Greight-Wayle

WEEK

27

Today is day 189 of the pregnancy. There are 91 days left. This is the transition between the second and the third trimesters. According to BabyCenter, the baby weighs in at approximately 2 pounds, stretching out to about 14.4 inches in length.

Have you ever noticed that some people pronounce the word "height" with a "-th" sound at the end? I don't notice it so much in Ottawa, but I remember hearing it in some of the other places I've lived. I think I can see why -- that's how you say length, width, breadth, girth, etc. For some strange reason, the "th" was dropped from the end of height, but not from the others. Perhaps people add the "th" as a sort of protest -- to try to get the "th" reinstated.

Anyways, I was reading ahead to next week and I learned that the average woman gains 11 pounds in the last trimester. The following passage from this week's BabyCenter may be a partial explanation:

This Week's Activity:
Prepare food to eat after your baby's born. If you cook, start doubling recipes and freezing half. You and your partner will be too exhausted to cook in the first weeks after you bring your baby home and you'll be thrilled to have healthy meals you can heat up fast. If you don't cook, go around your neighborhood and pick up all the takeout and delivery menus you can find. You'll be grateful for all the options at your fingertips.

In reality, half of that weight comes because the baby gains another 5.5 pounds, not because you've been touring all the take-out restaurants.

While I was poking around on BabyCenter, I also checked in on the Top Baby Name Trends of 2006. One thing that I found most interesting was the segment about innovative spelling. Apparently, people have come up with 45 different ways to spell the girl's name Mackenzie. That's pretty crazy. Mackenzie is #27 on the popularity list for 2006. Our naming dictionary goes out on a limb by attributing the popularity of this name as follows:

MACKENZIE: a surname meaning 'son of Kenneth' (Scottish Gaelic), used as a masculine or feminine first name. Perhaps because of the Mackenzie River, it has become a popular first name for girls in Canada.

There's plenty of other rivers in Canada. If their logic is correct, then does that mean that we're going to see a generation of girls named "Fraser, "SaintLaurent", ""NorthSaskatchewan" and "GreatWhale"?

Or would that be spelled "Greight-Wayle"?

Perhaps, in some places, they might pronounce that as "Greighth-Wayle".