Name Reveal!!

A few weeks ago, while we were on vacation, we finally decided on a name for our baby girl.  I’ve been slacking, and haven’t posted an announcement for it on my blog!  We had been struggling to decide between Addison Rose and Brooklyn Denise.  See this this post to read reasons why we liked each name.

After much deliberation, we both decided that we liked one name better than the other.  We said the name out loud many times. I signed all 3 of our names to see which I liked signing along with our for Christmas cards, etc. We evaluated the overall feel of the names. So now the big reveal of what our daughter will be named…..…drum roll please……….

Brooklyn Denise!

We are so excited to have a name for her!  It’s much better to be able to call her something when she’s kicking like crazy, when Brandon says goodnight to her, and just in general when everyone talks about her.  I can now start planning her nursery also because I want to put her name or initials up somewhere in the nursery also.  However, we’re still in the process of buying a house…so it’s still difficult to plan out the nursery not knowing what the walls will be like.  But I can come up with a general plan now.

We are so excited and will continue posting as the weeks get closer.  As of today, we have hit double digits – only 99 days left until we meet our little girl, and we are only 2 weeks away from sailing in to the third trimester!  Time is flying by.  Now it’s time to start picking out a pediatrician, signing up for prenatal classes, setting up the nursery, and getting work ready for my maternity leave.  I cannot wait!

Book Review: City of Heavenly Fire

City of Heavenly Fire
by  Cassandra Clare
Date Read:  6/8/14
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

One thing I will give to Cassandra Clare is that she wraps up each of her series with a tight little bow.  I feel that was a pretty good ending to this series.  Now, do I still believe it should have ended with 3 books?  Sure.  Books 4 and 5 were definitely not my favorite.  But she did bring it all back in the final installment.

This book was incredibly long at 725 pages - granted, there was a 45 page epilogue.  But for most of the book I was entertained. I didn't find myself bored at any points, having to push my way through it.  However, one thing I didn't like, was that were about 18 different points of view.  She was able to allow the reader to know more about what was going on in the world, but I would have rather not known everything that was happening and had more "Ah ha!" moments.

The specific thing that has made me rate this book 4 stars instead of 5 is the betrayal.  In the summary on the dust jacket it stated that the biggest betrayal the Nephilim have ever seen, happens in this book and forces the gang to head to the demon world.  I think I know what this was - but it didn't feel like a big betrayal for a coupe of reasons - 1) As the reader, I knew about it much earlier than the characters. I don't think she should have had that scene towards the beginning of the book. I would have much rather discovered it when the characters discovered it.  2) It was more a betrayal to the world, rather than just the Nephilim.  And... <spoiler> if anyone was going to betray the Accords, it would have definitely been the Faerie people and the Seelie Queen.  She was terrible, only had her own agenda, and didn't like the Nephilim.  It was definitely not a shock that they would betray everyone. </spoiler>

I hated the weird obsession that Sebastian had with Clary.  What is it with Clare and incest?  Once is enough!  I would have believed more if he just wanted Clary near him, to support him, and be like a real family.  Rather than want her to kiss him and love him more romantically.  It was just weird and I didn't like it.  But if you removed that, I liked Sebastian's story, and I liked how it ended.

Not nearly as many people died in this book as I was expecting.  Most of our characters get a happy ending.  I loved all the references to Tessa, Will and Jem.  One of my favorite parts was when Clary talked with Tessa.  It was so neat - and I'm so glad she added it. 

Simon always has the most interesting things happen to him.  I absolutely loved him ending. He's such a stand up guy, and a true hero in the meaning.  I'm glad Clare gave us that epilogue so we knew how it ended for Simon.  Everything was bittersweet and I loved it.  I heard that Clare announced a super secret project she was writing about Simon. Now I know why. And I expect it will probably happen between the events of this book and the next series.

A lot of new characters were introduced in this book.  We already had a TON of characters. We had 5 core characters. Then like another 5 characters that you really care about. And then a bunch of other people who come in and out. And she added so may more! I know she was setting up the characters for her new series, which will happen a few years after the events of the Mortal Instruments. But for Emma to have a POV in this book? That threw. I think I would have rather them just be side characters in this book, rather than focused on.  But the only loose end she didn't tie up perfectly, was what I assume is setting up the plot of the next series.

