Mexico, 23 week pregnancy update, and help with baby names

It’s been a little quiet around here lately, but for good reason…Adam and I got back from a vacation earlier this week! We went to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico for five days, and it was amazing.

This summer when Adam graduated from the police academy and we celebrated out 10th anniversary, he told me he wanted to go on a vacation. I was like “that would be great”…which meant both “that would be great” and “it’s never going to happen.” But he actually managed to make it happen, sans kids and everything. (A huge thank you to our parents for taking the boys!) This was our first time at a resort, we went with Adam’s younger brother and his wife. We booked it a couple of months ago through cheapcaribbean.com, they had some sort of deal where you book but you don’t know which resort you are going to until a week ahead of time. It was kinda fun not knowing (I love surprises), plus it saved us some money. We ended up at Secrets Capri, a small five-star (adults only!) resort. It was beautiful, here are a few pictures I snapped of the resort.

A group of people on a beach

The day before leaving for our trip I checked the weather forecast and it showed 80-90% chance of thunderstorms every single day we were there. I was bummed. And it did rain everyday…for about 10 minutes. We didn’t even get out of the ocean when it rained. Chances are this is going to be our last vacation for a very long time, so I’m grateful the weather didn’t trap us inside.

One of the days we took and excursion to a place called Xel-Ha, which is a giant nature park built around a lagoon. It had absolutely amazing snorkeling, plus tons of other stuff like bikes, dolphins, zip lines, tubing through mangroves, cenotes, and iguanas everywhere. There were so many iguanas that you were almost stepping on them. Crazy…the kids would have loved it. Fortunately they weren’t there though :)

Xel-Ha

Besides Xel-Ha we basically just lounged around, ate insane amounts of food, and drank. Well, not me…I just drank a lot of water while jealously grimacing at everyone drinking their fruity, frozen, alcohol-soaked beverages. I’m not really a drinker, but for some reason when I’m pregnant all I want is a dang margarita. Go figure. I did win a fish pedicure while there though, which was interesting. You basically just put your feet in an aquarium and little fish nibble off all the dead skin. Mmm…tasty.

I wish I had more pictures to share, but I’m in my maternity swimsuit for most of them and they will never grace the internet. And by “maternity swimsuit” I mean my regular two piece …it’s almost like those things were made for expanding bellies.

Speaking about expanding bellies, how about a pregnancy update?

I’m now 23 weeks and feeling pretty good. No more morning sickness or nausea, no extreme tiredness, just sweet baby kicks and excited big brothers. And weight gain, of course. I’ve gained a total of 25 pounds so far, which breaks down to ten pounds on each thigh and five pounds of belly. I gained 33 pounds with each of my boys (mostly toward the beginning), so even though I feel pretty heavy I’m actually right on track. I haven’t taken a pregnancy pic in a while (and I’m lounging around in my husbands pjs right now, so that’s not happening) but here is one of me at 20 weeks. I look significantly bigger now… large amounts of vacation food might have something to do with that though.

20 weeks

We had our big ultrasound a few weeks ago, and everything looks great! The OB gave me a whole thumb drive full of ultrasound pictures, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere. All I can find is the one he printed. It’s not the best, but good enough to tell the this baby is going to be snuggly and adorable!

ultrasound

I know y’all are waiting for me to reveal the gender, but we didn’t find out. I’ll let you know in March :) We have been talking about names though and have a girl name nailed down…if this baby is a girl her name will be Noelle. This was the only name on my list and luckily Adam loves it too. Admittedly our girl name has changed with each baby, Elijah was going to be Eden and Levi was going to be Acacia. Noelle is my favorite of the bunch and will probably be our girl name for future pregnancies/babies (if this one is a boy).

The boy names are giving us more trouble and I could use some imput and suggestions. Here is the list I have thrown out to Adam so far…

  • Jude (this is our current front-runner)
  • Jesse
  • Caedmon (vetoed by Adam for sounding like “caveman”)
  • Rhett (vetoed by Adam because “were just not that cool”)
  • Sawyer (this was going to be our oldest sons name for a while)

Even though our other two kids names are biblical (Elijah and Levi) we aren’t stuck on biblical names, we’re considering everything. Here is what we want and don’t want in a boy name…

  • Don’t want another boy name with an “ah” ending (Noah, Isaiah, Judah…)(even though I like them)
  • Don’t want one of those trendy boy names that ends with an “n” (Aiden, Jayden, Kaden…)
  • No weird spellings
  • Don’t want to name him something while planning to call him something else (like a nickname)
  • Want a classic, timeless, normal name that’s not overly classic, timeless, or normal (like John, David, William…)

So what do you think? Thoughts, suggestions…I’m all ears!

