How Jenna Found Out Ali Was Expecting

I was dead asleep. It was 5:00 a.m. and my alarm was not going to go off until 6:00. I woke with a start, was I having a bad dream? No. Why was I awake? Not only awake but WIDE awake. I felt incredibly anxious about something. Work? No work was fine. Errands? No I was pretty caught up. Hmmm, why in the world had I woken up and felt like something was about to happen?

My phone rings, the phone displays Ali. My first thought is worry (as it usually is). This must be the reason, I woke up for a reason and Ali was calling to tell me what that reason was. Hello!? Ali - "I am pregnant!" GREAT NEWS!

It must have been a sister connection. Her excitement had traveled across the distance between us and affected me. Crazy Boulder hippie nonsense? Probably. Maybe it was just gas....
-Jenna

First Baby Bump Photo!

Bump photo one! The baby is still about the size of a plum, but Ali's uterus is pushing out and making space.

Taken Sunday, May 8th -- Mother's Day.

Top Ten Baby Names of 2010

First observation. Top girl name Isabella, which I can assume the nickname would be Bella. The top boy name is Jacob....or Jake. Does this ring any bells with people? TWILIGHT! I am wondering why the name Edward has not made a come back as well. Isn't it interesting how popular names go in phases and how popular liturature and cinema influence baby names?

Girls
1. Isabella
2. Sophia
3. Emma
4. Olivia
5. Ava
6. Emily
7. Abigail
8. Madison
9. Chloe
10. Mia

Boys
1. Jacob
2. Ethan
3. Michael
4. Jayden
5. William
6. Alexander
7. Noah
8. Daniel
9. Aiden
10. Anthony

Time posted an article that isn't so sold on the idea that baby names are affected my movies and books. They say that Isabella has been on moving up the list since the 1990s. They do, however, agree that the boy name Cullen most certainly is from the Twilight series (Although it is number 485 on the popularity list).

This is Jenna posting (as this is a bi-authored blog) and I know Ali and Rob have been kicking around some names. I will not reveal any ideas until they are ready to share but they really aren't considering any of the names below. They are going for unique! Stay tuned :)

-Jenna

Pregnancy Questions

"Are you excited?" - Rob and I are ecstatic!!  We couldn’t be happier about having a little bundle of joy on the way.  Rob is especially adorable about making sure we are slowly prepping ourselves for the baby.  For example, getting baby souvenirs when we were in Disneyland so that Baby Swier knows he/she was in Disneyland with us! I am hoping he will have a faint memory of hearing the "It’s a Small World" song over, over and over again.

"What is pregnancy like?" -   This is the question that I heard the most when I was first telling people.  My answer, it’s like a hangover, you are tired and you are nauseous, only you didn’t have the party the night before.  I am in my second trimester now and I have heard that the tired and nauseous feelings will start to go away…still waiting.  Some days I do feel like it is getting better.  Today for example, I did not feel like taking a nap after lunch, which is good because I had a roomful of 2^nd graders who needed my attention.  Is a siesta too much to ask for?

"Is it a boy or a girl?" -  We don’t know yet, but we will find out.  I hardly have the patience to wait 5 months, much less wait the whole pregnancy to find out our baby’s gender.  We have about 6 more weeks until we can find this out, so go ahead and guess away.  We have heard so many different theories about how you can tell.  Since I haven’t gotten sick that much some think I am having a boy. On that note, most of my crazy pregnant dreams have been about baby girls, but who knows!  Rob and I have been calling the baby “he,” and just to even it out, Mom Knowles has been calling the baby “she.” 

~Ali