While I have absolutely loved The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices, I think Clare is going to beat her world to death.  I guess she thinks she has something successful, and why mess with success?  But she's not the best writer, and eventually people are going to get bored with it.  I would rather like to if she is able to write anything else successfully.  Its not like she's not already a millionaire anyway.  And now she has her two main series, a Magnus series, a sequel series, and I believe another series is planned.   UGH. 

If you have read and loved the Mortal Instruments, you should definitely finish the series with reading this book (especially if you've read books 4 and 5..bleh). I was a nice tidy ending to a good series. I really do love the world that Clare has created.

Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-man 2

We are super behind on movies that are in the theater thanks to how much time finding a new house is taking.  But this weekend, we were able to get out and see The Amazing Spider-man 2 finally!

I thought this movie was pretty good.  I was really worried that there were going to be 3 villains in it – the last time the Spider-man franchise took that on, the movie was terrible (think Toby Maguire’s Spider-man 3). So I was pretty apprehensive at their decision to do this.  But they actually handled it pretty well.  There was really one main bad guy, the development into a bad guy, and then the third one just kind of popped in.  The third one could have been cut completely in my opinion, but I suppose it served a purpose at the very end, which I’m not sure they could have achieved without it.  But perhaps they could have started out the third movie with that scene instead?  By the time you hit the third bad guy, the movie feels long.  That’s the problem with having multiple villains.  You have to set up a plot, and then you have a conclusion of beating that guy…but JUST KIDDING, the hero has to defeat someone else now. And when you add a third, people get tired of it – and no matter how long the movie really is, it makes it feel long and dragged out.

I had been expecting Mary Jane to make an appearance the entire time.  I had seen her billed on the cast on IMDB.  However, the movie ended and I never saw her.  So I had to do a little research and found out that they cut her from the script due to the “already sizable cast and variety of themes” (refer to this website for a lot more info on this movie http://screenrant.com/watch-amazing-spider-man-2-post-credits-scene/).  This actually made a lot of sense to me, because honestly, if they had thrown ANOTHER new character in to the mix, I would have gotten very overwhelmed.  I think it was a good decision to cut her for now.  I expect her to make her appearance in the next movie.

What I liked about this movie was that it really focused on Spiderman and Peter Parker.  A lot of time was spent on his relationship with Gwen.  It also focused on his relationship with Harry – who we didn’t even know existed until this movie.  They did a pretty good job of explaining where Harry has been and setting up that they had been really good friends before Harry was shipped off to boarding school.  Okay – a big contention for me was the actor they chose to play Harry Osborn, Dane DeHaan!  He was a totally girly, emo version of Harry.  Seriously??  It was weird.  The guy was actually a pretty good actor, and once his personality started changing, he actually made a believable bad guy.  I thought his story was pretty good. I liked that it was different than the Toby Maguire version.  In that version, Harry thinks that Spiderman let his dad die – but you as the audience know that Spiderman didn’t murder him – it was an accident and his dad had tried to kill him.  I liked what happened in this version better.   It was more emotionally and morally difficult – you could see both sides and you really watched Harry’s transformation.

Gwen. What can I say about Gwen’s story.  I don’t want to say too much and spoil the ending, but I’m sure there are plenty of people who predicted the ending – especially with the focus at the beginning of the movie.  I really like Gwen’s character and I love Emma Stone. I like that she’s smart and not willing to be bossed around by Peter.  I really liked watching what developed emotionally for she and Peter in this movie.  I’ll have to stop here so that I don’t ruin the ending – but while I expected it, I was very upset that they did it – but it might make the third movie easier on everyone.

I’m not a comic book reader, so I wasn’t sure who Electro was going to be going in to this movie.  I had no idea how Jaime Foxx would do as this villain.  I thought it was actually a unique bad guy. I like watching people who are really not bad people inside turn evil.  Although you have to dispend belief for some of these comic book heroes and villains, it was still entertaining.  I have never seen Jaime Foxx in a role like that before, so I enjoyed it.

