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| Oh! He was little! |
Isaac was born just a little bit earlier than we expected, and we hadn't yet had much serious discussion about a name for him. (I did have baby boy names on all the scraps of paper, church programs & receipts around our house - on one of Jordan's stops at home I had him find one and take a picture for me so I could remember my favorites!) We spent a good deal of time at the hospital holding and cuddling this sweet new baby and trying out different names. "Hey there little Beckham!" "Hi sweet baby Anders!" to see what fit. We used the nurses white board up on the wall to keep track of our favorites, and as the nurses rotated through they'd give us their input. At one point, we narrowed our list down to six names and then Jordan and I each rated them in order of our favorites from 1 to 6. When we uncovered our results, our numbers were perfectly paired -- His favorite #1 was my #6. My #1 was his least favorite #6. His 5 was my 2 and my 2 was his 5. Our 3s and 4s were exact opposites. Ha! So how to choose? Jordan had a strong favorite and I really didn't, but I loved that Jordan did so eventually we chose... Max Nelson Brough.
On changing a name
And we sent the texts and made the phone calls and introduced our baby Max and took home our little (though not so little at over 9 lbs.) Max home. Logan was celebrating Independence Day a few days early. So I left the quiet stillness of our hospital room where Max and I had spent his first few days together, and Jordan drove us home through streets lined with tents and picnic blankets and fold up chairs and all the Logan families sitting out to cheer for the arrival and the homecoming of baby Max (or maybe just getting ready for fireworks that night!) We got home and our park was filled with celebrators. We sat out in the front yard with our neighbors as the kids ran back and forth and the Dads set fireworks off in the street. (Welcome home Max!) And so baby Max got to meet all the neighbors and friends on just his first day home! We tried out Max for the rest of that holiday weekend after coming home from the hospital, but somehow it just didn't fit. We finally made up our minds and decided to change it and Jordan texted the bishop just a few minutes before church started on Sunday to give him the update for his Sacrament Meeting announcement -- welcome to the Brough's new baby: Isaac Joshua! (Through the rest of the summer, I'd run into friends (with excellent memories!) and they'd ask "How's that baby Max?" And I'd answer something like "He's wonderful! Except, now he's Isaac!" )
The name Isaac hadn't been at the top of our lists (I don't think it made it to the whiteboard top 6), but it had been the most recent name I'd been trying out before he was born and I think because of that it had the most tender feeling around it. (And sometime I'll write down why I love the name Joshua too) Fortunately for us, the long weekend meant the recorder at the hospital hadn't submitted our forms yet, so his 5 day (or so) old name change just took a quick phone call. It makes me smile whenever I'm at a store and meet a cashier named Max, or read a book about a character named Max because I always think 'I had a baby Max for a few days!'
On all the other names
At Isaac's 6 month check up, the pediatrician asked if he was responding to his name yet. He wasn't and it made me laugh afterwards because I wondered what name he would respond to -- this kiddo has been our most-nick-named baby by far. In his first few weeks and months everyone in the family had a different nick name (or a few) for him. Some have lasted and many I've already forgotten - But here are some of the favorites (and silliest): baby, sweet one, bip-bop or baby bip-bop, Sir captain, rum-a-doodle, buss-buddy, spit up machine (this kid was a major spit up baby!), boo-baby, baby filups, bitty one, buppity-boo ... I love all these funny sweet names for this baby Isaac that we all love so much!
