Put this in the back of your mind

Sabatino

It's a name. It may be the name. Of whom, you ask. Our second son, that's who! No, I am not pregnant, nor do I plan to become so in the near future. It's just that we were talking about what on earth we'd do if, when the time comes to have another baby, it turned out to be a boy. You see, Anthony was the only boy name we could agree on. We have a number of perfect baby girl names to choose from, so we're hoping to avoid the whole mess by simply producing a female the next go-round, but since there's no guarantee (at least not on our budget), we are considering everything. In our discussion, I mentioned that I've recently fallen in love with the name Sebastian. Don is less than enamored with that, and I have one hang up: there's not a natural nickname for Sebastian. Basty? Seeb? I think not. Today one of us blurted out Sabatino, and we both paused for a moment. Hmm. Sabatino. Yes. Sabby- good. Tino- not as good, but could work in a pinch. It passes the nickname test, and Don likes it because, once again, it would sound like a tough guy (think: mobster) Sabatino Valdivieso.

Why do I mention this now, years and months before it would even be of importance? Because it is kind of an odd name, and I want you all dear friends, to have grown accustomed to it should the day come when we call you up to announce the birth of our baby. You'll say, "Oh, congratulations! What's his name?" And we'll (maybe) say, "Sabatino [insert super cool middle name here]" Then instead of you going, "Oh (awkward pause) that's nice" and thinking 'what the heck- where did this come from?? They're nuts!' you can say, "That's right, you mentioned that in a blog post some time ago. Great! I'm sure he's just the cutest little baby ever..." You see, I'm helping you out by freeing you of the initial shock that may cause an embarrassing conversation in the future. You can thank me later :)