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51 Comments

  1. I like Jesse, but that’s because I named my son that!
    It’s a good solid name, not too trendy, not too old fashioned, and everyone can pronounce it.
    Good luck in your decisions!

    1. Thanks! I like Jesse too..actually we have tossed around a bunch of “J” names this time…Jesse, Jude, James, Jonas, Judah, Josiah. Just something about J names with #3!

  2. It sounds like a very fun vacation! You have many of the same standards for a name that I had with both my boys. Their names are Simon and Paul. Not knowing the gender is the best way to go. I loved both my surprises.

  3. I have a James, George, Rhett, and Finn. All boys here! I love the name Rhett (obviously), and my husband and I are definitely not cool. So you can get away with it for sure! I felt this way with our last one–Finn–loved the name but felt really insecure about using it, I didn’t feel cool/trendy enough to be using it. But guess what? My baby, I pushed him out, I can name him any dang thing I want. So Finn it was. Good luck, boy names get hard to find after a while!

    1. Those are both great names! Logan ends with an “n”, but it’s not one of those trendy new boys names I was talking about… it’s definitely more timeless.

  4. I have four boys, Nate, Josiah, Elijah, and Owen. We tossed around Evan, James, Tate, and Clement. I like older names that aren’t too trendy as well. Congratulations on your third!

    1. Yay for a house full of boys! Those are all great names, I’ve always loved Josiah and Owen (and Elijah, obiously). Although I know a disproportionate amount of baby Owens right now, so it didn’t make our maybe list.

  5. I see Sawyers and Judes popping up everywhere – those two are definitely trendy now! I like Rhett, it’s cute for a baby but equally good for a grown adult (coming from the lady who’s husband’s name sounds like a first grader and people think I’m referencing one of my children when I say his name)

      1. lol! It’s nothing uber weird- it’s Keegan. Which I think is a completely adorable toddler’s name, but it just doesn’t fit an adult very well. Or maybe I’m crazy (my bet is mostly on the latter) ;)

  6. I could talk baby and names all day. Congratulations! One of my requirements was that if its a two syllable name the first syllable had to still be a name. We went with Mitchell. He likes Mitch and his friends cal him that and I am starting to on occasion. I have to say I really like Jude! Good luck!

    1. Thanks Kelly! When we named Elijah I had the same nickname rule in mind… that everyone would just call him Eli. I called him that for a few days after he was born and suddenly I hated it. So he’s always been Elijah, and sometimes we call him Lije for short. When he gets older he’ll have plenty of options for what he wants to be called!

      I have a feeling we might end up with Jude :) I just don’t like that it’s becoming so popular…but heck, so are Elijah and Levi. I don’t really think popular and trendy are the same thing though, I’m definitely more okay with the first. Also, I think Jude sounds kinda funny with our last name…trying to decide how much I care about that aspect. Ack…I’m my own worst enemy!

  7. I LOVE the name Jude. We didn’t find out our baby’s gender either (its a boy!) so I was going to go with Jude for either a boy or a girl but the hubs convinced me to go with Liam if it was a boy and so that’s our boy’s name.

  8. I like Noelle :) My parents were the opposite; they thought for sure I would be a boy, so I was supposed to be Nicholas Peter. I was the first girl on that side of the family after 7 boys, so they didn’t even bother picking out a girl’s name!
    Looks like you had a restful and much deserved vacation! Congratulations on 10 years!!

  9. I’m hoping you get your Noelle! You definitely need another female on your side! If you have another boy, Justin is a strong classic, as well as Jude. So glad you and your husband had a vacation alone. Your life will be very, very busy come March!

  10. First off, you look STUNNING!!! Pregnancy really suits you!

    I love Noelle! I only know one person names Noelle, and she’s got a calm, confident, old soul, so the name has good vibes for me!

    I’m a big fan of the name James, while actually calling the kid James (as opposed to nicknaming them Jamie or Jim. Also, I like Charlie (not Charles) a lot, too.

  11. I love Noelle for a girl as for boys names I tend to love the old fashion classics like Henry, Charlie, or Jack. I’m sure whatever you choose will be perfect.

  12. One of my requirement has always been that it can go with judge. So when we named our girls we said Judge (their name). Why my daughter is Isabell and not Isabella and Grace and not Gracie. My husband and I’s name for our boy (that we will never have and just dream about) is Jude. I love this name and it is written on my heart in so many ways.

    Good luck and they all sound wonderful!

  13. I have three boys and they all have biblical names. I don’t know what I’ll do if I end up having a fourth boy because I don’t think I could find another name I like as much as the ones I’ve already used. I have Luke, Micah, and Josiah.

