How To Pick A Baby's Name, Let Alone TWO!!!

Now that we have had a few days to absorb the fact that instead of leaving the hospital in November (my actual due date was November 1, 1994) with one baby, I would be discharged riding in a wheelchair with two little bundles of joy to take home.

I pictured our GRAND EXIT, me holding in each arm, a bundle smelling of fresh baby powder and something squirming in a newly knitted blue blankie. Aww...me grinning from ear to ear, Barry bringing the car around and opening the back door of our blue Bonneville that has two carseats in the back, locked in place and ready to be loaded with our new family. Barry taking Baby A and.....wait a minute....Baby A?? No, no....the babies need a name. End of dream!!!

So, the name game started!!! Lists were started!! Talking to myself and answering back on if the name sounded good. Did it rhyme with another word that kids would use to tease them? How would it look typed on letterhead or a business card? Would the name fit that little being?

Driving home one night, Barry and I were discussing names. He said, "What you think of Sawyer?" Hhmm...."Sawyer." Kinda liked it!!! "What about Baby B?" I said. "Well, since we don't know for sure if it is a boy or girl, we'll have to think of each." Shelby for a girl, maybe?" Barry said. Kinda like that, too!!! I thought.

Looking through baby name books that I checked out from the library, came upon the name Sterling. Hhmm...Sawyer and Sterling!!! WOW!! Now that sounds so CEO like.

A few weeks had passed and it was time for us to go back to ND for a visit and to announce to all that TWO would be joining the family in November. We boarded the plane and looked for our seats. It so happened that once at our assigned seats, me being in Seat A by the window and Barry in Seat C by the isle, that a little boy sat in Seat B. He was gazing out the window at all the other planes and seeing luggage being boarded into the belly of the plane. I asked him if he would like to sit by the window and he immediately unbuckled and jumped into the window seat. He was beaming!!! Barry and I got ourselves all settled in and I started a conversation with the little fellow. First, asking what his name was? "Sterling, like sterling silver." HUH?!! Really now!!! Isn't that interesting!!! I thought. Here not but a few days ago, were discussing naming Baby B Sterling!!! Barry and I both looked at each other. Was it a sign? Or was it what Baby B would have to say everytime he said his name, Sterling, like sterling silver. Hhmmmmm........need to really think about that name now.

Needless to say, Sterling was crossed off the list and Spencer took its place. Don't really know how Spencer came about but just know that it was a name that started with the letter "S".

Now onto the middle name!! This was the easy part. My dad is Robert and Barry's dad is Robert. End of story!! How easy was that??!!! Don't ask us which one is named after which grandpa. It is also Ethan's middle name.

We arrived in ND greeted by friends and family. My mom had planned a "get together" for both sides of the family. Everyone gathered for laughs, food and good times. After we had eaten supper, Barry and I asked that everyone join us in my parents living room. Everyone piled in...some on the couches, some on the floor, some on the cushion of the front bay window. Barry announced or repeated that we indeed were having a baby. But not just one baby, but TWO!!! The room exploded with cheers and tears!!! There were plenty of hugs and congrats!! It was a good day!!!

The picture below was taken the night that the word TWIN would be forever part of our families vocabulary!!! Pictured are my grandparents (my dad's step-dad and mom) and Barry and I. Grandma Verna died shortly after the twins were born. That is when it really hits hard that being so far away from family really bites!! I had to say "Goodbye" to my grandma over the phone. I wasn't able to make it to her funeral and it still bothers me to this day. Grandpa Irvin died a couple years ago. He was able to see the boys grow up and give them rides on the four wheeler every summer when we visited him on the farm that he was born and raised on.