Jan 20 2014
What is in a Name? Denver and Miles

I am proud to report that our family grew by two on December 30th. My amazing wife Ashley carried our boys almost 38 weeks and they were born healthy and happy. Denver weighed 6lbs 13 ounces and Miles was exactly one pound lighter. Upon first sight it was obvious they look nothing alike. The shapes of their heads, color of their hair, and most of their features are quite different. Seemingly Miles looks more like his mom and Denver takes after me – seems like a fair deal all the way around.

Holy diapers – the consumption is pure insanity. Can’t wait til we switch to cloth . . . “Sorry honey but I have to go in to work a bit early today” . . . just kidding.

So a few people have asked why Denver and Miles. I have never found naming kids particularly easy so it makes sense that naming twins would be a challenge. Truth is – I won a bet. The doctor predicted the first time he heard our babies heartbeats that we were having two girls. Both hearts beat in excess of 170 beats per minute and the word on the street is baby girls have faster hearts than baby boys. My wife and I started talking baby names and we both immediately agreed on a name for a girl – June. I love that name – so does Ashley. Boys names were more elusive and while browsing baby name resources online I came across the name Denver and thought it was cool. My father was from Denver and absolutely loved the city. Coincidentally I like Denver too (and their football team). I threw the name out to Ashley and her reply was “No way – unless we end up with two boys.” So I confirmed – “So you are saying if we have two boys I can name one Denver?” and she replied “yes”.

At the 16 week mark we learned Ashley was growing boys. We were both fairly certain we saw at least one set of man parts during the 14 week ultrasound, but the ultrasound tech said it was too early to be sure. But at week 16 when the tech told us we were having two boys I replied with “Hello Denver.” Then I started calling the boys Denver A and Denver B. Ashley loved that. The name slowly grew on her. I would have let her off the hook if she regretted the bet we made, but by the time the boys arrived she like the name – so on December 30th were prepared to name one of them.

I had some ideas for what I wanted to name our other boy, but Ashley had some tough rules. It couldn’t be a top 50 name (holy s*** I just checked babycenter.com and they have Miles listed as #33 for 2014 – Miles might be the first child to have his name legally changed before he his one month old – I’m not telling her, but chances are she eventually reads this). Also Ashley definitely leaned toward the earthy name variety. I probably could have struck a deal early to name them Denver and Leaf, Denver and River, or Denver and Mud.

When they finally arrived we agreed the one that one who seemed to take after me would be Denver and I told Ashley to pick the name for the other one. I had a good idea what the finalists were and was OK with any of them. She chose the names Miles which I like a lot. The boys are named Denver Christopher (Denver for my father and Christopher after Ashley’s brother who died young – Christopher was his last name) and Miles Thomas (Thomas after Ashley’s dad Tom).

After we revealed their names there has been been some speculation about the name Miles being connected to Mile High – which isn’t the case – it’s a coincidence. Somebody pointed out that Miles is the name of the Denver Broncos mascot. I have had some fun with that and have given Ashley a hard time. “I name one of our boys Denver as a tribute to my father who is no longer alive and you go and name his brother after the mascot of the football team in Denver? You are making us look bad.” The truth is I really like both names and I so love these boys. How lucky am I? 10 years ago I thought my awesome older kids (13 year old Grace and 11 year old Pierce) were the extent of my reproduction. Then I inherit the coolest 5 year old stepson Grady and add Denver and Miles. It’s a blend – but it doesn’t get better than this. I am grateful.  I am also grateful for Ashley.  I could write a lot about the challenges of caring for twins – and I may down the road.  For now Ashley is kicking ass (and cleaning ass) and doing an amazing job.

 





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