Dreams

I dreamt about you last night.

I don't remember much about it today, as is the way with dreams. I do remember the absolute elation and joy as I held you in my arms. Feelings unlike anything I have ever felt... and it was just a dream.

We're two days past your due date now. The due date is pretty much the only day that it can be guaranteed you will not arrive in the world. Personally, as I've said all along, I expect you to be an April Fool's baby. No real reason for that. We like to laugh, we'll teach you to too... April Fool's is a perfect day to start.

I'm looking forward to meeting you. In the next few days, I will. It is a crazy thought.

Time has flashed by so quickly. It doesn't seem that long ago we started the process of bringing you into the world.

Just give me a little time before your marriage or graduation ok?

Navn

So we've been trying to name you. It's not an easy thing.

Of course we're not sure if you're a boy or a girl yet. It doesn't matter to us really, all we want is a healthy wonderful baby. We're sure you'll qualify to that. We are pretty sure you're a boy at this point... but we don't know for sure.

My only original qualification on your name was that if you were a boy, we'd make your middle name Norwegian, we'd name you after my great uncle Ledvin. Someone who taught me the value of our family name. Someone who changed my life, as I know you will. Obviously that doesn't work as a first name in this day and age, but I hope that you can take pride in it as something that is extremely important to me.

So we had that.

Your mother thought that we should make your first name something modern and Norwegian as well. Something that you could use here but that wouldn't be out of place in Norway. As you will come to learn, Norway is very important to both of us.

So we decided to go with that.

Now let me tell you, Norwegian names are not easy. They're either very Norwegian and wouldn't work over here at all. Something like say Sverre. Wouldn't work very well in North America. Otherwise they're not Norwegian enough, biblical names that we weren't really looking for.

So we looked and we looked and it ended up coming down to two.

We were going to pick either Soren or Espen, probably making the final choice when you come out into the world to meet us.

Before too long, Soren took the top spot. We both liked it... Espen fell to second, definite second. So we decided to check with the family in Norway.

This is how we found out that Soren is kind of a soft swear in Norway. There's a phrase that likens it to 'shoot' or 'darn'. So, we had to blank that one. Off the list. We'd gone a month or so with that as our top pick too.

So with that off the list, we switched our number one to Espen. It never really quite sat right with either of us, but we didn't really have any reason as to why... That was our number one pick for probably two more months. Until your mother was doing a little more research and found that it was a Danish variation of Asbjorn...

That's my father's name.

There's no chance whatsoever we were going to name you after my father...

So we're back to stage one.

This is a little bit of a problem as you're due to appear in our world in the next week or so. It would be much easier if you could just pipe up and tell us what you want to be named. It's such a major decision that will shape part of who you come to be. It's a lot of pressure.

Recently I've really come to like Kasper. Your mother says we're not allowed to duplicate initials, you can't have a J name or a B name. A K name would work around that. We can shorten it to Kaz, I like that too.

The problem with that one being that there's a Norwegian folk tale about a trio of robbers named Kaspar, Jesper & Jonathan. On a certain level it works (no, we won't name another child Jesper). Your mother didn't like the concept of it being about a trio of robbers though. The trick to the story is that eventually the robbers save the town and become respected citizens. You become the fire chief.

We can all respect a Fire Chief.

So at the moment, my favorite name is still Kasper. Your mother has come around to it too. It was originally on some of the lists of names we had come up with, so it's floated around since we first started thinking about it.

We're not going to lock it in for sure yet. We're going to keep looking. See if there's anything we come up with that we like better. We'll even wait for you to come out and tell us if you suit Kasper or not. I'm guessing you probably don't want to stick with Blueberry. Also, that would contradict your mother's no duplicate initials rule... So that's out anyways.

I think Kasper works. I feel far more solidly for some reason with that than I ever did about Soren or Espen. It was 42nd most popular name to give a baby last year after many years of absence due to the folk tale. So it's not too far out there... and it's not a top ten overdone name.

Then again, it could all be for naught. You could be a girl. We'll see at some point in the next seven days. We're excited.

Let me introduce you...

So there's under three weeks now until you come out into our world.

Two weeks and two days until the due date, give or take two weeks of course. So, it really could be any day. I've always had the feeling you're going to be an April Fool's baby. No real reason to that, but that would make you a week late.

I suppose it's time to introduce you to your mother.

Of course, there is the fact that you've been inside her for almost 38 weeks now. You know her in a different way than I do. I'll tell you my vision of her.

Your mother is one of the most fascinating wonderful people I have ever known. I'll admit, I think you're pretty darn lucky to have her as your mother. I know that I'm pretty darn lucky to have her as my wife.

She'll stand up for you, she'll do everything in her power to protect you, she'll strive to make the world a better place for you.
She's incredibly intelligent... compassionate and giving... and I love seeing her smile, looking into her eyes.

She's a beautiful person and a great example of what we can be if we have morals and are not afraid to stand up for what we believe to be right.
I'm already wondering what pieces of her you're going to pick up. Will you have those eyes? Will you get her intelligence? Will you have her smile?
I know already I'll also love looking into your eyes.

I'm not going to tell you life is easy. It's not. Your mother has had a tough run of it at certain points. It's made her stronger... wiser. She'll do anything to make sure those things don't happen to you. Of course, as will I.

She's incredibly forgiving. So keep that in mind the first time you spill something on the couch or set the carpet on fire. She might be mad at first, but she'll get over it pretty quick. She's good like that.
She believes in the best in people. She has surrounded herself with a great crowd in doing that. Her excitement is infectious. It's hard not to get caught up in it.

She's inquisitive. She needs to know how things work and why. It's not enough just to know that they do work... she needs to know more.
She's an optimist. I am too. We both think that the cup is half full, even when that's a hard thing to believe.

She's made me better.

She has her flaws... we all do. But if the average person was more like her, the world you're about to come out into would be a much much better place.

I love her completely, with all my heart. Of course, there is room in that heart for you too... We both have big hearts.

And though she's going to miss it... She's looking forward to having you out in the world. She's looking forward to getting her belly back. We're looking forward to a new adventure with you along for the ride.


I'd say we're pretty lucky, you and I.