A Rose By Any Other Name...

We've been talking about baby names since before we were married. It's just the type of people we are - dreamers. Coming up with names is incredibly exciting for us.
Most people say that girl's names are easy, it's the boy's names that are difficult to come up with. Not us. We have five names, full names - first and middle combinations - for boys. And only one girl's name.

We've always said we wanted to have several names picked out, and not name our baby until we saw it. Then we would know which name fit the baby, and save the rest of the names for the next babies. But we're stuck with the girl's names.
Our boy's names are unusual but masculine, and we want to be unusual but feminine with the girl's names. Somehow though, we've gotten stuck. We have a list of names, but no combinations that fit and make us happy. Here's the list so far:

Sofia  

Ysabela

Iyana

Isla

Indira

Nahla

Asya

Ava

Amirah

Sarai

Divya

Eve

Vera

Wren

Rio

Willow

Now just to put some together...

Welcome to the World Party

I've always had a picture in my head of what my baby's first day on earth would be like. I imagined flutes of sparkling grape juice, birthday cake, and balloons. I wanted to celebrate with my family and friends who came to visit at the birth center. I sort of assumed this must be a common thing, but apparently it's not. I searched google for inspiration and found that this sort of party isn't very popular.

No matter, I'll figure it out on my own. I imagine platters of finger food for family and friends, a birthday cake for our babies literal "birth day". I see tiny favor boxes for every visitor, filled with candy or some other little gift and wrapped in ribbon. I think of a makeshift video booth where visitors can record messages for mama and baby, and a large canvas where the can write their thoughts and wishes for this little one's life. I imagine balloons and flowers, and the greatly anticipated announcement of the little munchkin's gender and name.

I've even thought of doing a theme, and sending out invitations to close friends and family inviting them to the post-birth party, date and time to be announced! Of course I wouldn't be in charge of all the phone calls and party prep, my best friend and doula would help set up as my husband and I rest and bond with our baby.

Am I alone in this idea? Has anyone else ever seen or thrown a "Welcome to the World" party for their little one at the hospital or birth center? Do you have any other ideas to create a beautiful day and lasting memories?

Dressing the Munchkins

I've always dressed in a sort of eclectic, vintage, gypsy kind of way and I imagined that style would look all the more adorable on tiny people. I'm not impressed with the average kid's clothes out there, but every once in awhile I stumble on a gem of a company that creates clothes that have personality. Here are a few that have caught my eye and made me smile.

Tea Collection
This sigh-inducing company creates catalogs based around a particular country or culture, and all of the outfits they create are simple and beautiful. I especially love the Old World Hungary collection, pictured here. You can see more of this gorgeousness at www.teacollection.com



















Joyfolie
This little girl's shoe heaven is bursting with the cutest designs and styles. While it's hard for me to imagine spending a lot of money on a child's shoe that they'll outgrow in six months, I figure we'll get use out of them since we plan on having a lot of kids. You can see this company's creations at www.joyfolie.com










Opal Petit Clothier
For special occasions, Opal is heavenly. Ever since I found this company I've been imagining little girl's scampering around in these tutu's at our 10 year vow renewal. We may very well have to plan a vow renewal just so our kids have a chance to wear these clothes! See more at www.opalpetitclothier.com












Such loveliness. I can't wait to start shopping for baby closets.

Pre ttc Starts Today!

I'm one very excited little wife today, because I feel like we're finally taking a real step towards a baby.

Today is the day we start pre-ttc (trying to conceive), which for us means a few things.

1. We'll be starting a new diet. We are already vegetarian, but we're going to cut back on sugar and prepared foods, and start eating more raw foods.

2. I'm starting prenatal vitamins, and liquid iron supplements as well.

3. I'm going to be getting my dental appointments and x-rays, blood tests and overall physical, and pre-conception exam.

4. I'm giving up coffee. This may very well kill me. :)

5. I'm going to start regular blogging again, here, to document the journey.

I'm already at a healthy weight, fairly thin, but I have basically no muscle. I'm thinking about starting to try to build a little muscle tone up, but I'm not sure how to go about it. We don't have any gyms here in Albania that are open to women, they are all men-only. Any thoughts on how to build muscle from home?

