Bad Baby Names

My boss David suggested that I get all the bad baby names out of my system now, so I don't name my kid a bad name when it counts. So I thought I would compile a list of names that would not work at all.

Utah and Idaho Style
Skaught (pronounced Scott)
McKyndraly
Diezle (it sounds way manly but looks way girly)
KneeFy (Nephi--bad spelling and from the Book of Mormon)


Family Names(ish)
AnnDrew (for a girl, named after Dad)
Glennda (named for Andrew's dad, Glenn)
Leslie (for a boy, my sister's name is Leslie)
Ingeborg (love Andrew's Oma, but the part with "borg" in it would not go well with my trekkie family)


Names with an Esset (ß)--as Fassmann is traditionally spelled Faßmann
Caßidy (Cassidy)
Jeßee (Jessee)
Rußel (Russel)
Shariße (Sharisse)
Aniße (Anisse)
Katniß (Katniss--no I have not read or seen Hunger Games)


Good German Names
Fritz (and for a girl--Fritzine)
Heinz (but what about Dr.Doofenshmirtz?)
Käse (cheese in German...it could be cute)
Astrid (Astird... ha ha)
Hildegard (poor kid)



Names From Sports (suggested by my friend Greg) (bad because neither of us are athletic)
Mesut (for Mesut Özil, a soccer player for Germany and Real Madrid)
Tiger (for Tiger Woods)
Mia (for soccer player Mia Hamm)
Serena (for tennis player Serena Williams)
Arnold (for Arnold Palmer, a golfer and the namesake of my boss's favorite drink, whom I would always think of)


Just Bad Names
Spacealien (pronounced spas-e-a-leen)
Jesus (Spanish pronunciation, but let's be real  here. The kid is going to be super white.)
Willard Harrison Quentin (named for my current work, the Western Historical Quarterly, or the WHQ)
Midge (our kid is going to be short. It's a fact of life. She doesn't need to open it up to being called midget)


There are other bad names out there. I just thought I would share a few of the bad ones so you can enjoy. Being named any of these names would surely traumatize the Baby Platypus for life.

Sometimes, It's Hard to Think

It is hardest to think in the middle of the night. Last night, I was at my parents' house. So were my aunt and uncle and my cousin and his wife. So there was no bed for me--except for Matt's bed (he's on his mission). But I went into his room and the bed, floor, and everywhere were covered with stuff my parents just stuffed into his room cuz they didn't know where to put it. I was too tired to move things, and I knew if I didn't, I would step on things in the night when I got up to pee (hey, I'm pregnant). Then I had an idea! I could sleep on the couch downstairs, which I tried to do. Unfortunately, a cricket has escaped and took up residence under the fridge. I swear that thing is the size of crickets in China, it was so dang loud. So then I went upstairs to the other couch to sleep. But that cricket was still very loud and it continued to bother me. No sleep for me. So then, I did what any intelligent person would do in the middle of the night. I thought of the one place that I wouldn't hear the cricket to go sleep--the Mini Cooper I'm borrowing from my in-laws! Brilliant! So I took my thin blanket outside and locked the front door (now I could no longer get back into the house) and climbed into the Mini Cooper's back seat. And I had the best three hours of sleep I had all night. Good thing I am very short and not super pregnant fat yet. I realized that maybe I should have picked a larger car to sleep in, such as the Ford Edge or the BMW or something, but hey, it is really hard to think in the middle of the night. And then, since I was locked out, I knocked on the door at 7 a.m., certain that Dad would be awake. Nothing. So I called Mom, and she let me in. Turns out, Dad was awake, but had already gone to the gym, which meant the door from the house to the garage was unlocked and I could have gotten in on my own. And, the moral of the story is (as Mom put it), now I can be a hobo since I can sleep anywhere.

At least, anywhere where there isn't a huge cricket chirping all freaking night.

More Aunt and Uncle Time

We got to hold our little nephew Nigel!

Those of you who have been aunts or uncles before, some even for many years, probably don't know how exciting this is...but it is! I am finally an aunt!

Aunt Sarah and little Nigel. Babies don't usually like me, and apparently neither does Nigel. He was crying, so I was rocking him at arms length, like Melanie told me to, and he stopped when I did it. What an arm workout!

