Can I get royalties from this name?

So way back when we were just dating, Nick mentioned that when he had children, he wanted his first son to be a Jr.  I kinda said, "Oh that's nice," knowing that I would be able to change his mind before that time came.  Well folks, the time has come and I have NOT been able to change his mind!  Nick is dead set of having a Nicholas Jr.  I had great arguments against the Jr. too:
 1.  And most important:  ITS A FREAKING TV NETWORK!!

           Seriously every time I hear it I think of this guy:

                Face from t.v.  Remember him?  "Face here! Blue's clues is on next!"  If my son comes out looking like this guy.......   At least there will be lots of clothing apparel and toys with his name on it.

 b.  How do I know who's mail is who's????
3. When our son turns 18 and ventures off into the real world and messes up with thousands of dollars in debt, Who do you thinks credit score is going to drop drastically because little mess up didn't distinguish between Sr. and Jr. on his credit applications?  It happens to people every day.

d. What do I say around the house??? Nick's response was, "Call him Nick and call me a nickname."  So all day I've been walking around saying, "Oh Nickname? Can you come over here and help me?  Oh Nickname!  Switch the laundry."   Yep, I've gone low and resorted to sarcasm.

While there are some Jr's. out there that we would like to forget like John Wayne Gacy Jr. (famous serial killer) or Dick Smothers Jr. (porn star)(I had to look that one up, honest).  And then there is Al Gore Jr. who hid his Jr. while in office because he didn't want people to know. (uh huh)

Although, if I were Al Gore Sr. I'd be more inclined to hide. (Please don't kick me off the Internet you supposedly "invented" Al)
There are also some pretty great Jr's. out there:

Martin Luther King Jr.  I mean, he gets an entire holiday.

Actor Harry Connick Jr. (I do love Hope Floats)

Sports Legend Ken Griffey Jr.

And who can forget the ladies man: Dale Earnhardt Jr.?


So the fates have spoken.  No matter how many brilliant arguments I have come up with, the fate of poppyseed has been sealed.....Nicholas Stephen Jr.
 


I'm coming to terms with it.  However, when little Nick comes to me and says, "Mommy why do I have the same name as Daddy?"  I will definitely respond, "Well buddy, daddy is crazy sometimes and forced me to name you Nick, when I wanted a super awesome name like Superman!"  


What?  Like you parents out there have not played your cards against your spouse to try to be the favorite?  Gimme a break.


So here's a toast to you little Nick, I tried.


 

Ready....Set....Shop!

Ok.  We did it.  Today we registered for baby junk items.  People were asking and Grandma Monica couldn't wait another second.  Registries should be up and ready to go by this afternoon at: 

 

We are both exhausted!  Nick is currently napping.  Somehow it wore him out more than I.  I don't think he has been inside a BabiesRUs before.  When we walked in and he looked at the gigantic store lined wall to wall with baby goodies, he had one of these moments:

He pretty much just followed behind me like a lost puppy.  I let him make simple decisions like, "Do you like the blue receiving blankets with trucks or animals?"

The entire time I didn't let my death grip off of my favorite shopping device:

 Ahhh.  If I could only register for the registry gun......

Happy shopping everyone!!!!  Also, I didn't really register for many clothes because I know how you all shop.  You are just going to pick out outfits you think are cute whether they are on the list or not.  It's ok.  I've done it too.

 

Growth update

Had a checkup this week.  Everything is still perfectly normal.  Heartbeat is good.  Baby boy is doing well.  I gained 7 pounds since last month.....ooops.  Guess I have to cut down on the spinach dip and potato chips.  As the good Doc said, "Well you've caught up since not gaining anything, but let's not gain 7 pounds every month."  I'll keep you updated on the little guy's progress.  Have to do another belly pic again soon...

Kids Say The Darndest.....Part 2

Just spit it out already!

Making my morning rounds, I walked into a room of 4 year olds.   While chatting with the teacher, one child came right up to me.  I should let you know ahead of time that this child has NO patience and speaks as fast as this guy:

(It's the guy from the Micro Machines Commercials....you know the one that talks really, really fast)

Anyway.....

This little boy walks right up pokes me in the belly and says:

"Hey what's that?"
Me: It's a baby
Child: "What? It's a baby? Let me see?"  He tries to look under my shirt

Me: "Oh no! It's in there.  It's in my belly"
He looks at me very curiously.  Thinks for a moment and then says:

Spit it out!!!!!!


Now, I know you can have a baby this way:

And we tell kids babies come this way:

But someone forgot to tell me you can just: 

News to me!  Didn't know you could just spit out a baby.

