I drafted my official letter of intent today and sent it off to my union prez for him to look over. So much to get arranged!

First letter is a brief "this is what's happening and how I understand maternity leave works." Prez said I'll probably be called into a meeting due to the nature of my needs (two trips to Russia). Then later I have to ask for a series of days off for the first trip.

I find myself also not as motivated for school this year. Could be a combination of kids... but I'm not enjoying it as much. I'd much rather fill out Power of Attorney slips and buy baby things.

I get butterfly stabs when I do something that leads to the reality of a baby. When I sat down to draft the letter, for example, I thought - goodness! Now the board will know! Then next it's the PARENTS. I mean, you can't back out of things once all those people know. Not that I'd want to, of course.

I find myself thinking about names for this child more and more, too. The male name we both like best no one else in the WORLD will like. It's a historical name, let's put it that way. A celebrated Russian sniper. Hee, hee. So maybe it will go as a middle name.

We do hope on the one hand our child comes with a usable "translatable" name. On the other, we have a list of about 7 or so that we like. Don't let Doug convince you, it's not just me talking about this!