Holy 1st trimester symptoms, Batman. My boobs hurt, I’m exhausted, I’m queasy (though mercifully, haven’t puked in weeks). To make matters worse, I had become accustomed to at least occasional baby kicks erupting like popcorn, but haven’t felt him really move in days. The doppler tells me he’s still alive-and-not-kicking, so he must be sleeping through a grown spurt or something. Punk.
Anyway, since the big I’m-growing-a-penis news and my subsequent disappointment about the clothing options presented for my male child, I have been on a boy clothes shopping spree. There really is cute stuff out there if you look for it. I hit up garage sales and snagged a ton of great stuff for mega cheap, including a never worn three-piece suit for a baby. It’s absurd and adorable.
While most of the boy clothing categories are transportation, sports, and animals, I’ve been able to find a small cache of nerdy clothes suitable for whatever child we will bring forth. When I say nerdy, I mean stuff like a onesie with a robot playing guitar, little Star Trek uniforms with screen printed communicator badges, and an argyle sweater vest. The other category I am enjoying is the dog subset of the animal category. Dogs will get me every time, ESPECIALLY if they resemble my black lab.
Garage sales have also been great for satiating my nesting urges without dropping a ton of cash before my baby shower. For example, I would never have purchased a wipes warmer–but for $2? Eh, why the hell not? A Moby Wrap for $10? Sure. Throw in some booties and a book, and we have a deal. Pinterest is also helpful in this regard, especially for the nursery ideas. If you can’t buy it, DIY-it, or frame it now, just pin it with a vague hope that you’ll have the time someday. I’m really excited about getting my nursery looking cute and welcoming. Nevermind that my OWN room is blank and barren and ugly. Baby’s room is going to be the shiz.
We’ve also been on the search for baby boy names. It’s easy for me to be smitten by girls’ names. If we had 25 baby girls, I could, without effort even, give each one of them a beautiful name. Boy names are much more difficult. Like boy’s clothing, there seem to be fewer options. Compounding the difficulty is the fact that we have one of the most common surnames in the US. And just like boy clothing, first names for boys fall into three categories:
1. Common, perfectly acceptable boys’ names like John, James, Matthew, or Michael. No one will give you any weird looks if you name your kids one of these. They’re safe, strong, boy names. The flip side of this is that they will also be way too generic next to a surname of Smith, Brown, or Johnson.
2. Less-common, but still somewhat familiar-sounding names that are: a) taken by your close friends for their babies; b) suddenly becoming absurdly popular or; c) are ruined by some other factor (like your SIL dating one of them) like Henry, Eli, Liam, or Ian.
3. Weird-ass names. Hymen, anyone? Excell? Geronimo? No. I smack you. No.
We’re hoping to find something in category 2 that isn’t ruined, but we have our work cut out for us. Anyway, you must excuse me. I have a sudden desire for something covered in fruit syrup.
anothermaternityblog 
There’s a bajillionty and one girl names. Boy names are rough. If our next one is a boy, I think we will be out of boy names we like.
And ho-o-o-o-o-o-o-oly nesting. It’s the weirdest thing. I didn’t know I would have this irrepressible compulsion to sling furniture around and pick up all the things (all the things! If Nate so much as left a scrap of paper on the floor, he heard about it from me!). Oh, and a crapload of shopping for baby stuff.
Yep. It’s weird. I feel bad for people following me on pinterest.
Well my dear, you are in luck. You just so happen to have four awesome friends (the palmkeys and smoltons) who came up with an extensive list of boy names for you to choose from earlier this week. Worry not, your troubles are over.
PS-we’ll be really offended if you don’t pick one of these gems 😉
Habeus Parthanon
Cherith Cutestory
Bob Loblaw
Barry “He’s very good” Zuckercorn
Sconce Levelintel
Glorio Freidan
The Masculine Mystique
Boyd Que Packer
Mohonri Moriancumer
Oram Zarahemlo
Will N. Estates
Wolfie Fairchild
Wayne DeShawn
Cheritable Remainder
Flying Butress
Buttress Molder
Rafalco Dresage
Imso Meta
Flex Hardbody
Theresno Y. Temosil
LaChris de Ricky
Wolfrick Malfoy
Albus Severus
Brigahm Woodruff
Gallert Rodolphus
Horace Adolf
Jethro Plygo
Oh WOW. These really are gems. I’m leaning toward Charitable Remainder right now. Though Will N. Estates has a nice ring. I had never even thought of naming a kid Will, but actually it’s kind of awesome, if not too thematic. Oh. But then he would be Will Smith. Nevermind. (SEE what I mean by ruined!? This last name sucks!)
My architecture favorite is Sconce Levelintel. Beautiful.
For boy clothes, my favorites (though truthfully, I own very few pieces of bc they’re spendy) are Olive Juice and Tea Collection. You can google them and find them easily. They are stylish and sweet without adornments of sporting goods or cheesy animals or lame sayings.
Agreed on boy names. They are HARD. And the funny thing is we had a great one selected and it didn’t fit. I still like my Gray, though. It’s a family name, so I have that going for me–although some people think it’s weird and they always spell it wrong.
Awesome, Alli. These are exactly my speed. Also, after a quick viewing, I’m feeling smugly fashionable because a lot of this stuff looks like some of the stuff I grabbed at garage sales. Basically anything I wouldn’t mind my husband wearing if it came in his size is good with me (minus bloomers–babies in bloomers are so cute I die). Nice finds. And I like Gray. It’s a good name.
Yay for garage sales! I’m so excited you have found some great things.
Perhaps surprisingly, I think we actually have more boy names we like than girl names. Not that there aren’t a lot of girl names each of us like, but agreeing on one is different. Maybe because we had a girl first and when it comes to actually making a decision on your child’s name, it is pretty tough regardless of the sex.
Oh my word. I don’t think I have ever been so excited for someone, especially someone I’ve never met. I don’t know if you remember, we bonded last summer over Daria and x-treme midwifery. I was thrilled for thr mutation news (maybe thrilled is the wrong word?) and have checked back occassionally hoping for some news – I think the last time was a few weeks after the Mother’s Day post. But you’ve always been on my mind and I’m so excited!!
Baby boys are pretty great as it turns out. Mine’s nearly 7 months. Mostly I dress him in all white onesies. All babies are delicious in plain white onesies.
Yaaaaaaaay again!!!!!!
I totally remember you. Agreed on babies in white. So cute and so bleachable.
Oh, I hated hated coming up with a good boy name, it was SO hard for me. I hate made up/weird names, it’s too mormony to me, and I couldn’t do it. IMO boys need good strong names, but I was with you on not wanting a name that every other boy already has. Funny thing, we were looking through family names, because I liked that idea, and guess what name John loved? Everett. Oddly enough, grandpa’s name is coming back in style. Anyway, good luck with finding a name, it’s rough.