Why Tzion and other thoughts from Mom

This will be a slightly long, but very meaningful post, so stay with me.

The Middle Name "TZION" (pronounced Zion).

Sometime during our engagement, Pedro let me know how important it was to him that we name our first son after his great-grandpa, grandpa and dad - the family tradition. Pedro was really close to his grandfather, who passed away while Pedro was on an LDS mission. So, before we were even married, I agreed to name our first son Pedro Puga. However, I figured since Pedro and tradition got to pick the first name, I should get to pick his middle name.

Because our son would have a name already made into an identity by three other men, I wanted him to have a middle name that was all his own - a name he could give identity and meaning to in his life. As his arrival grew closer, I realized some of the names I liked best were names that already had some meaning, such as names from prophets in the scriptures or modern-day apostles such as Gideon, Aaron, Joseph and Maxwell. I hope that when he thinks of his name, he will think of the examples of those who share his name and choose to follow examples of goodness. As his arrival grew even closer, I thought about the most influential men in my life and their examples of righteousness and love: my husband and my father. Well, our son was already going to get my husband's name, so I wanted his middle name to honor and remind him of his grandpa, my dad.

My dad is amazing! If you asked me to describe a nearly perfect father, I would just tell you about my dad. Why? He has his priorities in the right order. Putting God first helps him put his family nearly first. He works hard and smart and plays hard and smart.

My dad loves the mountains. With his love of family and love of mountains, we spent many family vacations enjoying God's magnificent creations of height and grandeur, and I also developed a love and appreciation of mountains and their potential for symbolism in life.

So, back to the name game. I searched for names meaning "mountain". I found several, but one of my favorites was Tzion, meaning "sunny mountain" or "highest point" in Hebrew. And, since it is used somewhat interchangably with Zion, which has so much significance for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I liked it even more as a name that would honor and reflect my father. Zion is the ideal where people live Christ-like lives with the priorities of faith and of family guiding every decision. This is how my dad strives to live his life.

So, Tzion it is. A lot of meaning in one name for one little boy. But, he'll grow into it.


Other thoughts:

One of my dear friends has a very adventurous, world-traveling, famous people-meeting, super cool opportunities fall into her lap type of life. I love her to death and get a kick out of reading her fun blog posts. I used to wish I could share her exciting adventures. Though I "knew" before, now, more than ever, I KNOW the greatest adventure and the most joy I could ever have is being a mom. Nothing compares to seeing your 3-day old little boy make a funny face that means he is hungry and being able to relieve that hunger in such an intimate, tender way. Nothing compares to watching him fall asleep as he nuzzles his head on your chest as I brush my lips across his fine dark hair. Nothing compares to hearing his father make up a song about his heritage as he tries to soothe him to sleep with a Spanish lullaby.

The beautiful red roses Pedro gave me brought the sweetest scent to our hospital room. And, the lilies (my favorite) in the other bouquet he gave me matched the picture of a lily on the wall - kinda fun. He knew I knew he would get me a bouquet of flowers, so as a surprise, he gave me two beautiful bouquets. I love my husband.

Pretty much all and any food (even hospital food) tastes great after giving birth. So, no I didn't mind the hospital food; what bugged was that they woke me up an hour before each meal to ask me if I wanted the chicken or the soup. I don't care. Let a sleep deprived new mom sleep!

Random tidbit my little sister will appreciate: David Archuleta had a concert in Minneapolis the day Pedrito T was born. We thought about going, but . . . .

I am so grateful for the delicious dinners our friends in the Relief Society have brought this week - especially the chocolate chip cookies and homemade whole wheat bread.