I am sad to say that I will be missing my 20^th year high school reunion next weekend as I will be in the hospital. Grrrr. All my high school friends are flying in and I will miss seeing everyone.

I think we have settled on the name Samantha Giada and will call her Giada, Gia or GiGi – take your pick. They are inducing labor on Thursday night and expect to have our first child by Friday late. We have spent the week saying Our LAST Saturday Night Live without a baby, our LAST Sunday morning to sleep late. I guess we are ready – but I figure no one really is.

From my Mom: We went over to Amy’s yesterday and Michael saw the nursery for the first time.  Kate really did a lot to help out as Amy has so much more done than when I was over last.  They have also gotten the plumbing straitened out in the upstairs bathroom and the guest bedroom all set up.  They have new doors in their office/den which really look great.  You can see to the back yard from the front door which really gives a spacious feeling to the house.  They are going to baptism class at St. Rita tomorrow and hope to get the baby baptized at Thanksgiving.  It has rained and rained here and is much cooler than it was, but not as cold as some of the places baseball is being played.

Well, I feel pretty good – think I entered the nesting stage as we are both getting a little dreamy eyed thinking about the baby. Still working on names – have settled on Samantha Giada for now as we can’t seem to agree. I want to call her Giada (or Gia or GiGi for short) Brad is not so hot on that. Well see I guess!

I am in week 31 (two months to go) and it looks like I am going to have gestational diabetes. I started sticking myself with the little tester today and will do so for about 2 weeks to see if I can get the blood sugar under control. The whole thing is a little confusing as They seem to want me to eat MORE carbs than I normally would but it is only day 1 so maybe the Dr. is right. I hear you are supposed to listen to them.

I just got off the phone with my sister, Kate. She has settled into Missouri but I believe her girls have hit the terrible twos. Plus, there is just one of her and two of them. She is coming down next week for a week to help me get the nursery set up and make sure I have all the stuff I need since she is definitely the expert. It will be good to see the twins as it has been awhile and it will tide my Mom over until Thanksgiving. I’m super thankful for Kate’s help as she keeps thinking of stuff I’m supposed to be thinking about but haven’t – like baby announcements  and Christmas cookies.

From My Dad: Amy, Grandmaw likes Michelle and Eliabeth. 

Aunt Patty:  Delilah, Daisy, Georgia, Gretchen, Honor* After someone suggested Annaleigh she said, GREAT!!!! ANNALEIGH HAS MY VOTE

My Uncle Buddy: BUDARENA OR BUD GOOD NAME To which my Aunt patty replied: get off it Bud,Whats the matter with Patty Anne???

My Cousin Andy Canterbury: Andie Ann Palmer has a nice ring to it

My Cousin Ellie Klimas: I will pass on the baby name advice from the head baker I just met with at Whole Foods, her name is Gidget. “Tell her to not name her child Gidget, unusual is great, but still have it be normal” My Cousin Mariah Weatherholt:  Naomi is a nice name. I’ve always been fond of Annabelle. Picking out names is soo much fun!

My Cousin Sarah Canterbury: I like Samantha, Julia, Alexandra, Elizabeth, or Lorelai (not on the list..just a suggestion!) 

My Cousin inLaw Christen Canterbury: I like Naomi-you don’t hear that very often-it is very pretty

Delilah would be a great choice Amy!  It was our great grandmother’s (Cullivan side) nickname.
I love Frances.  Or Kate.  That would be a really good name too. 😉

My favorites off the list are Naomi, Francesca, and Rowan.  My friend’s daughter is named Rowena and her nickname is Rowen.  We would also call her Ro or RoRo.  I absolutely adore the name trixie and wanted to call Evie Beatrix with the nickname Trixie but David (Kate’s Husband) feels it is a stripper name.

Also fan of Thisbe and Finley.  I love all the P names but do you want her initials to be PP?

Alexandra DePriest (Ali)

Ok well of course my number one vote is Alexandra.  And then Anastasia.  They both sound very sophisticated, regal, beautiful and elegant, which of course your baby will be.  Also love Antonia.  And Apollonia but I think you should steer away from Italina sounding names because, well, neither one of you are Italian.  Bianca rocks, Cadence, Elle are all good.  Phew, that is a long list, I am going to have to get back to you on the rest of the alphabet. 

Ashleigh Cornett Paike

Stella, Violet, Audrey, Amelia, Charlotte, Georgia, Ava, Arden, Olivia.

Dawn Taylor Kosko

Adeline ( call her Addie), Lilly, Georgia, Amelia ( call her mimi), Julia  Josephine  (Dawn’s Husband) Chip likes Francesca, it means free

Anastasia Stephanie Palmer

O.K.  you have plenty of great names.  Here in no particular order are my first ten, followed by the second ten, etc.

Antonia (my mother’s youngest sister’s name – Toni)  Appolonia (my grandmother’s name – Polly) Anastasia (Stacy – you could have easily been named that)  Amelia (my mother’s name) Diana Stella Naomi Gillian (Jill) Honor Josephine;

Julia Carolina Jessamine Celestina (Celeste) Charlotte (my best friend in high school) Avalon (Ava) Cassiopia (Cass or Cassy – could also use Cassandra) Adeline (Adele) Pilar Veronica Merry;

Halcyon (Halcy)  Holland (Holly) Melisande (Sandy)  Justine Geneva (Genny) Gretchen Dixie Daisy (Marguerite is Daisy in French) Giselle Francesca; Aurora (Rory) Peyton Eden Esme (short for Esmeralda in Spanish) Elizabeth (I like Betsy better than Liz) Georgia Gianna Giovanna Ever;  

Theodora actually grows on me as I took at it – Theo, Dora, good. I also like Leslie and Nancy – not on your list and Bridget or Brigitte and Delia, my father’s mother’s names.

But she is yours to name.

(Amy’s Notes after this conversation with my Mom) Mom really liked Anastasia it was on her list in high school  – she also liked Kathleen and Irish  Shelia , Pauline, Maureen,. Marlene – because being half Irish, Anastasia was a saint that they said in the mass. 

Later Mom said: Naomi is growing on me – Naomi Francesca Palmer has a nice rhythm to it.

Then Mom said: What about Annaleigh?  Short for Annabel Lee.

Anad after Aunt patty liked that name, Mom said to her: I did suggest Patrice Palmer but did not get a positive response.

 Have I tortured you with the baby name list yet? I will attach below. You can check them out a-z. Some of them are pretty crazy but I wrote down ANYTHING that sounded remotely possible form about 4 baby name books. Top contenders right now (At least for me) are Giada, Gia, Samantha, Alexandra, Anastasia, Geneva, Justine, Julia, Giselle, Stella, Bianca