  14. I like ‘Jesse’ because it means ‘gift,’ at least according to BehindTheName. My parents chose my name because it means ‘honeybee’ (there’s a long story behind why that was significant for my family,) and I always liked knowing that my name meant something important to my parents, instead of just being a word they liked the sound of. ‘Jude’ will, at least in my mind, forever be associated with the Beatles song, and with St. Jude. Sooo…a pop song about a girl, and a saint of lost causes and hospitals. Maybe not the best associations?

    http://www.behindthename.com/name/jesse

    1. I like to research the meaning of names as well, and Jesse has a beautiful one. My name literally means “a meadow full of ash trees,” which I was never particularly thrilled about. I see Jude a little differently than you do though (although I agree it will forever be associated with the Beatles and hospitals). It means “praise” and I associate it with the half brother and servant of Jesus, author of the second to last book of the Bible.

  15. How wonderful that you got away and RELAXED. Yay! I like the names Jesse (my son’s name!) and Jude. My other son’s name is Shawn, which I also love. Noelle is a lovely name, too. I love picking names! So fun.

  16. I love Jude and Sawyer!! Something about them is tough and manly, but also classic. I’m 33 weeks with my first little girl and Noelle was one of our favorites too, but we ended up settling with Amelia, I think.

    Can’t wait to see what you pick!

  17. I think Sawyer fits with Elijah and Levi really well. When I hear Jesse for a boy all I can think is Uncle Jesse from Full House. Noelle is beautiful, and I love that you don’t hear it so much, great choice!

  18. Slightly older classic names seem to be coming back. I’ve been seeing a lot of Owens and Henrys in the last few years, but I don’t think the names have hit trendycstatus yet. What about something like Jack or Luke?

  19. We have Nathaniel Lukas, Aaron Gabriel, stephan (pronounced Stefan) Alexander, and Josiah David. And two girls as well, Maleah Elizabeth and Olivia Marguerite. Perhaps you will get to use Noelle, it’s beautiful.

  20. I like your choices jude and sawyer a lot. when I was pregnant I had such a hard time with boy names… we knew if it was a girl she would be Cheyenne kate. But a boy up until the birth we were going crazy with lots of names!!! Oliver, alexander…thank the lord she was a girl!!! good luck and feel well

  21. We always liked the name Jacob, but were blessed with two girls, Rylee and Allison. Good luck on names! So happy you are feeling better!

  22. I have written to you once before, to tell you I LOVE your boy’s names. I have a special affinity to wanting to know baby names… I love picking out names. My favorites currently for boys are: Atticus (as in Finch- To Kill A Mockingbird), Flynn or Finn, and Sebastian (call him Bash)- I know.. you hate the nickname thing. OH! I like Wren too and Killian (I’m SUPER Irish!). See I could keep going. Hope it is a girl for you though… I know you will love them no matter what though!

  23. How about Morgan, Harrison or Spencer. Jonathan, Kerry or Terrance. There are so many wonderful names out there, you can’t miss! Best wishes to your entire family and thanks for sharing your vacation pics!

  24. I love the name Noelle! I happen to have three daughters, Lily, Dahlia and Eden. Our boy names changed with each one (like your girl names) However we never got the option to use any of them. Haha.

  25. Names are a HUGE deal in our family! So far we have for girls and two boys:
    Anna, Nathan, Luke, Esther, Miriam and Johanna. Bubba (my husband) and I have not picked a one of them! We prayed and asked The Lord to tell us their names. We figured he knew their names already, He just needed to let us in on it!!
    Each of their names suite them PERFECTLY! Try asking…you might be surprised :-D

  26. We named our son Neil and he’s always liked it and he STILL likes it and he’ 42! It’s more unusual and there are some really cool guys named Neil. Neil Diamond. Neil Armstrong, etc.

  27. I like Jude the best! Rhett would be my second fave. Sawyer is a little too trendy for me. Have you considered Jase?

  28. I’m glad you had a relaxing vacation! It sounds like you do exactly what I do on vacation…. always think “the boys would really like this” even though I’m thankful to have a break from them. ;) My son has a boy named Jude in his class, and my friend has a little boy named Sawyer. Both great names!

  29. I have worked for a orthodontist for the last 12 years. I have had to call about 60 kids names from the waiting room a day.
    Your so smart to stick with something that is gender specific and easy to say. I have botched the pronunciation of way to many kids names.

  30. I actually have a Judah (my oldest) and an Eden (my youngest) and in between we have an Atticus, not Biblical but it means “father-like”, which we thought had Biblical value. We are also thinking of having a 4th someday, but not for a while as my littlest is just 4 months. I know you’ll pick something just fine if its a boy, but yay for having a girls name picked out, which is very sweet by the way.

  31. We have a Jensen and McClane. Both end with the “n”, but both very traditional LAST names. Best wishes to your growing family!

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