The Name Game

We've had our names picked out for nearly two months now, but I like to take time to get used to the name and see how it feels before I announce them. But in those two months our love for the names we've chosen hasn't changed one bit, so I think we are ready to announce and commit! And I am ready to start making all sorts of custom name this and thats! Personalized bats, baseballs, baseball onesies, baseball subway art...there seems to be a theme here.

We decided we wanted to stick with the "A,B,C" theme since we had gotten so used to calling them that and hearing the doctors call them that.  I did NOT want rhyming names. My tongue already gets twisted with the two kids I have, I knew I couldn't handle adding three names that rhyme to the mix. Besides, I wanted each to have his own identity. Though I want the boys to always be close as triplets can possibly be, I want them to feel like they are each individuals as well.

Although each name came to us separately and accidentally, we realized after we had chosen the three names that they actually coincide perfectly with our family values. The three things that are most important to us in this family (besides each other) are:

1. God: we are active and devout members of the LDS church and we believe in a loving Heavenly Father and a Savior, Jesus Christ, who died for us that we may live with Him again. Prayer and our beliefs play a big part in everything we do.

2. Baseball: my husband went to college on a full-ride baseball scholarship.  He is obsessed with the game, especially at the collegiate level. And me?  Well, I think baseball decor is just plain cute. And, non-sports fan that I am, if I had to choose a sport to sit and watch that wouldn't make me want to gouge my eyes out, it would definitely be baseball. I find it the most entertaining of all sports. That may or may not have anything to do with the uniforms...

3. Music: My husband and I are both music teachers and love what we do. As I mentioned in my "About Me" page, I am a huge nerd when it comes to all things musical. If I'd had triplet daughters I would've fought for them to be named Harmony, Melody, and Cadenza or something cheesy like that :) I would have lost, but I would've tried just the same.

The overall requirement of all boys names in our family are that they sound good when being announced over a loudspeaker at a baseball game. They likely will all have a baseball placed in their hands from the day they are born and their first Christmas presents will all be their own baseball mitts, that's just how our family rolls.

So here you go!

Asher at 24 weeks, trying to get his thumb to his mouth

Meet Baby A (the "singleton"), hereafter known as Asher Scott.

His name is Biblical (One of the Twelve Tribes of Israel...Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is my all time favorite musical so now when I get the song "Jacob & Sons" stuck in my head again I can at least think about my little boy).  It means "lucky, blessed and happy". And how lucky and blessed are we to be having triplets, especially when you consider it was a less than 1% chance even on fertility meds!  The idea was given to us by one of my husbands' students. I don't think I've ever known a child with this name (though since we picked it I've heard of it a bunch!), and it just kind of struck me when I heard it.

His middle name is after my Dad, one of the best and most Christlike men I have ever known. I was blessed with amazing parents.

Brooks at 24 weeks

Meet Baby B, hereafter known as Brooks Malcolm.

Brooks is a baseball name, the first name of famous baseball player Brooks Robinson (and from all I've read about him, a very upright and honest man). He played his entire 23-year major league career for the Baltimore Orioles. The odds of that happening in pro baseball are about the same as a person having triplets. And I might also add, Robinson was quite the looker in his younger years :o)  I came across the name accidentally one night while looking through a list of baby names, and I said it out loud, sure my husband would veto it. But instead, his eyes lit up and he said "There's a famous baseball player with that name!" and it was a done deal. It was a name I had never heard used as a first name before, but since then I have run across it a couple times (one of my husbands' previous baseball friends named his son Brooks, it turns out).

His middle name is after my husbands' dad, a retired police officer and truly the salt of the earth.

And, as if it were a sign from heaven that this was to be his name, look what I found when searching Etsy for baseball stuff last night:

I would love to buy it but never would pay $13 for one burp cloth! Not with triplets on the way!

And last but never least:

Caden at 24 weeks

Meet Baby C, hereafter known as Caden James.

Caden is short for the musical term cadence. Cadences in all their forms are one of my favorite things to teach and study in music. We named Caden first, during the scare with his birth defect. I wanted to be able to pray for him by name, just to feel closer to him.  In music, authentic cadences are the strongest type of cadence, so I like to pretend that there is an invisible "authentic" in front of his name since this is one strong baby boy. He's had a lot of challenges already and is still the smallest by far, but I know he's a fighter. In fact, that's what the name Caden actually means - "battle fighter". We did not know that when we named him, but I find it most appropriate. As my high risk doctor said today when I told him the name and meaning, "There are no such things as coincidences."

His middle name is after my husband. He's pretty much the greatest guy ever. I married him, after all!

I love our names and think they will all sound good being announced over the loudspeaker at a baseball game. Mission accomplished.

I can't wait to meet Asher, Brooks, and Caden in person. I already feel so blessed to be their Mommy!