Breathe. Relax. Do nothing extra.

This last weekend, my baby mania felt like this:

I could tell that I was getting crazy baby brain, because I remember it from being pregnant with Nolan. "Must buy car seat!! Must buy baby clothes!! Must refinish baby dresser. TODAY!!" None of which has to be done now, or anytime soon. So I made a rule to put off all baby purchases until September or later. I felt much better after that. I wrote a list of all the things I absolutely NEED to buy/find/gather before the baby comes, and I was delighted to see how short the list was.

Now I'm focusing on getting Nolan started in kindergarten (yay!) and enjoying being pregnant again. I also started the Hypnobabies pregnancy/birthing course; I know that my baby mania is a counter-productive way of dealing with baby anxiety, so this should be a better use of my time. Basically it's about learning new techniques for relaxation and spending time every day focusing on positive baby thoughts. Much more peaceful.

Help us name this baby!

Steve and I aren't seeing eye to eye on baby names, and now that we know it's a girl, perhaps you can help us.

Please send us your baby name ideas! We tend to like creative, unusual names. But nothing that's so unusual it will keep dear Earthchild from getting a job a Goldman Sachs in the future.

I'd love to hear some international name ideas from you world travelers out there (hello Chris!).

Some belly pics

2 months (early May)



















4 months (early July)

It's a girl!

It's a girl!! And I cannot believe it.

We had a 20 week ultrasound today, and Nolan came with us to see what kind of sibling he was getting. He kept saying "Good heavens!" which is how we felt too. It's funny, doing this the second time isn't any less amazing.

The baby is perfect. She weights almost a pound, and her due date is right on target for December 4th. I went out and immediately bought some frilly pink baby girl clothes! It felt so good.