Progress Report

I'll pause my happy dance for just a moment in order to give a Progress Report on three important categories:

Cubby Two
He/she shows no signs of emerging anytime soon, according to my checkup yesterday (though this means little to nothing, really, since hypothetically I could go into labor right this second with no prior warning at all...but since I'm not in a romantic comedy, I'm guessing that won't happen). This is good news, because I still have Stuff To Do!

To-Do-List
The nursery is now painted (thanks to Bear!), the hallway's almost done, the hospital bag is packed, and within a few days I hope the March To-Do List is officially extinct so that the cleaning frenzy can begin. Cue Happy Dance.

Name Game Over, Man!
We're done agonizing over names. Done, done, done! So done, in fact, that here they are. If you know us in real life, brace yourself and prepare to call a friend--or anyone but Bear or me, really--to express your horror if you hate any of them, if they remind you of the biggest tramp at your high school, or if you can think of 35 playground nicknames he/she will be tortured with throughout childhood.

Then, use the next couple of weeks to get used to calling your future relative or child-of-a-friend by one of these (which, contrary to the build-up, are nowhere near as bad as Pixley, Tokay, Frodo, Jezebel Chastity, or any of the other ones we've threatened to use, no matter who you ask!). We, in turn, will try to ensure that Cubby Two is so cute that everyone will immediately adore the name upon meeting him/her, if you don't happen to already.

Boy Cub: Evan Gregory.

We've had this one picked since I was pregnant with Cubby One and we were convinced she was a boy, and it's the only boy name we both love, so we'd better never have more than one boy to name or it'll get rough.

Girl Cub: Raina Elizabeth (my pick) or Elliana Michelle (Bear's pick).

This was the hard one, since Evan is fairly standard and our girl names are on the unusual-but-not-bizarro side, so we've been nervous to "publicize" them and get a slew of wrinkled noses and negative comments. We both like both names but each have our favorite, so we'll see what hypothetical-she looks like and go from there if need be. If a tie-breaker is in order, I get to pick if she's born in an even minute (i.e. 3:42 pm) and Bear gets to pick if she's born in an odd minute (i.e. 3:41 pm)...or I'll pull out my best Movie Cliche Acting and throw an "I Just Birthed This Child From My Aching Loins and If You Love Me You'll Let Me Name Her" fit.