welcome to the world baby shower

Such a cute idea for a baby shower.

via: youaremyfave

photos: Diana of Yan Photography

britt 8 months & boys

No, haha we still don't know the sex {despite the title}. It is still a surprise and we will know the answer in one short month! I just wanted to mention a great blog post by Cup of Jo about having a boy. She wrote a really honest post on how when she found out she was pregnant she secretly wanted a girl {for all the usual reasons, dressing them, doing girly things together etc.} Then when she had a boy how overwhelmed she was with love for her son Toby and how much he has opened up her eyes to all things boy. I loved this post so much because it is something no one talks about and it seems like every woman that is pregnant wants a girl. With Brittany already having a boy and knowing everyone is thinking you are going to be disappointed if you have another boy it was the perfect expression of what it is really like when you actually have your sweet baby, boy or girl. Brittany being so sick this time also brought out the fact that having a healthy baby is not so easy sometimes. I also know several woman who are struggling with infertility and let me tell you they remind me that getting pregnant and having a baby of any sex will be the happiest day of their life! There is another factor in wanting a certain sex I don't think a lot of woman consider. Just because you have a girl doesn't mean she is going to be just like you and like what you like or be a girly girl. I know this because I have raised 2 daughters. The differences that your children have are where you learn all kinds of interesting things that you would have never known if they were just like you. So go read Joanna's entire blog post here. You will love it!

birth matters

I was just reading an interesting interview in Babble with the author of Birth Matters on "why America has such a weird birth culture." Ina May Gaskin is renown as "the mother of authentic midwifery" and her practice is noted for it's low rates of intervention, morbidity and mortality. In her book she explains why birth matters not just to women and babies but society as a whole. One statistic that had me completely aghast was that a woman giving birth today has a greater chance of dying then her mother did! This and the fact that the cesarean section rate is between 30 and 40% is crazy. The other fact that is so weird is that almost everyone is induced now. I had to be induced with my oldest daughter and it was so much more painful then the natural birth I had with my son. The other thing I don't get is why everyone is induced when they are just a week late. It wasn't that way when I had my children and the babies were fine. My middle daughter was 3 weeks late and the sky didn't fall down! It now seems like women getting to their due date is so extremely stressful and they demand to have their babies immediately. Most doctors are of no help either as they facilitate these practices for their own reasons. I don't know when things changed so much but the direction we are heading is not healthy for babies or moms and the statistics prove this out. This is an important and insightful book that all women who are pregnant or plan to have a child anytime in the future should read.

baby name map

Interesting baby name map from google. You can check out the most popular boy and girl names from different states or countries. I knew some of the names that were popular but I had no idea until I looked at this, how popular they were!
via:ohdeedoh via:swiss-miss

nameberry

Have you seen the baby naming site nameberry? Design Mom mentioned that it was her favorite site for pursuing names. It has a lot of unique posts like New York baby names, Spring baby names, English River names and Lemony Snicket names. Just about anything you could ever think of is there. I went to check it out and was addicted!