66.66 % of Names and Genders!

For the first official "Dad" authored post I have the pleasure of announcing 2 of our expected children's names and genders.

We were back in Boston for an appointment on Wednesday 2/4, which put us at 17 weeks and 1 day. Erin and I had spent the previous evening discussing possible names. We have struggled a great deal on this subject, but had managed to come up with 2 boy names and 1 girl name. The evening of the 2/3 we managed to come up with a second girl name, since we both felt it important to have at least 2 of each ready... For whatever reason we had already decided we were not having all girls or all boys, we simply needed our doctor to confirm this for us...

The appointment went well and everyone (Mom included) are progressing as they should. And now for the moment you've all been waiting for... the verdicts are:

Baby A is a GIRL!! At least the doctor says there's an 85% chance she's a girl... hopefully she's not the troublemaker of the bunch already starting with the practical jokes...

Baby B is a BOY!! This one he seemed more sure about, and after reviewing the ultrasound pictures we can understand why... (wink wink)

Baby C is sitting cross-legged and feeling shy, so is still anybody's guess. It seems that Baby C is just full of surprises as this same child felt the need to remain completely hidden until week 12 and continues to keep the suspense building...

So on to the names. Like I said, we struggled over these, but finally came to some decisions we're both happy with.

Our young daughter to be is to be named Magdalena Ruby. Magdalena was Erin's paternal grandmother's middle name and Ruby was my father's biological mother's name. We plan on calling her Maggie except in those (hopefully rare) instances which cause us to call her by her full name.

Our young son to be is to be named Charles Thomas. Charles is Erin's father's middle name, and was his father's first name. Thomas is my father's name. We plan on calling him Charlie (Chuck and Chas are not to be responded to). Again, parental law dictates the use of the full name when the young man is not behaving like a true Himmel gentleman.

So there you have it. Magdalena Ruby Himmel and Charles Thomas Himmel - Maggie and Charlie. Baby C's forthcoming name will be disclosed once he or she takes the time to uncross his or her legs. Bets are now being taken, but the house gets 10%.

-Chris