more on names

Reese asks: love the name you picked for Claire! i was wondering what went in to making your decision on her name? was Claire an option for your first pregnancy? what were your boy options for this baby? other girl names that interested you for this baby?


answer: thank you!  I already answered the first part in my last blog. Claire was not an option or baby #1.  We really liked Kaitlyn when Trent was born.  Our boy names for this baby were Tyler, Drew, Justin, Dominic.  Drew was my #1 pick.  We didn't have any middle names in mind for a boy.  Other girl names we were considering were Kaitlyn and Angela. 

what's in a name?

Lorraine asks: how did you pick your daughters name? Did you know it was a girl all along?

answer: I'm not sure when the first time i realized i liked Claire was.  I think it was sometime after i had Trent and before i got pregnant.  its not a family name (I've gotten asked that a few times).  Michele, however, is a family name....it's my middle name.  We didn't have any other middle names in mind until after Claire was born, at which point we tossed around a few others (lilly, lyla, kaitlyn).  I think I had gotten so used to the idea of Michele being her middle name that it was hard for me to really consider the other middle names....I mean, for 9 months I tossed the name "claire michele" around in my head, then I had only a day or so to decide if I wanted to stick with Michele or go with a new name that was only just presented to me.  I thicken I needed more time to adjust to the possibility to the other names (does that make sense?).  In the end I wasn't absolutely in love with any of the middle name choices so I decided to stick with the one that had the most meaning to me.  Call me self-centered.  You might be wondering what Kevin thought during all this....well, I don't want to put words in his mouth but he basically said he liked them all and didn't really care which one we went with. 
 
No, we didn't know it was a girl - we genuinely wanted to be surprised on D day.

An Assortment

Yesterday i received an assortment of questions from an anonymous reader. I'll go ahead and answer them all in one post.

Anonymous asks:

1. Do you have any strong feelings yet on what you are having?
2. Did you have a strong feeling with Trent?
3. Any name ideas you are caring to share?
4. How will you decorate the nursery for baby #2?
5. What is most fun about Trent's age right now?

Answers:

1. Girl. For the first 20 weeks I had strong feelings that I was definitely having a girl, mostly because this pregnancy has been quite different from my first pregnancy. I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything, but whatever. My gut said girl. More recently (the last 4 ish weeks) I haven't had strong feelings either way. Possibly because in my head I've already convinced myself that it's a girl?? I'm not sure.
   
2. I remember specifically NOT having strong feelings either way. Kevin, however, thought he was going to be a girl.
   
3. none that I care to share, no ;-)
   
4. To see the nursery furniture, click here. We already have the crib, and my parents got the changing table for us. We hope to eventually get the bureau. We haven't decided yet if we're going to do a "theme" in this nursery. We may just go with some simple gender neutral sheets and bedskirt and call it a day. I do, however, plan to do a special design on one of the walls again, but it won't be an animal print this time (to see pictures of Trent's giraffe-themed room, click here), or anything related to a specific character - it's just a design of sorts. We already know what the design will be, but it's going to remain a secret until it's almost done, at which point I will post pictures immediately. Sorry, once again, for being so secretive. Other (smaller) things I would like to do in the nursery if we have the time and money include: replace the closet doors, replace the bedroom door, new window treatment(s), name letters (once born), added shelving, replace ceiling fan (shhh, don't tell Kevin I said that), and possibly re-do some, or all, of the closet shelving.
   
5. Trent is SOOOO much fun right now!!!!!!!!!!! I love spending every second I can with him!!!!! He's extremely mobile (though still not walking) and very curious. He is turning into such a big kid right before my eyes. It's amazing! He can eat almost anything now, and he loves most foods, so mealtime is always fun. He's not nearly as fragile as he once was, which opens up a whole new world to us....you should see how him and Kevin wrestle around. He loves bath time. He loves being able to sit down and go from toy to toy. He crawls over to us and just lays down when he's tired or needs a break. He's all about "sharing" right now, which is the cutest thing! HE GIVES KISSES!!!!!!! My heart melts every time. This whole "being a mother" thing is just the most rewarding and amazing experience. I can't pinpoint one thing that is "the most fun" about his current age but if I had to generalize it, I'd say the most fun part is watching him mature from an infant into a more independent and mobile toddler.
   
   It's weird. When Trent turned one I really didn't have an emotional break-down (possibly a bad way to describe it) of any kind. I didn't cry over the fact that my baby wasn't a baby anymore. I didn't try to make time stand still. I wasn't freaked out at all. Of course there was part of me that couldn't believe a year had already passed, but I was very glad to have a healthy and happy one year old and I was/am anxious to see what the future would bring.
   
