What's in a name?

So, the moniker - Bellymonster.

One evening, years ago, I was complaining of stomach ache. "It's like there's something huge in there, moving about, " I moaned, convinced that I was dying, "I just want it to go awwwaayyy!"

My then boyfriend (now husband) Mark leaned over and jammed his head into my belly: "Belly Monster! GO!" and burst into gales of laughter. Nice, huh?

Cut to 2005 - we'd just discovered that I was pregnant, much to our absolute shock. (Did you know, that if, in 8 years of doing it, if you don't use a condom one time, you can get knocked up?)

"What should we call it?" I wondered aloud, suddenly feeling all mushy and glowy, the way the books promised I might.

Mark, leaning down to gently press his face into my still-flat (ish) belly: "Belly Monster! Grow."

And "it" did.

Belly Monster became Monster for short. Today we call him Matthew and he is my very heart. His brother, Luke (Belly Bean) was born last October and is my soul.

These days, I go by Bellymonster online, Belly for short. The name is as much a part of me as my boys are. Funny, how things go. And grow...