Jessica was kind enough to have me guest post for her last week (Visit from a Friend), so this week I am returning the favor. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.If you don't know Jessica there is no time like the present. She is the mother of an autistic teenager, gave birth to triplets and lost one and then had a son that is nearly Lucas' age. Her blog, Four Plus an Angel is beautiful, heartbreaking and inspirational. I'm honored to call her my friend and her writing, her story never ceases to move me.
And so, without further adieu, here she is sharing how she and her husband came up with their son's name.
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Since I have my fingers and toes crossed that Tonya will need to pick a baby name some day very soon I thought it would be a perfect subject for my guest post…
My husband and I do not have an easy time agreeing on baby names. Before I got pregnant I had pictured us lovingly laying at opposite ends of the couch, reading off baby names to each other as he rubbed my swollen feet, dreaming of our future child.
He likes classic, typical, ten-million-kids-have-that-name names and I like different, cute, the-only-kid-in-the-class-with-that-name names. By our fifth child the name discussions just about sent me into preterm labor.
I had all kinds of rules in my head. The name could not begin with the same letter as any of our other children. It had to have the same style and feel as the others and it could not, when put with our last name, sound several consonants off from any celebrity. He had one rule. His son or daughter could not be named after any of his previous students. My husband has been a principal for years.
We were screwed.
I used my strategy that has worked well in the past called “hold out until things get intense and then he will give in” and it worked beautifully.
There I was lying on the operating room table with my child’s future in my hands and I picked my dream name.
“Sawyer” he would be.
But here, and only here (because my husband has no idea another blog in the world exists outside my own) I will say, I might have been wrong. I LOVE my son’s name and think it fits him perfectly but there is a chance “basic Joe” may have been the way to go.
See, I don’t really enjoy unsolicited comments, especially when they are about my children and most definitely, when they stop me in my tracks while trying to grocery shop with kids climbing on my head.
For some reason saying “Sawyer” in public has drawn out more comments than pretending I can sing country music and naming him Apple.
I now know that there was a character on Lost named Sawyer. The majority of Sawyer’s devoted fans have stopped me to let me know. Also, apparently there are lots of girls/dogs/streets/last names/ex-boyfriend’s goldfish named Sawyer. And, believe it or not, Sawyer can be mispronounced as SAW-YER (think the tool + “you” with a strong southern accent).
How did this happen? I thought I picked a fool-proof name. I believe I have come to understand that there is no such thing.
Either way, I am sticking to my opinion that I love my little guy’s name and would not change my mind even if he hadn’t already been wearing it in the world for almost two years now.
I will, however, be picking his teachers by class list. I am determined to enroll him with Apple, Sunday and Blue so that his name does not provoke a single comment about the plane that crashed and left him stranded on an island for six straight years of a wildly popular television show that was watched by everyone except for his parents.
I urge you to follow Jessica on Twitter and Facebook and look for her posts, If My Kids Could Blog, because it's hilarious, Sick Day, in which she puts this whole motherhood thing into perspective and her weekly feature, The Hot Seat.
