Bright Flower

Hi, we're having another baby!

The first trimester is nearing an end, most of the extended family have been told and it's time to make a general announcement.

Do any of you pregnant parents have womb names? When we first found out about Jackson, we didn't really think of him as a tiny person until we saw his first ultrasound. Then after seeing him swim around with his eleven week paddles we just had to name him. But what? I've heard various terms of endearment for the little one-incher, such as Li'l Bean and Prawn. I think we waited until we knew the sex, then we named him in the tradition of John's in our family. Ian means John in Scottish (so if you're over there and have to use the bathroom, just ask for the Ian). There are actually over forty different ways to say John: Ivan, Ewan, Johan, Sean, Juan and...Juancho. Juancho rhymes with honcho and sounded manly to me. Juancho!!! Juancho-ho-ho!!! It stuck after playfully saying it with gusto a few times. Funny, though, that as soon as Jackson Timothy was born, we promptly forgot his womb name. He was no longer in the womb. Jackson after Ian and Ian's dad John and meaning "God is gracious." Timothy after Clarice's dad Timothy and meaning "to honor or fear God."

So now we have another one-incher. This time were hoping for a girl. It might not be a she but if it is we will naturally name her after the moms. Clarice's name means bright, illustrius and Ian's mom's name is Ivy while Clarice's mom's name is Pansy. Bright Flower. Which makes us Christian hippies, according to Clarice's brother. Bright Flower reflects the meanings of illuminating the fragrance of Jesus Christ (can you make a smell visible?), which is our wish for her.

If we have a boy we're not sure what we'll call him, but perhaps his womb name will be Strong Cedar.