CELEBRATING 36 WEEKS WITH A PICTURE AND A NAME

That's right, folks. Yours truly is in the home stretch. I'm at the doc every week now, which I really enjoy since it involves super cool stuff like listening to the heartbeat, getting measured, and finding out next week if this kid is seeing any daylight (doubtful, but a girl's gotta have hope).

I'm SO thankful to be at this place in pregnancy because this little boy is kicking the crud out of my ribs, organs, you name it, and sometimes my belly is so tight from these Braxton-Hicks, I'm pretty sure my belly's just gonna up and split on it's own (too graphic for you? well, most of you have been pregnant before or are right now, so truth be told, you know exactly what I'm saying, right-O?) I joke that I want this kid out of me NOW, but I know he's putting on all that fat, developing those little lungs, getting those instincts set in place, etc., and I. Am. Woman. I can TOTALLY do this for 3 more weeks (clearly you've caught me on a good day :) ).

And now off with the babbling and on with what you really wanted when you saw the title of this blog: A picture...(don't hate me for my hugeness - HA!):




And a....NAME!!!! With a little background first, of course. So when the bomb was dropped that "Bowen" just wasn't cutting it, I tried to make myself like some of the other names we've thrown out there in the past, and proceeded to get SUPER frustrated because it just wasn't working. None of the names fit or worked for lots of different reasons. So I threw up my hands and trudged over to the bookshelf and pulled out the "Baby Names Wizard" book (FABULOUS, by the way, if you're looking for a baby name) and started ALL OVER AGAIN with the letter A, going all the way through letter Z. As I went through, I was VERY picky and chose only names I'd TRULY name my kid, rather than writing down every name that could possibly work for a nano-second. I came up with a list of five names, with a VERY clear favorite. This number pleased me (didn't think I'd find that many), but also made me VERY nervous, because if Michael didn't like any of them (which has been fairly typical in the past - we have really different tastes in names), I wasn't sure what we'd do.

So I presented the names to my darling husband and purposely said my favorite one last (trying to play reverse psychology, I guess). I said this name very casually and as if I had not a care in the world. When I was done, Michael asked about the last name I'd said (my favorite) and said, "So how do you feel about that name?" I knew the gig was up and said, "Truth be told, it's my favorite from the list." He smiled really big and said, "It's the ONLY one from the list I like, and I REALLY like it!" Then he gave me an even bigger piece of pie and said, "I'd even like his middle name to be John if we use this name!" (something else we'd been debating over and he'd not been on board with previously). I was floored, but sat there in shocked disbelief at how easy it was. I felt slightly suspicious and a little unnerved. Did we really name our child so painlessly?

I figured only time would tell, so I've been sitting on this name and testing it out (along with comparing it to a couple of others, to be on the safe side, and ESPECIALLY comparing it to the name Bowen) for a couple of weeks now, and the more I sit, the more convinced I am that this is "it" and that this name fits this child, fits in our family, and is just an all around great name.

I warn you, it's a little different, a little old-fashioned, and I haven't heard it for ANY body else's kid, but we love it, think it epitimizes the glimpses of personality that we've already seen in this precious child, think it fits great with our family, and think it sounds SUPER cute and fabulous with the middle name John. And without any further suspense or ado, here it is:

Jasper John