Grandpa-to-be

The other evening, I called my dad on the way home from something or other to tell him that I had decided to buy a Garmin, inspired by the Christmas gift we kids chipped in to get for him, highly motivated by the number of times I've had to visit Google maps prior to driving anywhere and then getting lost anyway. (The great sense of direction I once thought I had has gone into hibernation here. Atlanta has a maze of poorly-marked winding roads that offer few alternate routes between destinations, there are no consistently visible landmarks, and the folks who named the roads needed lessons in creative writing. For example, 71 streets have a variant of "Peachtree" in their names.)

Dad had lectured me about driving and talking on the phone when we visited over Christmas, because he had heard recent studies comparing the dangers of talking on the phone while driving with that of drunk driving. (Another article about this came out on Reuters just this morning, in fact). I know that driving and talking on the phone is not a smart thing, but I always tend to think that OTHER PEOPLE are the ones who shouldn't do it. I justify a quick call here and there as "necessary," or longer calls (hopefully with my headset on) as good time management. I do know, though, that it's not a good practice and I need to stop.

So when my father heard that I was indeed driving and talking, he said without hesitation: "If you are driving then I'm going to have to hang up now, because it's the only responsible thing to do as the grandfather of your child." And he did. He hung up. It was pretty much the cutest thing in the world.

Seasons Greetings from Skeletor

We were thrilled to get an unexpected ultrasound this morning at our 28-week midwife appointment. The midwife felt the position of the baby through my belly, thought that she is breech, and then confirmed it via ultrasound. We aren't worried at this point; I have twelve weeks to go, plenty of time for some natural encouragement for her to move her head down. I'm wondering if this explains why I get heartburn when I eat or drink almost anything -- a hard head rammed up into my stomach and lungs can't be quite as comfy as baby 'tocks. (When I say "almost anything" gives me heartburn, I mean it... this morning I drank a sickeningly sweet lemon-lime glucose drink in preparation for my gestational diabetes test, and even THAT gave me heartburn.)

The ultrasound confirmed again that she is a girl ... and gave us a snapshot of a smile more worthy of Halloween than the December holidays, but I'm sharing it here anyway. If you can't decipher the picture: the lightest area in the middle is her sideways jaw. Her eye sockets are to the left of there.

Baby Names

I became quite enthusiastic a few years ago when Kegz found and posted about the Baby Name Voyager. It's pretty fun, you should check it out.

This morning I got a website that I will waste similiar quantities of time on, but this time I have a reason to: Nymbler. It suggests names you may like based on a set of "inspirational" names. Love your girlfriend's choice of "Rapunzel" for her baby girl, but don't want to copy her? Nymbler suggests Mehitabel, Rosemary, Ramonita (and others) instead.

(Ha! You thought I was going to let slip some of the names I'm actually looking up, didn't you?)