A formal introduction

I don't know if I've mentioned it here, because I have pregnancy brain and can't remember anything, but Tim and I picked a boy name for this pregnancy just days after we found out we were expecting again. I mention it now because we haven't been keeping the name a secret from friends and family, and I think I have actually dropped the name in to a few posts (most of them currently in draft status) so I figured I'd just officially announce it so there is not confusion later :)

The middle name for a boy has always been easy for us: Robert is Tim's middle name, his dad's first name, his maternal grandfather's first name. We're big on classic names and family names, so Robert was a given. Tim didn't want a Timothy Robert Junior, so the first name is where we've always had issues.

If Elle had been a boy, her name would have been Alexander Robert. We joked that we liked regal names, names of leaders, like Queen Elizabeth and Alexander the Great. I liked the shortened name Alex, Tim was insistent that he would be called Xander.

But when I got pregnant again, we talked about names more seriously and weren't as sold on Alexander. Our other girl names were still strong contenders, but the boy name? We were kind of ho-hum about it.

So as we were keeping the pregnancy a secret from everyone during those first few weeks and still cautious because it was so early when we found out, we talked about names. I think one of the surveys with "Most Popular Baby Names of 2012" came out right around then, and I ended up surfing the web for baby names as I lay on the couch in early pregnancy exhaustion.

I read them to Tim, and he vetoed every one. (Keep in mind I didn't share the ones that I was opposed to or knew he would automatically veto.) I had pretty much given up on us coming across anything that we were interested in when I rattled off the last few on that particular web page. After I said "Wesley," Tim said, "Wait. I like that. Wesley. Wes. Wesley Robert. We could call him Dubs." (Our last name begins with a 'W,' too.)

Tim pointed out that there was a religious nod in the name, too, as he was raised in the Methodist faith and appreciates the Wesleyan connection. I thought about all of the people named Wesley or Wes that I knew and realized that I like them all. Tim started naming famous Wesleys (Wes Welker, Wesley Snipes, Wes Craven), and again, I wasn't opposed to my kid sharing a name with any of them.

Tim has been calling the baby "Wesley" since we first came across "THE name" - and long before we knew the gender - so Elle has called him Wesley, too. For several months, she was convinced she was having a little sister named Wesley, but she's come to terms with the fact that he's a baby brother now. She has a cute little chant for him, too, saying "Wes, Wes, Wes ... Wesley!" We bought a toy last week and I told her she was going to have to share it with her brother (it's really for younger kids, anyway, but she liked it and it was $7). Now whenever she plays with it, she refers to it as "Wesley's toy." I love that she knows that "Wesley is in Mommy's belly" and asks when Wesley is going to come out. I think it's going to help prepare her for his arrival and allows her to connect to him on some level during my pregnancy to know his name.

The more we've said the name, the more we like it. Tim is convinced that most of our family and friends hate it, but I maintain that it is our kid and their opinions ultimately don't matter. (Plus I don't think it's fair that he delivers the name news with "We're going to name him Wesley. No one likes it. What do you think?")

So in July, we'll be welcoming Wesley Robert to our family, and we couldn't be more excited.

A complete set

... of initials, that is.

Tim and I went to bed the night before our appointment and somehow started talking about Elizabeth's middle name. And we quickly arrived at a decision (and I think deep down, I knew that if the middle name wasn't Polamalu, there was was only one way it was going to go).

Without further ado, I announce our daughter's middle name: Irene.

It's my middle name, but I was named after my paternal grandmother, who is a pretty special woman in my life. We knew we wanted a name with family ties, and I kept coming back to Irene. (I also love the fact that our little lady will have nine vowels in her name.)

I love that the name is complete now, too, and there's no "Well, we haven't decided on a middle name yet ..." answer to give when people ask :)

Baby Girl's name

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had a very definite girl's name picked out for Baby Wolfrum, but the boy's name was less definite. We're still going back and forth on the baby's middle name, but the first name is ...

It's one we've always liked, always agreed on and love that as our baby gets older, there are several nickname possibilities (one Web site lists more than 150 deviations from the name!) that can come from this classic name.

From the interwebs: It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "God's promise; God is my oath." Biblical: the mother of John the Baptist. Popular name since the 16th-century reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Elizabeth was the tenth most popular name given to baby girls in the United States in 2007 and has been among the 25 most popular names given to girls in the United States for the past 100 years.

In that earlier blog post, I also mentioned that the girl's name for us had a story behind it. Again, we've always liked it, like that it doesn't have a dozen different spellings, like that it has several different nickname possibilities. (Our current favorites are Elle and Lizzie.)

But we've also liked names that have personal meaning to us. And this one does. I like that I'm named after one of my mom's good friends (although my mom changed the spelling from Kristen to Kristin.) My best friend, Meghan, had the middle name Elizabeth for approximately 26.5 years. When she got married, she dropped "Elizabeth" and made her maiden name her middle name. Trust me, folks, this was a serious topic of disagreement for us. I even brought my future children in to the debate, asking Meghan how I was supposed to explain to my future daughter that Aunt Meghan's middle name was good enough for my daughter but no longer good enough for Aunt Meghan. I tried to pull every guilt card I could think of, and still, she legally changed her name. I stubbornly still add it in when I'm feeling especially difficult, but to the rest of the world, she's no longer known as Meghan Elizabeth.

And Meg probably won't believe that I kept these e-mails, but seriously, we've been having this discussion for over a year and a half now. When I asked Meghan how I should explain to my daughter that the person she was named after no longer had the name she was named after, my presentation was along these lines:

"Oh, well, Aunt Meg used to be named Meghan Elizabeth, but it wasn't cool enough for her anymore. So basically you got a castoff name? I don't know, sweetie. Mommy has a headache and needs some of her special 'juice.' Go ask your father."

Or something like this:

Kristin: Come on, little Elizabeth, it's time to get up.
Elizabeth: Mommy, how come you named me Elizabeth?
K: Honey, it's after your Aunt Meghan. It was her middle name. Daddy and I loved it, and we wanted to give you a name with lots of possibilities so you could pick a nickname to match your personality. You can be Lizzie, Eliza, Beth, Ellie, Betsy, Liza, Liza ...
E: But how come she doesn't have Elizabeth in her name anymore? Doesn't she like it?
K: Well, apparently it wasn't good enough for her.
E: Then it's not good enough for me. I want my name to be Gertrude. Call me Gertie.
K breaks down in sobs.

Meghan's response to that exchange went as follows:

Elizabeth: Mommy says you got rid of your middle name, Elizabeth! Didn't you like it?
Auntie Meghan: Of course, I loved it! But it would have been too long to keep it with my old last name and my new last name, when I married Uncle Mike. Instead, Uncle Mike and I decided we would pass down the name.
Elizabeth: So you gave it to me as a present?
Auntie Meghan: Exactly! That and about a hundred cute little outfits I found at Target.
Elizabeth: Ok, I won't change my name to Gertie then.
Auntie Meghan: Your mommy will be very relieved.

So this isn't just some random name. It's a name that was chosen for several reasons, including one with very personal meaning (until Meg switched the plan, but we've gone over that).

Now we just have to decide on a middle name, and we'll be set. Currently, Baby's Girl's initials are EW. We need to change that.