Month 4

"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches."

~Bible

"Kristi, Kristin, Kristine, Kristinette…" Natara recited as she curled up on the couch in front of the warm fireplace, reading the 4000 Baby Names book her Mom had given her for Christmas. She only bothered looking in the girls' names section, though.

A few feet away from her, Mal rested on the loveseat. "Nat, don't you think you should also be picking out boy names, too?" he suggested.

"Shush, Mal. I'm inspired!" Natara sighed as she flipped through the word-packed pages. "Oh, look at this. It says here that Malachi means 'angel, messenger of God.' See? I am looking up boy names!"

Mal knew that trick. "No, you're not! I told you what my name meant a few days ago, on Christmas. You're still on the girls' section!"

Natara threw back her head and laughed. "Ok, you caught me."

"Exactly." Mal felt accomplished at that moment. He watched as Natara gently flipped through more pages.

"Oh, Mal…I really like the name Michelle for a girl. Don't you just love that name?" she sighed hopelessly and leaned back in the soft leather couch. "You know, I'm really starting to enjoy this pregnancy…it's so exciting!"

Mal smiled and sat up. "You know what name I like more than Michelle?"

Nat put down her book for a minute. "What? I mean, Michelle is a beautiful name. It'll be super hard to top that."

"Natara."

"What is it?" Nat flipped through the book a bit more.

"No, I love the name Natara. Too bad it's already taken," Mal playfully teased.

Nat shook her head and frowned. "Um, no. I hate my name," she sighed.

Mal stood up and walked over to where Nat was sitting. "You're such a bad liar." He gently kissed her neck, and then picked up the remote and switched to MommyTV.

Natara groaned. "Mal, what is it with your obsession with MommyTV? It's getting so annoying! I must have watched every program on there twice! Do you have any idea how irritating those fake, annoying moms on that channel are? It really gets to me!"

"Of course I do, Nat," Mal tried not to smile. "That's what makes it so amusing."