More name options

Even though tomorrow marks a new year, Christmas won't be over until next Sunday for us, at least. We still need to celebrate Christmas with Josh's mom and Katie & Erin. Until then, no Christmas pictures. In the meantime, however, we've started contemplating baby names. Here's a list of our worst ideas so far (some were ideas for a second and some are just plain jokes):

5. Lucifer
4. Judas
3. Jesus (a fine name..if any of the grandparents could pronounce it!)
2. Maximilian
1. Josherly (the best sounding of all the combinations of Kimberly and Joshua)

UPDATE: Thanks to Anna-Lisa for another terrible name suggestion, this one based on a real person she once knew: Cain Mays. Then do we dare name the next son Abel?

Once again, any suggestions would be appreciated. Naming a child is hard work. Even if we pick a good one, there's no guarantee that Disney won't come out with a villain by the same name in a few years. We did refer to http://www.yeahbaby.com/ for a few humorous articles on naming including the funny (but sometimes crude) boy's names to avoid.

On a brighter note, I'm pretty sure I felt the little guy wiggling last night. Either that or my stomach was silently growling all night. Josh keeps teasing me that I'm going to digest the child, but hopefully he was just dancing, not being eaten.

What I want to be when I grow up

Last night, I called Anna-Lisa in desperation. I was standing in the bookstore, trying to find a gift. "Anna-Lisa," I said, "I need a book recommendation!" After I rambled off a few non-related criteria, she produced two books so perfect that I had to buy both. Not only did she know what I meant, but she had actually read said books herself and could give a summary and review of each. Anna-Lisa is a PHD student at Vanderbilt right now, remember, and still makes time to read books written in English in this century. She's my hero.

Want to know what she recommended? This is what Amazon has to say about the book I got my dad (no peeking, dad) and the book I got my sister-in-law.

I may have found my New Year's resolution: I want to be the kind of person who always has a good book in mind for a friend in need. I guess that means I'd better start reading...

Excuse me?

Some of you may remember my frustration when a co-worker "warned" me not to shop at Food City because that's "where the Mexicans shop." Say what you will about the store, which I don't even really like, but I'm not going to frequent a store just because of the ethnicity of anyone working or shopping there. (This statement came after she said "I'm not racist, but...") Well, it happened again.

Her: Well, how do you like that?
Me: Hmmm?
Her: They've released the most popular baby names in Arizona for 2007. The top 3 boys names are Angel, Jose, and Daniel. What does that tell you?
Me: (getting her implication, but not buying into it) What people are naming their babies?
Her: Well, it certainly tells you a lot about the ethnicity of the state and what kind of people are having babies.

I'm tempted to name my son Angel just to prove a point.

The results are in!

The ultrasound is complete. We are indeed having a baby. Just one baby, for those of you hoping for twins.

And the news everyone's been waiting for. It's a...

Boy!

Friends did much better in the poll than family. Of all our family combined, only 3 people guessed boy. Only one friend, for that matter, guessed girl. Josh thought my family was guessing girl because they thought of baby me, but even his parents and grandparents guessed girl!

That's the only half-decent picture from the whole affair. The ultrasound tech. was pleased with what she saw, but extremely displeased with our baby's cooperation. He would not hold still and insisted on having his hands in front of his face for most of the shots. We were the last appointment of the day, so she spent extra time trying to get a "good shot." We thought they were all good, but I don't know what it's like with other babies.

All that matters to us is that he's well: he's the right size (about 10 ounces) and has all his finger and toe bones, functioning kidneys, no cleft palate, and appears to be developing right on schedule.

The next question we get is usually "what are you going to name him?" We have no idea. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. All we've done so far is rule out names we don't like. If all else fails, we'll name him Alexander Courtiz since Alexander is the Hunt family name Quintin has rights to and Courtiz is the Mays equivalent (which Josh's brother Brandon will pass on). Just kidding.

The cat's out of the bag

I spilled the beans. I squealed. I dropped the bombshell. (Any more ways to say it?) I finally told my co-workers and boss that I am indeed "with child." Of the five women I work with, two of them already thought so, and three had no idea. Not so bad, eh? My boss says she has pretty much known for the last month! So much for my big secret.

P.S. The big ultrasound is Friday. Anyone wanting to get in on the unofficial poll should vote this week. My vote? I don't know. So much for mother's intuition.

"Anchor babies"

Warning: a lengthy and serious post follows. There are no fun updates or pictures included.

Arizona, like many states in the country, is a complete mess right now over illegal (and legal) immigration policies. None of the ideas on the table right now satisfy me. A fence the length of the border with Mexico? Terrible idea. Who will maintain said fence, for one? What about Canada? Penalize companies who do not verify the legal status of their employees? Once again, are jobs really the problem? There seem to be plenty of jobs for the taking here in Arizona.

I would like to listen to the ideas of others, but for the most part, comments on the news and radio disgust me because people cannot seem to separate immigration and race. In my office, whenever immigration comes up, someone always says something about the decline of AZ into "little Mexico" or the audacitiy of speaking Spanish in a public place. You can imagine the way this makes my blood boil. Spanish is not the enemy.

My problem is that I cannot separate immigration and immigrants. Putting the face of a real person on the issue complicates my political opinions, which is probably why this newest proposal disturbs me even more:

There is a movement to require hospitals to provide certified documentation of parents' legal citizenship before issuing birth certificates to newborns. The idea is that children of non-citizens born in the country should not be granted citizenship. What about if the father is a citizen but the mother isn't? Well, that would be okay, as long as the father certifies (in writing) that the child is his and he will take financial care of the child until adulthood. Is anyone else getting a weird feeling in the pit of your stomach about this?

The governor of Arizona has already said she opposes the idea. "I don't like taking a broken immigration policy out on children," she said yesterday. "I think we need to enforce the law, we need to deal with the issues we have already passed." Well spoken. The last thing we need is another policy, especially one that will make it even harder to hospitals to do their job. Need more information? Try the article I read this morning. Don't bother reading the comments section. Only two or three of the 75 comments are valid.