What's in a name?

 Our names are labels, plainly printed on the bottled essence of our past behavior.

  ~Logan Pearsall Smith

Justin and I have long played around with names we would like for our future children. I went off on a tangent Saturday after realizing that the time had come to REALLY name another human being in less than 9 months.

My sister likes to add her favorite names to the mix whenever anyone mentions baby names. She likes names like Kenlie, Paisley, etc. I tell her all the time that I don't really like the newer names that people have made up in the past ten years. I like an old-fashioned name, steeped in tradition. I also remind her what it would be like in twenty or thirty years if my child would decide to run for public office and had a funky spelled name like Paislie (no offense if that's your name, by the way). Like the quote above implies, our names are like the titles stamped on the spines of books--sometimes that's the first impression a person gets.

Here is the list I came up with. There are some right off the bat that Justin hated! I have a feeling I might win him over on some. I also know that we will probably change our minds a thousand times between now and December.

Girl	Adelaide
Girl	Anna Claire
Either	Blake
Either	Cameron
Girl	Caroline Anne
Either	Carson
Boy	Chandler
Girl	Charlotte
Boy	Chase
Boy	Clay
Girl	Elise
Boy	Garrett
Either	Harper
Boy	Jackson  Riley
Boy	Jesse
Girl	Katherine Elizabeth
Boy	Kent
Boy	Raylen
Either	Riley
Either	Ryan
Boy	Sawyer
Boy	Walker
Boy	Warner
Boy	Will
Boy	Winn
Boy	Wyatt Scottie
Boy	Wynn

BFP!

This Thursday, after having not felt quite "right" for over a week, I took a little test. Sitting there and thinking to myself, "Ohmygodisthatonelineortwo?" I  looked down. TWO LINES! Two lines is a BFP---a BIG FAT POSITIVE!!!

Justin was on duty at the fire department and I knew I couldn't keep this news to myself for a whole 24 more hours. I threw my sunglasses on, feigning illness and flying out the front door. I stopped by the store and picked up two more tests just to be sure you can't get a false positive. I've not known for it to happen, but hey--this is a big deal!

I stopped by the house to take the other tests and this time I was sure....I was TWICE as sure!

I hopped on Highway 41 North to go tell Justin the good news. I honestly don't think I went over 50 one time the whole way. I was terrified of getting into a wreck with my precious cargo in tow.

I got to the fire department and it took every ounce of willpower I had not to break down into tears or to yell out my newly discovered condition in front of Justin's crew. I grabbed Justin and stepped into the bay. I started bawling and blurted out, "I'm pregnant!" I think if Justin wouldn't have been standing in front of the Coke machine, I might have had to catch him.

We have eighteen+ years of crying, stressing, and sleepless nights ahead of us, but we are thrilled. It's gonna be a wild ride!