The Name Game

Baby M's gender continues to be a mystery, so we are gearing up for either sex to make an appearance come due day. People comment to me regularly (usually as soon as they hear the baby will be a surprise) that it must be awfully hard to plan for this baby. How do you know what to buy? How can you get a nursery ready? How in the world can you prepare for that? I can't tell you how many times i've heard, "I just HAD to find out, so that I could plan accordingly! Isn't it hard not finding out???"

And in truth?

It's not.

Ok, so maybe last weekend when I was baby shopping for a dear friend's shower, I may have had a fleeting moment of curiosity. Because that little girl's outfit would just be perfect.... if I knew this baby was a girl! Aside from this moment and maybe a handful of others, I am much more excited for the surprise that awaits me! There's just never going to be another moment in life like the moment this baby comes into the world and we hear, "IT'S A......."

Endlessly exciting! So while we wait, here's a little run-down of our baby plans thus far:

Here's our gender-unspecific baby nursery plan. We've picked out furniture, girl bedding, and boy bedding. We picked a paint color to match both bedding sets and will ideally have the room painted and the furniture set up by due day. Then, after baby arrives, we'll order the bedding to match whatever sex we're blessed with! We were gifted with a lovely pack & play that has a newborn sleeper attachment that will reside at our bedside for the first few weeks. By the time baby M is ready to transition to crib life, the room will be complete. I have a few cute "neutral" decor ideas for the room as well as some girl-specific ideas and some boy-specific ideas. It'll all come together in time. While I'm sure my stress level will escalate as the weeks go on, as of now, I'm pretty comfortable with our "start now, finish later" plan.

And of course (this is what you've all been waiting for!), we've picked out 2 baby names.......

If this baby is a girl, we are about 99.9% positive her name will be Natalie Anne. 

And if this baby is a boy, we are about 99.9% positive his name will be Isaac Edward.

It took us a lot longer to narrow down and settle on a boy's name than it did the girl's name. I think we've been settled on Natalie since about week #20 and just "finalized" Isaac a few days ago. The name Natalie doesn't really hold any kind of special meaning. I just like it. I think it's a sweet and classic (but not overdone) girls name. Technically, Natalie means "born on Christmas," which won't hold true considering this child is due November 1. But then again Hollie (Holly) has Christmas tie-ins and I was born in June. Anne is our family tie-in, as both my mother, my nana, and Jordan's mother all share a middle name Ann(e). Isaac has a little more significance, as it is not only a strong OT name, being Abraham's son, but it also means "laughter." Jordan is well known by his less-than-common-and-very-loud laugh and thought it would only be appropriate to give his child a name that means "laughter." I don't think that this whole hurricane thing was even on the radar when we settled on our boy's name, but I did mention that if hurricane Isaac magically turns into a category 5 storm and levels our house and town, that we should probably re-think our baby name. Funny enough, I had a patient today who was naming her boy Isaac. Edward is also another family tie-in, after Jordan's Papa Ed (and it just so happens one of my nana's brothers was named Edward).

So there you have it. Baby M might be a Natalie or might be an Isaac. Only time will tell!

What do YOU think baby M will be???