Googling

I'm a big fan of Googling your child's name before giving it to them.  You know, before you find out on your kids first birthday that they have the same name as a nudist colony or something.

So what comes up when you Google Hazel?  Of course a Wikipedia page about the color Hazel.  And some info on the old TV show Hazel (I watched an episode, too!).

But also?  Hazel is a pretty trendy kiddo.  There are several clothing stores named Hazel, with pretty awesome clothes!  Check them out:

  <-- Love this logo! 

You know what's awesome?  These outfits perfectly match what I imagine a clothing line named Hazel would look like.  :)

And you know... everyone needs a Hazel.  I love this!  It's a place where you can create postcards online & they'll print & mail them out for you!

It's also a restaurante in Minnesota that has a pretty cool back story.

There is also a Hazel, Kentucky-- a town with a population of 440 people over 4/10 of a square mile. Wow!  Is that the tiniest town in America, or something?  It is known for its small town charm & antique stores.  And every 1st Saturday in October, they celebrate Hazel Day.

Such a fun Google search!  I suggest doing it with your name!

How we chose Hazel...

I admit, it's been a week since I last posted.  It's really unlike me not to post, but sometimes life gets in the way & *gasp* there are other things more important, y'know?

At any rate, we finally decided on a name for our little girl...

 

A little info about the name Hazel:

-It was somewhat common back in the 1880s & 1890s, then pretty much dropped off the face of the planet until Julia Roberts named one of her twins Hazel.  That's why you mostly only see great grandmothers & kindergardeners with the name.  :)

-It's a tree.  It's also a nut.  And an eye color.  I figure she will probably be a nut.  :)

-It's a Bob Dylan song (who knew?)

-It was a main character on a sitcom before I was born.  This bothers my mom quite a bit!  :)  But she doesn't mention it much.

-It was used for boys some from 1900-1940.

It's an older name, which is kind of funny because I grew up with what I considered an older name.  But mine was only old by one generation... Hazel is old by, like, 3 or 4 generations!  And I have a feeling it will become more popular.  I also like that it's kind of a southern thing.  Not overwhelmingly, but just a hint of southern.  Bonus?  I went to Hazelwood Elementary.  That's not why we named her that, but when we were looking for a meaningful name, I went through things in my hometown, family members, etc, and Hazel was one of the names that I dug up from that.

Did we name her after anyone?  Yes & no.  The Hazel part is just because we really like the name... even though we both have family members named Hazel.  Catherine is definitely after Josh's great aunt.  She passed away nearly 2 years ago & had a profound impact on his life.  He mentioned it one day, and I think the name is pretty anyway, plus, I like his aunt, so why not?  I also like that it's a pretty common, traditional middle name.  My middle name is Elizabeth, and they seem in the same category for me.  In case she absolutely hates her first name later on, she at least has a name that has been common for centuries to fall back on!

Picking a name was not an easy task for us.  I imagine it isn't for any parent.  It's a huge responsibility... a name that will follow the child for their entire life.  So Josh & I had some criteria for picking a name:

1) Easy so spell

2) Easy to pronounce

3) Easily recognizeable

4) Not overly common

Why were these so important to us?  Well, we both have pretty common names, and we like that people don't have to constantly ask us how to spell our names... or just misspell/mispronounce them.  We didn't want her to be stuck with an out-there name that 'sounded cool at the time.'  But we also didn't want the world's most popular name because we kind of like to march to the beat of a different drum a bit.

We went through a ton of names!  Some of the front runners were:

Madison - too common

Madelyn - too common

Katelynn Julianne - funny spelling & too common (I realize we could just change the spelling, but Anne & Lynn are our mother's middle names, so the spelling was important to us on this one)

Isla (pronounced eye-luh) - don't think I need to explain why this one didn't make the cut

Ella

Elodie - a little too uncommon, making it questionable to pronounce

Willow

According to our 'criteria,' the only 2 names that could possibly survive are Ella & Willow.  Which is kind of cool because both of those could be great sister names for Hazel.

