Side effect of having so few we agree on, I think.

This didn't help DH and me. We got it narrowed down to five or six choices pretty quickly, and with a month or two to go had more or less settled on Annabel or Eleanor. IIRC, we finally decided about two weeks before she was born.

And we'll probably have to go through the exact same process if we do this again. Eleanor is a great name, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's in the top 25 by the time we sprog again, and it doesn't seem quite right to give one daughter an ultra-rare name and another an ultra-popular one. I like Cordelia, but DH doesn't, and we both like Harriet, but I'm afraid it might sound like a Bertha-Beulah kind of name to a lot of people. And boys are even tougher. We'd sort of vaguely agreed that if the ultrasound was wrong we'd name him Brendan, but I've never been crazy about the name. And it's hard to come up with boy names that sort of fall into that same grouping of classic and recognizable, yet fairly rare, that Annabel does. The pool is just smaller.

Take this rat poison and avoid leafy green vegetables? Yeah that's disturbing. I hope it is effective and short-term, connie.

My grandfather took cyanide to combat his liver cancer. He said it made him feel better.

I love Eleanor and so does DH, but it's on the list of names prohibited by family members for reasons I understand.

My grandfather took cyanide to combat his liver cancer. He said it made him feel better.

The black humor portions of my brain are amused in all the wrong ways.

Which in a way was better than the reaction of the second-to-last grandparent: "Oh, you're having a boy? I wanted a girl." and no communication since.

There is absolutely no excuse for that. None.

I'm all kinds of impressed!

Me too! Also, my throat's all dry and I'm dripping sweat. SO sexy.

Oh, Raquel. I'm so sorry! What...I just...some people, some times. Let the Buffistas be your family with this. We're THRILLED for you, and will be just as thrilled no matter the sex, or anything else. Much love to you, girl. This must be so hard.

I went to school this morning for my 9:30 class. In between classes (my next isn't until 12:30), I stopped by the Honors' lounge to check my e-mail and whatnot. When I opened up to the Internet, the university's website came up. It said that school was closing at 12:30pm, so I don't have any more classes today. I'm actually kind of disappointed. I really want to get this semester started. So, I headed to the bookstore, got Emily and my books and headed home. It's so nice to be home!

The black humor portions of my brain are amused in all the wrong ways.

That's the right and proper reaction, as far as I can tell.

We've tabled discussing baby names until later. Trying to anticipate the various relatives input makes my head hurt.

I have a dumb job related dilemma. I've got this long-term temporary thing going where I'm a secretary. It's very easy and my boss is a nice guy and the pay is okay considering how undemanding the job is. i'll have been doing it for 6 months in a couple of weeks. The thought of doing it for longer than 6 months gives me the heebie-jeebies. Should I just suppress the hell out of that? If I quit, I could probably look forward to series of temporary jobs with similar responsibilities and pay, but some variety.

I want to quit, but it seems impractical.

I want to quit, but it seems impractical.

I've thought of this many times.

I'm never sure why people who don't have to actually raise the child themselves even care about the gender. What sort of plans could they have had that your husband's wilful sperm has now ruined?