Baby Name Books
 

When I said the universe has funny ways of helping "you" avoid making stupid permanent mistakes, I mean Hank in particular. The universe makes no promises to others. See, e.g., Slave and Paigow.

In light of your correct observation about saving people from themselves, let me add a caveat to my first rule: IF you have better taste than those around you, don't tell other people your baby name contenders.

Baby Name Books
 

Translation: Water

And as usual B&B and I post 100% helpful advice for RP and you don't help at all.

Might it be that since you and your wife are impervious to pain, you don't consider other poster's feelings?

Baby Name Books
 

Hanging and wiving goes by destiny.
-- The Merchant of Venice. Act ii. Sc. 9.

Baby Name Books
 

Though not an answer to your question (we didn't use a book, and didn't discuss the issue with anyone until we announced the name, at which time discussion was not invited), there's an interesting discussion of baby name trends and look at how babies' names give a clue to the education and socioeconomic status of the mothers in Freakonomics.

Baby Name Books
 

My lead names were Maximilliam for a boy (grandfather's name), but suddenly I know five people in the last year who have had a Max. ANd they didnt have it as a family name. its ruined. Sucks.

For a girl, I was gonna go Abigail, which I fell in love with when wathcing some John and Abigail Adams movie at the age of like nine, plus every Abby I have known has been cool. But that name cracked the top ten this year and I will not do that to my kid. I grew up with a rarish name (though it has gained some poplularity) and I alwayws loved being the only paigow. Just makes things easier. Fortunately, I have another A name that has not been ruined by the masses and for that reason, I will not disclose it here, though in all likelihood I will name a girl Maude, Beatrice or Edith (last two are family names and first one is after my gramma Mary and of couse, the greatest female character in film ever).

Baby Name Books
 

Having Kevin Federline to help out would be another. APparently Britney is like forty pounds overweight and is not allowed to do any exercise for six weeks and has really bad baby blues and has turned to wine and slimfast. At least her vagina won't be all slack so she can keep Federline around maybe a year longer than otherwise.

Baby Name Books
 

I have done that diet. It doesn't work.

Baby Names and Labor
 

I love the SS website--one of my criteria for names for my kids was that they NOT appear in the top 1000. When checking on names for no. 2, I went back and broadened the time parameter on no. 1's name, and found that it had enjoyed a brief period of popularity around the turn of the last century.

It's not fail-safe, either. Although no. 2's name does not appear in the top 1000, we've since learned that the teenage boy around the corner spells his name the same way, but pronounces it differently. And the name is also shared by the father of a kid in no. 1's kindergarten class, though he prounounces it a third way. The local auto collision repair chain with the same name pronounces it the same, too (I'm just hoping by the time no. 2 is a teenager his name no longer graces the bike holder on the front of every city bus).

There used to be a really cool ethnic names website, but last I checked it had become defunct and the domain is for sale.

RP, before letting your doc do anything crazy like inducing you (basically, you should only be induced if you want a c-section, since that's what happens at least half the time), you should look into acupuncture to encourage things along.

Oh, and about deadlines for school: we've had this conversation here many times before, and it seems people's opinions are strong either way, and a lot depends on the kid. Both my boys have summer birthdays, and no. 1 beats the deadline by 5 days. He is doing fabulously in kindergarten this fall, though he is sometimes frustrated with the inability of the other kids to play on his level (it's hard for a kid who can be the banker at Monopoly to have fun playing games with kids who can't quite get Chutes and Ladders). He's a bit on the short side for his class, just because he's younger, but I think that will even out as they get older. But we will be looking into schools that provide a more advanced curriculum.

tm

Baby Names and Labor
 

Are you looking at private schools? Are you looking for specific features? I already see a big difference among kids in a preK class between my child and others like her, most of whom have attended school for awhile, and the kids coming in new - I am sure the skills will catch up and sort out, but at this point it is a bit frustrating to see some of the basic things they are doing. She does have teachers that seem good at finding ways to challenge kids who already have a skill or knowledge within the same activity that is doable for a kid who hasn't been exposed to it before. And now has a second-language overlay, which is providing good stimulation. But she, too, is a summer birthday, and I've toyed with holding her back, for social/emotional development purposes (she is well adjusted, but a little extra time probably gives an even stronger starting point), but I think not, in greatest part because she seems she will be ready intellectually.

Baby Name Books
 

Brett is a lovely name for a girl. Classy, too. See The Sun Also Rises.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/matchg...ers_brett1.jpg

Baby Names and Labor
 

What's wrong with giving a kid a nice, normal name? Unique name doesn't make your kid unique.

Baby Names and Labor
 

In NYC (don't know where you are), it is very, very difficult (has gotten even more difficult in recent years) for summer birthdays to be accepted into private schools for kindergarten to begin the September after they turn 5. It can happen for girls, but almost never for boys.

The ongoing schools and preschools make it a point to say that it is never (well, rarely, I guess) because the kids aren't ready intellectually.

Baby Name Books
 

I got one Virgo, one Libra, and one Scorpio. The Virgo and Libra are even tempered. The Scorpio is crazy: she has inherited my wife's lack of patience and my temper. Good luck.

Uh, not that I believe that zodiac crap either.


The Three Amigas all will miss the cut-off by anywhere from 2-8 weeks. I think this is a good thing.

