Anybody Still Reading This? PLUS: A Challenge To Display Your Creativity and Taste

I know it's been a long time since I posted. I've been busy gestating a tiny human being--get off my case!

Lots has happened since my last post--Christmas was great, I spent all but a few days of January and February sick with various cruds, and Bennett turned two. He is such a big boy! We didn't get his 24 month appointment till about 5 weeks after his birthday, but when we actually saw the doctor, we discovered that our "little" man is 36 3/4" tall and 33 lbs. 6 oz. That puts him around the 90th percentile for both height and weight. I told you he was a big boy! He got lots of praise for his verbal and social development and his robustness in general. It's nice have a professional confirm what we knew already--we have a smart, sweet, healthy boy. And he has very good manners, too--just ask him, he'll tell you "I have nice manners." That kid cracks me up!

Bennett is looking forward to having a baby brother in a few weeks. He likes to pat my tummy and say "Hi, Baby Brother! I love you!" My due date is May 8th, but the doctor says there's not much chance I'll make it till then--the fact that I had pre-eclampsia with Bennett pretty much guarantees I'll have it this time, too. I hope I make it till May, though--I like emeralds better than diamonds! Heehee!

I still have a problem, though...we're having a hard time choosing a name! Please, dear and esteemed friends, gimme a little help. Forgive my cut-and-pasting from an earlier post, I'm far too lazy to retype this stuff...

The only problem with having another boy is that literally all of my favorite boy names have been used by friends of mine in the last 2-3 years. Seriously, who knew my friends had such good taste in boy names? I'm either going to have to bend my "k sound" rules or use a name one of my friends has already used (and risk losing one more friend from my already dwindling collection)...unless one of you geniuses is able to come up with a good one that meets my very exacting criteria:

1. Must have a postive meaning (and while things like "from the willow grove" and "running stream" might be quite lovely and lyrical, they don't count in my book)

2. Doesn't start with a K sound or with a B (not my style to use alliteration in names)

3. Doesn't end with a K sound (messes with the ears when said with our last name)

4. Not so popular that my kid will have to go by Tank K. throughout his school career (think lower than #50 on the Social Security baby name popularity lists for the last few years--but preferably not even common enough to appear on the list)

5. Not the name of one of my friends' children or one of my relatives (unless it's one of the few relatives who actually deserves to have my child as their namesake)

6. Has to be a real name spelled in a predictable fashion, not something made up--I am way past the age where making up a name for my baby is cute (FYI: in my opinion, that age is 18--and since I didn't even have my first kiss till I was 19, I missed that window of opportunity)

7. Not likely to be co-opted as a girls' name in the next few decades.

I realize that you kind of have to be psychic to work with 4, 5 and 7, but that's part of the fun. If you suggest a name that we actually use, you will receive a framed photo of the corresponding child along with a handwritten thank you note telling you how grateful he is to you for saving him from being named Hey You. Let the suggesting commence--and the first person to suggest Pilot Inspektor is going to get a mouth full of Chiclets. And by Chiclets I mean teeth.

And since I'm such a nice person, here are few names that I like but I can't use for reasons alluded to above:

Andrew/Drew
Blake
Cade
David
Dominic
Dylan
Eric
Ethan
Isaac
Jacob/Jake
Jack/Jackson
James
Joshua
Kael
Luke
Matthew
Nathaniel/Nate
Nicholas/Nick
Owen
Patrick
Riley
Sawyer
Spencer
Thomas
William
Zane

Seriously, I really need some help.