Welcome to Mommy Mondays, the one day of the week when it's all babies, all the time. I try to stick to only Mondays for parent stuff. Sometimes I cheat. But mostly I don't. Hasn't anyone ever told you consistency is key?
When pregnant, the second question, right after "Are you going to find out the gender?" is always, "Do you have a name yet?"
Well, yes, yes we do. The Gorilla and I have had both girl and boy baby names picked out since before we conceived either. Our boy baby name came to us when we were in Hawaii on the trip where he proposed, and our little girl's name came to us while lying in bed lazily one morning playing the name game.
As soon as it was out in the air, it was just her name. It's not my absolute favorite-ist name of all time, although I do love it and get butterflies when I say it out loud, and it isn't a name I had given much thought to before it appeared. It's just her name. Our baby girl's name. I would hear other really cute names and think, "Well that's a great name. But that's not our baby's name."
I almost feel as if she named herself. Or as if my whole life story has already been written and I'm just discovering it as I go. Well of course that's the name of our daughter, it's always been right on the tip of my tongue.
Baby boy's name hasn't been quite as natural. We have the name that we're going to call him - the one that struck us both while sitting on a Hawaiian patio - but we're still tinkering around with first/middle variations. We're having to ruminate on this one a little more than we had to with our daughter.
As a rule, we don't share potential baby names with anyone while I'm pregnant. Not even our immediate family. Maybe especially not our immediate family. We've had some family baby name drama on both sides that makes us wary about getting anything monogrammed just yet.
There is all kinds of risk in spilling your baby name too early. It can get poached by another expectant momma. Or, if it's a family name, it can cause uproar for any number of reasons.
I just don't want to hear anyone's feedback. Seems when you tell someone a potential baby name, everyone has an opinion. "Oh, I work with a girl with that name. She is AWFUL." Or, "Huh. That's an interesting choice." Or they just wrinkle their nose. But if you just hold up the child and say Here Is My Baby ____, then everyone keeps their trap shut. Smiles politely and nods.
I have received baby name suggestions from everyone, including the sales lady at Nordstroms. She suggested Adrianna. She did not know me or my tastes in any way, but she had a dreamy look in her eye at the thought of a little Adrianna. I hope one day she gets to name her little girl something that makes her sigh with happiness.
Boy names are proving harder. We want something original and meaningful and for some reason this is a heavier task with a boy. Our daughter's name doesn't mean anything, we just liked it. But for our son, I'm assigning a level of permanence that I didn't the first time.
Whatever we decide, I better be comfortable cooing it, yelling it, and writing it. It's a tall order.
