Naming a Blessing

Naming a child is a very important job. This could possibly impact their life in so many ways. It is something they will carry with them always. As a child I remember naming my baby dolls lots of different names - usually of things I liked at the time. I don't want to do that as an adult, I want it to be a good name that I won't be "over" later. Also, I am not a fan of nicknames, going by middle names, or names that sound like baby names - they will grow up and still have to go by that. I know people with these kinds of names and that is fine - but it is not for me.

I didn't have a blog when we named Noah so I want to go over his name story first. About 12 years ago there was this little 2 year old boy who would come into the office with his dad. He just attached himself to me as soon as he would get there and sit on my lap and play games with me until he left. I remember his reply plain as day the first time I asked him what his name was - "I Noah". It was the cutest thing ever! I just loved that little boy! I told Nathan then, if we have a son someday I really want to name him Noah. Once there was no reason for Noah's dad to come to the office anymore, I didn't see Noah anymore. I have no idea what he is doing or if he even lives around here. But, he was the sweetest little thing and definitely made an impact on me! A few years later, a movie came out and I would swear it was about Nathan and I! There were so many parts similar to things that happened to us in our lives. It was called "The Notebook" - you may have heard of it :) Well, the main character in that movie is named Noah - so that sealed the deal - our first boy will be named Noah! Noah's middle name was not such an easy pick. We went through hundreds of names and Nathan hated them all. I really wanted to use my mom's maiden name as his middle name, which is Wyles. Nathan hated it! He said it just didn't go. Nathan would make awesome suggestions like "choo-choo train" or "apple tree" - he thinks he is so funny. So, literally a week before I went into labor I told him to read the baby name book and tell me some options of what he liked. He narrowed the ones he liked to Atley and Abbott and told me to just pick from those. I told him I liked Atley better, but I wanted to spell it Atlee due to my long time love for Jerry Lee Lewis. He said that was fine by him. So, it was set - if it was a boy it would be Noah Atlee. I loved it, but when I was telling other people it sounded so strange. I think it was just so new. So, for a few weeks after Noah was born it was weird to say his whole name. I love it though - it is very strong and different.

This time around our girl name was easy to decide on since we had it picked out from Noah's pregnancy. I love boy names for girls! I watched the first season of American Idol and there was a girl on there named Ryan Starr - I loved that name! I told Nathan then that if we had a girl I wanted to name her Ryan since that is his middle name. He actually quickly agreed with that. So, the first girl name had been set for a long time. I wanted a more girly middle name since the first name is a more traditional boy name. Our women family names were not good fits for our last name or they were too old fashioned. Then I saw something with Nathan's grandma Dotty's name on it - Dorothy M. So, I asked his mom what the M stood for and she told me Mae. I loved it! (Plus, Dotty was always very nice to me and my mom before she passed away - I loved her). We were not loving Ryan Mae - we wanted to add something to the Mae. So, I liked Maely and Maelynn and Nathan said he was fine with either. I told him I really wanted to to Maelynn because Lynn is my best friend Cassie's middle name and I would love to name it after her too. So, that one was set! Our girl is Ryan Maelynn. We have gotten some strange looks and responses to her name - but we love it!

We have not fully decided if we are done having kids yet or not. I was dead set on having three - but when you hear a doctor tell you that it is a miracle your child was not stillborn or brain damaged it changes you. I am not sure I am emotionally able to risk that again - even though there is no evidence that there would be any problems the next time around. There is also the cost aspect. Due to infertility issues we are denied any maternity coverage - making for a costly delivery - especially a c-section, which I will most likely have to have the next time. Also, this was hard on me emotionally with Noah. I cannot pick him up for 6 weeks! He is too young to understand why and it breaks my heart! That has by far been the hardest part of the recovery. I may change my mind, but I wanted to wait until Ryan is 3 before deciding for sure. We do already have Baby Stillwell #3's name picked out though :)