Why my child(ren)'s name(s) won't be appearing on the blog

If this little one cooperates, we should find out if he or she is a he or a she on January 13.  The appointment was for Wednesday, but the doctor's office called yesterday and needed to reschedule. I'm not so upset to cut a full two days off of our waiting. :)

I am beyond ready for that, especially now that Husband and I have settled on names. The boy's name was easily decided months ago, and it just feels right. The girl's name took quite a bit longer if for no other reason than Husband and I have different taste and we didn't love any of our original options. Girls' names are hard, but we finally have one that we both love.

Both names passed all the classic tests of "how would this sound as he walks across the stage at graduation?" and "are there any completely obvious ways that her name could be a teasing point?"

In addition, our last name is filled with potential jokes just waiting for people who think they are being clever and original to proclaim. Initials before the word "Flippin" are a key deciding factor, and Husband is great at coming up with all the potential downfalls of any combination, since he grew up with the last name and is surrounded by high schoolers daily.

So, that was a factor, and if our kid inherits my "I look like a twelve-year-old, even though I am of a perfectly legitimate age to be having a child"-ness, then he or she needs a dignified name to enter the workforce. Nothing too cutesy for this momma, but also nothing obviously passe that would make our infant bear the name of a person who should be of retirement age.

We also wanted to honor people in our lives who have made an impact on us and for our kid to have some heritage and tradition tied up in his or her moniker. All this to say, as soon as we know if our baby is a boy or a girl, the perfect name we have decided on will be in use, but not on the blog.

My name is attached to the blog, and I don't regret that, but I am mindful that the interwebs are not always a safe place, and anyone could read what I write. I want to be able to share pictures and stories about our kid, but I don't ever want to be afraid that a creeper is reading them and could then track us down, hence not giving our child's legal name or location.

I enjoy reading other people's blogs, especially young moms, and I hope and assume that either the people interested in reading this know me or they're genuinely interested in what I write but have no intention of ever stalking me (like I do for so many of the bloggers I follow).

To bring this long, drawn-out post to a close, I will be blogging about the baby, and I will be sharing about his or her life because it is irrevocably tangled up with mine, but I will call him or her by a blog-specific nickname, and I will be respectful of the fact that what I put on the Internet is out there forever. My kid doesn't have a voice yet, so I will be careful not to over-share or post anything that might someday shame my kid.

Phew, stay tuned for some lighter posts (with pictures) and the upcoming news of whether I'll be mothering a little boy or girl.

Third Letter to First Kid

December 21, 2013

Dear child of mine,

You’ve had a busy couple of months! I’ve heard your precious thundering heartbeat at two appointments now (170 the first time and then 140 earlier this week). I also got to see you jumping around on the screen last month, and your little head was the same size as your body, but you definitely had arms and legs that you were fervently waving around. I don’t think you liked the sound that the ultrasound machine introduced into your space. Your proportions have evened out by now, and I am more than ready to know if you are a he or she and feel your movements.

Your daddy is introducing you to all sorts of intelligent and musically genius sounds. Your first concert was to hear John Williams conduct the Houston Symphony Orchestra, with Yo Yo Ma playing a cello concerto. I’m sure you loved it and soaked up all the brilliance of the occasion. As I type, we are indoctrinating you with the Vienna Symphony Christmas album. Momma also plays plenty of popular not-so-musically-sound music for you in the car, so you will be well balanced.

You also attended a delicious Thanksgiving in Midland and saw your first and second movies in the theater (Catching Fire and Frozen, respectively). We announced your presence on facebook the day before Thanksgiving, so now even more people are praying for you and excited to meet you in June. Christmas is off to a great start because last night Daddy and I opened our presents to each other, and you were obviously on both of our minds while we shopped. :)

Momma has been super busy at work, but I’ve been trying to eat healthy foods and get plenty of water for you, and my stress has been kept in check by thinking about how much more important you are than any document I’m working on. I like to tell your daddy that “I’m carrying your child, so…” as an excuse for my increasing forgetfulness or request for him to be extra helpful, and he has been taking such good care of us.

