The Name

Dylan sound asleep in her crib all swaddled up like a burrito.

Admittedly, we came upon Dylan very early on in our hunt for names. We knew we wanted a name with meaning and history to it. On a trip to Montana around Labor Day, Christine and I had an extended phone call discussing the fears and concerns of our impending parenthood. We both had reservations, but we were also excited about the prospects of a little one in our life. Names became a great way to blow off steam when those conversations of life with a baby became a bit too heavy.

On that trip to Montana, we got into an especially heavy conversation. I was in Montana working, Christine was home delving into pregnancy issues including ultrasounds and genetic counseling by herself (and with some help from friends). The procedures and information were scary at best. We were faced with some big decisions about diagnostic work to determine the health of our child. Big topics like this meant big worries followed up by a few tears and back to fears and tears when finally one of us would throw out a silly name suggestion just to break the tension. I won't even start in on the names that were thrown out, but most easily brought a smile to our faces.

The little one after a bath.

After one of my long days of driving back roads of Montana looking for locations for our shoot, I called Christine with the idea of Dillon as our child's name. It could go either boy or girl and had multiple spellings. Christine is fond of names for girls that also have a boy flavor to them. Gives the girls some grit and toughness, I think. The name seemed perfect.

Dillon, Montana is one of those places I had visited multiple times, but never spent much more than a night there: camping on the road side on my way to Jackson Hole or to Idaho to ski. Our good friend Bob stayed their multiple nights one summer when his VW van broke down and he was stranded waiting for the parts to arrive. As ussual, his good spirits allowed him to meet many of the locals and having a van meant he always had a place to sleep. I began liking Dillon. Its good people. All fed and happy with mom.

Three years ago, we began a tradition of packing up our bikes and dog and heading to Dillon for one of our favorite early summer activities: RATPOD. Ride Around The Pioneers in One Day is a bike ride through one of the most beautiful and hidden parts of Montana, and, RATPOD is a fundraiser for Camp Mak-A-Dream, a camp that provides a cost free summer fun experience for children with cancer. Kids from all over the world come to Montana to attend Camp Mak-A-Dream to have peer interaction, learn more about their life with cancer and to just have fun and be a kid. We've been supporting Camp Mak-A-Dream for a few years now and we've come to have many friends through them and it is an important thing for us. Dillon has really grown on us and certainly a place we look forward to visiting every summer.

Last year, Christine rode 75 miles while pregnant with Dylan. The ability to go and ride your bike and enjoy Montana and the outdoors just seemed like an engrained trait in our child, we thought we should give her a name that reflected that experinece. So, our little biscuit has always been known around here as Dylan. We had to work really hard not to spill the beans and let her name sneak out. We tried to go with a short version like "Lil D" or just "D" but often times, we just had to bite our lip. The diapers need changing, even in the wee hours of the night and Christine still does it with a smile on her face regardless of time!

Dylan shares a middle name with my mother, Linda Ray Gardner. She was given, as her parent's first born, her father's first name. Ray was my grandfather, a jolly man that worked hard in the woods as a logger, forrester and teacher. He loved to teach people the ways of the woods. He was the one that let me wield a chainsaw at age 10. He was the guy that danced around BBQ's with pairs of cherries over his ears and singing a little jig. Grandpa Ray was just one of those people you loved to hang out with and enjoy his company. And it seemed equally fitting to honor my mother. She inherited that hardworking philosophy from Grandpa Ray along with a kind heart, loving spirit and resiliance we hope Dylan inherits, too.

Nicole comes from Beans. That's Auntie Jill for those of you that don't know "Beans." Jill is the middle child of three from the McBride family. She was affectionatly know as "Jilly Bean" or "Jelly Beans" and "Beaner" and of course, "Beans." Now, around our house, Beans is Auntie and it is so fitting. You can see the love she has for Dylan when she holds her and takes care of her. I can only hope that Beaner doens't get Dylan in too much trouble when she's older. They'll have a fun time together for sure. Aunite Beans' middle name is Nicole. Christine wanted a piece of her sister in the name as a way to honor her love for her sister and treasured friend and in perfect Hawaiian style (Jill's home state now) Dylan has herself a long name and a long McBride history to live up to!

There you go, Dylan Ray Nicole Clark. Now just 11 days old today.
Those fingers!