2.26.2013

And our girl will be…

Emma Joy

Little miss will go by the name of Emma Joy Edwards.

Emma : all consuming, whole, complete

Joy : great pleasure & happiness, jubilation

She will be all consuming happiness, which explains exactly how we feel about her!

As a red-blooded woman, I have had a list of future children names going since I was about 5 & learned what it meant to play “house". That list has evolved over the years & many names have been cut from the list. Some because I just didn't like the sound of them anymore or (because I’m a teacher) I know a child with that name & it just makes me “cringe” a little at the thought of naming my little after them. My husband, however, has not had a list going for all of his life. Of course we've talked over the past 9 years  about what we would name our children, but when the time finally came to decide on one name, we could not agree.

Prior to finding out the gender, Mike loved the name Bailey. I was not entirely on board but would be happy to settle on that if it was the only one we could agree on. When we had our first check between babies legs & it came back not 100% one way or the other, we quickly agreed on a name for a boy & were hesitant to declare Bailey as a name for a girl.

Then we had our 100% guarantee that baby was a girl! While we were sitting in the room waiting to see my midwife afterwards, we were contemplating names. I was reading them from the wall filled with Christmas & birthday cards from previous patients & M was reading names off of his phone. We kept saying no to all of them. And some even made us stop & wonder what in the world goes through a persons head when they choose a name for a child. Seriously. I can’t handle the strangeness of some of them.

After about 10 minutes of this, M said the name “Emma”. We both looked at each other, tilted our heads to the side, & said “Emma'” at the same time. I was smiling ear to ear & M had a giant grin. We said it a few more times & agreed we loved it. But he kept on reading some to me & we went about our appointment.

When we announced baby was a girl, everyone kept asking about a name. We knew Bailey was completely out of the running and Emma was the number 1 but we wanted a middle name before we shared it.

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Yes, that’s how we came to our decision, via text. Aren't you glad I didn't relent & let M pick pollen?! I've got a wise guy for sure! But, the softness I've seen in his heart since starting this parenthood journey...wow. 

Simply, wow.

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I know it would have been pretty exciting to keep her name a secret until the day she was born, but clearly M & I aren’t up for keeping secrets for months on end again, since we kept our pregnancy a secret for 3 months! We are fresh out of will-power & we aren’t the least bit upset about it! We love that my sisters & our friends kids can now start calling Emma by her name. And it’s so amazing to hear my hubby tell Miss Emma good morning & good night, so much more now that she has a name!

We can pray, not just for our baby, but for our Emma Joy & that, my friends, is an incredible feeling.

5 comments:

Pamela said...

Aww yalls conversations are SO cute & sweet!!

Ruthie Hart said...

this text conversation just gives me chills... the way he talks about her. I love that little Emma Joy!

Alli said...

Such a sweet name :) I love it!

Whitney Tomlin said...

We were the same way! It may have been a little easier not sharing the name considering everyone has opinions, BUT, I want people to call her by her name and not "baby". It is so fun to specifically pray for your baby and know their name isn't it? It has been one of my favorite feelings! Michael texted me last night while he was at the gym "I love you and Charlee Bea so much" ahhhhh melted! Can't wait to 'meet' miss emma joy! maybe one day her and charlee bea can actually meet! :) Is she going to go by emma or emma joy? eeeeeek :)

Sarah said...

What a beautiful name!! Congratulations! It's so hard to pick a name, or at least we thought so! Aubrey wasn't named until about 2 hours before we left the hospital. We just couldn't decide.