Word of the Day: bindle stiff It's taken me a couple of days to come to terms with the girl part of my baby. I sort of felt that we were better off not knowing. It was a strange feeling when the tech told us, I think because we opted not to find out with Patrick. And even though we waited for it for so long, the actual announcement came too early for me, as strange as it sounds. Any road, I've gotten used to the fact that we're having a girl and I've started looking for things that aren't pink, since I'm certainly not fond of the color. As far as naming went, we had compiled a list of names we liked when we were first pregnant. JD looked at our two lists and came up with some combinations. After that, I refused to participate any longer. Since we were going to find out the sex, what did it matter if we had names picked out or not? I didn't want to have to spend four days picking a girls name that I was satisfied with if we were having a boy, or vise versa. So after I got home from work Monday night, we sat down and went through names. After about an hour or more, we had pared down the list to two: Molly Elisabeth and Penelope Claire. He didn't like Claire, and I didn't like Molly that much [or the flow of Molly Elisabeth, or really the look of the names together]. After a while of thinking and playing around on the internet, I was coming to terms with Molly after changing the spelling for the middle name and beginning to dislike the look of the Claire. JD was looking for something else to replace the Claire with Penelope and mentioned Elizabeth, which I liked. So then we had Molly Elizabeth and Penelope Elizabeth, with each of us preferring the opposite. By the time we went to bed, JD said that he had settled on Penelope, and we were both so excited that we could barely sleep. I'm only writing all of this out so that I can remember it later, because I can't remember anything unless I write it. So I've started eagerly knitting Penny's blanket, but it's slow going. I think it's just because it's a blanket and blankets take longer to knit than most other things I've done, but my progress is a bit frustrating. I'm happy to be knitting, though. Patrick does seem a bit jealous that I'm knitting for his sister, but I already promised him to knit him another sweater once it gets to be a bit cooler, when he's grown a bit bigger. I told him he could pick out the color even and he got excited about that. He said he wanted pink and green and blue and black and if I wouldn't have stopped him, he would have went on with every color he knows. When we told Patrick he was going to have a sister, he was not enthused, partly because he had been playing in the outpatient waiting room with my mother and knew now that Mommy and Daddy were back, we would have to leave. But later on, and the next day after we told him the name, he seemed more enthusiastic. Now it's 'Penelope this' and 'Penelope that'. It's pretty funny, actually, because he says his l's like w's mostly, so when he says 'yellow' it's more like 'yewow'. When we were talking about boys names, we made Patrick say Liam, which was of course Wiam for him, and it was supremely funny. Any road, it's Penewope instead of Penelope, and it's so cute to hear him say that. He would have had trouble with Molly as well, come to think about it. Any road, for him, not too much has changed now that he knows it's a girl baby and not a boy baby, that he's getting a sister instead of a brother. He's still going to be a brother, and I think that's all that really matters to him at the moment. And, of course, he doesn't realize the responsibility placed on him now that he's a brother, to proctect and teach his sister what he knows. Most of my activity this week has been centered around Penny. We had the ultrasound, choosing the name, I started her blanket [which, by the way, will be red and white instead of pink or melon and white], Patrick and I went to our appointment to reapply for WIC. I really really want to breastfeed Penelope, and I know WIC encourages that, even to the point of giving people pumps if they need them. Since I don't personally know anyone who's breastefed their children, I'll probably be relying on their lactation consultant for help. Back on track--I've been telling people the female news and our name choice. Perhaps because it's so familiar to me, but I'm astounded that people think Penelope is a strange name. I mean, I know it's unique, especially here in South Texas, and I personally don't know anyone else named Penelope, but still. JD said that the secretary in the cabinet shop told him not to name his daughter Penelope [this coming from a girl named Diedra] and aparently people don't know how to say it when they see it. Although, looking at with with my poor expertise at pronouncing English, I would think it looks like cantaloupe and say it like that. Whatever the case, if she doesn't like the full name, she can ask people to call her Penny or Pen. I'll always call her Penelope. Finally, I'm getting this for her crib. Holy crap, it's so freakin cute.