Caution: Confusion ahead. . .

I found out today that my kid sister is going to be naming her new baby Isaac Douglas. He's due here sometime in July and I'll keep you updated on that. I was somewhat surprised to their choice of name. Isaac seems like such a Jewish name. Now, don't get the wrong idea. I have a ton of great Jewish friends and highly regard them and their culture. But our family is as WASPy as you can get, and add to it the fact that Whitney married a great guy who happens to be of Asian decent and...well, I think you kind of see where I'm headed here.

Names are a very deeply personal thing for new parents. They sometimes know right away what they will name their children. Others pick out a system for it, like all the kids names starting with "B" or perhaps they rhyme with one another. Still others agonize over thousands of names, just totally unsure of what that perfect name will be.

I will hand it to her though, there aren't that many Isaacs running around in our neighborhood, and I haven't notcied any recent baby-naming trends that include it on their top 10 list. Maybe she and Jack will start the newest trend in boy baby names -- who knows!

When i spoke to her on the phone, I asked her if she had a nick-name that she might use. "Izzy" was definately out of the question, but she's leaning toward Zach! A wonderful name, except for one small detail: Zach is also my cat's name and he's got 6 years on Isaac! So, when I mention "Zach" to my family, will they still be reminded of my little fuzzball at my house, or will his name be usurped by the newest HUMAN addition to our growing family?

Sounds petty, I know, but I suppose I never really had to think about it before, and everyone who knows me personally knows how deeply I care about my Zach. So now, I suppose I need to grow up a little bit and realize that we have TWO Dougs in our family (Doug Sr. & Doug Jr.) although we usually refer to Sr. as "Dad" and Jr. as"Doug" or "Dougy." We also have TWO Amys in the family as well, though one is usually AmyJo and the other is AmyAnn.

Now I'm thinking that I will have to place a claification on it with Zach. Will I use, "My Cat, Zach" or "The OTHER Zach" or will I just never mention his name in passing to my family again, "My feline did the funniest thing today..."

Again, I'm being totally screwy with this and it's immensely childish and selfish of me. I KNOW that I will love Whitney's new son with open arms and shower him with all the love and attention that I do my other nieces and nephews. But I may have to draw the line on calling him Zach!

Hey "Kiddo" Want to go for some ice cream?