Has anyone been to Universal Studios in Florida and ridden the Spiderman 3D ride there?  I was just there in October of last year and LOVED that ride.  This movie actually reminded me a lot of the ride. The action scenes really just immersed you and every time you turned around, there was another bad guy.  I think whenever they are ready, Universal will be able to update that ride to coincide with this movie.  It was great.

Last note: there is a scene about midway through the credits.  But be warned: it is not Spiderman related!  It’s a scene advertising X-men. You might think I’m crazy or that they showed us the wrong credits…but nope. They had an X-men scene at the end of Spiderman. Very strange. To me, it wasn’t worth staying for…and once you see it, you can leave; there are no other scenes.  Again, I had to do some research.  Apparently, the Spiderman related credit scene was cut.  If you go to this website, it explains what the deleted scene was and has some commentary and speculation about why it was deleted: http://screenrant.com/watch-amazing-spider-man-2-post-credits-scene/ .  I feel like they should have just left the scene in. Even if what was being hinted at might be a few movies away, at least it was Spiderman related. To add a scene that is not even related to the Spiderman universe was way worse. I would have even preferred to just NOT have a credit scene!  That was just silly.  Or if they really are not planning that character for a few more movies, why not film a different scene to hint at what is planned for the next installment of Spiderman?  What is everyone else’s views on this?

In conclusion, I enjoyed this very much.  They did a really good job with the relationships, action, and pace.  My only complaint is that perhaps they should have left the third bad guy out of this film and moved that part to the beginning of the next film – and not had an X-men scene in the credits of a Spiderman movie!  Otherwise it’s a great movie that I highly recommend!

Movie Reivew: Divergent

We have been spending so much time looking at new houses lately that we have been neglecting our duty to see movies in the theater! Now that it is summer time, the big blockbusters are starting to release. 

Last weekend we saw Divergent. I completely forgot to write a review for it. This movie has been out for a while and is on it’s way out of theaters. If you haven’t seen it yet, you might have to wait for it to come to Blu-Ray now. I’m sorry!

Divergent was a very good movie. I thought they did the book justice.  Before going in to this movie, I did not think Shailene Woodley would make a good Tris. I didn’t picture her like that at all, and I’m not a fan of the actress.  But she actually pulled it off fairly well.  I loved Theo James as Four.  He was perfect for the part and I think he played him really well.

I thought they did an amazing job setting up the relationship between Tris and Four. It didn’t feel forced. It felt like that spent enough time around each other getting to know each other, that when they finally realized they liked each other, it wasn’t forced.  This is usually lacking in book movies. Heck, lately, it even seems lacking in the books themselves.  I think they did a great job on it.

However, with that said, I feel like some of the other relationships were glossed over.  For instance, you didn’t really see Tris’s relationship with Christina form.  They talked a little and then were friends.  Several of the other initiates were introduced, but their relationships being transfers weren’t really explored.  A big thing that I think should have had more emphasis was the fact that Christina started dating Will.  This is a huge plot point that plays a big part in tensions in the next installment. If you paid really close attention, you would have guessed they were dating, but there was not much emphasis on it. Nor was the fact that Tris was actually friends with Will, which is important at the end of the story.  I also thought the scenes with Al went by a little fast – so I felt like since I read the book, I knew what had happened, but I felt like someone who hadn’t read the book might not get the effect that should have happened.

The action scenes were great in the movie.  Even the scenery was really good.  Veronica Roth must have done a very good job describing her world, because seeing it on screen was almost exactly what I pictured.

Though I will admit: it was hard to watch this movie knowing how the series ends.  While I will still go see subsequent movies, I will go see them when they are cheap, because I absolutely hated the ending to the series that comes with Allegiant.  However, Divergent was still a very good book, especially for a middle book.  I will just choose to give a different ending to Allegiant.  One that Veronica Roth should have given it, instead of the crappy ending she choose.

But reviewing this movie, it is definitely worth seeing, even if you haven’t read the books. And it just might inspire you to read them (just give it a different ending!)

20 weeks pregnant after miscarriage!

