The Name Game

Wednesday, July 20th
Last night we made a master list of 8 names (I threw one more in there after I finished blogging).  As of today, July 20th, Bryan has begun to veto names.  Our daughter will NOT be named: Ava, which was a name on my list. Is it wrong that I want to win?  I have got to shake that feeling, but I'm sure that it's harder for the woman to let go than it would be for the man.  He got to pick out the finish on the nursery furniture, can't I pick the name?  I'm so selfish.  I'm just glad that I am not twenty right now because the names I would be fighting for would have been: Jules McKenzie or Ella Jade.  Both of those names make me cringe slightly at this point in my life.

Thursday, July 21st
Instead of making a new post every time we veto or discuss names, I have decided to just keep the name post private until we have gotten down to the nitty-gritty.  We have gotten the list of 8 down to 5.  I vetoed one of Bryan's names late last night.  I knew I was going to toss it out because this was not the first time he's mentioned it.  The latest name to meet the shredder:  Addison.
One, it breaks my two-syllable requirement.  Two, all I can think about is Addison Montgomery from Private Practice/Grey's Anatomy. Three, it just makes for a really long name when put with our last name, in my opinion.  There is still one more of Hub's names that I need to get around to tossing, but I'm having a hard time doing it.  I know it's his favorite but I just cannot see naming our daughter that so I don't think I can even consider it.  I have been trying.  Calling her by it and all of that, but I just can't get a feel for it.  I'm sure it won't survive the weekend.
What's redonky is that when I chucked Addison his first reaction was, "of course you got rid of one of my names." I then brought up the night before when he got rid of one of mine. It must be done.  Each of our names are going to get slowly slashed until only one remains.

Thursday, July 28th
I could just scream right now.  In fact, I just did.  I want this child to have a name already.  I'm tired of thinking about it!  Our list of four is just not cutting it.  Nothing is jumping out at me, but I also know that I have read that damn baby name book TWICE and the only names I like are already on the list that we can't seem to choose from.  What the hell is the problem here?  Not only that but I have been reconsidering one of the names that was tossed off the list last week.  Did we dump it too quickly?  Bryan said we could put it back on the list if I wanted.  Do I want to?  Kind of.  I like it.  Asking for other people's name ideas doesn't work.  I hate them all or Bryan hates them all.  No one can help us here!  No wonder my mom doesn't have a middle name.  My grandparents probably used up all of their name ideas by the time they got to her (she's #4 of 5).  I don't blame them.  This stuff is no joke. 
Maybe we'll be like that couple that's keeping their baby's gender a secret until it can decide for itself.  We can just not name her and when she's about four or five she can name herself.  If I was able to name myself at four or five my name would have been Jennifer or Brooke.  As of now the torture continues.

Friday, July 29th
This child needs to have a name.  I know she's not here yet and we actually have about three more months to officially decide, but I feel like I need to have her named.  After hanging out with RH this afternoon I discovered two new names that I liked.  Both have since been vetoed.  Now we are left with five names, I forced a vetoed name back onto the list because I can't get it out of my head.  On the way up to NOVA I told Bryan that we're coming up with a name for her.  He'll be trapped in the car... there's no where to hide... muahahahha!  At this point I suggested that we put the five names in order from 1st-5th hoping that we may match up.  I have made my top five list, he hasn't.  He said he needs time to think some more.  I think he's stuck because I kicked his favorite name off of the list.  I completely understand the name block.  I'm just glad that he cares enough to actually take the time to think about what he likes best.  Pretty awesome husband I have.

Saturday, July 30th and Sunday, July 31st
This weekend we visited a lot of family.  What's nice about our families is that different groups of them live near each other, which makes it easy to see many people on the same trip.  This time we were up at my aunt's house who lives 5 minutes from his aunt, uncle, and cousins.  What does this have to do with the baby's name?  Everyone wants to know what it is and we have nothing to tell them!  It's very frustrating.  We should have a name for her, but we don't.  Everyone asking us kind of prompted us to talk about narrowing down the list of six (that's right, we added more because we like torture).  The plan this time was for each of us to put the six names in order from 1st-6th and hope that our top names matched.  On the way home last night I told Bryan that even if he told me to just pick the name myself I wouldn't be able to do it.  I have been between 3-4 names for the past few weeks.  One week I'll think I've got the one that I love and then *poof* out of no where I like another one better.  So, Bryan gave me two choices:

• he can either narrow the list down from six to two
• he can put the list of six in order from 1st-6th

I asked him to narrow the list down from six to two so he did.  What's funny is that his top two are my top two!  Woo Hoo! His #1 was my #2 and vice versa.  I'll be happy with either name.  Now we have to decide which one it will be.

Sunday, July 31st
Houston, we have a name!  Praise the name Gods we have made a decision!  What's nice is if we have another girl after this one, we already have a name for her.  We're just going to use the one that we didn't pick for #1.  I am a little iffy on sharing the name before she is born for a few reasons.

• I don't want to hear any negative comments or see any negative looks about her name.  Out of all of the names on our list, this is the only one that couldn't be found on a top 20 list.  It's not common but we love it.  So let me unleash the teacher by saying, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all (and hide your facial expressions)"  It will grow on you and you'll love it too!
• What if we panic and change our mind?  I'm going to go ahead and put it out there not to monogram or put her name on anything just in case.  I have some deep, dark fear that she'll be born and not look like her name.  Either that or one of us will have second thoughts on it and want to change it.  Probably won't happen though.  I say that if having second thoughts on her name at some point between now and when her birth certificate is made is the only "pregnancy" fear that I have then I'm doing pretty good.

I'm pretty positive that Bryan never wants to name anything ever again after the hell we went through this weekend so her name is most likely here to stay.  Being in the car for 10+ hours gives you plenty of time to think about, talk about, and debate baby names.  I'm just glad that I didn't completely irritate him by wanting to make a decision.  If I did, he hides it really well.
Anyway, Bryan doesn't want to keep her name a secret so I will push my fears and potential irritations aside and share it with you all once we've shared it with our families.