The Names

People have different reasons and methods for choosing names. Most couples I know make a joint list of choices and then narrow down to the one they can both live with. (Absolutely everyone I know who has a child at some point had the "I knew someone with THAT name and I just cannot have a kid named that" discussion...hahaha). Some people choose family names/tradition, others prefer a certain ethnic heritage or literary derivative, and some like celebrity names or monikers that represent historic role models. Any way you slice it, naming a child is one of those things you don't take lightly.

Before we got married Ben made it perfectly clear that when we had kids he wanted a son named Samuel. :) I lovingly agreed and thus the story goes.

So this time I was a little more than vocal about my "right" to name this child (when I thought it really was just ONE child). However, Ben is pretty picky (how he manages this while being the most laid back person ever, I'll never know...). Regardless, I did want to choose a name that he would support and like, and I didn't want the process to get heated or frustrating for either of us....since we both tend to be a tad on the opinionated side!

Ironically, one of the things we really didn't have to stress about with this pregnancy was baby names. Despite my fear that this would turn into an agonizing process, we had our names lined up before we even knew about the twins! Yes, that's right. Something actually EASY.

Ben's family has a history of bestowing very strong, meaningful names. In his case, Ben wanted to continue that great tradition with biblical names for either a boy or girl, specifically an Old Testament first name and New Testament middle name.

At the same time, my middle name, as well as the generations of first girls before me, is Ann. I knew I wanted to incorporate that somewhere if the child was a girl.

Many many months ago (at least it SEEMS like many) I told Ben I had narrowed down the list of boy first name options I was considering for this child (keep in mind all this is before we knew about the twins)! We had about a 5 minute conversation where I pitched my ideas and he said, YES! I really like those! Success! The girl names took a bit longer because we had a harder time finding an Old Testament name we liked that worked with Ann as a middle name...and that we both agreed on. Regardless, another 5 minutes or so....pretty sure we were just driving home from work one day....and we had our narrowed down list. About this same time we found out the crazy twin news.

And thus we had our top 4, not knowing whether they'd be boys, girls or one of each.

Drumroll please....we are happy to introduce:

Baby #1 (meaning whichever one comes out first!) - Tobyn Christopher (call him Toby)

Tobyn is Hebrew and means "pleasing to God" and Christopher is Greek and means "bearer of the anointed one." Christopher is also my dad's name!

Baby #2 (last one to be born!) - Benjamin Gabriel (call him Gabe).

Benjamin is obviously Ben's name! I really fought this one because I just didn't want a husband and kid with the same name. But when we recently got a family tree and realized that there are Benjamin's going back multiple generations on the Richardson side it just made sense, as long as we could pick a middle name I liked to actually call the child! Benjamin is Hebrew and means "son of my right hand," and Gabriel is Hebrew and means "champion of God."

Short version (sorry didn't give it to you first thing!) is that our new babies are officially going to be called Toby & Gabe. Yay! Sam has already been referring to them as his brothers by name and it is just the cutest. :)

I'll admit, I am in full fledged baby-happy mode right now! (May be an indirect....or direct....result of spending only 45 minutes with a sweet 4 month old baby of my friend Anne's this week. Mmmmm....that sweet new baby smell and slobbery smiles!!!!) Things are getting marked off the list, I've started to accumulate funds to purchase their furniture and room decor, and the rest of life's craziness and uncertainties are slowly but surely straightening out and becoming more clear. Things are very very good right now and the excitement keeps building.

Now onto the first major hurdle to tackle with Toby & Gabe....how in the world are we going to tell these identical boys apart? Ben's suggestion was a tattoo....um....how about NO. After doing some research, my vote for identifying which is which after birth was nail polish on Toby's big toe ("T" for toe and Toby)....then someone said we should do green nail polish on Gabe's big toe ("G" for green and Gabe)....ahhhh...too confusing! Is it T for toe or G for toe....or Gabe? Ha.

Maybe I should just dress them in the awesome Thing 1 and Thing 2 outfits generously gifted by my wonderful boss. No need for names at all! Thank you, Dr. Seuss.