His Name Is...

It took Ray and I quite a few weeks to decide on a name for the baby.  Before we knew if we were having a boy or a girl, I tried to come up with name ideas, but I always got shot down.  Ray would not even consider girl names because he has been convinced since conception that this baby is a boy.  In the beginning, Ray wanted to name our son JACK BOWER.  Now while you may think that Jack Bauer from the TV show "24" was awesome, let's be real... I can't name my kid after a popular TV show character from the 2000s.  Who would take our kid seriously?  I can imagine him going to get his first job and the interviewer just laughing at his name.  This mom could not do it.  

Even though there are so many boy names, it was hard for us to decide.  We wanted all of this in a name:

• Biblical name
• Family name
• Easy to spell
• Easy for anyone to pronounce
• Common, but not popular

When we took all this into consideration there were not too many names left.  Finally, we decided on:

James Franklin Bower

I have always loved the name James.  James was my mom's maiden name.  As a child, I always wondered why my name was Jessica Blakewood rather than Jessica James.  I just thought that Jessica James sounded so much better than Jessica Blakewood.  Either way, I've always loved the name because I love my James family.

Franklin is a family name from my side and Ray's side.  Both of our grandfathers on our dad's side have the middle name of Franklin.  We thought that it was neat that we could take a family name from both sides and we just liked the name too.  

Even though we had this name on the table since mid July, it was difficult for us to commit to the name.  I did not want to commit to it because I had a hard time calling a baby by the name of James.  It just seems so adult like.  I guess that's what you want though, a name that's a manly name.  I did not want my child to have a boyish name.  

So what are we actually going to call him?  JAMES.  That's why we decided on that name.  His name is not Jim, Jimmy, or Jamie.  Thanks for trying to make it all cute, but we like James.  

My aunt, Linda James (my mom's sister), painted this awesome painting for the nursery!  I love it because it has his name on it and it matches all the turquoise in the room.  It also has giraffes and other fun animals.  Here are some pictures of us with the picture.  More pictures to come with it in the nursery.    

And here's the latest pregnancy picture!  I'm 32 weeks in this picture.  That means I'm a third of the way though the third trimester.  That also means there's only about 8 weeks left!  

 You can go ahead and laugh at this picture.  Just say what you're thinking.  Yes, I look like a pumpkin.  I was told by several students today that I looked like a pumpkin.  High school students are brutally honest.  Yes... here's James... the little pumpkin...

 And the profile shot: 

 By the way - I am LOVING the fall weather!  I'm finally not hot!