Name Obsessions: Vincent and Audrey

So this might going to be a new "series" of posts that I may do from time to time (because seriously...my pregnancy is not that interesting). It's an idea I'm stealing from my good friend, Allie (Allie, feel free to send me a cease-and-desist notice. And be prepared for it to be ignored).

Basically, I really love baby names. So I'll focus posts on my name-of-the-week. Or past names of the week. Since I'm not sharing names with friends and family until the birth, I figure it will be a good way to give them an idea of my "style"--and hell, I won't even promise that the baby's name won't show up here some time between now an April.

So here we go. I'll start with....

Vincent

GENDER: Masculine

USAGE: English, French, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Slovak

PRONOUNCED: VIN-sənt (English), ven-SAWN (French)   [key]

Meaning & History

From the Roman name Vincentius, which was from Latin vincere "to conquer". This name was popular among early Christians, and it was borne by many saints. As an English name, Vincent has been in use since the Middle Ages, though it did not become common until the 19th century. Famous bearers include the French priest Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) and the post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890).

Vincent was first suggested by Josh, long before we got pregnant. It's a saint's name; used often throughout the early Christian church. It is also, of course, the name of everyone's favorite insane artist, VanGogh. It was probably one of Josh's first contributions to our name list, though he wasn't inspired by the many early church leaders or the world-famous artist...but by this guy:

Fake superstar-actor, Vincent Chase

Josh went through a major Entourage phase in college. Vincent Chase isn't exactly the kind of person you want to name a child "after". But hell, the name Vincent has a great legacy behind it. It has a wonderful meaning, it's easy to spell and pronounce and it's distinctly masculine. I also like the easy nickname options (Vince, Vin, Vinny) I fell in love with the name pretty quickly, and it has been at the top of our list for a long time. It was probably the first name that we ever mutually agreed was great, and it holds a special place in my heart for that reason.

And on the girl end of our list we have..... 

Audrey

GENDER: Feminine

USAGE: English

PRONOUNCED: AWD-ree   [key]

Meaning & History

Medieval diminutive of ÆÐELÞRYÐ. This was the name of a 7th-century saint, a princess of East Anglia who founded a monastery at Ely. It was also borne by a character in Shakespeare's comedy 'As You Like It' (1599). At the end of the Middle Ages the name became rare due to association with the word tawdry (which was derived from St. Audrey, the name of a fair where cheap lace was sold), but it was revived in the 19th century.

Another wonderful contribution from my wonderful husband. Audrey was the name of Josh's grandmother, who passed away when he was very young. He's always pictured having a daughter named Audrey. He told me so when we very first started dating. At first, I was honestly hesitant to consider it. Using family names can be tricky. Additionally, I felt a little odd about our daughter carrying the exact same name as someone else in our family tree (as Grandma Audrey shared our last name). I also just...didn't love the name anyway. Most of the Audrey's I have known in person have been of the Plain-Jane variety. The name just didn't feel very pretty to me.

Except of course, for the lovely Audrey Hepburn. Josh and I love classic movies so I decided to make an effort to watch more Audrey Hepburn movies in order to fall in love with the name. I also did some research on Audrey and her life. And to my surprise, it actually worked! I fell completely in love with the name, and have never looked back. Audrey Hepburn was gorgeous. And a really amazing woman at that. And now, the fact that it honors someone important in our family is just a great bonus to an already wonderful name. 

It has it's drawbacks--of all the names on our list, it is by far the most popular (it's been steadily gaining in popularity for the past ten years). I am still hesitant to use it on a firstborn, for fear of setting the unwanted precedent of using family names for all our kids. But overall, I would be proud to have a daughter named Audrey. A lot of Old-Hollywood names are back in style: the name is definitely on-trend. It has been on our "top five" list for girls for a long time and has definite potential to crawl to the top of the list. 

Third Trimester!

