The answers! Sort of!

My my, internet, you are fabulously helpful.

I shot an email to my newly pregnant friend (whose pregnancy I am not allowed to talk about, GAAHHH) and told her to check out the comments section. And I managed to send this email without adding the obligatory STAY AWAY FROM THE PREGNANCY BOOKS! Because it turns out I CAN help myself after all. Perhaps it is finally dawning on me that not everyone is better off in my preferred state of Ignorance Is Bliss!

Okay, so, first problem solved! Thank you!

As for the Egg Allergy issue, I appreciate all attempts to calm me down. It seems like the reaction to eggs got worse and worse, which would correlate with the frequency and amount he was eating. He started out eating only a few pieces of scrambled egg at a time and as of last week he was eating an entire cheese omelet all at once. Since all of you and everything I've read says that babies almost always grow out of this, and since some friends I talked to yesterday said they noticed some sensitivity to eggs based on frequency and amount, I'm feeling almost nonchalant. And you're right- if he was allergic to dairy I would positively die. I happen to know a handful of babies who are not only allergic to dairy, but pretty much every other edible thing in the universe, and I KNOW I KNOW count my blessings, la la la.

Now, the shower issue... it's just one of many things where I'm all HOW DO I DO THIS WITH TWO BABIES? Which, I know, I'll figure it out like every other mother of two kids, it's not like you stop being a person with a brain, right? (RIGHT?) We haven't bought anything for the new baby, but I think we're going to need a bouncy seat so I can stash Jack in the pack 'n play (all the bouncy seats we had for Jack were borrowed) and I also like the TV Babysitter option. You guys are such smarties. We have exactly one children's DVD, but man has it been a lifesaver through this Whiny Stage. (Which, if you are interested, seems to be tapering off. He can still be an annoying little whiner, but now we can usually identify a REASON (as in, the remote is out of reach OH THE TRAUMA) rather than the inconsolable pick me up put me down waaaahh I'm so depressed whiny that we were dealing with earlier. I blame the sickness! Also: eggs!)

I forgot to add an important detail to my doctor issue, that being that she is actually not supposed to be in that office. She's supposed to be in an office on a different floor, but because she is newish and there isn't enough space at the moment, she's kicked upstairs until the summer. At least, she said "summer" when I first met her, but you never know with these things. So it's sort of ridiculous for me to ditch her when she's potentially moving offices (and nurses!) in the next couple of months. I don't think I was ever planning to leave, but I did want to take the opportunity to moan about it. So thanks.

And! I do believe you have named my new baby, Internet! Sort of. In the way that none of you mentioned the name at the top of my list, and yet it is very much the style of 99% of the names you suggested, which makes me think you would like it, and SO. Still at the top of my list. And I would tell you what it is except it might be new baby's name and shouldn't SOME things be a SURPRISE?

Anyway. Yay you for not suggesting a single name that made me cringe, even in the slightest. Well done, internet! But some of these names I have to reject outright. We can't have a Kate or Katie or Katherine because of Immediate Family Members with those names. We can't have an Ella or a Hannah or a Sarah because good friends have taken those and while I am not at all a Don't Take My Baby Name, You Name Stealer! sort of person, I imagine my friends would think it's kind of weird. We can't have a Charlotte, even though I love Charlotte, because the "Ch" at the beginning of her first and last name is too matchy matchy for me. I can't tell you how many names I have to reject outright due to Unfortunate Connections (television characters, kids we knew in second grade, annoying coworkers from our first jobs) and how many names I have to reject because as soon as I say them out loud Phillip belts out the Pop Culture Reference. (Although, in the case of Stella, which I love, his pop culture reference isn't 'A Streetcar Named Desire', it's the SIMPSONS' take on 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. GAH.) Also, any name that is obviously from another country (there's that pesky Chinese last name to consider).

But that leaves Elizabeth and Mary and Grace and Abigail and few others I really liked...

And now, the mommyblogger segment on the Today Show is airing so- see ya!

Comments

[ashley]

I LOVE Elizabeth (my confirmation name, because of Elizabeth Wakefield from Sweet Valley High. I wish I was kidding.)

Maria, Bella, and Marian are names I love. Simple, pretty, and girly.

My little sisters are named Melanie Olivia and Emmie Jane, which are cute names. (Emmie's real name is the French version of Emily; Emilie.)

Yay for girls and baby names!

[Jess]

Wow, Stella makes me think of Got Her Groove Back. I am clearly not cool or educated or steeped in culture.

[Kate P]

Yay, glad everybody could help.

No Kate/Katie/Katherine b/c they're popular??? I never thought this day would come. Does anyone have any idea how horrible it was for me as a kid not to be able to find anything personalized (pencils, stickers, ribbons, toothbrushes) with my name on it? Nowadays I'd be rolling in personalized swag!

[Wickedly Scarlett]

Oh, I love Grace and Abigail! I like Leah also, and it sounds so pretty with Jack. Jack & Leah! Leah and Jack! It would look lovely on Christmas cards, I'm just saying ;)

[Charlotte]

I think I know a Grace Cheung. Just Googled it, Miss Asia 2007 was named Grace Cheung. I'm a total dork who made a list of ten of both genders in high school, tucked it into my journal and stashed it under my bed. I thought they would be character names for novels. Be sure to do the Google thing and the entire "if I were to tease this kid on the playground what chant would I make up?" bit.