My arms got tired so I switched to squats. Nigel and I look so cute and happy--and I look super skinny! That's right, I'm 12 weeks pregnant.

Nigel and Uncle Andrew, who is very good at babies.

Oh look, Uncle Andrew got Nigel to sleep.

Nigel didn't even cry when Andrew "Lion Kinged" him.

Nigel sleeping in Andrew's arms. What a good baby.

Mom Melanie and Nigel. Congrats! He is cute!

So basically it is fun to be an aunt. He cries and I try to console him, but it doesn't work, so I pass him off to Melanie. Or Andrew, who apparently rocks at babies.

Don't you think my nephew is cute?

Two Zillion Tulips

In Washington, we planned to spend two days apartment hunting, but we found an apartment that we really liked on the first day, so we had an extra day to play. Andrew found a Tulip Festival in Skagit Valley and we decided to go. I was happy to know you could grow tulips in the Pacific Northwest, since I had heard somewhere that the bulbs rot in the ground because of the rain, so you have to supposedly dig them up each year. I learned that such is not the case, and that tulips and daffodils grow quite well there!

Tulips growing in a tree...

Me amongst the daffodils--my favorite flower!

Seeing all of those tulips and daffodils was really fun. They are such beautiful flowers in small quantities, and they are stunning in large quantities. It made me want to go to The Netherlands sometime to see their tulips.

Happy Springtime!

My New Nephew!

I'm an aunt!

My sister Melanie had this little guy, Nigel, on April 11.

And I'm an aunt!

Andrew and I went to visit him that afternoon. The poor guy was in the NICU for low blood sugar levels, so we could not hold him, just stroke him. But he was still very cute.

Hi Nigel! Get well soon!

Chubby cheeks :)

Oh sorry Nigel, I forgot to turn the flash off.

Aunt Sarah and Uncle Andrew with Nigel.

Fortunately, he wasn't in the NICU for too long. It has almost been a week since I saw him. That is so sad, but I am going to visit today so we can hold him. We were in Washington for the weekend, more on that coming soon!

Almost Nothing To Do!

I have more to report on the thesis! I am done! Tomorrow I will give copies to my committee members and then I will twiddle my thumbs and wait for April 26 when my defense is. I am very excited. I will probably post more on scheduling the defense and the ridiculous ordeal that was in a bit.

Tomorrow, Andrew and I are heading up to Washington for an apartment hunt. We are going to see ten apartments. I hope we find one that we really like. Hopefully that one that we really like will also be a less expensive one. Also, I hope that we can figure out where will be the best place for us to grow and help others.

And I am going to be an aunt either tonight or tomorrow! Melanie is at the hospital now!

Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday was last Sunday on April 1. It was a great day. My family and Andrew's family had a party. I love parties. We ate yummy raclette, opened presents, played Just Dance 3, and then ate birthday pie. :) It was a great great party, probably the most fun party I've had in recent years.

Even though we filmed the Just Dance party, no one really wants to watch it. If you do, let me know and I'll show you. So you can just look at some pictures.

Leslie, Daniel, Glenn, Bryanna dancing to "California Girls"

Maren, Hannah, Wesley, Elise dancing to "Hit Me Baby One More Time"

Dad, Accountant Dan, Me, and Clara dancing to something.

Leslie, Daniel, Wesley, and Elise dancing.

Andrew, Hannah, Bryanna, and Glenn dancing.

 

Wesley, Accountant Dan, Maren, and Clara dancing.

Mom, Dad, Glenn, Heidi dancing.

Elise, Clara, Hannah, Bryanna dancing

Leslie, Elise, Maren, Me dancing

Daniel, Hannah, Elise, and Me dancing

Time for some birthday pie!

Yay! What a good day. Now I am 24, and it is good to be olderish.

Yippee!

Well, we have big news!

Presenting ... THE BABY! It looks like a platypus, is 10 weeks old, and was already kicking and waving its arms around inside of me (which made me laugh very hard). Baby is due October 31. Even though we are announcing this a little early, we wanted to tell the world about it on April Fool's Day--my birthday. I have felt pretty good, just a little nauseous at night. We are really excited and hope that things go well and that the little platypus grows healthy and strong.

So that is the Yippee Skippee news. :)