   I guess it's a delayed reaction, but NOW I find myself wishing Trent would stay exactly the way he is for a while longer. I don't want him to grow up just yet. I don't want him to get bigger. I don't want him to walk and talk. Walking and talking means he's a big kid. I want my lovable little Trent to stay forever as precious as he is RIGHT NOW!

discouraging

When we were pregnant with Trent we had 2 boy names picked out and only half a girls name picked out. Good thing we had a boy or else we really would have been settling on girls name. In fact, we liked our 2 boy names so much that we had a hard time deciding which name to go with. Trent didn't get named until maybe 24 hours after his birth. He was simply "baby w______" for a while, Or as the nurses referred to him "the blond baby" (they don't see many blond newborns).

The reason I say we only had half a girls name is because A.) we didn't have a middle name picked out, and B.) I wasn't sold on it. It's a beautiful name and i still love it, but it's very common and I'm not sure it's a mature enough name. Take the name Barbie for example - it's a cute name for a girl but does it really suit a 30 year old woman? no. Or take Barbara. Great for the old cat lady down the street or for your great-aunt, but do you automatically picture a 26 year old? no. (Why I didn't just go by my middle name when I entered high school is beyond me).

Anyway, the real reason for this blog post is to tell you that I have since picked out another girls name that I really like. In fact, I like it more and more every single day. I think it's a name that will transition well from childhood through adulthood and it's easy to spell, pronounce, and say. On top of those reasons for liking it, I didn't think it was all that common. Well, this last week I have seen the name EVERY.WHERE.

::stomps feet::

Growing up I had 12 friends named Michelle and about 15 friends named Stephanie. I don't want this to happen to my kid. I don't want her (in this hypothetical scenario) to go from being "Girls Name" to "Girls Name Last Name" - where people always have to follow up with her last name so everyone knows WHICH girl you are talking about.

I did a quick search to find out just how popular these baby names are right now. According to the Social Security Administration:

Trent ranked #312 in 2008 (1 being the most popular)
boy name #2 (which we are still considering) ranked in the 20's, eeeeeek
girl name from 1st pregnancy is in the 50's
girl name I like right now is in the 60's. Maybe it's not quite as common as I think. Maybe that's just one of those games your mind plays on you - like when you buy a new car you suddenly start noticing them more. Same went for redheads. I didn't realize just how many redheads there are in this world until I had my own.

sorry I'm being so cryptic and not saying the actual names. It's just too early for us and we're too indecisive. I don't want to give the baby a name before it's even fully developed.

For giggles I typed in Barbie. It has not been among the top 1,000 names in the last 9 years.
Barbara ranked #758 in 2008
Kevin was #40 - which surprises me. I rarely hear that name.

Type in your name and see where it ranked this year.

blog title

Aunt I says: I was thinking... What could you re-name this blog? Now don't get me wrong... I love the title T-Mase. But do you really want to give Baby #2 the complex? I was Baby #5- I know firsthand! Heck~ (play violin music here) The first picture of me was the one the photographer took of me in school. Maryanne has like 10 boxes of pictures.
I was thinking T-mase INC.
I'm just putting it out there.

Good point - I will definitely have to change the blog title. The only problem with T-Mase INC is that it still puts Trent and only Trent in the title (T-Mase = Trent Mason. T-Mase is the nickname uncle paul (jr) gave Trent as soon as we decided on a name). hmmmmmm, I'll really have to give this one some thought. It has to be something semi clever. I welcome any and all suggestions!

nicknames

You know how most pregnant women come up with a nick-name for the baby that resides in their belly? Generally it's something cute like Peanut or Bug or Baby (initial). We called Trent either Baby or Cletus the Fetus. This time around I wanted something more original, something catchy. I only gave it a few minutes thought when Big Baby Jesus and Old Dirty Bastard popped in my head. I personally thought Big Baby Jesus had more of a ring to it, so that's what I decided to nick name the baby until it's born. Kevin just laughed at me when I told him - we'll see if he goes along with it?!?! So, from here on out I will be referring to this baby as the following things: Baby #2, Big Baby Jesus, and BBJ.

our name list

someone asked if we have any names picked out yet - and if we are considering any of the names we considered the first time around.



well, we really like what George Foreman did so we might go with Trent if it's a boy and Trentalina or Trentabell for a girl.

baby names

Anonymous asked: Was Trent planned and what other names were are your name list for a girl or boy baby?


Answer: Trent was not planned. We actually had plans to possibly start trying to conceive in May/June. Trent was a little ahead of the game; he was conceived in February.


We went back and forth with names for a while. We actually didn't name Trent until after he was born. We pretty much it narrowed down to either Trent Mason or Tyler Mason for a boy. (We might use Tyler is we ever have another boy). As for girls names - we found it very difficult to choose one. We both agree(d) that Kaitlyn is an absolutely beautiful name, but since its so common right now I was steering away from it. There were a couple other girls names we were "eh" about, but i honestly don't remember them.