The search for 'Shaw'

If we are 'friends' on Facebook, then you know that finding our baby boy's name was quite the challenge. We were taking the decision seriously but were having a truly difficult time. Here is a bit about our name search and how we landed on 'Shaw'.

Throughout my pregnancy Corey and I were pretty laxed when it came to preparing. This was our second baby so it wasn't as 'new' as it was with Emma. His room was done later, I didn't garage sale looking for items, his bag wasn't packed, and his name was definitely not decided.

We would discuss names........for like a minute and then move on to a different topic. We knew we had to make a decision but we also knew we had time.

As of Monday, July 23rd we had the following names:
- Deven (Corey's choice)- Corey met a guy named Deven a few months ago and decided that he really liked the name
- Riley (mutual liking)- I mentioned it one night and he agreed he liked it
- Noah (my choice) - Not sure where I got it, but like it

When we took Emma to the lake on Monday, there was a little boy named Noah and his mom just kept yelling for him 'Noah, Noah' and I had enough. I told Corey right there- Noah is off my list.

Walking in to to the hospital on Wednesday, July 25 we had the following names on our mind:
- Deven
- Hank-- a name that we liked for a while
- Riley

About 3 hours in to the day, Corey decided to add "Jackson" to our list. This was interesting since I mentioned Jackson months ago and it was a name he turned down instantly. Here we were with our new list:
-Deven
-Hank
-Riley
-Jackson

I gave birth and we were so focused on other things that we just called him 'baby' 'little guy' 'buddy' and 'dude'. We decided that we would take a family vote that night. Corey's mom and sister came up to visit and so we asked them, I also texted my mom, sister, and a good friend of mine- Sarah Fischer. Somewhere we decided against Hank because we thought it might lose the 'cute' factor once he got to a certain age. We were voting on:
- Deven
- Riley
- Jackson

Our vote turned out to be 'Jackson'. Some family mentioned spelling it Jaxon and nicknaming him Jax rather than Jack. We liked it but it was obvious that our search wasn't done. Either way the vote eliminated Riley.

When his family left we flipped a coin between Deven and Jackson. The flip concluded with Jackson and, again, we weren't sold.

Thursday came -- and still no name. The birth registrar called us in the morning asking for information to fill out the birth certificate and we told her she would have to call back the next day. We had family coming that night and we knew we were going to get pressured to make a decision--apparently that wasn't enough motivation for us because the evening came and no name was decided. My mom and step-dad (Jim) came up as well as Todd, Bryn, Carson, Morgan (the wonderful Muehlbauer clan that Emma is always with). Once they left Katie Sabraski was up with Brae and we were talking names and she said something about 'Shaw'. Corey got a big smile on his face. Shaw is a name Corey thought of back when I was pregnant with Emma. If she was a boy, it was our top running name; however when he mentioned it sometime during this pregnancy I had turned it down right away...probably mainly because he turned down all my boy names instantly. Now, with it being brought up, this began the discussion again- I agreed that I liked the name as well. It is unique, yet not completely crazy. We also had Chris Studanski and Christina Wollak up, who agreed that Shaw was a great name. Now, let's not ignore the obvious.....'Shaw' is a popular name in the racing community. In fact, Corey drives a Larry SHAW midwest modified. This is originally where the name came up. These 3 friends who loved the name are all racing friends--however I am sure there is no correlation between the two :) My objection was that 'Shaw Donald' did not flow. Since Corey had decided years ago (literally) that our son would have the middle name 'Donald' it was a non-negotiable topic and I wasn't sure if I liked it.

Our friends left and we sent baby boy down to the nursery. We decided to take a stroll down to the cafeteria and we came back and (finally) had a great discussion about names. By now we had input from our family, the nursing staff, and friends. Throughout the pregnancy, day of birth, and hospital stay it was the best name conversation we had...however we added another name: Owen. It had been a name I suggested a while back but, of course, Corey was stuck on 'Deven' at that time and wasn't fancying any other names. Our new list was like this:
- Deven
- Jackson
- Owen
- Shaw

We went through each name, talking about spelling, nicknames, pairing it with Emma, connecting it with 'Donald', looking at him and calling him by each name, and even yelling out "Emma and ______ get over here". Yep, we went to all lengths. At this point, Deven went right out the window. It was a tongue twister for me to pair it with Emma in a yelling situation. I said I would end up calling our kids 'Evan' because I would throw the two names together. Corey tried and he agreed. For the first time in months he actually said 'no' to Deven--BIG shocker! Jackson- we decided that even though we can't look at babys and come up with names, even to us the little guy did not look like a Jackson. In addition, our family vote and coin toss concluded with Jackson and we obviously hadn't chose it for a reason. Owen- we liked. It sounded good with Emma and Donald, and it wasn't a tongue twister. Lastly, Shaw. Which we both like for the unique value. There it was--
-Shaw
-Owen.

We felt very good about these two names and wrote them up on the white board so we could ponder on them through the night.

In the morning we still felt great about them, as we began discussing the registrar lady called again asking if we had come up with a name. I told her to give us an hour. Sometime in the next 30 minutes we decided that we placed more value on the 'unique' factor than the 'flow' factor. Meaning- that we liked that 'Shaw' was unique more than the fact that we disliked that it didn't flow too well with 'Donald' which was the positive of  'Owen'. Once we decided I told Corey to text our family so we couldn't change our minds. I finished feeding Shaw and published it on Facebook--which then we definitely couldn't go back :) Then, Corey had the nerve to add- if we have another boy we will name him Owen, because I really like that name" Ummmm...wait ANOTHER baby? I don't think so. I know women forget the pain but not nearly enough time has passed--hell I am still in the hospital!! Note to family who is getting a glimpse of hope- Shaw is our last child.

That is how Baby Eystad became Baby Shaw Eystad.