Naming Baby. Difficulty: Asian

If someone told me a year ago that I'd have a hard time coming up with a name for the baby, I would have laughed.

Most of my stuff have names (the personification keeps me from losing them). I think I come up with good MAGNIFICENT names. Nay -  I've convinced myself that I have a PhD in naming shit.

Until the 5th month's ultrasound, we were absolutely sure baby was going to turn out female. And ever since my first doll, I've wanted a real live daughter. You know, a mini-me. Someone who'd repeat your life and not make that left turn, not skip that class, or actually finish piano lessons, etc etc. Projective identification anyone?

Week 31: Family trees and fiesta food

9:45pm was party time in belly city, and baby was thumping in time to this song:

"He knows he's going to be my drummer when he turns 5"- Father creature

Guess it really is hard not to attach expectations on future housemates. Except instead of future doctor, we're grooming this kid to become the next Jack White.

And then to our horror, he'll rebel and grow up to Work For The Man and Wear Suits and Picket Against Gay People.

Or he'll turn meta and be like Ninong Ben, who does wear suits but also writes music and cuddles cats. Hi Ben! We miss you.

The father liked this idea so much that he insists we should get the kid started on suits ASAP.

Kidding aside, we chatted about tracing our family trees. I mean, who else could this kid be related to right? It seemed important to know who he might end up taking after when the time comes. It's a "Looking-to-the-past-to-predict-the-future" kind of thing I guess.

The pregnancy so far

Baby likes to kick the right side of the belly. He stops when people are around and expect him to. One of my friends think it's performance anxiety. Hah. Filmmakers make shy baby. The irony.

I remember the first time we noticed him moving, we found the kicks cute, but a little hard to identify - kinda like shooting stars on a clear unpolluted-by-artificial-lights sky. Now they're like meteors on Armageddon - painful, frequent, and a sign of the end of days.

The doctor told me "Buntis na jud ka" ("You're definitely pregnant now") as if I wasn't to begin with. But I know what she means. I've had it relatively easy til now. Suddenly, my feet are ballooning, my bump is a basketball, and I feel like yoga can wait for a few more hours days. Cats gestate for less than 3 months. Maybe I am a cat, and I really HAVE only begun to be pregnant. As much as the first trimester felt like a bitch because of mood swings, why do I have a feeling these remaining months are going to be the longest in my life?

Lord of the whut nao?

Okay. First things first, the reason for this blog:

I’m bored and pregnant. I’m due in 10 weeks and stuck in the bukid staring at coconuts. The people concerned with the upbringing of this bun-in-the-oven are spread out across the beautiful globe. So to keep from repeating myself everytime each one of you asks how he’s doing, I’m going to write about him. And then we can talk specifics after.

Why the blog title? Well, I’m a pinay of the 21^st century. I cannot help but zone into punny pop culture references. 

Also, when coming up with a list of possible names for the little one, we asked paternal lola for help, who said it was hard to come up with one that would make the family name impressive, considering it derives from “linab-han”.