Banana-Fanna-Fo...

Aside from the whole issue of not knowing quite how to deal with newborn baby boy bits, I've begun hoping lately that Cubby Two is, in fact, a boy, because we may never decide for sure on a girl name. We've been 90% set on one for a while now, but every once in a while, one of us will start second-guessing it, and the debate begins anew.

The other night, I told Bear, "Maybe we should let Keira name her."

He replied, "Great. She'll name her Dora. (pause) Or Boots."

Okay, not a good idea.

We have considered but definitely nixed Kendra (too similar to Keira), Audrey (we both like it but don't love it, I guess?), and Emily (love it but so popular now). Between the two of us, we also have some fairly strict naming rules, such as:

-no stripper names (yes, I am a hypocrite!)

-no nouns, adjectives, or verbs as names (Brooke, Grace, Lacy, etc.)

-no boy names or last names for girls (Riley, Cameron, Reagan...)

-nothing that's super popular right now (Ava, Isabella, Emma/Emily, etc.)

So, as of now, we have two names in mind:

• our "90% sure" name, which isn't very common and is probably a love-it-or-hate-it name we'd be better off to lay on people once there's a cute baby girl attached to it (lest we endure 2 months of wrinkled noses between now and then, and then are forced to forever remember that Relative(s)/Friend(s) X, Y, and Z hate our daughter's name)...and


• our "dark horse runner-up" name, which is lovely and likeable, but borderline trendy/common/popular lately, and will probably be increasingly so in the next few years

I'm thinking that if we obsess over girl names enough, we'll guarantee ourselves a boy, and then all we'll have to worry about is circumcision. And football injuries. And motorcycles. Oy.

Maybe we'll just stick with Pixley Buttonwillow after all.

Oh, and here are a couple of rare new pics of Keira--incidentally, her in utero name was Jezebel Chastity, so keep that in mind if you do end up hating whatever name we choose. It could always be worse!

They have a little music parade every week at playgroup, and she always goes for the drums: