A photo journal comprised of my thoughts on motherhood and other life happenings, as well as some of professional work as a photographer. Southern California is home.
You may remember a short while ago when Willy and I were struggling with naming this growing boy in my belly. You can read my initial post here. In any event, we’ve decided on a name since then and have yet to waiver. Let me start with the story behind it…
Willy and I had been throwing names back and forth. There were a few that we would always come back to but none of them really resonated or stuck for whatever reason. We were in Hooper’s room playing and listening to music before he went to bed. “Warm Love” (one of my favorite songs) by Van Morrison was playing and I said, “What about Van?”. And well, it stuck. We both love it. So there you have it. His name will be Van. And he will be here next month. Ay-yi-yi.
As a side note, I’ve been looking for an old-school letter “V” similar to the “H” I have in Hooper’s room. In the midst of my hunt I came across these awesome prints by artist Paul Thurlby. I’m not so crazy about the “V” for vicious print, but some of the others became instant favorites. His numbers, illustrations, and typography are also out of this world cool. Here’s some of my favorites:
We had a girl name agreed upon. Truth be told, we even referred to my belly by this time from time to time as a sort of trial. You know, to see how it sounds when you actually use it in a sentence or refer to it as an actual being. And we loved it. We had a nickname ready as well that we equally loved, and that’s rare. There are a billion names I like, but when I look at the second name that goes with them… well, they take themselves off my “maybe” list. I love Charlie, for example, but could never live with Chuck. We’re so stuck on a boy’s name.
Hooper’s name was decided long before he was conceived. Before we were even got married, I had made the suggestion. It’s a family name and one I did not want to lose. Even if Hooper were a girl, we toyed with keeping the name anyway.
And I just can’t come up with something comparable. It seems unfair to give a name with such meaning and character to our first and not be able to give the same to our second. I can practically hear the clock ticking on this pregnancy and with each passing week I grow a little more fearful of the fact we have yet to settle on a name.
I was destined to be a mom. I have a list of potential baby names stored away in an old journal to prove my commitment to one day mothering a child. I look at those names now and think, what the heck was I thinking? On the girls’ list, juxtaposed next to the boys’ list, there are double the amount of options and several that I’m still fond of. So… we’ve become hard core players in the baby name game. Stay tuned… this little bee will have to be named at some point and I promise it will not be Bob, Jim, or Ted…
