Anderson's Story

Anderson's story begins much like Carter's. When I found out I was pregnant, I told myself not to hope for anything but a beautiful and healthy baby, but by the time May rolled around and I had my ultrasound I was hoping so much for a girl that I had confused my hoping for the "feeling." I still left room for error in my mind though and I wasn't completely surprised when the ultrasound technician typed "It's a boy" on the screen with an arrow. On the ride home from the hospital, Marc and I looked at each other and decided his name would be Nathaniel--after a little research, we decided on that spelling, too. So, he was Nathaniel, in my mind at least; Marc likes to wait until we've seen the baby first before we settle completely on a name. But in May that changed. I was watching Oprah the day she interviewed a certain CNN reporter. After hearing a bit of the interview and growing a certain respect for this reporter , I looked at Marc who was studying in the chair and said, "How do you like the name Anderson?" He liked it okay. Minutes later Oprah began asking Anderson Cooper about his childhood, and it was then that the name Anderson made our "list." When I heard them discuss Anderson's older brother, Carter I told Marc it was a sign--not that I usually believe in signs, but this was unignorable! We spent the summer mulling over our list of two names. At one point Marc, being completely serious, though I think he realized immediately his misuse of words, said we needed to narrow down our options. How much more narrow can you get? Well, labor came and our little boy was born, but the problem was he looked like he could fit Nathaniel or Anderson and I was simply exhausted after the birth so I told Marc that he could name him. It wasn't until we were in the recovery room that Marc told me he thought he was an Anderson. I agreed, but felt uneasy about it until we came home; Anderson seemed like such a large name for such a small person. But now I think it's absolutely perfect!