While calling the babies Bubbles and Squishy permanently was tempting at first, two lifetimes of potential (who am I kidding? definite) teasing from kids and funny looks from adults prompted us to go with names that were a little less Nemo-y and a little more realistic and adult like.

Surprisingly, deciding on names was easier than I thought. I’ve always had a favorite girl name and from the day we found out we had a girl I said that was a name I really liked. Bryan liked it too and so that was that. Baby boy’s name was a bit harder and we went through 2 or 3 before finally deciding (Andrew, Christopher and Max in case you were wondering), ironically with the help of a baby name book which I never really took seriously. I used baby name lists and books as ways to find funny and no-way-would-I-pick-that type names so the fact that we found it while Bryan was reading from a list was surprising. Plus, If I like a name, I don’t care how popular or unpopular it is at the time. So if we happen to pick the two most popular names of 2013 – whatever.

Andrew was cut because I didn’t want them to have the same initials. Not my thing. Max was cut because my mom decided it sounded too much like my ex husbands name (Matt). I didn’t think so at all but then she got the idea in my head and it was all I could think about. Christopher was it until Bryan read through the name list.

That didn’t stop us from going through few funny ideas first:

Jack and Jill.

Bonnie and Clyde.

Naming baby boy Austin or Will (i.e. Austin Powers, Will Powers).

Using Super as a middle name. (Austin Super Powers)

Then there are the crazy celebrities that name their kid after colors and food. So we could have super cool combinations like Apple and Orange or Broccoli and Cauliflower. Or maybe Black and Blue. No, I’m sorry, you need to spell it Blu. What? That’s in now, right?

Middle names were more challenging. I’m particular about how names sound and so they need to sound good together. Unfortunately that meant that all of my family names were out. Not because I didn’t want to include them but because they sounded horrible in combination. I mean, when I get mad at my kids I want to be able to yell out those two names together so they know they are in trouble without having to stumble over them or stop for a sec and think about how ridiculous it sounds. It needs to flow.

Baby boy’s middle name was easiest. Bryan felt very influenced by his step father and his last name flowed perfectly with the first name so it was a clear winner. (is it bad that flow had to be an important factor for me?) Baby girl was harder. Trying to match a middle name with a 3 syllable first name was no easy task. I liked Allison but it seemed like too much of a tongue twister with the first name.

With that said:

Bubbles – Miles Sullivan

Squishy- Abigail Katherine

We are so excited to meet both of you (but not too early, just had to throw that in there).