What's in a Name?: We had the easiest, and then hardest time picking out a boy's name - both with the same name. From the beginning we knew we wanted something that was like Noelle - somewhat unique (as in, not in the top 50-75 most popular names in the last few years) without being weird.
I don't know how Theo popped into my head; I don't remember seeing or hearing it anywhere, but I knew I liked it. A lot. A few days later Bryan and I were discussing our criteria when he said he had thought of a name he liked. (Does everyone see where this is going? ;) ) He said Theo and I said "Are you serious!?" It was definitely one of those we've-been-married-too-long moments.
So that was the easy part.
The final name decision became harder, in my head only, when I started to question using Theo. I basically started to let others' opinions wear down my love for the name. When people would ask us for our name choices and I said Theo, it was met with one of three reactions:
1. Genuine like for the name.
2. A comment about The Cosby Show.
3. That fake approval of the name - "ooh, that's nice. Uh huh, I like that one." Liar.
I would say reactions were split equally among those three. Unfortunately though, it felt to me like everyone hated it or made the Cosby comment and it really started to wear on me. So much so that I told Bryan I didn't really like it anymore and that we had to come up with a list of names to pick a new one.
Bryan still really liked Theo but agreed to keep an open mind toward other names. The only problem was that after looking through website after website, talking to people about names and even intently watching the credits of movies and shows, we had no other choices we loved. I only had three names in my boy list when we went to the hospital: Evan, Nolan and Theo. Evan was the only one I wasn't lukewarm about. Bryan hated it.
Once the words "It's a boy!" came out of Bryan's mouth, we knew we'd have some decision-making to do. We decided to take out Nolan pretty immediately because it was too similar to Noelle and too popular. Everyone kept asking us his name and we would answer that we were still deciding. And every time Bryan would try to convince me to go with Theo.
I finally told him that everyone's reactions had worn down the name for me. He yelled at me like any good husband would after his wife had just given birth and made me realize that it was no reason to not choose the name that I had once loved. I still had some doubts and for a little while thought that we had made the wrong choice. I even tested out calling him Evan that first day. But in the end I fell back in love with the name and think it fits him perfectly!
Length of stay: I didn't realize I even had a say in how long we stayed in the hospital after the baby was born. It wasn't until a friend of mine posted a picture of her new family leaving the hospital before the typical two day stay that I started to think about doing the same.
I decided pretty quickly that we would leave the hospital after only one day as long as everyone was recovering nicely. This is such a 180 from when Noelle was born. I had a full blown panic attack when it was time to leave the hospital and I would have stayed an extra 5 days if they would have let me! This time the unknown was not so unknown and I knew Noelle would do better getting back to her normal routine.
Thankfully Theo and I both had amazing recoveries and we were allowed to leave the hospital after 36 hours. Even though we're all smiles in this picture, there was still a small amount of anxiety behind those sunglasses.
Life with a newborn and a 3 and 3/4 year old: One of my biggest sources of anxiety during my pregnancy was how difficult the transition would be to a family of four, especially in the newly born days. Honestly, it was one of the smoother transitions we've made as a family. I was just so much more go with the flow this time around. Bryan kept commenting on how relaxed I was in the hospital and when we got home and that he wouldn't even know I had just given birth. Physically and mentally I was just in such a better place this time around.
It was so much easier to not fight the idea that I might have to stay glued to a chair or couch if Theo wanted to nurse every hour in the hour. Or if he wanted to wake up every two hours and stay awake for an hour - like he did the first night home.
Knowing what to expect the second time around just made things easier overall. Now if it seems like things were all puppies and rainbows, they weren't. At all. We absolutely had our share of crabby bickering and freak out moments. I had some minor baby blues too, but we just took everything in stride.
I will say that Bryan had some kind of crazy newborn amnesia. Dude could not remember *anything*. There were so many times I had to correct or remind him of something and he would have no recollection of it from Noelle's baby days. It was actually pretty funny and became a running joke in those first few weeks.
Overall that first month went pretty smoothly and it has continued that way (knock on wood). Even the first week of my return to work has only had a few minor hiccups. I really hope this trend can continue, but I know things will get tougher as Theo gets older and more demanding. And to that I say, bring it on :)
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