I really enjoyed my break from blogging. We didn’t go anywhere, but I just enjoyed the time at home. David worked on a house project and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. My energy level has improved quite a bit over the past week and it has been nice to actually feel like I can put in a semi-normal day more than once a week!

My morning sickness seems to finally be tapering off. I seem to only have about one morning a week every once in a while now where I feel really, really low. I’m eating normally and FINALLY have gotten rid of that horrible aftertaste in my mouth. There were several weeks when I was literally brushing my teeth 8-10 times a day, trying to get rid of that horrible taste! It didn’t matter what I ate or what I did – it was constantly there and contributed to the queasy stomach. It has tapered off and the past few weeks I’ve been able to deal with it by chewing gum. I’ve chewed more gum in the past three or four weeks than I’ve chewed in the past ten years.

Monday the 10th we heard the baby’s heartbeat for the first time! The nurse told us it could take a few minutes so not to worry if she didn’t find it right away. She found it within ten seconds! It was nice and strong (148). Hearing the heartbeat was encouraging for David and me in that we finally had some “proof” beyond just me being sick all the time! It’s not that I doubted I was pregnant, but as David said – it was something beyond my body and it just made it seem all that more real.

The week of May 7 we have our Level 2 ultrasound. This was earlier than I was hoping for so I was VERY excited when the doctor set it up for that date. We are praying that baby cooperates that day so we can find out boy or girl!

I am pretty sure I’ve been feeling the baby move. I actually thought I felt it for the first time on Palm Sunday, the day before we heard the heartbeat. I was sitting in the evening service and felt a “wave” low in my abdomen that was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. I wasn’t totally sure though because everything you read says not to expect it with the first one until 18-20 weeks and I was almost 15 weeks at that point. The doctor asked me if I had felt the baby move and I told him what had happened. He said it probably was the baby. I then had the same feeling the day after my appointment while I was eating lunch. I didn’t feel anything for several days and now the past few days I’ve been feeling lots of little bubbly feelings in the same general area where the nurse found the heartbeat. So I am guessing Peanut is making his/her presence known! David has “baby movement envy”. He wishes he could experience what I’m experiencing. I told him I’ll remind him of that when he’s sleeping peacefully in a few months and I can’t sleep because the baby won’t be still!

We have working names now for both a boy and a girl. We like both of them, but still have plenty of time to change our minds. It is also hard for me to think about names in the abstract sense. Once we know if it is a boy or girl, I think it will be easier for me to wrap my mind around the name selection process. We’ve been praying that God will lead us to the right name as well. I think names are so important.

So, on that note… How about a name suggestion thread? Here are the “guidelines” David and I are operating under. (And I sincerely hope I don’t offend anyone by what I write here. These are just our preferences!)

• No trendy or made-up names
• No trendy alternate spellings
• Nothing excessively popular (This is a hard one because many of my favorite names in the past are now really popular so I won’t consider them any longer – names like Emma, Grace, etc. I like having a “different” name and not being one of ten “Xs” in my circle of friends.)
• Classic and timeless names are best
• Old-fashioned is good, outdated is not

So there you have it. Based on what you know about me and David from this blog (and for some of you in real life), what name suggestions do you have? In the interest of not letting anyone in on what our preferences are, I’m not going to comment on any of the suggestions. But I’m thinking maybe of a thank you gift from our CafePress store to the person who suggests the eventual name.