The Name Game

I always thought I'd be one of those moms who still wouldn't have a name for her child when the child was born. I never thought I would be able to name my children with ease. Therefore, I've been making Karl play the name game with me since we got married. Turns out he's a lot pickier than me! Also, being a teacher has one major job hazard: It makes naming your children very difficult. So many names become associated with specific children, and I have lost many names I was fond of because of this! However, there was always one name we agreed on.

Cooper

When I first started thinking of baby names, I suggested Cooper one time, and to my surprise, Karl liked it. There are only two other boy names that Karl ever remotely liked during our years of me suggesting many, many names. Cooper was his favorite, and mine too. However, I knew how flip-floppy I could be on changing my mind, so I figured we would change our minds many times before we actually had a son.

In the spring of 2008, we had started talking about trying to get pregnant and planned on beginning to try that summer. Karl went to the Masters Golf Tournament that year with a friend and brought me back a special present-a little teddy bear dressed in golf clothes. It wasn't really for me though; it was for our baby. That was his way of letting me know he was ready to start trying too. My heart absolutely melted. When I looked at the tag on the bear, it said it was a Cooperstown Bear. Karl didn't see that when he bought it, but we both laughed about it and knew that our little boy would definitely be named Cooper now!

After several years of dreaming of my own little Cooper, it's just amazing to think that he's growing inside me right now and in 5 1/2 months, we'll get to finally meet him!