 

We hit a milestone this weekend.  On Friday, we officially hit the halfway point for this pregnancy.  Of course it is a bittersweet moment.  We are very excited that we are halfway to meeting our baby girl.  But all of these milestones also remind me of what we were robbed of in our last pregnancy.

Making it to 20 weeks is a huge milestone.  The halfway point.  I can’t believe it’s been this long already. We’ve had so much going on that the time has just flown by.  I’ve noticed that I’m not even checking my calendar for when our next doctor appointment is.  Those 4 weeks fly by before I even know it.  But she reminds me she’s there when I feel the flutters and movement in my belly.  It’s not super often (though some days are more active than others), but enough that I know she’s okay and still there.

But making it this far reminds me of being robbed of feeling our baby boy kick and move and seeing his face on an ultrasound.  We lost him way too early.

But we are very excited to welcome our baby girl to the world, and we know that she will have a wonderful big brother watching her from Heaven.  And though that is a comfort, it is still hard to think about what we lost with him.  But this baby is bringing us so much joy.  I can’t wait until we decide on a name for her, so we can start calling her by it, instead of Baby Girl Ray.

I’ve finally started to actually put some weight on. It’s been weird to see my body changing, but not seeing it on the scale.  Although, I feel weird wishing I’d see results on the scale, because I know once I do, it won’t stop until we’ve had her!  Ahh! 

I had to run to the doctor on Friday to get something checked out because a new pregnancy symptom hit and I had to make sure nothing was wrong with the baby.  All is fine and I haven’t experienced that symptom since.  But it was nice to get in to see the doctor as peace of mind.  It also let me go over some travel information with him, and he decided to do an OB check also.  So I was able to hear our little girl’s heartbeat which is still beating strong.  Phew.  But after what we’ve experienced, we don’t want to take anything lightly and assume everything is fine – and my doctor was glad that I came in to get checked – even though it was late on a Friday afternoon.  So we felt much better going in to the weekend.  And we kept our next appointment, so we get to hear baby’s heartbeat after our vacation also!

I wrote this post in order to celebrate what we’re experiencing and looking forward to.  But also to remember our Angel Baby in Heaven with whom we lost so much.  We love both of our babies and know our baby boy will continue looking out for his little sister as each day of the pregnancy progresses and throughout her life.

Book Review: Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth About Pregnancy and Childbirth

Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth About Pregnancy and Childbirth
by  Jenny McCarthy
Date Read:  5/2/14
Rating: ★

Well this book wasn’t very funny to me.  It also wasn’t very helpful either.  This entire book is basically just a biography about her own pregnancy, not pregnancy in general.  So if you’re hoping to read this to really find out what to expect, pick up something different that at least shows all the differences.  Every pregnancy is different, but this entire book only focuses on her symptoms, etc.

Things that I hated about this book:

1)      It only focused on her pregnancy.  I’ve never been pregnant before so I would like to know what I should be expecting as the weeks go on.  However, I’m halfway through now and have not experienced half the things she did, and I certainly didn’t react the way she did.  If she’s going to title her book “The naked truth about pregnancy”, then it should run the gambit of what you can expect.  Otherwise, it should be “The naked truth about MY pregnancy”.

2)      The language she used.  She swears a lot.  Using swear words is NOT necessary to get your point across.  I just found that it was tacky and actually jarred me out of whatever annoying story she was telling.  It made me really not care about whatever she was trying to explain to me.  Maybe you talk like that (however I don’t even think you need to swear when you talk), but definitely not in a published book.

3)      Her relationship with her husband.  My husband and I have a caring relationship.  We actually care about each other.  And though we like to tease each other, we do it in an innocent way.  We would never tease each other in a hurtful way.  Though, I do know several couples whose relationships are built that way, and it works for them.  But not for us.  So her stories about how her husband would egg her on when she was in a bad mood, or stopped the car when she had to pee, is not something I would ever experience.  Sure, my husband might tease me about the amount of times I changed my mind on what sounded good for dinner…but he would never make me sit down and eat it just because he thought it’d be funny.  And I would never, ever throw something at my husband (without it being a pillow in a teasing manner).  I would never throw TV remotes at him in a fit of rage.  Just because you’re pregnant and have more emotional fluxes, it doesn’t give you the right to be a raging lunatic.  You still have morals free will.  You can choose to give in to it or not.

