The name game

Well, as you've read, we've decided (of course at the last-minute in typical Bill/Steph style) to scrap the name we had chosen for a boy. No we still won't tell you what that name was, but we both felt it was becoming too popular and just wasn't the right fit if we were to have a son.

So we did it about a week ago, we dropped the name -- without a backup. So here we are: Steph is nine months pregnant, we're rushing around to finalize the house to welcome our child, Steph can barely sleep anymore she is so uncomfortable and we're both convinced she's going to go into labor any minute and have a boy, just because we don't have a name picked out.

We both want to have a name picked out. Sure we could "meet" the child after he or she is born and wait to decide on a name. But what's the fun in that? What would we say in our mass text message or e-mail chain?

So anyway, with Steph doing the work carrying the child and all, she tossed the ball into my court to help finalize the decision. We've been researching boys names like you wouldn't believe. Well actually, she doesn't believe I did any research at all, but I have definitely been thinking about it.

She tirelessly searches and reads names to me. I usually sit there and think about how children in school will make fun of the kid with a name like that. She rolls her eyes and continues.

This process eventually left us with a few names floating around. However, the real problem with ditching our boy's name, was that we both loved the nickname it yielded and we were having trouble letting it go. But that's exactly what we decided to do, just let go of it.

I came home from work last night and could sense her anxiety level rising in every capacity. It was time for me to be proactive with this name thing.

We sat down and I grabbed a couple of sheets of paper. I gave her a piece and asked her to write down four to five names that she really liked. I did the same. Then I tore another sheet of paper into three smaller pieces and asked her to write down her three favorite names from her list. I did the same from my list.

Now at this point I could sense that she was feeling quite calmed by this activity - almost as if I knew what I was doing. But in reality, I was making this up as we went along.

So I marked my three slips of paper with an "X" just to differentiate them from her three slips of paper as we placed them all in an over-sized glass candle holder that collects dust rather than housing a candle. So naturally, because I did something, she had to as well.

"I'll mark mine with the letter 'O'," she tells me.

"Oh, like, a big game of tic-tac-toe?"

"No, like hugs and kisses," she responds.

Whatever, men are from Mars, women are from Venus, you get the point.

So now we have this gigantic glass jar with different slips of paper in it and I'm still very unsure as to how this will pan out and lead to some solidarity.

"Now, how do we do this?" she asks.

I'm still confused, but I just tell her to pick one of mine and I'll choose one of hers. Now I realize that the only way this game will work is if we each wrote down at least one of the same names and then each drew the same name from the jar.

Steph unfolds one of my selections, I do the same with hers.

"Whatta ya got?"

"_________ _________"

"Me too."

Our son has a name.

We think.