We spent this fall soaking up the cooler weather. Hallie and the neighbor kids all came out of their summer "hibernation" and ventured back out to the cul-d-sac to play again. The neighbor kids thought it was great fun to rake our leaves, and we sure didn't mind. Most of the time it turned into more of a "jump in the pile" game, but can you blame them?
In June, we found out that we would be adding another baby to our family. Grant had been begging for another baby since January, but I needed a little more time to get used to the idea. After a few months of thinking and praying about it I knew that, yes there was another little one waiting, and even jumping at the chance to join our family (this kid must be crazy). I am still a little overwhelmed by the idea of taking care of two kids, but I am grateful for the assurances that we have received that this little person is very much so supposed to be with our family at this time.
Within minutes of finding out, Grant began teaching Hallie to say "big sister", a title which she has really taken hold of in the last few weeks. This pregnancy has been very similar to Hallie's. I was sicker than sick from 6-14 weeks, and then just pretty miserable from 14-20 weeks. Because of the similarities to my pregnancy with Hallie I was kind of hopeful that we were having another girl (I had daydreams of two little girls who would be best friends. There's nothing in the world quite like "sister love"), but my gut instinct was that it was a boy. In October we had our ultrasound, and we are definitely having a very healthy baby BOY! I am working on wrapping my brain around this, and have realized that maybe a girl and a boy won't be so bad. Hallie has a pretty strong personality and now that we've really thought about it she probably would have a harder time adjusting to another "princess" in the house vs. a little brother.
Our only problem now is a name. When Grant and I were dating, he began telling me that he wanted a wiener dog that he could fatten up until it's stomach dragged on the ground, and a boy named Hank some day. Any one who knows Grant, knows that the best tactic for dealing with him is to assume that he is joking 99% of the time. So, I assumed he was joking. BUT, he kept bringing it up, and really I am not a dog person, and Hank is a terrible name, and things were starting to get pretty serious between us so I figured I needed to call him out on this one. My opportunity came at a Sunday dinner with his whole family. Grant bought up his future wiener dog and child named Hank, and I decided to clear this up once and for all. I told him, " seriously, I know you don't like dogs and Hank is a terrible name, so quit bringing it up! I know that you're joking!"
Well, then Sue who has a special gift for striking fear into her Daughter-in Laws' hearts looks at me with absolutely no expression and says, "Hank is a family name."
So, for the past 7 years, I had accepted that whenever we had a boy, he would be named Hank.
Then 3 months ago, when Grant overheard me telling someone that if we had a boy we would name him Henry and call him Hank, he felt it was time to come clean. Turns out Grant doesn't really like that name (Henry I love the name Hank- GJC). It only took him nearly 7 years to come clean! And in that 7 years I kind of grew attached to the name. So now we don't know what to do. Nothing other than Hank feels right. I feel like I'm being asked to change a 7 year old child's name. We have a few names that we're throwing around, but who knows. We just hope he has a name by the time we bring him home from the hospital. Name or no name, we can't wait for March 3rd when we get to meet this little guy!