4)      Her constant mention of her “celebrity” status.  I could care less.  90% of the world does not deal with those problems.  So why is that included in a pregnancy book?  It was a brag book for her.  I don’t care that she had to watch her weight or hide her pregnancy because she was famous.  How in the heck does that relate to pregnancy?  And then the story about how she was able to get a table at a specific restaurant because she was famous just annoyed me to no end.  That does not help any woman who is not pregnant.  UGH.

5)      The book told you a little about what happened during labor and delivery.  But it’d didn’t go in to detail.  And it certainly didn’t tell you anything about what to expect AFTER delivery. How does a pregnancy book not describe what to expect after delivery?

The only thing I liked about this book was that it was short.  And that I was given this book by a friend and I didn’t spend my own money on it.  I do not plan to read any more of Jenny McCarthy’s books and I certainly do not recommend it to any first time moms.  Perhaps the people who enjoy this are ones who are on their third or fourth kid and just need something to pass the time.  So her story is more entertaining.  But we moms who have never been through this and wanted to be prepared, this book does not help one bit.

Picking a Name for Baby

Wow.  Who knew that picking a name for a baby would  be so hard?  I never realized how much thought has to go in to choosing a name. The baby will live with this name for the rest of their lives.  Here is my breakdown of things to consider when naming your baby, and at the very end, you will see what we've narrowed our Baby girl's name down to - and feel free to cast a vote in the comments section - but please keep it positive regarding the names we've chosen. I do not want to see negative comments regarding the names we've chosen.

1. What sounds cute now may not sound cute or authoritative when they're 30 years old.  For instance, we knew someone named Wendy when I was younger, which was a cute little girls name.  But when she's 30 and trying to be a manager, "Wendy" doesn't have much clout.  It doesn't demand any respect.  It's a little too frilly.
2. You have to think about all possible nicknames.  Kids can be cruel in school - and there are probably some nicknames you just don't like (i.e. my mom hated Jenny, so Jennifer is now my middle name instead of my first). 
3. You have to think of what their initials would spell.  Before my mom was married, her initials were S-A-G.  On her P.E. uniform in high school, they had their initials printed on the backs of their shirts, and everyone would call her SAG.  Now in defense of this argument, not many places use initials anymore - especially using your middle initial as well.  But if there is any reason to think that, why worry about it?  Some people like to put the baby's initials up in the nursery - I guess you'll notice if it spells something then.
4. You have to determine if your last name or first names you pick out create any other sort of silly reference.  I dated a guy in high school who's last name was Pan.  He wanted to name his kid Peter.  Can you see where I'm going with this - and how cruel kids can be? 
5. Rhyming.  Do not give your kid a rhyming name!  We loved Addison Mae, but it rhymed with our last name Ray.  I had a friend tell me that she will get married some day, but I couldn't get the thought of her walking across the stage at her high school graduation being called "Addison Mae Ray".  As it is, my initials all rhyme with my last name now (K J Ray), but at least what people call me doesn't rhyme!

Can you see how hard it is to pick a name?!  After weeding through THOUSANDS of names, and some careful consideration of the above list, we've narrowed our baby's name down to 2:

Brooklyn Denise Ray
Addison Rose Ray

We always enjoyed Brooklyn as a name. Not huge on Brooke as a nickname, but it's growing on me. And she doesn't HAVE to have a nickname - I never did.  Denise is a family name on my husband's side.  But looking over our list, we really liked Addison, and loved Addie as a nickname.  We needed a short middle name with Addison, and we settled on Rose (since Mae wouldn't work because it's rhyming).

Anyways, those are the names we are stuck on, and we are struggling to decide between the two.  Our nephews weighed in also, and one voted for Brooklyn, the other voted for Addison. No help there! Haha.  Feel free to leave a comment with which name you vote for.  But please do not leave comments degrading these names. I'm not asking for your opinion about the names. I would rather not have your opinion if it is negative, because these are the names we like and it is for OUR child.  So please keep it positive.  Thanks!