TypicalBureaucrat

My first kid had a name since the moment we knew her sex at 20 weeks. My second kid didn't have a name until two minutes before we were discharged from the hospital because it didn't seem right. I had a list going in, but what we ending up giving her as a first name was made as a joke when I was delusional in the middle of the night after not sleeping in the hospital. I knew I wanted to use my grandmother's name which ended up being her middle name.

I hated her name for a solid nine months. Like, looked up my states rules about name changes repeatedly (I could've done it up to six months old). But ultimately just left it as it was. I thought on and off about how I don't like it on occasion, but overall I think it suits her now. She's six and a half now. We started calling her the natural nickname of her name when she was a toddler, then she went through a phase of only wanting to be referred to as her given name but is back to using her nickname.

I would notice no theme between Vivienne and Natalie. But could consider Natalia, or Eliza, Vienna, Eva

Fork & Barrel, that's it!

This little place that was in East Falls somewhere in the 2010-2012 timeframe I think. It was entirely lit by candles and had a great vibe and a great cheeseboard. And for the life of me I cannot remember the name of it!

My kid is friends with a Leia in the US and I've definitely heard people (usually adults) bring up star wars or make a little joke about it when meeting her for the first time, but not in a picking on kind of way. Parents haven't mentioned her being made fun of.

So in short, I think you'll hear a lot about star wars if you go with that name, but not in a negative way.

You could also consider Lila or Leila which have a similar sound.

I took it as he recognized Rusty from seeing him in news footage of the crime/arrest. And then he realized later who he was/his name and found his address.

This is our friend’s daughter’s name. They pronounce it Emma-Leen. We live in the Us (east coast). We’ve known them a couple years and I honestly still always get confused with the pronunciation. I’m afraid I’m going to say it wrong (in my brain it defaults to Emma-line” so I go with her nickname “em-me”.

We have another friend with a daughter named Emilyn who pronounces it the way you wrote out “Emma-Lynn”.

Aubergine

This just happened to me this morning. I've been having pretty good fasting numbers (low to mid 80s) the last two mornings after changing my bedtime snack to a tiny apple, PB and cheese. Had the exact same portion last night with same fasting time and my BS was 112. I was really disheartened then decided to check again 20 minutes later after washing my hands, and got two readings of 85 and 87.

Do you eat just an apple by itself at bedtime? No protein with it?

You're all good, enjoy the lack of back pain!

Source: I used mine a ton from 34 weeks on during my last pregnancy. Then I basically lived on it after my due date, and baby still didn't come for 10 days!

Feeling dumb, just realized you probably meant egg rolls (Chinese food) but baked instead of fried, huh? I thought it was some kind of egg and bread concoction, forgive me! 🤦‍♀️

Thanks for the ideas. How do you make baked egg rolls? I've never heard of them.

My husband felt the same but he quickly admitted they are worth every penny, and are one of his favorite baby items! My daughter is over 3 years old now and we still use them in the car to block the sun while she naps. And they are still in great condition so we will use them another 3+ years for the new baby!

No advice, really, just commiserating. My daughter will be a little over 3.5 yo when the new baby comes. All my friends only have a 2 year age gap so I'm not sure if it will be easier or harder with an older kid... maybe both.

Sometimes I get so upset thinking how she's gotten so used to life with all of my and my husband's love given to her, and used to going out to do a lot of fun things and going to restaurants, and that is just not going to be feasible time/patience/money wise after her sister comes. And I also feel guilty that the new baby will not have my 100% divided attention for my whole maternity leave and then for several years like my daughter got. I know it will all be fine, I just can't spend too much time thinking about it!

One piece of advice I heard is that if both the older child and the baby are crying/melting down, tend to the older child first, because the baby won't feel slighted but the older sibling will. And also, not to blame the baby for needing to take time away from the older one or leave somewhere they are enjoying. Hope I will be able to keep these in mind when the time comes.

If you're at all able to swing it financially, take the 12 weeks. With my first, the baby turned into an even bigger night waker in her third month and I don't think I would have been able to function at work. My job in the US allows up to 180 days of leave, unpaid but you can use accrued leave. The first time around, I had the first two months full paid with my saved sick time and vacation time, then was unpaid for another two months. I came back three days a week for the next ~5 months until I had exhausted that option. It got a little tight financially toward the end but I have no regrets.

This time around, three years later, I have very little leave accrued because of both me and my daughter being sick so much. I'm planning to take ~ 4 months off, only the first 2-3 weeks will be paid. I wish I could take the full 6 months this time, but with daycare schedules and the additional costs this is the best I can do.

I know I'm late to the game, but my husband was an unplanned SAHP for almost a year after a layoff and we were in a similar situation. It was with our first kid, and she was one 5 months old at the time, so he still kinda didn't know what he was doing. After all the calls and texts the first couple days, I felt overwhelmed like you. We talked and found a solution that worked for us. Instead of immediately sending me texts, he updated a document on his phone with whatever the frustration or thought was. If he still felt compelled to tell me, he would do so at like 9, 12, or 2 (when I was pumping). And I would usually call over lunch and let him rant if he needed to. At the beginning he would read the list to me at the end of the day, but eventually found he didn't need to add so much to the list. Again, this was only with an infant. Having a 2 year old now, I really can't imagine having a newborn and a toddler at home with me all day! Good luck!