What's in a Name?

Well, we have decided on a name for our daughter!!! Yippee!!

When I was about 8 weeks pregnant, I had a dream one night that we were having a girl. It wasn't too strange other than she completely flipped around in the womb and you could visually see her turn --like complete outline of her body--which freaked me out a little bit. It's hard to describe really, but strange in my dream. So in this dream she already had a name.

When I woke up, I told G and he said, "I really like that!"  That was pretty much the extent of our conversation until after our genetic testing when we knew she was a girl. I asked him about it again, kept looking at other names but couldn't really find anything else that I loved or that seemed like it was supposed to be hers. So, first name set for sure. We had to move on to the middle name. G was looking for a European middle name --particularly Slovakian. He found a couple he kinda liked, a couple he liked but knew I'd hate and then we both found one...the same one. Meant to be.

First name, check. Middle name, check.

Moving onto last name.  Of course she'll have G's last name, as my name will also be his soon too. There was one more thing I wanted to happen though... I wanted this baby to have a connection to my family in name and primarily to A since they won't have the same last name. So, through my pregnancy emotional hormonal tears, I explained all of this to G and that I wanted my maiden name to be on her birth certificate too. He knows me, loves me and of course wants that for A and for me too. So, at last await....



That's the story of how she got her name...
We love it and her so much already!

5 Question Friday

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1. Have you ever had a celeb sighting?
Actually, I have met a lot of celebrities and been really lucky to have done so! I don't take that lightly how fortunate I have been. :)

One of my favorite" run-ins" though was in the Nashville airport in 1996, where I was buying a magazine and was in line behind Dick Clark buying...a Clark Bar. This was pre-digital camera and cellphone for me.

2. What temperature do you keep your house?
Usually around 62 (winter time). In the winter, we use blankets and in the summer we use fans!

3. Do you notice dust at other peoples homes?
Not really. I do notice that even though I grew up in the desert, there is MORE dust in PA in my house no matter how much I dust!

4. What's the worst job you ever had?
Hmmm....I sold pagers, yes, I'm that old, for about 3 days in a kiosk in the mall 18 years ago and it was AGONY! Hence, the 3 days.

5. What is your most sentimental possession?
This question is WAY too hard for me... my engagement ring, my "daddy's little girl" necklace my dad gave me when I was 18, my son's 1st shoes, photographs... I'm very sentimental. So those are just a few!

Happy Friday!

Mom 'n Me Monday

I've been reading a lot of pregnancy and mom blogs lately, thinking about my pregnancy, my miscarriage and my pregnancy 10 years ago a lot. The significant moments during each of those...

I came across one blog in particular that started a Monday bloghop about pictures of moms with their kids. Her post was very short and and the best kind of simple ~it was so moving that it brought me to tears...
*Click on the "Mom 'n Me Monday" button to link up and to see her blog*

It made me think about the moment I found out A was a boy during my pregnancy 10 years ago. I knew with everything in me that he was a boy from just about the beginning on. I was so happy to be having a son! I was even more in love with him from that moment on...

His dad and I divorced when he was 2 1/2 and until 3 years ago, it was just the two of us. We went through a lot together, just the two of us, and we have always been very close.

As I was thinking about his life from the moment I found out he was a boy on and how excited he is to now have a baby sister, I started mentally flipping through my photographs of he and I...

In anticipation of his sister's arrival, he asks a lot of questions about when he was a baby. :) He is really excited --he's already given his baby sister a nickname, he hugs my belly each morning and tells her "good morning", was so sweet when he said a few weeks ago "I think this one's gonna stick, Mom" (referring to our miscarriage last summer) and is just genuinely a caring big brother. I love him more than he will ever know and I decided to pick a couple pictures from further past moments that I loved for the "Mom 'n Me Monday".

In October 2004, after A and I had moved back to AZ from Tennessee the previous year, we headed to Nashville to attend one of my best friend's wedding. She was and is such an important part of both of our lives and has been since A was 11 weeks old.
At her reception, my almost 5 year old son asked me to dance with him... He wasn't quite sure what to do, but he had melted my heart with it... This was a picture taken during the 1st time my son asked me to dance...

In December 2005, I had completed my Bachelor's of Arts in Education at Arizona State University. This was the culmination of beginning college in 1990, a single 17 year old kid who left school a couple years later for a billion reasons, but it was to be my life's path. After my divorce, I returned a 30 year old single mother, determined to live a happy and hopeful life for myself and my son. A and I both went through my return to college and when graduation came, I couldn't have been more honored to have shared it with my son!

I actually am really good about taking pictures and also including myself in them...that started after my dad died when I was 22, so my family just knows, the camera goes everywhere and everyday life is captured in photos...

I am looking forward to many more pictures together with my son and many pictures with my daughter...for now, her pictures with me are just of my belly. :)