Overall, we’re excited to feel you move, know if we should be buying pink or blue stuff for you, and tell the people in our world* your name next month. In the meantime, just keep growing and don’t be afraid to make your presence known.

Lots of love,

Momma

*Baby's name will not be used on the blog. Stay tuned for a lengthy explanation of why.

Second Letter to our First Kid

October 26, 2013

Dear child of mine,

We got to see you this week for the first time. Our first appointment was on my birthday, and hearing the doctor call you “perfect” was the best birthday present. You were 1.34 cm long, and your little heartbeat was timed just right.  Daddy filmed the ultrasound to show your grandparents and aunts, and we were both so happy that you were right on track. He also wanted to know when you would be able to hear (so that we can start indoctrinating you with classical music) and to confirm that there’s only one of you.

You’re still a secret from most people, but the hormones from growing a baby have made me a little sick, so it’s only a matter of time before some people guess that you exist. We’ve told your grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and great-grandparents.  We told your grandparents about you first by giving them board books with notes that read “Please read this to me in early June. Love, Baby Flippin.”

Everyone is exited to meet you, and your aunt Caitlin keeps calling me to check how I’m feeling everyday. She’s being very attentive to my health now that you’re around. :)

Your daddy and I have started talking about names, but we haven’t decided for sure on a girl’s or boy’s name. You’re going to be a Flippin, which provides some extra challenges in picking solid, not-easily-made-fun-of first and middle names. We have some ideas, but it might be a while until we settle, which is fine because we have a few months before we know if you’re a boy or girl.

We get to see you again and hopefully hear your heartbeat in three weeks, so between now and then, keep growing, sweetheart. I pray for you daily that you’re healthy and growing, and you’ve already made me a bigger nervous wreck than anyone else, but you’ve also made me rely on God to keep you safe because even though you’re inside of me, there’s only so much I can do. I can only imagine how much harder it will be when you’re out in the world, but God is good, and He’ll help me keep it together.

Keep growing, baby. All my love,

Momma

First Letter to First Kid

Happy New Year! In honor of the first week of the year when we meet our first child, I'd like to share the first letter I wrote to the baby when we found out we were expecting. One of the reasons I like having a blog is having a way to share the exciting milestones of my life (and record my in-the-moment thoughts for my future forgetful self.) I'm forgetful now, so I know as my memories continue to exponentially increase, I will begin to forget more and more of them.

It seems amazing to me how quickly the first (almost) half of this pregnancy has gone, and I'm trying to treasure the time spent growing this baby and preparing for him or her to irrevocably change my life. Without further ado, my early pregnancy ramblings to the tiny life inside me.

September 28, 2013

Dear child of mine,

We found out you were growing inside of me today. I think I did a double take at the pregnancy test because I have peed on quite a few of those sticks, and they’ve always been negative before. You are so wanted and loved already. I’m not sure that there are words adequate to describe how joyful I am right now that you’re going to be part of our family.

I’m not sure if it’s fully sunk in that I’m really pregnant-that God is knitting together a baby inside me-yet. You’re an actively pursued dream come true, and we are so excited!

I’m so excited to meet you, but please for now just settle in and make yourself safe and comfortable inside me for the next several months. We’re hoping to meet you sometime around our fourth wedding anniversary. How cool is that? You have been prayed over and loved and daydreamed about since I fell in love with your daddy, and I have wanted to be a mom since I was a little girl. Honestly, my picture of who you are has changed through the years, but the love and the prayers have just kept multiplying.

I don’t know much about you yet since I only found out that you exist this morning, but I have a few very important things that I want you to know. I will always love you. I’m not perfect, but I’m saved by the grace of Jesus, and your daddy and I are going to figure this parenthood thing out while relying on His mercy. You have a heavenly and an earthly father who both love you more than you can imagine.

Nestle in, baby. All my love,

Your momma

All About Baby

I'm 16 weeks pregnant. so it's about time that I write a post about all the milestones we've achieved with this baby so far. I'm not sure the best way to do this, so here are some fast facts and the belly pictures we've taken so far, and I'll follow up in other posts with some letters that I've written the baby. Buckle your proverbial seat belts, folks: a lot has happened in the past four months.

