19 weeks + 6 days

I just noticed that Nick posted an entry on the blog unbeknownst to me. How nice!
Back to me writing... a lot has happened since I last blogged.

I am now feeling the baby move- more like kicks- on a regular basis. He has only a couple of active times. The only constant times right now are 9:30pm and 11:30pm. It could be these are also the only times that I'm relaxed enough to notice they are consistently the same times.

Today around 5:50pm, baby "G" was pretending to be little David Beckham because he would not stop kicking. I can't figure out exactly what his position is yet but all of the "kicking" is happening on the right side. It could be punching, but since the feeling is strong I assume they are kicks. They were so strong I called Nick before class to tell him. As we were talking about it and I'm still referring to the baby by both of the names that we are tossing around, Nick says "I think it's baby G." While for the last 4-5 years I have been in love with the "C" name as my boy name, for some reason it just had not clicked for me. I still kept calling the baby "it" rather than by his name. As soon as we thought of the "G" name, it felt right and I haven't called him "it" since, I've referred to him by his name and it just flows. Therefore, I think we've decided our first name. There is still a debate over the middle name- same middle names we were considering for the "C" name. Although it's not a heated debate- we like both, it's just a matter of which one flows better with the first name.
So, now that I've driven people crazy with the initials (mom!), I think I'm going to have a little game. I couldn't do this with the "C" name because it wasn't a name people would guess. Now that we've gone with a "traditional" name (in our eyes), I can have a name contest. Post your thoughts on what you think the "G" stands for. Whoever guesses the name will get a prize. Ashleigh, you cannot enter the contest since you know it. Winner will be announced at the baby shower- time/date: TBD. (MOM: entries must be entered as a comment on the blog...no comment-no contest entry. This is my way of forcing you to comment!!! :) ) Hint: if you watch all 10 seasons of the show "FRIENDS", you can find the name.

In other news:

On Sunday, we visited the store USA Baby and loved it. We had such a pleasant experience. This was very different from the Babies R' Us fiasco. The purpose of our visit was to look at bedding and decide on a theme. While we were there we also took a look at the strollers again. This time we had a knowledgeable salesperson explain all the features of the Chicco Cortina. Unfortunately, they don't carry Inglesina products so I couldn't get their opinion on it. However, now that he showed us exactly what the Chicco can do, we feel much more comfortable with it. What a difference customer service makes!

The downside to USA Baby is that they are slightly more expensive and they are not as widely accessible as Babies R' Us. However, they match competitor's prices. If we choose the Chicco stroller, I'm definitely buying it there.
We also chose our bedding theme. It's a jungle animal theme called "T is for Tiger". This meets all the requirements:
1. Nick wanted an educational theme. "T is for Tiger" shows the letter and spells out the word for each animal.
2. It's animals! :)
3. It's not too baby-ish. I didn't want pastel colors or a theme that was really baby-ish. He could probably use this quilt until he's in Kindergarten before it's not "cool" anymore.

That's enough news for one post. I'll write about our birthing class tomorrow.