that’s in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He’s starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby’s liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it’s doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can’t feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist’s hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

I’m going to try to keep this as uh…delicate as I can put it. But if you don’t like to read about gross things, stop reading now.

OK. Shane and I went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner today. I thought tacos, refried beans and Mexican rice sounded absolutely delicious, and that’s what I ordered: The #10 on the menu.

We noshed on some free chips and salsa. That was ok–the chips were slightly stale and the salsa seemed a tad ketchup-y, but it was fine.

Our meal came, and it tasted good. I had a few bites of everything, then I suddenly excused myself to go to the restroom.

I’m glad it was empty in there.

I was sick. Both ends. Did NOT feel good. Fortunately for everyone, there was a trash can in the stall, and I was able to grab it and put it to use.

My body got rid of everything I had recently consumed. Yuck!

I was disturbed when I went to wash my hands that there was no soap in the dispenser. Made me wonder if I had come in contact with someone’s icky germs!

I went back to the table and told Shane that I would not be finishing my meal. He was finished eating and I went and sat in the car while he paid the bill.

He didn’t get sick, so it makes me think this was a baby-related barf.

Maybe my body rejected a particular spice or something. At any rate, it did NOT want to digest what I had eaten!

I don’t think we’ll be eating there again for awhile.

Last night, I had a pretty vivid dream. I was at the hospital and I had just given birth to my lil baby. Everything was fine, but I didn’t get to see the baby before it was wisked off to the nursery.

People came to visit, and asked, “Is it a boy or girl?” and I was like, “I don’t know!”

I had Shane run down the hall to find out. Then, I realized it was written on my medical identification bracelet thing: Grl!

Yes, they had ommitted the letter “i” from my wristband.

I then remember requesting ice packs for my dainty lady parts. Lol.

Don’t know what happened after that.

So maybe it’s a girl?

I’ve had other dreams recently with babies. Toddlers, actually. I didn’t know for sure if they were mine, but all of them were boys.

I’ve dreamed about boy and girl babies now, so I’m back to square one. I don’t really have any intiution about the baby’s gender. No preference, either.

In 5-6 weeks, we should know for sure! Or at least, be able to take a more educated guess.

According to some web sites, the 13th week + 3 days marks the beginning of the second trimester. Others say 12 weeks; still others say 14. What?

All I know is, I’m in my 13th week now! I’m just about 1/3 of the way there, give or take.

Last week, I mentioned that I was getting my energy back. Well, that was just a teaser. I’m not exhausted like I have been, but I’m still finding daily naps are pretty much a necessity.

Not looking all that different from last week. I have a slight pudge in my lower abdomen, but I’m fairly certain it’s mostly (if not entirely) bloat. Yay, bloat.

My jeans fresh out of the dryer are too tight to button. But, they don’t typically have a lot of give to them anyway. I tried out my belly band with it, and it held up my pants nicely.

So, I’m just twiddlin’ my thumbs, waiting for my belly to pop out. I’m sure when I’m at 36 weeks, I’ll be thinking about my smaller days.

Yesterday morning at around 8, I really wanted a pizza from Papa John’s. Um. They don’t open that early. I’ll order a pizza (I won’t be able to eat the whole thing, I swear) for dinner tonight. Mmm, garlic butter!

Here’s what the baby is up to (from BabyCenter.com:

Fingerprints have formed on your baby’s tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you’re having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

Aww! A shrimp!