26 weeks down, 14 weeks to go

Yikes, I just read that title and realized that the baby will be here much sooner than I think I realize!! And we have so much to accomplish between now and then (2 grants, moving and vacation) that time will definitely fly by!

This weekend Steve and I spend some time at my mom's. We had a really nice dinner on Saturday night and played some cards. And Sunday, everyone came over to celebrate Mother's day. We also had to celebrate Babci's birthday that got over looked during the busy month of April. Spent a lot of the day talking about baby names. While I knew it wouldn't be easy to find the perfect name for our child, I never thought it would be this difficult. Every name I like, either Steve doesn't like it, we know someone with a child of that name or it's in the top 10 for baby names.

My favorite girl name is, and has been, Madison. I loved it from when I saw Splash... actually i liked it bc in the movie, Tom Hanks is listing names for Darryl Hannah, and as they walk by Madison Avenue, he says Madison. She chooses Madison and he tells her no bc it's not really a first name, it's really a last name, etc. And I thought it was such a cool name bc it was different, and unusual, but simple and sounded like a "real name". Then growing up, we had a neighbor with a young daughter named Madison (the only one i have ever met) and still thought it was really cool. Now, of course, it has been in the top 10 for girls names since 1997 and top 5 since 2000. And since 2000, it is the 2nd most common name of the decade! It's really difficult bc i want to give my child a different name that is distinguished and unique (but not weird) and Madison will certainly not meet that criteria!

I also love Abigail (#6 this decade) and Samantha (#8), but again, same issues as Madison. I also love the idea of an Italian name, but Gianna, which is my #1 name, is becoming way too popular as well... even among people not of italian ancestry. So I feel that I would be giving my child an "americanized" name, and not one based on our heritage. I kind of like Katherine and Alexandra, but my heart is still stuck on Madison. I really just don't want to let it go :( I guess I really need to decide on what I want more, a non-popular name, or the name I really like.