To name but a few…

There are no great stories to accompany how we chose our children’s names, well, apart from the fact that they were both called Harry, at least for a few hours!
I had always liked the name Harry, but Dan wasn’t so easily convinced. To me, the name carried with it a certain amount of cheek; a happy sort of name. Dan could only think of a certain wizard when he heard it. Too bad, I thought when I had just given birth to number 1 son, who instantly became ‘Harry’ (I had just given birth…my choice, right?)! Dan’s first choice had been Toby, which I also liked but in a different sort of way – perhaps it was a little more enigmatic, I’m not sure.
Anyhow, that first, precious night with my first, precious baby, I looked at him and got to know his perfect little face and that little, new person told me that his name was not Harry! He just didn’t look like a Harry! I know that’s quite a peculiar thing to say, but I remember it very clearly. I didn’t just ‘settle’ for ‘Toby’, I knew, that first night, that it was his name and I have never felt any different.
We do, however, have a new baby card congratulating us on the birth of Harry! Word had got round and a card sent in the few hours before I changed my mind!

When second son was born, the name Harry cropped up again, but I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice! We had a standby with a very different feel and were prepared to wait and see what sort of a chap he appeared to be and name him when we were sure. He was born peacefully at home, but he did shock us all when he emerged with a true knot in his cord. The midwife said that perhaps that was a sign of things to come – that he would get into all sorts of pickles. Dan and I looked at each other and knew that his name was Harry! I hope that I haven’t placed expectations on him due to his name but at least its an adaptable one!

And then there’s little Rose, gone so very early but named so that we would think of her when we saw the beautiful blooms in our garden.