Wyatt Matthew Burns

So we've named the baby....

I've loved the name Wyatt since before I was ever pregnant. I used to manage a restaurant where this same couple, Dona & Leo, came in for lunch everyday. They had a grandson named Wyatt. Ever since I heard them say that name....I knew that's what I wanted to name a little boy if Matt and I had one.

When I was pregnant with Megan - we were told at my first ultrasound that she was a boy! So for about 4 weeks we were talking about boy names. Matt's vote was for Tyler....mine for Wyatt. To persuade him to my side of the name game, I imitated what my football coach husband hopes to hear over the loudspeaker in about 16 years and bellowed out "Wyatt Burns on the tackle!" Matt liked the way it sounded and Wyatt it was. That is until it became Megan! :)

I remember when Matt, Megan and I all went to my ultrasound when I was pregnant the second time. We were waiting to find out the gender, and Matt said to the technician "So, do you see a Wyatt or a Molly in there?" She chuckled and replied, "Well Dad - are you ready to pay for TWO weddings?!" So even round two....It would've been Wyatt had we had a boy. And after Molly was born - in those first few months where I couldn't imagine having more kids - I would forlornly say to Matt, "I just can't believe there will never be a little Wyatt."

Once round three came around - I just always assumed that if it were a boy - Wyatt it would be. If it were a girl - well...we'd figure that out when we had to! Matt and I agreed to not talk names until after we knew the gender. I think we both superstitiously thought that if we picked out a girl name - we'd be tipping the scales of fate in favor of more PINK! Not that we didn't have names in mind...I wanted Mia Grace (isn't that funny Tonya!) and Matt wanted Sydney...we just didn't talk about it much.

So when it finally came about that we WERE having a boy, I said to Matt - "Yeah! I get my Wyatt!" and he looked at me and said - "I don't know. Let's think about it a little more." UGH - I was dumbfounded. I think now that naming a boy was a reality, he just wanted to be sure that we both still really liked the name. So the process began of tossing around more boy names.

My criteria for naming all our kids has been pretty simple. (or at least I think so :)

• I wanted names that couldn't be shortened to a nickname. Yes - I guess there is Meg....but I mean like Andrew becomes Andy and Charles becomes Charlie (those are my brothers' names) Elizabeth becomes Liz and Madeline becomes Maddie.


• I wanted names that were not too common...but also not uncommon.


• I wanted them to be spelled the most obvious way - the way they sound. I didn't want them to have to always say "Meghan with an H" or Mollie with an "IE."


• I wanted them to be more than one syllable - since our last name is one syllable.


• Finally - since we picked first names simply because we liked them, I wanted the middle names to be family names. So they'd have some history to them and mean something to us.

SO - If not Wyatt - I was campaigning for an "M" name. For one, I'm quite attached to my license plate...and why not stick with the theme we've got going here...Matthew, Megan, Molly?? My picks were Merrill (after my Grandfather) or Morgan. But Matt said boys named Morgan are sometimes called "Mugs" and I hated that. And we've had two friends name their little girls Morgan in the past year....so it wasn't really flying with Matt. Matt felt Merrill was a little old fashioned and feared the boys might call him Merry - or Mary - in the incessant teasing that prepubescent boys do. So that one didn't make it far off the ground either.

Matt was campaigning for Jake or Jason - mainly because he likes nicknames for boys. And if we named his middle name after either Grandfather (Donald or Timothy,) Matt wanted to call him JD or JT. Jake however was my yellow Lab growing up - from the time I was 12 till about 25. I still call Duke, Jake on a regular basis. So naming my son after my childhood pet was not going to happen. And Jason just didn't float my boat the way Wyatt did. Plus they both went against my no nickname criteria!

So after a month of tossing other names around we are back to where we started and like it better than ever! We told the girls the baby's name a few weeks ago and it has caught on fast. When they go to bed at night they talk to my tummy. Megan says "Hi Wyatt - we are your sisters! Megan and Molly." She talks about holding him, giving him bottles and changing his diaper. She asked me the other day, "Mom, since Wyatt is a boy, does that mean he is going to have a penis?!" They both hug and kiss him goodnight and Molly - after wrapping her little arms around my stomach - looks at me and says "I Lub (love) him Mommy!" and it melts my heart. Tonight they put their hands on my belly and got to feel him kick. They watched my tummy jump a few times and that brought squeals of delight. They both want to know why he can't come out NOW! So I've explained that he has to grow. If he came out now, he would be too little and would have to stay with the doctors. They both didn't like that idea, and Molly says several times a day, "Stay in! Grow!" When you ask Molly "Are you going to be a big sister?" she replies "Boy!" and then I usually say "Where is the baby?" or "What is the baby's name?" As if to answer both questions at once - Molly has taken to calling the baby "WyWy TumTum!" So, in spite of all that agonizing over names - and my silly criteria - Wyatt already has a nickname.


PS - do you think Wyatt will feel cheated if I just get a license plate holder that reads "And a 'W' Too" ?? LOL

PSS - Yes! I know Sheryl Crow and Kevin Costner just named their babies Wyatt. Oh Well.