Well, as of Friday I am officially in my third trimester. The home stretch! I have to say, I'm sorry to see the second semester go. This morning, putting my shoes on was noticeably more difficult than it was five weeks ago. My lower back is starting to ache, and I have to pee a lot more. On the plus side, the baby moves a lot these days. It's now easy for me to tell when he's asleep or awake. And he's getting big! He is now about a foot long and weighs more than two pounds!

I'm starting to get a little more anxious about being a mother. It always seemed so far off, but now I have less than 13 weeks to go! There's a lot we still need to buy/setup/discuss before the baby comes. But it's exciting as well. I can NOT wait to find out if we're having a son or a daughter. I am looking forward to that moment so much. Getting to call the baby by name will be so awesome.

The second trimester is when I truly began to accept our new role as parents. Way back at week 13, I didn't have many feeling about my pregnancy other than extreme anxiety. But getting to see his tiny fingers, and feel him move within me has caused me to fall completely in love with the life growing inside me. I'm excited to be in the third trimester mostly because it means that the pregnancy will be over soon. I'm not one of those women that enjoy being pregnant...I can't wait to meet our child. So I can't wait for what's next!

Flying! (a straight-up bitch session)

This past week, I had to travel for work back to good ole' Seward, Nebraska. I've traveled to Seward by myself a dozen times, so I didn't think travel was going to be a big deal. But boy, was I wrong.

Flying while pregnant was not in the least bit fun. I decided not to check my bags, because I didn't have a lot of stuff and I don't entirely trust the airports to get my bags to where they need to go. But I did not anticipate how hard it would be to drag my 20-pounds-heavier body around the airport while also dragging my 20 pound suitcase. I also had to wear my winter boots, because they wouldn't fit in my bag but the shoes killed my feet. Especially when my ankles got swollen on the flight. 

My first flight out of Detroit got cancelled. So I was reschedule for one that left five hours lately (after being on the phone for two hours with customer service). When I got to Detroit, my new flight was delay by two hours, causing me to miss my connecting flight in Denver. I had to wait in line in Denver for another hour and a half (by that point I was thirsty, hungry and extraordinarily grumpy). I ended up staying in Denver overnight and getting onto a flight to Dallas the next day, where I finally left for Omaha. 

Nausea has always been a problem for me during takeoff/landing, but being pregnant multiplied it ten times over. I definitely made use of my sick bag while my fellow travelers avoided eye contact. (save for a single military man who took pity on me. He told me his wife is pregnant and has been sick the entire time). 

There's also the whole issue of the full-body-scanners that are now in use at most airports. I didn't get very lucky with those. Two out of three times I was pulled out of line and told to go through. Both times I opted out, per the advice of Google. The airport personnel were not pleased with finding a female employee to pat me down. And those pat-downs? Invasive. Particularly because they had to feel my waistband, which was awkward in pregnancy pants.

On the plus side, I did have people help me lifting my bags most of the time. People were generally nice. But, man, do I hate airlines. I don't want to fly alone ever again. And it makes me really wary of flying with an infant. The whole process just stresses me out. And I caught a nasty cold on the way back, despite my obsessive hand sanitizing. So jury's still out on whether or not we'll be a "flying" family. Obviously, there will be times when it's necessary. But I strongly prefer the open road. Where I can be in charge of my own plans thank-you-very-much

Life before Baby

As any seasoned mother will tell you, EVERYTHING CHANGES when you have a baby. Your life is never the same. Most people say that they don't remember what life was like before they were given the blessing of a child to raise and care for. So I thought I would write an entry about our evening last night. It was a good night, and it was exactly like many nights we've shared in our marriage. I think it's an extremely accurate snapshot of our lives before having a baby.

Never watch this movie. Ever.