Is there anything else I should be doing?

My Dream Eclectic Nursery

I know, I know. Not even pregnant yet and I'm dreaming about nursery designs. But that's always the type of person I've been - an extreme planner. It makes me happy to have something to focus on with my baby-fevered mind.

I've had a vague idea in my mind for a long time, of the nursery I would someday create for our little munchkin. When I stumbled upon this lovely on Pinterest, my heart stopped. This was it. Check out this wonderfully eclectic, not too matchy-matchy, slightly vintage, breathtakingly perfect little room.

Just look at it!

I don't think anything could be cuter than this tree branch mini-closet, except perhaps the tiny shoes hanging from it!

As an international family, this is now a must-make item for our future nursery. The window pane just adds more awesome!

Books and blocks in vintage suitcases? What could be more perfect?!

Sigh. I can't wait to start creating our version of this. The only things I would change about this room is perhaps a lighter hand on the pink (more green and purple), but other then that it's fantastic! I especially love the floor bed and kid-level storage in the suitcases. Everything about this room is peaceful and relaxing and charming. 

What do you think? Is this room your style, or do you have something different in mind?

Birth Photography

Along the route of my obsessive baby-related research, I stumbled upon the website of a "birth photographer". My initial reaction was something along the lines of "Why would I want yet another complete stranger in the room while giving birth, taking photos of my makeup-free face and sweaty  hair while I'm naked, screaming, and possibly covered in various bodily fluids? How is that a good idea?"

But after scrolling though a few dozen pages of incredible images capturing emotional moments between mother and partner, mother and doula, parents and new baby. They were breathtakingly beautiful and surprisingly modest and tasteful.

Take a look at some of these gorgeous moments in time:

Check out http://www.dfwbirthphotographer.com/ for even more awesome photos.

I think I might have changed my mind about birth photography. While I'm still not sold on the idea of a complete stranger photographing my births, I'm thinking about asking my extremely talented best friend who also photographed my wedding. I'm comfortable around her already, so it wouldn't add stress to have her in the room.

What about you? What do you think of the concept of birth photography? Is it something you would do?

The Search for a Prenatal

Since the Husband and I plan on starting TTC (trying to conceive) very soon, I thought it would be a good idea to get on some prenatal vitamins, among other things. Since half the medicines available here in Albania are from Turkey and expired three months ago, I asked my little sister to bring some from the USA since she's coming here for Christmas.


I've always had problems with pills. My entire childhood and teen years, I was never able to swallow a pill. They just wouldn't go down. Doctors tried to teach me how to take them, but it never worked. I always had to chew them up, and it was a nightmare. You wouldn't believe how bad it is to chew up a Tylenol.
I did recently manage to get some pills down though. I practiced for hours with Tic-Tacs until I figured it out. But I still can't get big pills down, not even the regular sized herb capsules.


So since most prenatal vitamins come in horse pill proportions, I opted for the chewable version - the gummy vitamin! Meet the VitaFusion Prenatal Gummy Vitamins.

Sounds great, right? Well after my little sister dutifully went to Walmart and purchased these for me, packed them in her suitcase, and got on a plane, I found some information about these online.

While they still contain folic acid, which is the main thing I need to be stocking up on right now, they lack one very important component. Iron. Which I most certainly need, having been anemic a few years ago and still not exactly pumped up on iron. So now what?

I've been doing my research, and it appears that this is a common factor in ALL gummy prenatal vitamins. They don't put iron in them because they are afraid children will get in to them, eat them like candy, and get poisoned from too much iron. So now what? I don't want to get an additional supplement, that's just another pill to struggle taking.

While I continue the search for a good, iron-included prenatal, do any of you have input? If you struggle with taking pills too, what did you use during your pregnancy? Did you find a chewable or small prenatal you could use instead that still contained all the necessary components? Let me know!