But Call Me Betsy

On the subway this morning, I was sitting by two 20+something hipster guys talking about their babies and babies-to-be. One said, "Dude, Mara like totally had the baby all natural. She was in labor for like 49 hours and then had the baby in our bathtub. It was radical. I put it on YouTube." Other guy,"No way! She is hardcore. I don't know if Jules will be able to handle that. She's all, 'Give me the epidural right now...'" Laughter, jangling of chain wallets. Can you still be in the scene and a dad? How does that work? Do you bring your baby to the Death Cab concerts in an organic, hemp baby sling? Get the baby a tattoo for its first birthday? Pierce its belly button? If you're interested, here is an article on what not to name your baby if you are a hipster. Liz, are you paying attention?

Talked to Jess yesterday, who is not quite sure if she's having a baby in September or early January. I thought too that she was about three months pregnant, but it turns out that she and Scott will be having a child in the fall (if not sooner). We have not come up with a name yet for a boy or a girl though I'm still partial to "Emma Carol" for a girl. Ethan for a boy? Or would that be too weird, like he owned a furniture store or was part of an Edith Wharton novel? Speaking of which, Jess also told me yesterday that her ex-boyfriend, who earned his MFA from Iowa and has been written up in Oprah more than once, just had his first book optioned for a movie and is hard at work on another novel. This made me realize that I need to write a book that will be made into a movie where I will need to make a cameo appearance to kiss Colin Firth--just like, in the background, it doesn't necessarily have to tie into the plot. Combine this news with the fact that I've bee...

I have two friends who are currently gestating and both will need to name their offspring at some point. Jess and Kali are both expecting in the fall or the winter, around a few months from now. I don't think either one of them wants to know the gender of the baby before he/she/it is born, so we have to come up with stellar names for both boys and girls. I always want the baby to be a girl. Always. But then Julie had Owen and I realized that I always want the baby to be a girl unless the baby is Owen. I have used up all of my favorite names on cats, Emma, Gretel, Henri, Ernesto, and Fido. But there are still a few names that I would consider. I suppose we could start with the most obvious popular girl names: Lyndsey, Paris, Nicole, Ashley, Mary Kate and Kiera. Or, we could go with the most obvious popular girl names from the 80s-90s: Molly, Winona, Courtney, Ally, and Kate. For boys from the 80s: Rob (Jess can't use this because it's her dad and her brother's name), Jud...