Seeing Beyond February

I think I've relaxed a little bit when it comes to believing we have a child on the way. Less-than-perfect thoughts still float through my head now and then... "what if" kind of things... but all in all, I think my actions indicate an overall positive feeling. Indications like:

• I'm actively recruiting my mom and Bill's help going up to NorCal with their fifth wheel a couple weeks before the baby is due. That way, I'll have a place to live/work while being close by to help T and her family with anything they need. As a sidenote, they haven't said 'yes' but DID look at a couple of RV parks near T on their way back home from Alaska :)

• My nephew and I were hanging out this weekend and went to a department store and tried out all of the travel systems. He is a fairly understated kid and even he was into it! We tried to figure out which carriers were lightest/most comfortable (without looking at Consumer Reports to see if they're safe - how's that for living on the edge?!), which strollers could manuever best, and which colors were cutest. We also looked at a dozen or so cribs and talked about why some styles/colors would be better than others. Mind you, the nephew is 11 and into reading and computers... please understand my shock that he'd even entertain the idea of looking at baby stuff, much less be "into" it!

• Baby names! We have a winner for a girl's name (no reveal here - at least for now), but a list of disjointed boy's names that could be first/middle name combinations. Seems much harder for boys for some reason. I did find this really cool site that graphs baby names over the years. It's semi-interactive and I've played around with it for hours: http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager. Check out your own name on this site - you'll see if it peaked and fizzled (like mine - peaked in 1930 and fizzled in the 80s) or if it's still going strong.

I am very excited for T's appt tomorrow. We're hoping I'll be able to be on the phone while she's at her OB appointment... I'm crossing my fingers!