So this should keep you all guessing as to what the names we kept were.  The requirements Nathan and I had were very different.  I wanted a name that was different.  I don't want our children to be one of 3 or 5 or more in their class with the same name and be forced to take a nickname to be different, like being called Frazier.  And the name has to have a good meaning, personally or traditionally.  Personally I mean like paying tribute to someone close to us, like Lauren's middle names Maxine and Beryl our paternal mothers' names (I think that's right, our grandmothers on our fathers side).  Traditionally like Lauren meaning "the bay or laurel plant" and she really has lived up to that name.  Laurels are some fast growing plants and she is a fast growing girl!  I wanted her to be strong and resilient with deep roots and high aspirations.  So my requirement was that the name couldn't have been in the top 20 (really I would have liked the top 50) in the last 5 years. 

Nathan is much more a traditional kind of guy when it comes to names.  And also his perception of unique is much different than mine when it comes to names.  Growing up in Australia he didn't meet another Nathan until he was older, where as Nathan here was a pretty popular name.  He also grew up in an area with a large Jewish population so there were a lot of typical Jewish names, (even more Jewish than his own Nathan David) which are not very common to me at all, but he was quite used to.  So when he went to school there weren't a lot of kids with the names James, Rachel, Jessica, David, Jennifer, Ryan, Robert, etc compared to those I went to High School…well you all know how many there were you may be one of them, I was at least only one of 3 in my graduating class, instead of one out of 10 but it was still annoying.  So Nathan's requirement, it can't be TOO Unique, something in the top 50 would be nice.

So I didn't keep a list of the names Nathan suggested, but James, Rachel, Jessica, David, Jennifer, Ryan, and Robert, were among them.  I think Kelly, and Allison were also in there.  The names I suggested were: Aspen, Edison, Forrest, Cedar, Bracken, Isle, Marine, Lakelann (Lochlan), Oceanna, Marcail, Dailey, Gael, Mallory, Kagan, Murel, Cress, Baradine, Ashby, Heath, Dundas, Hamilton, Merrit, Tuart, Elsie, Hazel, Fletcher, Porter, Werner.  All vetoed by Nathan.  Too strange, too hard to spell, too hard to pronounce, didn't want to name a child after a paddle (I really liked Werner, and their paddles are nice too), too easy to make nicknames up for (like Cooper, or Tucker) and most of them are well outside the top 50 names, some of them outside the top 100 names, and some aren't on the list at all.

We did settle on names, one girl, one boy with at least one middle name as well.  What are they?  Not saying…but they are between the top 20 and top 50 most popular names according to the SSA for the last 5 years.  So there ya go, if you are looking for a project, you can go through the names from the last five years and see what we picked, but we won't tell you if you are right or wrong until after July is born!

Ingredients
2 small English Cucumbers (about 3/4 lbs)
1 2/3 cups plain Greek Yogurt
4 cloves garlic, crushed
3 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill (or 2 Tablespoons Dried)
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

Directions
Cut cucumber in half lengthwise.  Scoop out any seeds and discard.  Leaving skin on coarsely grate the cucumber into a small colander (or use the food processor and transfer to a colander).  Sprinkle with salt and leave over large bowl for at least 15 minutes to drain off any bitter juices.

Meanwhile, place yogurt, crushed garlic, dill and lemon juice in a bowl.  Stir until well combined.

Rinse cucumber under cold water.  Taking small handfuls, squeeze out any excess moisture.  I put the handfuls into a paper towel after squeezing to try and get as much moisture out as possible.  Combine the grated cucumber with the yogurt mixture, then season to taste with salt and ground black pepper.

Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 2 cups.

note:  Can also be made using mint in place of the dill.

Such a big girl now.  In a big girl bed, picks out her own clothes, brings us diapers when she needs changing (yup potty training is coming soon), tells us when she is ready for bed, and even goes to sleep (and sleeps through the night) on her own.  We are so lucky.

Lauren saw Dr Beth today and our thoughts were just enforced more, she is always impressed at how advanced she is for her age, size, verbal skills, and her gross and fine motor skills, she is now about the size of an average 27 month old.  No wonder we are in the 2T clothes already.  We'll see if she starts leveling off on that curve, if not the few 3T outfits will come in very handy sooner rather than later.

Official measurements.
Head – 48.25 cm – 90th percentile
Height – 34" – 97th percentile (I thought she was going to be a little taller)
Weight – 26.2lbs – 80th percentile

We got the go ahead to start potty training if Lauren was interested, but she also told us that she would probably regress a little when July baby comes.  We also talked to her about not staying at the hospital any longer than we absolutely have to and she was ok with that.  With being Group B Strep positive she would like to see at least two rounds if not three of antibiotics before baby is born (with Lauren I had one, there wasn't time for any others), but she said that even if we don't she knows we would absolutely bring baby in if we thought he was getting sick.  We are just supposed to remind her when time gets close so she can talk to the other docs in her group in case she isn't around on the day baby is born.  Everything was good good good.  Even though we didn't have an appointment in the book.  When I scheduled Lauren's first H1N1 vaccine shot I also scheduled her 18-month check up and her 2nd shot to coincide…well apparently the appointment was never entered on their system, but they got us right in, really Dr Beth and her nurse Karen are the best.