Show and Tell Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!

 

Today I am linking up with Andrea for "Show and Tell Tuesday", be sure to grab the graphic and link up too!

Today we are telling about how we picked our children's names.  I always love hearing what people are going to name their new baby, and I always love if there is a story behind how they picked it.  I wish I had some great stories as to how we picked our kiddos names, but I don't! 

I think that picking a name for your child is probably one of the hardest things, it's not easy trying to pick a name to "fit" someone you have never even met. 

With all 5 pregnancies I found out what I was having, so I had plenty of time to decide on a name...but even 5 months wasn't long enough.  Out of the 5....only one of them wound up with the name I picked first.

Our first daughter, Brooke Alexandra, for the first day of her life her name was Danielle Renee, and after about 24 hours, I looked at her in the little hospital crib and thought, no way, she is definitely not a Danielle!  I remember to talking to my aunt on the phone, and she said Brooke is such a nice name, and it instantly felt "right", my mom loved the name Alexandra, and wanted me to name her that, so that is how I came up with Brooke Alexandra.  It's very funny to look through Brooke's baby book 23 years later and read cards from visitors that came to see us right after she was born, they all say Danielle....pretty funny!

Harrison Kenneth....the second I found out I was having a boy I knew immediately his name would be Harrison.  Everyone always asks...did you name him after Harrison Ford...the answer to that is NO.  I can remember reading through an issue of Soap Opera Digest, and I was a HUGE fan of Frisco and Felicia, and they were married in real life, and had a son named Harrison, it was from the second that I read that article that I knew when I had a son that would be his name.  I absolutely love the name, 19 years later, it is still my all time favorite name for a boy.  When I told everyone what we were naming him, they all had an opinion!  My mother would constantly say, they are going to call him Harry, you need to think about that.  Well, in almost 20 years, he has never once been called anything other than Harrison.  It is such a strong, solid name and I just love it.  His middle name Kenneth, that is my first husband's name, and we loved it together!

Jack Ryan....I have always loved the name Ryan, and knew it would be used as a middle name if I ever had another boy.  The name Jack is such a classic, great name.  The popularity of the name Jack is crazy...there is a Jack in just about every classroom these days...but I didn't care if it was trendy, popular or what...I loved the name and knew I needed a little Jack.  The name suits him perfectly, I have never once looked at him and thought, " I wish I named him something different".

AJ....we had the hardest time agreeing on a name we both liked....my husband at the time, HATED all the names I threw out there....I liked Mason, Max, Crew, Aidan and Parker....he wanted a more "normal" name...so against my better judgement I let him have the final say in the name...he picked Anthony Michael.  I remember sitting in the hospital signing the birth certificate paperwork thinking to myself what the hell is going on...I hate this name!  I am blaming it on the pain meds, as to why I went along with it.  So here we are with this adorable little boy and I would talk to him and call him Anthony, and I hated it...I mean I cried and cried about it.  I didn't want to call him Tony, as I didn't even like that any better than I did Anthony.  No lie for like 3 months I just called him baby...we thought about calling him by his middle name, since a lot of people do that, but we weren't loving Michael either.  One day we were at a family gathering, and I was chatting with my aunt, the same one who came up with the name Brooke for me, telling her how upset I was that we named him this...and she said, why don't you just give him a nickname and call him by that.  It sounded a bit crazy at first, but then I thought about it, and I actually know quite a few people who "go by" something other than their given birth name.  Kenny and I talked about it and he said let's just call him AJ....I immediately LOVED it...and it fit him PERFECTLY.  I know it is so crazy...because AJ doesn't stand for anything, but that is what we call him, and that is the ONLY name he will answer too.  Every year on open house when we go meet the teacher, his desk and such is always labeled as "Anthony", and he is quick to say, that isn't my name, just call me AJ.  If someone were to call him Anthony I don't even think he would think they were talking to him...his name is AJ...bottom line.  Lesson learned here....NEVER EVER let your husband name your child....lol!

Olivia Grace....each time I was pregnant with the boys, my girls name was always picked out, if any of the 3 boys were a girl, the name was going to be Isabella Grace...I have loved that name since I was pregnant with Harrison.  And the second I found out I was pregnant the last time, before I even had my first ultrasound, I said, if it's a girl, she will be named Isabella Grace, Kenny knew not to even challenge me about it after the whole naming AJ fiasco!  Well, as soon as we found out we were having a girl, my first thought was, I don't want to name her Isabella.  I have always loved the name Grace, so I knew that would be her middle name no matter what.  I was loving the name Ava...and so we decided to name her Ava Grace...and we told everyone that would be her name.  I remember Brooke had gone to paint pottery with some friends one night, and she came home and had made this sweet little purse and had written "Ava Grace" on it, I looked at it, and I went upstairs and started crying..I didn't want to name my daughter this.  I spent the next few months trying so hard to decide on the perfect name for my little girl.  I read every baby name book out there, I wanted something beautiful, something that if there could be a nickname attached, it was something I loved...Olivia Grace...it was perfect!  We call her Olivia, Liv and Livi, and they all suit her just perfectly.

So that's our story...how we picked our kiddos names.  Can't wait to ready what everyone else has to say.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for some Mother's Day Gifts!