We found out we were expecting on September 28 when my sister and her boyfriend were visiting. I told Husband immediately after I took the test, while he was taking a break from mowing the lawn, and we were both excited, but he finished mowing the lawn while he let the news sink in, and then came in and told me I needed to start eating more organic fruits and vegetables and listening to more classical music. We restrained ourselves and did not tell my sister that weekend, despite numerous hints and comments that she was ready to be an aunt. :)

My parents came into town for Columbus Day weekend, so we invited Husband's parents over for dinner and told them the good news by giving them board books and notes that read,
"Dear Grandma/Granddad/Grandma Lolly/Grandpa PJ,
Please read this to me in early June.
Love, Baby Flippin."

Our niece then called her parents and told them Aunt Jordan was going to have a baby, which prompted some questions as to the truth of that statement, so we confirmed the news. We called my sister via FaceTime, and she was promptly ready to tell the world, which I promptly refused.

We had our first doctor's appointment on my birthday, October 23 and got to see a perfectly healthy heartbeat that looked absolutely nothing like a baby on the ultrasound. Husband asked the doctor to confirm that we were only having one baby (twins run in both of our families) and then asked when the baby would be able to hear. :) At that point, we started telling the extended family (our grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins) and a few close friends.

Baby measured a few days bigger than we were expecting at my next appointment, so our due date was moved from June 9 to June 5. The day before Thanksgiving we made the news officially public, and since then the baby has started to make his or her presence known as my belly has developed a permanent bump. We started taking pictures of my changing shape in week 11.

Early on, I had some sleepless nights and then some nausea, but thankfully it was relatively mild, and I feel great now aside from some lingering fatigue. I have a thyroid imbalance, which I am now taking medicine for, but before the meds kicked in, I had a few weeks of feeling rotten, since the thyroid symptoms are basically the same as pregnancy symptoms, and I was getting a double dose of nausea and fatigue on top of anxiety about the baby. Thankfully, that has passed.

I'm ready to know if this little one is a he or she and start feeling precious baby flutters, but I'm also trying not to wish my pregnancy away. The first four months have flown by, and I know my days of carrying a baby with me 24/7 are definitely limited, and I only have approximately 5 more months of carrying this baby. Look for more updates and Christmas-y stuff next week. Merry Christmas, y'all.

The Book Thief

Don't worry, there's an upcoming post all about baby, including all the exciting milestones we've met so far and how my belly expands each day and then slightly deflates overnight so that I feel like we're starting over each morning.

But there's so much to share on that front that I'm taking a break today to share the book I read this weekend. With the movie in theaters now, I'd received several recommendations to read The Book Thief, and I'm so glad I listened. I had some Amazon gift card money left from last Christmas (which I plan to hopefully replenish soon), so I purchased The Book Thief on my Kindle and read it all this weekend.

(On a side note, I'm pretty much working every day until Christmas week, so weekends are back to being all about crafts/reading/housework for now.)

The Book Thief has a fascinating narrator, novel (as in new) chapter divisions/summaries, and an anachronistic storytelling that kept me more than engaged in the plot. And the characters. Markus Zusak penned some of the most sympathetic-without being-at-all-sappy-or-ringing-untrue characters that I have read in a long time. And then he placed them in impossibly fraught situations that make you love them.

I'm talking about Germany during World War II and orphans and Jews. I shed a few tears when I finished the final pages last night. Books and movies that have other people sobbing usually evoke slightly damp eyes from me, if that. I'm not a media-induced crier. I am one of those people who cry in private when real life is just too much, but this book was just so moving (and I am 15-and-a half-weeks full of pregnancy hormones) that a couple of tears escaped down my cheeks.

And it was a satisfying end-of-book cry. I highly recommend this book, as I'm already looking forward to reading it again (and seeing the movie). Please read The Book Thief and then I will expect your heartfelt thanks in the comments once you're done.

Thanksgiving News

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. The main reason I've been neglecting this blog is that we're having a...

Due in early June, and there will be lots more posts to come about our significant addition. Happy Thanksgiving!