The Name Game

Well, well, well.... I bet you didn't expect another one of these so soon. did you?
You can thank baby W for this ;) We've started this new thing the past week where Mommy wakes up for her second nightly bladder elimination (usually around 1 or 2am) and then baby girl thinks it's time to begin a gymnastics session. Just rolling and rolling (and occasionally jabbing) around in there. It's amazingly precious - and thank goodness because it's really cutting into my sleep! I'm sure this is part of nature's plan to get my body used to requiring less sleep to function, once again.

Anyway, I figured I'm not sleeping anyway and it's too late/early to be making noise cleaning up the house so why not blog?

So, the name game.... it's something we're still working on. Baby has a first name, but no middle just yet. It was not an easy thing to find a first name we both loved, so it certainly hasn't been easy settling on the less-prominently-used-but-equally-important middle name.

My husband and I have very different ideas and opinions about baby names and the naming process in general. I've been scouring baby name books, obsessed with choosing names for my children since as long as I can remember. I literally bought my first baby name book at a yard sale when I was in 3rd grade and I still have the book. It was published in 1957, I think, haha! Unfortunately, when J & I first started discussing baby names I learned that our styles are quite different and he has since vetoed every single one of the names I spent so much time falling in love with.
That's okay. There are plenty more names in the sea... right? Well sure.
So early on, before we were even married, we found a name for a boy that we both adore and it was settled. That wasn't so bad. Then, several months later when we found out we were having our first child... it's a girl (of course)! Well crap. I mean, YAY(!!!!), we were/are so happy about our girl but name wise it was the one we were far from prepared for. So, I was (still) hot on the search for a name, but every time I would find something that caught my attention, J would immediately shut it down. He didn't seem to like anything I came up with, nor was he coming up with any (reasonable) alternatives. (I'll explain my *reasonable* remark momentarily.)

Obviously I finally found a name that I adored and J surprisingly agreed that it could work. Hallelujah!
Auria ♥

From there, the middle name was easy because I've always hoped to pass along my middle name, which is my mother's maiden name. Again, very surprisingly, J accepted the choice and it was settled.

Well, we didn't wait to start thinking of girl's names until we were pregnant again, but it still took us a while to find something we could agree on. We did the same dance as before - I found names I'd fall in love with and J would shoot them down without a second thought. His name suggestions we always names that just seem ridiculous to me but I'm sure he is/was quite serious. I mean, come on... Zelda?! No.
For a short time we both loved the name Reese for a girl, it was actually pretty settled, but the more I tried to imagine the name on our future child, the harder it was, and eventually I fell out of love with it. (J is still bargaining for that name to have a chance at the middle spot this time but I have vetoed it - two can play that game :p). One day, I stumbled upon a name I'd heard before but never thought too much about. It was similar to another name I'd loved and J rejected, but this name I was sure would suit J's taste. Fast forward October 24, 2012. Auria's 2nd birthday and our ultrasound day -- it's a girl!
Waverly ♥

And so, we're still not settled on her full name but we have enough to call her something more than "the baby". We talk to big sister about her (I love the way A says her name!) and her name will be on our Christmas cards this year. I'm already so in love and it's such a joy getting to know her already. Even at 2am ;)