It's A......

BOY!  That's right, we are in business for boys around this house! :)  Hudson will have a little brother in late July.  So many of you have inquired about names and we have kept the boy name a secret until we knew for sure what we were having.  Well, now that we know for sure (it was pretty clear on the ultrasound), we will reveal this unique name:

Brazos Hays Hogg

Yes, we know that is unique, and I am nervous about sharing because I don't want to hear any negative comments, but we both agree that we like this unique name and since we like the unique name, let me share with you HOW we arrived at this name.....

Well, it's actually a funny story.  We could not agree on a boy name at all. Girl name was great and settled, but the boy name....ehhh....  So we were traveling to Lumberton for Christmas when we were discussing boy names.  I have a few weird stipulations about names now:

1. It must be six letters.  Some of you know my weirdness about numbers.  I love my bday number (211) that I even got married at 2:11.  Speaking of married, we also got married on 07-07-07 because of the weird number thing.

2. We also do not want a name that is too terribly common. We have heard of Hudson before we named him, but only knew about 3 total Hudsons then.

3. We thought it would be cool if we stuck with the water theme for boys.  (Lake) Travis, Hudson (River or Bay), etc.  I know, we are strange.

As we talked of these things, Travis kept naming several things that he would see along the way. Some were absurd, like Rio Grande, Tacoma, etc.  Then, we passed a sign for the Brazos River. I said, "we should just name the kid Brazos, it fits the qualifications..." and we both laughed.  Travis recalls the story a little differently and considering my faulty storytelling, he may be correct. Then, we got to Lumberton and shared our story with his family.  Let's just say they laughed it off and asked us to get serious about the name thing.  We chuckled too.  Well, on our way back to Austin, we started talking about it more and then we both just said to one another that we actually did like that for a name and it was growing on us.  Travis wanted to keep it a secret so we could reveal something at a later time. 

I was not totally sure, but then we started to research the meaning of the word, "brazos".  It is of Spanish origin (and we are not), but it means arms, feet and hands.  In fact, the Brazos River, which starts in Stonewall County and empties into the Gulf of Mexico, was named because it was thought to be the "hands and feet of God".  We both KNEW that was what we want this little boy to be.  We pray that he is the hands and feet of God.  Maybe he'll love that Audio Adrenaline song, "Hands and Feet"? 

As for the middle name, I know many of my kids at school will think I am a huge Hays Rebel fan, in fact so loyal that I name my son after the school.  WRONG. I have spirit, I mean I AM a cheer coach at Hays High School, but more importantly, this is a family name for us.  My paternal grandfather is Wilton Hays Killam.  My uncle is Wilton Hays Killam, Jr. and my cousin in Grider Hays Killam.  My great-grandmother's maiden name was Hays, and she is a close relative of THE Texas Ranger Jack C. Hays.  He is the namesake of Hays County and Hays High School.  There's some history for you!

So, in short, we like Brazos because it is six letters (like Meagan, Travis, Hudson, etc.), is unique, a body of water and has significant meaning.  Hays is a family name and I am so excited to tell my Granddaddy that we named this little boy after him and our other ancestors. 

Stay tuned for more information regarding the arrival of Brazos Hays Hogg. We learned today that he's healthy and right on track for growth.  He's such a blessing from God and a reminder to be the "hands and feet" of God. Coming July 2012!