Saturday, July 27, 2013

What To Name Baby Hennigan...

We still haven’t found out whether we’re having a boy or a girl, but either way naming that kid is going to be an intimidating process. Esquire and I have discussed names off and on since we found out we were having a baby. Usually our conversations about baby names are short.

“Hey, do you like this random name I thought of?”
“It’s not my favorite. What about this random name?”
“Eh, it’s okay but I wouldn’t want to name our baby that random name.”

And so on and so forth. Occasionally, we come across one that we both consider to be less than terrible, but for the most part we just haven’t had any great light bulb moments.

Image from this site

Part of our problem stems from the fact that I am incredibly picky about names. I think that your name has a lot of power in your life and I don’t want to strap my child with a name that means “foulmouthed badger” or “weak warrior”. Not that those are real examples, but I want names that bestow a feeling of value and something that my child should strive to live up to.

My first and middle names mean “Supplanter” and “Who is like God”. To supplant is to take something and replace it with something better. Ever since I discovered what my name means, I’ve felt like it was part of who I am to strive to be a better version of myself. That power truly comes from Christ alone, yet I can make choices every day to live in a way that is glorifying and pleasing to God.

Esquire’s full name is actually the same as his father and grandfather and it was very special for him growing up that he was “The Third”. Now that we are looking into baby names, we are debating the merits of continuing that tradition or breaking with tradition and naming our firstborn son something entirely different.

Boy names are decidedly harder than girl names. First of all, there aren’t that many boy names that are even in the running. You have to think about your son as a grown man introducing himself. Sure, “Buddy” is cute on a young kid, but does it evoke the same level of initial respect that more traditional names might? I’m not saying that Buddy is a bad name, but you have to consider all these things!

Girl names are great. You have lots of options and a little of creativity is acceptable. Yet, with girl names you run the risk of accidentally naming your daughter something that evokes thoughts of unattractive women or promiscuous women. Delilah is a beautiful name, but people will wonder if she is like the vixen who cut Samson’s hair. Dorothy makes you think of an older, chain smoking receptionist or a girl with red shoes and strange friends. You might want to name your little sweetie Candy, but my own mom (Kandi) can testify to a very memorable trip to the dentist when she was in second grade. Her dentist informed her that she must have been named after a very famous stripper he knew named Candy Cane.

Too many times parents are tempted by the current trend of personalizing their favorite name with a very creative spelling. I’m fine with a letter here and there, but I can assure you we will not be naming our child anything that remotely resembles L-a (pronounced LaDasha).

Esquire and Jamie’s List of Names We Will Never Name Our Children

1.       Adolph
2.       Rebel
3.       Finnegan or Bennigan (Come on Finnegan Hennigan?!  That’s horrible!)
4.       Heaven, Nevaeh, or Angel
5.       Edward, Jacob, and Bella (One of these names in a family is acceptable, but choose ONE. Except Bella… never Bella!)
6.       Ronald or Donald
7.       Simba
8.       Bliss
9.       Tallulah
10.   Timber
11.   Urkel
12.   Rain, Stormy, Misty, or any other overtly weather related names
13.   Summer, Autumn, Spring, or Winter
14.   North, South, East, or West
15.   Ariel, Jasmine, or Aurora


So, if any of you have these names or children with these names, don’t worry…We probably aren’t judging you too much.
Unless you name your child Adolph or Bella. Then you're dead to us ;)


See these babies? They just found out their parents named them "Adolph, Bella, and Simba" 

We’d love to hear some of your suggestions for Baby Hennigan! We'd even welcome the unusual ones!
We'll probably name our kid something strange, but it won't be a name on "Esquire and Jamie's List Of Names We Will Never Name Our Children!"

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Once Upon A Time...

In 2004,
Two little NCFCA nerds met at the Alexandria Practice Tournament in Louisiana.

Eight long years went by with barely a “hello” until they started talking on Facebook
and on May 19th, 2012 decided to try this thing called dating...

Before long, the girl...

was pretty smitten by the boy with the kind eyes


And, of course,
they fell in love…



In November he decided to propose…

 A month later, on December 22nd, they were married…

They honeymooned in Galveston where the girl got sick
(this has nothing to do with my narrative…I just wanted to be able to include this picture)…

A few months went by, and the boy began to notice that the girl was crazy more awesome than he realized,
but needed a lot of cuddles...so they got a puppy named Nessie…

But Nessie became lonely...
and the very stupid brave boy and girl decided to get her a playmate named Mairi…

Nessie and Mairi were very excited to be together
and bonded over their mutual interest in salmon flavored treats…

And the four of them settled into a routine until one day…

On May 21st...

Just 1 year and 2 days after they started dating...

The boy and girl discovered…



You read that right... They found out that they were going to be PARENTS!

And they lived happily ever after...

What do you think about that?