Baby Talk

Pregnancy is weird.   Wonderful and weird, but still weird.  There's a whole 'nother lifeform inside Miss Mox right now- our little baby Lychee (who already has a proper name, but might always be nicknamed after the fruit she approximated at 12 weeks...)  A life inside a life.  Truly bizarre.  Kind of like a parasite in there, and actually, a lot like one- leeching Miss Mox's energy.

My friend, life companion, partner-in-crime is struggling with all the physical changes, and I can empathize but not truly sympathize since I have no remotely similar experience.  I cannot even imagine what it is like.  She certainly wishes I could experience it.  I am going to be a first-time father at an age when many are already grandparents.  We are both kind of clueless about all this.  We keep reading the books and asking friends, and we know there is more craziness coming.  18 more years of it.  As parents-to-be, we are... well, old, and clueless.  Luckily we have friends and family nearby, and some who have had kids recently, for help and advice.  We have learned a lot but have much more to learn. 

We've been going to the doctor a lot, and the pace picks up soon.  I like those visits.  She doesn't.  Blood draws, poking and prodding, weight checks (she has actually lost a little overall; I have gained at least five pounds...)  The tests are coming back mostly fine.   We have our fears, of course.  And not just health-wise- money, college, safety, you name it.   Where will she go to school?  How will the animals react? 

We are getting the nursery ready.  Luckily we had already repainted the top of the walls, above the chair rail.  We were thinking of repainting below... but we will leave it a bit rough, in case Lychee ends up drawing on it.  We have a ton of clothes already, and are gearing up for the baby shower.

We chose Lychee's name over the course of months- tossing out ideas, researching, ruling out some cool names that were already too common or had been used recently in the family.  We wanted something unique but not bizarre.  I wanted something with an aviation reference, or maybe from a Dead song.  We, well, Miss Mox, wanted something that could be shouted down the street and still get the kid's attention...  What we chose has a distant aviation connection in the middle name, and hints at travel in the first.  The middle one also hints at "black and white."  Overall it's a classy name, with history behind it, and is very long.  I was worried it wouldn't fit on government forms.  Hopefully it's not too easy to make fun of, and it is easily shortened so she will be able to say and spell it...

Life is going to get very hectic soon.