Aunt Stacey's Comments on Aspera as a Middle Name

as for the baby names, i really like aspera. it has a great sound to it so i looked up all sorts of crap on it which you've probably already done and will be bored by here, but too bad.

in latin ad astra per aspera means "to the stars with difficulty/through troubles/ the hard way". i know all the other words so i figured aspera, at least in latin, means something challenging. not a bad name for a baby. infact, the latin dictionary says it means "rough". totally cool. i'm assuming if you're taking it from spanish it might have a different colloquial meaning, but i think you should go with the difficulty, challenge, struggle use when you tell the kid what his name means. naming a little boy aspera for a middle name is sort of like secretly naming him badass and that can only make you cooler when he's 14. besides, how many kids have a middle name that's a real latin word?

him- "yeah, my name is eli badass brady. you got a problem with that?"
all other teenage boys- "man, your parents are the coolest people on the whole planet!"
him- "duh!"
aotb- "so you are a badass, yet your name is latin so you are also deep. can you explain today's math assignment to us so that we may also be wise, o great badass?"
him- "sure, come on over to my house. my dad's making some sort of ridiculously tasty snack right now and there's enough for everyone!"
aotb- "hooray! truly your parents are the most perfect specimens of humanity ever!"
all- "to badass! to a clearer understanding of math! to snacks!"

Crib

We bought our crib this weekend at Nebraska Furniture Mart in KC. It is a dark cherry, solid wood crib that converts to a toddler bed, then full size bed. Now, we just have to get the floor done in the nursery so we can put the crib together! The picture is the crib we got, though we did not buy the matching shelving/drawer unit (it seemed a bit too pretentious for an infant!). But, at least the kid will have somewhere to sleep!

Names Names

Ok so we want a great name, good but not flashy one that fits and James Marshall Brady is out of the question, so is Jr. I love the name my parents gave me and I get a weird look from Steph when I suggest the name Stefano. So Jr is obiously out of the question, which leaves us with the choices that you have to your right. We have gone through the name books over and over. For some reason my wife loves Eli, I like the Spanish version of Alex which is Alejandro and if it where me the baby boy would be called Alejandro Francisco Brady or Alejandro Aspera Brady. But alas this is a balance of give and take, so we could have an Eli Aspera Brady or an Eli Francisco Brady. Steph chimes in that she likes Evan but we have a friend named Evan, Evan no insult to you, but she thinks that with one Evan in our life we couldn't possibly manage with two. Our names bounce in and out of favor, we have a responsibility to not name the kid Wolfgang or Grayson......or Alejandro Eli Brady. We'll find it, I'm sure the are better names than Pilot Inspektor Lee, Mr. Jason Lee.

Definite Parts!

It is definite, we have a boy! We had our ultrasound today and he seems very healthy, though he was asleep when we started the ultrasound and Kathy had to jiggle him around and I had to drink some caffeine to get him to wake up. But, when he did, he moved all over and showed us that he is definitely a boy. In fact, most of what we saw today was his belly and what appear to be very long legs. Alan says that he already looks like my dad with a big round belly and a bald head! He is 5 1/2 inches crown to rump right now (so that is without his legs) so I expect he is about 7 inches or so with his legs. Crazy! I will put some new pictures online when we convert them to the right format.

What is this thing in my stomach?!

I am really ready to start feeling the baby move. Right now, I feel like I have a brick or something foreign stuck in my stomach. It is very surreal. From what I have read and heard, I should start feeling real movement soon.

We go for our next ultrasound this Saturday and should be able to confirm the sex then. We still want some new ideas for names, so comment on this blog with name ideas--boy or girl!

Another Aunt Stacey Cartoon

In this cartoon, Alan has been worried that my prenatal massages might somehow squish the baby. Here, Stacey is showing the baby being popped out of me by my massage!