Kids Say The Darndest.....Part 1

My White Baby

I work daily with between 80-90 children ranging in age from 6 weeks to 12 years old.  I spend the lots of time with the "troubled" kids that get sent to me for being naughty, but I make a point to see all 80 some kids daily.  When getting pregnant, I knew I had to prepare myself for the sensitive questions children are likely to ask.  I was ready for , "Where do babies come from?" or, "How did it get in there?" or even, "How does it come out."  Little did I know, my students would send me a pack of entirely different questions.

My group of school age students had just found out that I was pregnant.  Here is how the conversation went:

1st grader: Ms. Joanna, are you having a boy or girl?
Me: I don't know yet
1st grader: I bet it's a girl cuz you're a girl
Me: Well....your mommy is a girl and she had you, a boy
1st grader:  walks off totally confused

2 minutes later....

1st grader: Ms. Joanna, Is your baby gonna be white?

Me: (completely stunned as my assistant walks away trying not to laugh)  Yes, my baby will be white
1st grader: Oh, cuz you're white right?
Me: Well that's half of it
2nd grader walks over: Well my mommy is white and I'm not white!

From here I took a deep breath and dove into the topic of skin color while keeping a mental note to prepare staff for angry parents wanting to know why their children are asking questions about white and black babies. 


After keeping my composure during the conversation, I walked to my office and laughed so hard I cried.

Sometimes you prepare so much you are bound to be hit with a doozie!  Ahhh childhood innocence.

 

Crazy Dreams

So they say that during pregnancy you have strange dreams.  The past couple of nights I have had a recurring dream that is very strange. For those that know me well, don't worry.  This has nothing to do with my fear of bridges.  It all starts out with these guys:

 (actual picture from our back yard by the way)

Except the deer in my dream look more like this:

?

 The scene goes down at my parents house.  Why? No idea.  Each time I am walking from the side street to my parents house and see a huge deer staring at me as I get closer.  As I approach the house, he starts to chase me.  I have to run all the way around the house to try to get away from the deer.  My sweet track skills from high school keep me just a step ahead of the deer. (Grandad, don't tell everyone how fast I really ran in high school.) Last night during my dream I made it all the way around to the back of the house and up the back steps when:

 Bam!  He speared me like a bull. I instantly woke up in a sweat with my heart pounding.  

These dreams have been happening so often that I have found myself coming up with sneaky options of outsmarting deer throughout my day.  Here is what I've come up with:

 Hide behind a bush.  Deer can't be that smart, I could just hang out behind one of these until he goes away.

Dress up as a deer so that we can be friends instead of enemies.

Yep that's all I got.  Never crossed my mind to actually shoot the deer, or the sheer fact that deer are afraid of humans and in the real world would more than likely run from me than after me.

If you think of any other "deer outsmarting" tricks, please let me know.  Here's to hoping the deer costume works tonight, I don't have high hopes for the bush.

Belly 18 weeks, 4 days

Here is the updated belly picture that was taken on Labor Day (no pun intended).

It's A Boy!

Nick and I went for an ultrasound today.  Nick took a whole day and I took a half day off work for the event. After much coaxing, our little guy finally cooperated.  The tech said everything looks very normal and right on track.  The baby is breech today, but they often flip several times before the home stretch.  Here are some pics of our little man.  For those of you that think ultrasound pictures look like those magic eye posters from the early 90s, I'll try to describe:

 This one is baby's head and side of face. She told us he has a cute little chin.  Evidently when you look at grainy black and white images all day, you know what a cute little chin looks like.

This one is harder to see.  He is looking right at us.  This picture is taken like we are looking directly down at him.  On the screen, we could see the eyes really big.  It's very light, but his left arm is up next to his hand and his fist kept waving to either say, "Hey, what's up?", or "I'm going to punch this chick that keeps pushing on me like that!"  She kept poking him to try to get him to open his mouth and yawn.  Instead he kept twirling his tongue around in his mouth like he was telling her off.

This one is supposedly the proof that we have a boy.  I don't see it either.  His bum was wedged way down in a crevice so she kept pushing to get him to bounce up.  When he finally did, he put the umbilical cord in the way.  Then he stuck his hand down there.  We should have known right then and there that it was a boy. She finally got good enough evidence.  I have no idea how she sees some of these things.

Our little guy was very active in there.  She had to retake pictures several times because he would not hold still or cooperate.  Let's hope he gets that out of his system now before I really start to feel him kicking.  Speaking of kicking, this kid has some serious long legs.  She was looking at the bones in his leg and then he shot it straight out and she had to move the wand way up to catch the end.  

After getting our pictures, we took a trip to the outlets to check out the baby stores.  We finally could walk  in and know which side of the store to go to.  Now that we know.....registry is comming soon.  Watch out Target registry gun...I'm back!

I still have an updated belly picture to post, but if I don't post this blog now, Grandma Linda will have a fit.