luke jeremy

[photos of Luke just 10 days old]

Jeremy will tell you that almost as soon as I know we're having a baby I'll bring up names. I can't help it. I'm a dreamer and I love daydreaming about different names and how they'll fit into our family. Jeremy pretty much rolls his eyes every time, especially when it's still four months until we even know if we're having a boy or a girl. What he doesn't know is I daydream about the names of our future kids all the time, so he should be grateful I don't bring that up more often ;) 

We had quite the list of boy names we liked, but kind of decided we weren't going to decide until down the road; maybe not even until we were in the hospital holding him for the first time. I always liked the idea of meeting the baby and then deciding. 

Not long after we found out we were having a boy, however, we were in the Temple doing an Endowment session. We hadn't gone to the Temple with the intent to know his name, but we came out knowing without a doubt what his name was. It was a really beautiful experience and one I'm excited to share with Luke someday. 

I think most of all I loved having such a powerful understanding of his middle name. We had talked on numerous occasions, even before we knew Luke was coming, about how difficult Jeremy's name is to use as a middle name. I think we'd kind of agreed we probably wouldn't ever use it just because we didn't like the way it flowed with most first names. But as I was sitting there in the Temple, knowing our tiny baby would be Luke and realizing how perfectly Jeremy fit together with Luke, I was completely overcome with a new love for my amazing husband, the father of my children. I realized how much I wanted our son to have a part of his dad with him always. To have a part of the man who gave him life and the man who was going to be an honorable example to him for the duration of his life. I love Jeremy so much and I hope my kids always know that. Especially Luke. It was a sweet experience for me to share all these thoughts and feelings with Jeremy in the Celestial room.

We chose together not to share Luke's name until he was born. It was a sacred experience learning his name and it was special to share it just between the two of us. Some people gave us a hard time for it, but I'm still glad we got to keep it between the two of us as husband and wife and as Luke's parents.

People talk about how you fall more in love with your spouse when you watch them become a parent, and that is certainly true, but I fell even more in love with Jeremy watching him with his son; a son who is named after him. It's been a special thing to watch and I look forward watching their relationship  grow.