There. It’s out there. This has been a stressful process. I started out thinking I’d do it differently this time. Just share whatever names popped into my head for instant and honest feedback from anyone who cared to comment. This time I wouldn’t hold back the REAL considerations. Everything on the table. And just like I remembered from last time, people are quick to spout off their opinions, good or bad. I’m not sure this method was any easier, but I will say that I got a LOT more suggestions this time. (Thank you, Suzanne Bean!) Really, the methods weren’t all that different. The only difference was that I threw Wren into the mix this time for feedback, whereas with Day, nobody heard me utter the name until it was a done deal.
I feel like our names are somehow already given to us. Parents just have to decipher, decode, filter down, until we figure out what it was supposed to be all along. The night Ken and I found out we were going to have another baby, I said, “Let’s name this baby Wren… boy or girl.” He said, “I like that. OK!” Neither one of us can remember if we had ever talked about that name or not before that night. Well, you know my nature is to discard any notion that it really can be that simple. So we set off on the path, treacherous at times, of coming up with THE name.
One thing that was different this time is that not only did we have to decide on one we both liked and felt like was right, we also had to consider it in relation to Day. Would either of them be jealous and like the other’s name better? (Probably, but we think they are equally as awesome.) Would one of them be able to ask, “Why did I get the weird/boring/etc name and SHE got the cool/pretty/etc name?” I guess it will be this way for a lot of other things. Having to consider two possibly very different perspectives, reactions, opinions, values of two probably very different people… and making fair decisions that affect them both.
When we went to find out the sex of this baby, there was a bird’s nest outside the window behind where we were sitting in the waiting room. Yep. It was a wren’s nest. And STILL… I continued to search while her name was being given to me (confused and blind sheep that I am sometimes).
Noelle came to me in a dream. And I take my dreams pretty seriously. Maybe He knew he could get to me more directly that way. I heard it loud and clear. When I woke up a memory flooded me of walking back from daycare one morning around Christmas last year. I was singing “Noel, Noel” and had an overwhelming feeling of… something. It was something significant. I didn’t try very hard to name it. I knew it was good. Turns out it was the name of my 2nd daughter, who at that time only existed in my very distant dreams.
An added bonus to the name Noelle is that Ken’s dad lost a brother named Noel in a car accident one New Year’s Eve. He was married to one of Ken’s mother’s sisters that was pregnant at the time and lost her baby in the wreck. She was the only one not killed out of the 5 (plus baby) people in the car. Ken’s dad actually lost 2 brothers in that accident. (Yes, brothers were married to sisters. It happens. Probably more frequently in the south.) But it seems fitting to honor someone that was well loved in your family.
So, here is how I want you to respond … Say you LOVE it. Say it is the exact name you would have chosen for your own child if we hadn’t thought of it first (not really). Say that it is the perfect fit for our family. Thank you! We agree.
PS - 25 weeks tomorrow!! The size of a rutabaga!
