Thoughts on Trois

Lambchop is our last family member. We knew that when we decided to have a third wee one. And, a couple of months after Lambchop entered the world, we took steps to make sure that she would be the last one, that there would be no surprises. Getting a girl was the last and best surprise I could have had in regards to our family.

In other words, if I get pregnant, somebody is getting sued.

Ahem.

Anyway, as much as I adore the new crop of babies friends and acquaintances have been having left and right (not to mention a set of triplet baby girls down the street!), and babies that friends and family are currently expecting, we’re comfortable with our decision. I have no desire to be pregnant again. My husband is probably relieved the eight or so weeks of night feedings that newborns demand are in the past. And, well, we’re just too darn old to be having more babies.

Three is good. Three is (almost) manageable. Three fit across the middle seat of my car in their carseats.

I am a little sad about two things, however. First, that Lambchop will never know what it is to have a sister. I know I couldn’t have guaranteed a little sister for her had we decided to have a fourth, but I like to think we could have conjured one up for her had we done so. But, life is what it is, and Lambchop will just have be content with her two gorgeous big brothers.

The second thing that makes me a bit sad? That I’ll never get to name another baby, especially that imaginary little sister for Lambchop. Because oh how I love naming babies, even though I always end up torturing myself over finding the perfect name.

This past Friday, the name Genevieve popped into my head out of the blue. I’m not broody or regretting our decision, but there it was. A perfect name to align with Lambchop’s name; a name that never even occurred to me when we were wrestling with the naming of Lambchop. I don’t know if I saw it printed in a newspaper or on the side of a lorry, if I was projecting onto G’s cousin who happened to be due to give birth to a baby girl that very Friday, or if it came to me in a strange dream, and I've never known anyone called by this name, but, well, there it was dancing about in my head.

And not an ounce of French in either of us, I should mention, because my husband surely would ...

Anyway, I kind of sighed and thought to myself, “Oh, well … I don’t suppose G’s cousin A (who is now officially five days overdue with said baby girl), would allow me to name her baby for her? Probably not…". And I thought no more about it. (Unless you count hoping for a 'baby is here' announcement phone call from someone.)

So I didn't think anything more about it. Until Monday, when I took Lambchop to our regular Monday morning playgroup where there were a few new moms and little ones roaming the room. About half an hour in to the session, I started chatting with one of the new moms who had brought her adorable 17 month old girl named ---you guessed it--- Genevieve!

I kid you not. But it gets weirder.

I laughed when I told her I had, just that weekend, decided that Genevieve would make the perfect little sister name for Lambchop, even though we weren’t actually going to have any more children. The new mom stared at me for a moment, then said, “Wait. Did you say that your daughter’s name is ‘Lambchop’?” I confirmed that it was. She then laughed as she told me that she and her husband had narrowed down a potential little sister for Genevieve to two names, one of which was ‘Lambchop’. And 'Lambchop' is not a common name.

And, unlike G and I, she was in fact half French herself…

And, because she was half French, and completely understood how hard it was to find the perfect name for your children, I felt compelled to tell her that another name that aligned beautifully with ‘Lambchop’, and hence Genevieve, a name that was already taken in our extended family (an adorable half-Norwegian, half-French three year old niece): Emmeline.

I think she's mulling it over... okay, probably not. But it's a beautiful name, no?

Life is weird.

Anyway, any day now I expect to be doing (possibly my last) ‘And Then There Were…’ announcement posts, when Cousin A’s baby girl finally finds her way into the world.

And, no, sadly, I won’t be making any naming suggestions. That will be her parents' gift to the little wee one.

I hope it's a good one.


Who needs a baby sister when you have gorgeous big brothers? I present to you Exhibit A ...

... and Exhibit B. I'm such a lucky girl.