What's in a name?

Greg has made name plates for all of the special children in his life. Caleb chose this design for Odin! 

Naming a baby is tough. I've had some girl names in mind for years, but coming up with boy names seems to be particularly difficult for Alan and I both. Girl names I love include family names like Ellie and Pearl and my personal favourite Magnolia (Nola) which Alan wasn't sold on, but I was willing to fight for! But coming up with another boy name was a difficult task for us. In the end we had two names that we both liked - Evan August and Odin August. Since Odin was born on Sept 1, we had to scratch the August middle name! After an intense delivery experience where our baby was born very quickly in the midst of what seemed to me like a mad flurry of activity around us, we took a look at our new son and settled on our name - Odin Alistair.

I discovered the name Odin a few months before he was born. I loved the sound of it - a lot like Aiden, Owen or Otis - but more unique. The meaning of the name is 'frenzy, inspiration', which is how I felt after the madness of childbirth! However, there is a long and well documented history to the name. Odin is the name of the supreme Norse god of art, culture, wisdom and law. The name supposedly projects strength and power. My father likes to say that Odin is the Norse god of fly-fishing and flat-picking! Apparently, J.R.R. Tolkien's Gandalf was loosely based on Odin, and they both are depicted as old, wise men with long flowing white beards. I wasn't sure if we could pull off such a strong name (Odin is the father of Thor, after all!), but now that we've chosen it, I really love it and couldn't imagine little Odie being called anything else. I hope he grows up to really like it as well.

Others are embracing the name as well - this hat was made for him by a family friend! Too funny!

In other news, Caleb continues to win awards for being the best big brother of all time! He is so in love with Odie, it is truly amazing. He finds him fascinating and fun, which is pretty great considering he is not able to interact with him too much yet! I told Cale that some day Odin will be so much fun for him to play with and Caleb responded immediately, 'But mom, he is 100% fun right now!!'. Cale also loves getting his photo taken with the baby, especially if he has managed to get a smile from his little brother. I often hear - 'Mom, come quick and bring the camera!'. My favourite quote from Caleb so far was after taking Odin to a concert, where much to my surprise, he was a perfect little baby. No tears, no feeding, completely happy to be swept away by strangers and dance in their arms...I was waiting for the crisis moment to hit when he would burst into tears, but the moment just didn't come. When we got home Cale walked right up to his brother and said 'Odin, I'm more prouder of you than I've ever been in my life. You were just soooo good tonight'. My heart nearly exploded!

I've recently realized that my babies have extremely square heads!! haha! Thankfully I happen to find square heads quite adorable!  

Bedtime brother snuggles are now part of our nightly routine!