Named

Well Ryan and I finally decided on the name, and our little girl is going to be Aurora Lynn Cross. Ella coming in at #17 on the top baby names list of 2008 kind of sealed the deal for me. That being said, Aurora has been moving around, letting me know that she is having fun exploring around. I can even see my belly move if I look at it when she is moving. Ryan doesn't have the patience to wait for 30 seconds for it, and thinks I am making it all up in my head and figures he can just wait until she is "really" moving in a few weeks and he can feel and see her then.

Now that we are past the "basic" baby books (what to expect when you are expecting) I am moving on to the advanced ones on techniques, theories, etc. I am currently reading "On Becoming Baby Wise" which was recommended by one of our faculty at work here, and it was also recommended to Nicole by someone. It is loosely a book on getting your baby on a schedule for sleeping, eating and wake time, ultimately to get them to sleep through the night as early as 8 weeks old. The underlying theme is based on parent-directed behavior, not child-centered or parent-centered. So the focus is that baby is a wonderful addition to the family and that parents take cues from baby but also that baby takes cues back from you too. A family with a strict and ridged schedule with no room for flexibility is not ideal, nor is a family centered solely around the baby with no structure. I am very excited about it and think that it will not only be a lifesaver since we will be working parents and a schedule will be necessary for us to rely on, but also because it is 100% in alignment with the kind of person I want to raise; one who is not selfish or self centered, or is the one who directs every move the family makes, but instead one who understands the meaning of family, and is a happy, content and contributing member of our family. It is amazing to realize that you can can start teaching those kinds of values so young in their life with something as simple as a sleep/eat/awake time schedule.

Recently, as I have been getting recommendations for books, reading up online, finding studies, etc. it dawned on me how scary of an experience having a baby can be for someone who doesn't have any resources... no one to give them advice, no books to read, no google bar to type in whatever thought or symptom pops up for that day. For instance, my Mom. She was a 30 something woman who on a whim bought and moved out to the ranch, in the middle of nowhere to up and run a property. And before she really has it all figured out, she gets pregnant with her first baby. The father is a free spirit, one not to be held down, and one who has no real experience or support to offer his "partner" (if you can even call it that; he was more like a sperm donor at the time and has been a wonderful but non-traditional father figure my whole life). She has no close friends to rely on, or at least any that are within a 10 mile radius for help. Her own mother is estranged and lives on the opposite coast, and is not exactly "open minded" to her lifestyle and choices (the same mother that told her that she should never have kids since she couldn't even keep a fish alive). There is no such thing as the Internet, no easy access to recent studies or sites to have any number of books delivered within days to your doorstep. So with nothing more than a copy of what to expect and a book on spiritual midwifery, she goes through pregnancy and birth and has me on her own. WOW. What a woman. Here we are this day and age being bombarded with advice and info, and all we have to do is pick and choose what we want to accept and what we think is best. Imagine not having any of it, and how scared you would be NOT having that. I am so confident as I go through this because I have read every book, gone to every website, and investigated every study done on every topic that has to do with pregnancy and childbirth. It makes me realize how blessed I am, but also makes me appreciate so very much what people like my Mom may have gone through to get us here.... So here's to you Mom, a big thank you for getting me here and helping to create who I am today, in the face of the unknown!