 

 

 

 

Last night was movie night in our household. This is something we've done a lot since getting married (and probably before getting married as well, though I don't remember). Basically, we rent a movie and pig out. It's not a fancy night out a restaurant or a  romantic night of dancing, but it is definitely one of my favorite things to do with my husband. It's always planned ahead, with the rental of a movie that neither of us has seen. The genre varies greatly. Our favorites are always classics (Josh's was Arsenic and Old Lace. Mine was Guess Who's Coming to Dinner). We've had a few movie flops (In all seriousness, I wouldn't watch Cabin Fever 2 again if you paid me $100. Like I literally would say 'no thanks' We'd have to get up to about $500 before I would even consider it). But it's always a new movie. We start the evening by going to a grocery store and buying our favorite junk food. Last night, I got extra sharp cheddar cheese and fruit roll-up (freaking pregnancy). Josh got chips and french onion dip. Before my pregnancy, movie night was always accompanied by a six-pack (usually Bud-Ligh or Mike's Hard Mango Punch). We don't buy any more groceries other than the junk food for the night. I always joke that it looks like our parents are out of town for the weekend and they gave us $20 to go grocery shopping (beer, candy, sugary cereal. check check and check).

And we go home, watch the movie, eat and cuddle on the couch. It's a ridiculously simple evening. And we love it. Last night, we rented One Day from the Redbox. It was pretty bad. We spent most of the movie making fun of it. But we held one another, gave massages, broke out into tickle fights and just enjoyed one another so fully. We had the additional fun last night of watching my belly move up and down--the Bumblebee is kicking hard! It was a wonderful and perfect night, and we've had many more just like it.

I don't expect movie nights to change much after the baby arrives. It's a pretty easy evening to achieve while our children sleep--no need for babysitters! And it's pretty cheap too. I hope that as our children grow, we can make it into a family tradition. I'm sure our kids will grow to love movies as much as we do. But I do wonder how our relationship and what we do on our evenings alone will change once the baby arrives. I can imagine that it will be difficult to remember how we spent our time. I know that things will get even better and we're not going to want to go back to the time of "just the two of us". But I'm still going to enjoy our quiet evenings, for the next 100 days (and counting!)

Doctor's Appointment! Week 24

I had my last monthly appointment this week! Starting next month, my appointments will be every two weeks (yikes! time is flying!)

This week was my one-hour glucose test. Not particularly fun. It was also the first appointment that Josh couldn't make it to. Which was fine. This is probably the first appointment that wasn't much fun. There was no ultrasound, we've heard the heartbeat a few times already and we had no pressing questions for the doctor. But it WAS a long appointment, and it would have been fun to have the husband there for entertainment.

The nurse clocked my weight at 142. My morning-weight this week has been steady at 139, which is 22 pounds up from my pre-pregnancy weight of 117. My blood pressure was normal, and the doctor measured my stomach for the first time, but didn't have much to say about it. I assume because the purpose is to compare it from appointment to appointment.

The glucose test itself kind of sucked. I was afraid that "the drink" was going to make me sick, but I kept it down. Drawing blood wasn't particularly easy for the nurse either. It took her a few tries. I'm going to have to remember that veins are easier to find in my left arm.

We decided FOR SURE on full names. We have been going back and forth on middle names a lot lately, but we settled on two that we love. The full names sound great, and we couldn't be happier. I can't wait until I get to call this little on by it's name!

Pregnancy dreams are not fun. Last night, I dreamed that the baby (a boy!) was here and I could never find him after putting him down. I think this is a reflection of my anxiety of not having the crib or cradle ready yet. It was a scary dream. I hate it when my dreams affect me in my waking life. I've been looking up crib mattresses all day so that the baby will have a place to sleep (even though we have more than three months left!)

Ah, The Magic of Photos

It's been FOREVER since I've posted a bump picture! Mostly that's because I never have an occasion to actually take a photo. Every once in awhile though, I remember that this is supposed to be a time that I'll want to remember for the rest of my life!


So here's a couple from this week:

Yikes. Not Flattering. I look ready to pop!
I look MUCH further along than five months anyway.
I must have just eaten a burrito when this was taken

An odd angle. But I had to include the Christmas photo!

Taken Today. 23W2D... maybe in this one, I can pass for pregnant cute.
(I don't know why I look a lot less pregnant than in the other two)