My Babies!

I have a bunch of nicknames for Wyatt: "My Little Poozie," "My Little Poohzie-Wooziekins," just plain "Poohzie," "Wy-Wy," and "Wyzy- kins." Reese only has two nicknames from me (so far). Right now I call her my "Reesie Cup," (she's her Daddy's "Reesie Piecey") and "Bubbles" because when she was in the hospital and hooked up to C-PAP and on the vent she used to have little bubbles come out of her mouth.

Wyatt's nicknames all mainly stemmed from the pictures below. After I saw him in this gown and hat I couldn't help myself. Tonight we put Reese in the same one (although she has on her little pink Pooh socks with it). Here are some comparison shots of my babies at the same age in the same outfit.

Here's Wyatt!

Here's Reese!

Wyatt

Reese

Wyatt and Reese! When he saw her he said "Sissy. Pooh!" He likes giving her kisses. This picture would indicate that she's not a fan. But he does give some slobbery kisses!

Kids' Names

I've been asked how Brian and I came up with the kids' names....how we decided, etc. Here's a little background on why we named them what we named them. To be honest, it has nothing to do with the meanings behind the names!

Wyatt Allan

Wyatt's name was hard! Boy names to me were a lot less fun than girl names. Brian and I had a list of names that we liked. We always knew that Allan was going to be the middle name. Allan is Brian's Dad's name and Brian's middle name. For first names, Wyatt could have been a Braeden or Hayden, and we'd pretty much settled on Braeden. One day we were riding in the car and Brian said "You know, I really like what Kurt Russell named his son." I was confused. I only knew one of Kurt Russell's sons' names and that was Boston. I thought Brian had lost his mind. So I told him that he'd lost his mind if he thought I was naming my son Boston. And he said "No, his other son is named Wyatt." Besides being confused as to why my husband knew this and I, the queen of gossip magazines did not, I wasn't sure how I felt about the name. I couldn't picture myself calling my son "Wyatt" on the playground. Braeden, yes. Wyatt, no. Then we went away for the weekend about a month before Wyatt was born and something changed. I suddenly really liked Wyatt. While we were sitting in a Friendly's in Williamsburg waiting for my dessert (no wonder I gained 60 pounds), I told Brian that the baby's name would be Wyatt Allan. He was skeptical because he wanted me to like the name as much as he did. And I did. I really liked it! So that's how Wyatt got his name. And I wouldn't have it any other way. This kid is NOT a Braeden!

Reese Lynn

Reese was the girl name that we decided on before we knew that Wyatt was a boy. Actually, Reese was a girl name that we decided on before we got married. I just really liked the name (yes, Reese Witherspoon is where I first heard the name, but not what inspired me to choose it. I like her, but not enough to name my kid after her specifically). Surprisingly, Brian really like it too. As soon as we got around to talking about baby names (which we didn't do much of because we were waiting to find out what the baby was), we knew that if it was a girl her name was Reese. Well, it wasn't a girl. When we found our we were having a girl this time, we knew we really liked the name Reese. But knowing that we were having a girl opened me up to exploring other girl names. We both also really liked the name Ryan for a girl and may have used it, but some friends had a girl in May and named her Ryan. I had a dream that her name was Addison, but Brian vetoed it. It reminds him of Grey's Anatomy and he thinks Kate Walsh makes funny faces and for whatever reason, that eliminated Addison. We also liked Avery and Taylor (and Brian pushed for Willow), but finally realized we didn't like any of the names more than we liked Reese. Then came the middle name issue. I felt like the name Reese needed a longer middle name. Brian really wanted to use my middle name (Lynn), but I didn't think it was long enough. Then we thought about Noelle. We both love Noelle's name and thought Reese Noelle sounded great....but there was the naming our baby after our dog issue. We don't think it's that weird. We love our dog. She's been Brian's best friend for almost 15 years. And we don't think Reese would have ever felt weird about it because she would know more than anybody that while we got her name from our dog, we love our dog and she means a lot to us. So I was on board for both and left the final decision to Brian. He couldn't make the decision either! Finally, the night before Reese was born we decided on Lynn, and that's how she ended up Reese Lynn.

