Introducing Franklin

He's now a month old so I figured it was time to give some details on the newest member of our family. Franklin (or Sketch) now weighs in at 10 pounds 6 ounces. He's 22 1/2 inches long and sleeps at pretty inopportune times, ie, not at night. So, needless to say, I'm tired. His siblings are completely enamoured, to the point of near smothering. Addy wants to hold him all the time, Jack wants to carry him (SCARY), and Ellie thinks he always needs at least one more blanket to cover his face.

So far I think he looks most like Addison did as a baby. His hair is not quite as dark and not nearly as long, but it's closer than Ellie or Jack's was. As far as I can tell, Sketch has a dimple on each cheek. He's hasn't given an official smile yet, so I'm still watching and waiting.

About his name . . . we had the hardest time settling on a name for this baby. It got bad enough that the social security lady at the hospital started to harass us. You'd think 9 months would've been enough, especially since Things 1, 2, and 3 were all named before conception, but it wasn't.

Before we moved to California I decided we'd name our next son Cooper (Nate typically only has veto power), but then we made friends who have a son Jack's age named Cooper. And I really can't use a name that a friend has used. And I can't use a friend's name. Or a friend's neighbor's name. Or a friend's dog's name. I know, a little excessive, but we all have our issues.

I really like names that end in "son" (Harrison, Edison, Jamison, etc.), but I've got two kids with that characteristic. I figure two is coincidence while three is intentional. Couldn't have that. Nate got more involved than usual. He declared he didn't want a name that ended in an "ee" sound, and definitely no "M" names. So that eliminated Henry, Mitchell, Marshall, and McCormick. He said no to Dexter - he's a serial killer. And no to Hamilton - "Ham" is too unfortunate a nickname. Canaan, Xavier, Maverick, Sawyer, Remington, Fletcher, Gideon, and Oswald are a little too "out-there". And Holden is a place in Utah. Haydn is morphing into a girl's name, and Lucas and Edward are too popular (thanks a lot OTH and Twilight!).

I asked the kids for input, but they were less than helpful. Lots of anatomical suggestions, most involving the posterior. And Jack thought "Football" would be good, because then we could kick him. Or maybe "Jesus", because then he could guide us. Ummm, no, no, and . . . no.

So we narrowed our list down to Frederick, Franklin, Edward, Henry, Cooper, Lincoln, Fletcher, Harrison. I know, I know - 5 of these 7 names were previously eliminated. But they kept creeping back onto our list even though they broke our own self-imposed rules. This was one instance where I could no longer be rational. Can you really blame me?

After hours of back and forth, settling on a name and then changing our minds, throwing our hands up in frustration and annoyance, we decided to let Things 1, 2 and 3 decide. Jack decided that he would look at the baby's face and the baby's face would tell him his name. Made sense to me. Jack looked at his face, pondered it for a minute, then declared, "His name is Sketch". Hmmm. . . . I haven't the foggiest where he came up with that one. But it works for us.

Fortunately for this kid, I have a thing about baby names (who knew?). My biggest requirement is that they have to sound good when preceded by "Supreme Court Justice . . ." Hence the strong and distinguished name, Franklin Thomas Mangum. And no, we don't have a thing for Presidents, or for the Roosevelts. That is purely coincidence. Franklin is a name I came across a while ago but had ruled out for a couple reasons - the fact that I have an Eleanor is just one of them. But like so many other names it ended up back on our short-list. As it happens, Franklin is a family name from way back on Nate's side (thank you familysearch.com). And Thomas is Nate's middle name (and Nana's maiden name).

So that's how Franklin (not Frank or Frankie) "Sketch" Thomas Mangum came to be. Well, his name anyway . . .