Giving Away My Baby Names

We're done having kids.  I've given away my maternity clothes, the bassinet, the newborn outfits and the swaddle blankets.  But you know you're really done having kids when you give away your baby names.  You know, the names you alway kept to yourself, the ones that you were paranoid someone else might use.  So here they are,  my gift to you, the list of names for the girl baby we never had.  Please use one of them, really, it will make me happy.

Charlotte - I know this is a popular name (#45 according to the SSA database, and I'd guess it ranks even higher in West LA) and I'm sure that it wormed it's way into my consciousness via Sex and the City, but I still love it.  And for all her neuroses, Charlotte was the kindest of the SATC girls.

Clara - I always liked the idea of naming my child after a literary character, but had a hard time finding a worthy character with an appealing name.  Clara was one of the main characters in Zadie Smith's White Teeth.  She was wise, funny, imperfect and determined.  As I read the book I kept thinking, "Clara, now that's a nice name".  Plus with historical namesakes Clara Barton and Clara Bow you can't go wrong.

Mathilda - Okay, yes, I admit, this name pick was totally inspired by Heath Ledger and Michelle William's daughter.  But once in awhile celebrities do come up with a winner.  I like it best with the "h"  since it lends itself to the cute nickname Hildie.

Penelope - Penelope has so many great things going for it.  It's sound is unique, but not weird.  No one will ever get your name confused at Starbucks.  And if you are looking for pop culture references, it really doesn't get much better then Penelope. Penelope was Punky Brewster's full name and Inspector Gadget's clever niece (Penny).  You could sing your daughter Penny Lane as a lullaby.   And don't forget about Penelope Widmore on Lost.  Whenever Desmond said Penny's name there was so much love and heartache in his voice that I wished I was named Penny.

Sally - A few years ago I watched all of the episodes of BBC's Coupling and was surprised at how well the name Sally worked for a grown woman.  But, if I'm totally honest, this name choice was probably influenced more by Richard Scarry's Sally the Cat on Busytown Mysteries than anything else. Anyway, the name Sally is friendly, spunky and a little old fashioned.

Tamsyn - I could never sell my husband on this one, but when we first started talking baby names I had my heart set on it.  He thought it was weird and that people would shorten it to Tammy.  I thought it was unique and that we could always use Tassie if we wanted a nickname.  And I thought it would go so well with the name of our hypothetical son, Joss.  He thought it would sound ridiculous with our son who would obviously be named Chad.  It's actually kind of amazing that we ended up agreeing so easily on the names for Baby M and Baby S.

So that's the list.  No extra boy names, I always found male names much harder to come up with.  And no, I was not planning on having 6 daughters.  I just like having options.

Mother's Day

So Sunday was my first official Mother's Day. Last year I was about 5 months pregnant on Mother's Day and just starting to show, so I did end up getting a few "Happy Mother's Day" wishes, but I really don't think they are merited until you can actually hold your child in your arms. Back then Baby M was not even known as Baby M yet. At the time I was still trying to convince my husband that North was the perfect name for our firstborn son. Does everyone go through that "unique" name phase? Thankfully I came to my senses and didn't end up as an entry on Baby's Named A Bad Bad Thing.

Last year I made brunch reservations for us and both sets of grandparents at Shanghai Red's in Marina Del Rey. It is normally a very nice restaurant, but the Mother's Day Brunch was a complete mad-house. I waited in line 20 minutes for a waffle, got elbowed over the last piece of salmon and was vomited on in the restroom. I was expecting this year to be substantially better, but I got a little worried on Saturday night when my husband said to me, "I think I'm in trouble. I forgot that you're a mom." I was shocked. Most days I feel like all I am is a mom, what with all the feeding and diapering and bathing, etc. It is actually sort of comforting to know that my husband sees me as more than just Baby M's mother. On the other hand, it would be nice to know that he recognizes how much work it takes to care for Baby M.

Well, my husband and Baby M stepped up and surprised me on Sunday morning with breakfast in bed. They had loaded up a tray with orange juice, flowers, 3 greasy breakfast sandwiches and hash-browns from Jack-in-the-Box. (Three because they didn't know which one I liked, not because I'm a glutton.) Fast food breakfast sandwiches are one of my guilty pleasures, along with Gossip Girl and old George Michael ballads, so I couldn't have been happier. My husband even signed the card "Baby M" proving that my blog has at least 1 reader. All in all it was a lovely Mother's Day.