Baby Names and Labor
 

2. I've observed that my friends give their boys "normal" names (Michael, Sean, Thomas, James), but it's the girls' names that they try to search for that "popular name no one is using". I'm not sure why. That being said, I think TMDiva has two boys so maybe my theory is crap.

My three girls have names are currently top 10, top 25, and top 75.

Baby Names and Labor
 

That's interesting that the schools are turning kids away for a year. I'm sure nearly all the kids are ready intellectually. My concern is the emotional/social comfort. Like I said, she does fine and is assertive and thriving, but over the years I think having the extra 10 months or so of emotional maturity will probably matter a lot for some kids, and I'd rather her be on the comfortable and older end than the opposite...but at this point it seems she will be doing K next year.

Baby Name Books
 

If you were a true Brett aficionado, you would know that the former Miss Maine quit smoking and was public about it on Match Game and now has a one woman show off broadway where she looks better now than then.

Baby Name Books
 

If her kid is crazy, I wouldnt blame that on astrology.

Good to know the mantrap thing worked. Better get that divorce in before the kid is old enough to know whats happening and G-Gash can still mantrap another one.

Baby Names and Labor
 

Hey... It beats being thrown out of school in 4th grade for being a "conduct problem" and having to repeat a year for "immaturity" (according to that fucking psychiatrist). Having that extra year behind me when I repeated fourth grade at another school did wonders...

Baby Names and Labor
 

Vaughn. Thats what I'm naming a boy when I have one. If my sperm works. Which it probably doesn't and shouldn't.

Baby Names and Labor
 

did you have mumps as a child?

Smoke gets in your eyelids.
 

I considered taking a photo from her official website instead, but they were all B&W. B&W photography is a classic dodge for people with skin flaws. Contrary to what Paul Simon says, everyone looks better in black and white. And under greasepaint.

Smoke gets in your eyelids.
 

I think you are color blind. From Brett Somers.com:

http://www.brettsomers.com/images/br...ngagements.jpg

Smoke gets in your eyelids.
 

She's hot for 96.

Smoke gets in your eyelids.
 

Maybe you can race her for an oral sex session?

Smoke gets in your eyelids.
 

Your wife has me booked out for the rest of the year, but maybe in '06, if Brett lives that long.

Names and Schools
 

"Nice and normal" doesn't have to mean common. I also believe in giving names that are recognizable as names, gendered, and don't have funky or alternative spelling. Both my boys have ethnic names with a history of use in the US.

For schools for Magnus, we're hoping to avoid private school if we can, and save that money for college. I'm especially optimistic about a local charter, operating a few years, for the top 1% of students. It's housed at a regular elementary school, and the charter kids and the neighborhood kids do non-academic stuff together.

tm

Names and Schools
 

I don't believe in* private schools unless there is something seriously wrong with the public ones. Our public schools are perfectly good here, so that's where the kids will go.

*Not to say I don't believe they exist, like the Easter Bunny or the Great Pumpkin. I'm pretty sure they do.

Names and Schools
 

The problem (in NYC, anyway) is, while there may be many perfectly good public elementary schools, by the time you get to middle school, there are very few. There are some good public high schools too -- but the middle school years are tough. If you're not in the private school system by middle school, you're hosed -- it's even more difficult to get in than it was in kindergarten. Man, sometimes this city sucks.

Names and Schools
 

The Easter Bunny better exist -- my daughter has already declared that she's going to marry him.

Because then, you see, he'll give her jellybeans and chocolates and candy . . .

S_A_M

Names and Schools
 

I don't believe in public schools. Period. Making it doubly easy in Seattle the public schools are decidely awful (although if I lived in NYC, DC, LA, SF or Chicago, I would be of the same mind based on what I know from having lived in those places or having close friends with school age kids there). Maybe Texas is different.

Names and Schools
 

I don't believe in public schools unless I happen to live in a particularly wealthy community with excellent schooling.

Gross generalization, TL.

Names and Schools
 

Plus, how great would it be to get your obnoxious fifteen and sixteen year old out of the house for a few months here and there?

Names and Schools
 

I would like to live in a particularly wealthy community because that might mean we are particularly wealthy, but alas, such is not the case. We moved to a place with decent schools and can't afford private schooling anyway, so it's good thing we don't have to. Texas is not known for its educational system by any means, but many districts around here are fine.

Names and Schools
 

K

If you are anti private school, that is a little differnt than being anti private school in general. Don't hate the playah, hate the game.

Newsflash
 

Fat boy rolled over today several times. He seems rather proud of himself.

Newsflash
 

I hear the babies in the private schools did this months ago and are now working on advanced trig. I'm just saying.

Birth Announcements
 

Can anybody recommend a web site for quality birth announcements? I'm looking for a traditional paper announcement - not a photocard (I plan to enclose a photo in the envelope). My only misgiving about ordering on the internet is that I don't know what the paper quality will be like. But I obviously don't have the luxury of spending time in a paper shop, so if anyone out there has ordered from a site you liked, please pass it along.

Birth Announcements
 

www.paperstyle.com

I did not do the Brazenette's birth announcements there, but have used them for all of her birthday party invites. They've got a great selection, are reasonably priced and you can order the stuff printed or unprinted.

btw, don't forget to order thank you notes.

Birth Announcements
 

did I miss something?

Birth Announcements
 

Yes, mother. But most of the thank you notes are already out. People go ape shit sending gifts. This baby thing is GREAT!