The Name Game

I guess I'm about 20 weeks now and that means we're halfway there! I had a great pregnancy with Peyton, but I can't say I'm having as much fun this time around. I'm typing this sideways with one hand while lying down because I'm having so much trouble with my back that I can't sit or stand comfortably for more than 15 minutes. Its a problem that started about 4 weeks ago and has gotten progressively worse. Its hard to know exactly what is causing the issue since I can't have any imaging done, but it could be anything from my scoliosis, sacral instability or a bulging disk that is causing it. My physical therapist is banging her head against the wall, as is Aunt Di who has spent a lot of time on the phone with me trying to talk through what might be going on. Patrick is being so awesome, I couldn't ask for a better husband, but he's really having to do everything around the house and with Peyton because I can't do much of anything. Quite frustrating. Peyton is being such a sweet boy, it makes me very proud. He asks how I'm doing and gets ice packs for me and "checks everything out" while I'm laying on the floor. He's being quite caring and sweet. I just hope I get some relief soon and I don't have to spend the next 4.5 months on the floor.

Onto more fun topics, we're in the process of choosing a name. We're going to keep this one a secret like we did last time. Thats for a number of reasons. 1. Its just fun to keep everyone in suspense. But more importantly, 2. We want to reserve the right to change the name and 3. We don't want to be influenced once we've decided.
That being said, we're taking suggestions. Here are our loose criteria:
1. We don't want it to be the most popular name out there - that automatically discards the Olivias, Sophias, and Isabellas.
2. We would like for it to have some kind of family connection. Peyton Christopher has a lot of family meaning to it - Peyton is a variant of Patrick and Christopher is a family name from my mom's side of the family. So if any of you family members have some good names in the family tree, let us know.
3. It has to work well with "Harrell". That means no Hannah Harrell or Laurel Harrell.
4. We don't want the name to subject our daughter to years of teasing on the playground.
5. We don't want the name to remind us of people we'd rather forget.

Our baby name book is somewhere in a box in storage so that won't be any help, so let us know in the comments if you have some suggestions!

The Big Gender Reveal!

So, here we are; almost mid-way through the pregnancy. And I wish I had more time to update the blog. But life just gets in the way sometimes. Peyton certainly keeps us busy!

We had our big ultrasound the other day. I was around 18 or 19 weeks, so it was time to find out the gender! Something inside of me told me this one was a girl. I don't know what it was. Something very similar inside of me told me Peyton was a boy, so I kind of hoped my instincts were right. I thought it will be totally awesome to have one of each. But statistically, those Harrells like to make boys so I questioned whether my instincts were right.

Here is an updated picture of the baby:



And this picture apparently shows that its a girl! (But I had to take the US tech's word for it.) What I do know is that I couldn't see anything that indicated that it was a boy:



As part of what is becoming a tradition with some girlfriends from graduate school, we all got together for a big gender reveal. I bought both pink and blue balloons and the idea was that Peyton would present the right color at the right time.

This isn't the best video because my finger kind of covered the lens (oops), but Peyton tripped as he was coming into the kitchen for the reveal, which kind of dampened the fun as we worried more about whether he was ok rather than what color balloon he was carrying. But most of my friends were surprised as many of them had guessed it would be a boy.




It was at this point that we explained to Peyton that the baby in Mommy's tummy was a girl. He had been telling everyone that it was a boy. I wondered if he had some kind of connection that I didn't know about. But my friend Rebecca caught a later conversation on film where we were still trying to convince him that it was in fact a girl in my tummy.




The good news is that he seems to have come around and will admit that the baby is a girl if you ask him now. He tells everyone its his baby. So I'm happy that he has taken the news well and is excited about the new addition to the family.