And that's how our kids got their names!

First Name - Check! Everything Else?

So Baby Girl has a first name (but she's still Baby Girl to you)! It's the name that we were planning on using for Wyatt if he was a girl and while we were looking for other names, we've decided that we like that name the best! Now, we just have to find her a middle name (which I am leaving in Brian's completely capable hands).

So now we need -

• A middle name
• Stuff moved out of Wyatt's future bedroom
• The painter to come and paint two rooms and the hallway
• Move Wyatt into his new room
• Get the Baby Girl set up in Wyatt's old room.

I've been filling out my pregnancy journal and I've gotten to the part where it asks the question about classes (and I mean like 2 pages about classes). I'm stalled. I feel bad, but we went through all of it a year and a half ago. And, who needs Prepared Childbirth when you had a C Section? Or took the class a year and a half ago? Who needs a breastfeeding class when they succesfully breastfed for nine months (until they got pregnant with number 2...and the kid lost interest)? I don't need to go to an infant care class...my kid is only 15 months, I remember how to take care of him! And a hospital tour? I'll be spending like 4 days there, why spend more?

I guess the point is....I feel bad for Baby Girl. I mean, when she looks at my pregnancy journal she'll see that I didn't take any classes to prep for her. And then she'll think that I wasn't excited to have her or something. I'm not going out on a limb here, I think like that, so won't she? I'm already worried that with her being Number 2 we're not going to take as many pictures or won't get as excited (I don't think that's the case, I'm just worried that we won't have time to take pictures or something). Anyway, those are just current stresses, I'm sure that they're just typical jitters...right?

Baby Names...

So a question I'm constantly asked, like 85 times a day, is "Does Baby have a name yet?" And due to being pushed a little too far today I thought I'd share my thoughts....

With Wyatt, it really was agonizing to have to hear this question constantly. Brian and I instituted a policy where we really just don't discuss names until we know what the baby's sex is. We then think about names, discuss them and then don't share the name with anyone until after the baby is born.

This helps us several ways:
1. We don't have to deal with people who don't like the name. If you don't like the name we choose, right on. But in all honesty, I don't care to hear that you hate it. It just irritates me. I don't tell you I hate your kids name!
2. I don't have to deal with name stealers. My Mom was going to name my brother Brandon. She didn't. You know why? Three days before Marc was born her good friend named her son Brandon. And now it's Marc's middle name. And my Mom's not really friends with that lady anymore (but not because she stole the name).
3. I also don't have to deal with the nose scrunch. It's not an outright "I hate that name," but it is a "Why would you choose to name your kid that?" I'm pretty confident that if we'd told people that we were going to name Wyatt "Wyatt" I would have gotten some nose scrunches. But by the time they saw my precious little baby, they couldn't picture him as anything but a Wyatt.

Wyatt didn't have a name until I was about 37 weeks pregnant. I had pretty much decided on another name and was waiting for Brian to come around. We debated between Braeden (how sickeningly sweet would it be to have Brian, Brittney and Braeden?) and Wyatt for weeks and then one weekend (we were on a "babymoon") it just occurred to me that I really liked Wyatt. I told Brian I had decided that was his name and he was on board because that was the name he chose. We knew it was meant to be when we picked Noelle up from Brian's parents house and Wyatt Earp was on TV. But we kept it a secret for 4 more weeks.

We also found that since the baby's sex isn't a surprise anymore, at the very least the name can be! It was so cool to be able to introduce Wyatt to our family when he was born and tell them his name then too.

So, when people ask what Baby Girl's name is the truthful answer is no, she doesn't. Brian and I are not at a point where we currently agree on any names for her. Okay, well maybe one or two, but not our top names. But we'll let you know...once she's born.