Cha-cha-changes

I don't know how often people change their minds about baby names, but after I read an article in the Edmonton Journal on Tuesday (30 Jan 2007) about the most popular baby names in Edmonton, I talked with Caitlin about our name choices. It said that for a boy, the trend is heading away from harsher, more masucline names like Chuck or Rick, and going for names that end in "n" because they have a softer, more feminine tone to them. Ethan was the #1 choice, and Nathan was in the top ten. I believe Brandon was in there as well, but I'm not so sure. For girls, coincidentally enough, the stronger names ending in "a" are all the rage. Diana, Ava, and Olivia are some of the top choices. Abigail was another popular choice, and in 2006 there was 21 different spellings of the name! Abbygail, Abygale, and Abbiegayle are a few of the variations. Maybe people read my post awhile back and took it to heart. It's the idea that people are trying to imagine a name for a judge or a lawyer, instead of a cheerleader. Debbie, Susie, and Patti are peppy, zippy names that tend to be shunned these days. I'm still holding for Erini, and so is Caitlin, but we've been pondering using Bronwyn.

But wait! That's a Welsh name, and my roots are Scottish! Um... so? Erini is a Greek word, and I chose that name because that's where I served my mission. I don't think that you need to name your child something that has direct connections to your family roots in the past four Generations. Yet I contradict myself with the names we have selected for a boy, Joseph Brandon. The name Joseph is because, a) that's my mother's grandfather's name, and b) my middle name is Joseph, and that's keeping with the tradition of giving the son his father's middle name. My dad's name is Larry Steven, and my Grandfather's name is Lester... Hmmm. Don't remember his middle name, but I'm not sure if it was Lawrence or not. I'm banking on not, and if I'm right that would mean this is a second gen tradition. Ah well, getting married in the temple is a second gen tradition that I plan to carry on, why not the naming as well? As for the name Brandon? Caitlin likes it. She was considering Robin, after her brother, but she's a bit more partial to Brandon. For all I know, we'll change our minds the minute baby is born.

Another change we have is the size of baby!
Baby is filling out mommy's tummy, and quite frankly, Caitlin is running out of room. I used to hear the complaints about how baby is punching kindeys and stomach. Now, it's ribs and bladder.

One thing you might notice in the picture is the background. It's actually clean! Grandma-to-be (Caitlin's mom) came by and helped us (ie. Caitlin, I've either been at work, or at rehersal) organize our apartment. I knew we had a lot of room, but I never quite realized how much junk we have! I wish that I could have done before and after shots. Then again, no I don't. Those who have seen the disaster area we call home will be able to judge for themselves and recognize some of the changes that we've made. One of them being the new dining room table. (Thanks again mom!) The reason we didn't set it up sooner is because we had too much junk on the old table! It will also be a treat to have people over, and we won't have to clear chairs for people to sit on. I told our hometeacher that he's not going to recongize the apartment when comes to visit next time! I say next time, because we met up with him today at the temple. We hadn't gone for so long, Caitlin said it was sometime around August '06 last time we went. Woof. Don't know how many oppurtunities we'll have to go to the temple in the future, but Dustin goes every week, Friday or Saturday, and he invited us to come along. I had rented a car today, so we didn't need a ride, but he wouldn't have any problems giving us a lift in the future. Caitlin only has a couple more weeks until her Materity Leave kicks in, and then we don't need to worry as much about having the time off. Her last offical day of work is Valentine's Day, 14 Feb 2007. I say this because I have Saturday's off until "The Mikado" is done, but Caitlin does not. I'm going to try to get the temple every weekend, because once baby comes, schedule is going to be in upheval.

Another tradition I would like to continue is blood donation. That is kind of a tradition, because both my dad and my grandpa have donated blood. Grandpa can't donate anymore, but dad is approaching his 75th whole blood phlebotomy. One of the reasons I wanted to donate was because dad donates. (The other was that I got to skip class since the clinic was at my high school.) They took my 37th pint today, and I surprised quite a few people with that. Mind you, some of the older donors are a little jealous, because I have it easy to catch up and get more donations. Back in the day, the waiting period was 150 days or something, then it was 120, then 90, and then I think it went to 60 days before it was set to the current period of 56 days (8 weeks). Today, you can potentially donate six times a year, whereas in years previous you could do three pints annually. Max. And yet, not many people donate. The stat is in the neighbourhood of 3% of the Canadian population. Hopefully, baby will decide to add to that percentage of Canadians who do. Hmmm.... If I keep up a good donation schedule, I might get my 100th donation by the time baby is of age to donate, maybe sooner. If I keep at a max schedule of six per year, I could get 50 by March 2009, and 100 by July 2017. Doable.