We also dealt with the perfect name with a perfect nickname (not that I'm all about nicknames, but if it's a good one, that's a bonus)... but a blaring reason why we can't name our child by that name.  We have someone close to us that lost someone very close to them... who had exactly the same name.  Truthfully, if we asked this person about it, s/he would say that it's totally fine & not to worry about it... but I know that this person would think about it all the time & it would open up old wounds... so why even go there?

And why was Willow not my fave?  It certainly was a favorite with most people we asked.  I just have one thing to say (because I haven't seen the movie-- I'm certain I'd have more to say if I had):

I whip my hair back and forth!

28 & counting...

I'm now a little over 28 weeks pregnant.  I've been fighting off being sick for a week, and I have never been so tired in my entire life!  Like, you know that moment where you're soooo exhausted, but you're also kind of hyped up & it's only 6pm so you don't want to go to sleep?  And you also feel like a Mack Truck just hit you?

Yeah... that's the feeling.

I have to say, it's better than morning sickness-- definitely better than that.  But wow...

And for the stats... about 2.25 lbs, and almost 15 inches!  She has eyelashes, and can blink her eyes-- which means she sees light that filters in through the womb!  Although, it can't possibly be much since I usually have a few layers covering my tummy, and now the added coat!

I love feeling her move-- little nudges reminding me that she's there.  Believe it or not, I forget quite often that I'm pregnant.  I remember when I try to bend in a certain way, or take a deep breath.  I find myself sighing a lot more & taking deep breaths lately.  I'm not sad-- just need some extra air in my lungs!

As far as names, we're still debating our top two & going back & forth.  My parents named me from a dream one of them had, so I was kind of hoping for the same thing.  And then... I had a dream about a little baby I had & her name way... Norah.  Specifically, Norah with an 'h.'

Really odd name choice for me to dream about.   I woke up feeling a little funny, to tell you the truth.  I really kind of thought if I had a dream, that would be the end of the name quest.  But Norah?  Norah is not something I would normally choose.  But was I supposed to now use that name? When I first mentioned it to Josh, he immediately said, "Like Norah Jones?"  I hadn't thought of it... but yes.  Spelled just like that.

Why does Norah strike me as sooo odd?  When we were little, we had a black & white short haired cat named Kitty.  My sister was up in the woods playing one day & found a long haired black & white cat. Other than the colors, these cats looked nothing alike.  I mean, one had this silky slick short coat, and the other had this wildly long, dull hair.  So my sister, thinking it was our cat, brought it home, and named it Nora.  Without an 'h.'  I remember thinking, "What kind of name is that?  And why would a kid her age choose to name a cat Nora of all things?  Why not Jingles or something?"

So that's my experience with the name Nora/h.  But strangely, when I woke up, I started to love the name.  It means "light."  That loving feeling has since worn off, and I don't think we'll be naming our little girl Norah, but it was interesting to entertain for a bit!

Who I wanna be when I grow up.

"If I could teach the world to sing... in perfect harmony..."

Know that song?  Now sing these words:

"When I grow up I wanna be..."  I don't remember the rest of it.

My elementary school was notorious for changing the lyrics to songs.  As a result I grew up singing the wrong lyrics a lot in public situations.

"Doe, a deer, a teacher deer.  Ray, a ray of bright sunshine!  Me, oh please remember me.  Fa, don't leave us far behind!"

Know that song?  Ever heard of 'The Sound of Music'?  (I know the punctuation is wrong there, but doesn't it make more sense in this particular situation?)

"So, you're really gonna leave.  La, Alaska you will go.  Tea, you'll have it caffeine free!  And we know you'll spend your dough, oh oh oh."

[Raise your hand if you were in 5th grade the year Ms. Feichter retired.]

She was our music teacher.

I digress (as usual).

Back to "When I grow up I wanna be..."

I wasn't the little kid with a dream for when I grew up.  Is that weird?  Is anything I do not weird?

When I was really little wanted to be a figure skater.  But when I was about 10 and hadn't skated a day in my life, I kind of gave up on that.

And when I was 13 and finally did go ice skating I really gave up on that.  I'm worse than the Girl Scout troop holding on to the railing for dear life.

As in, I'm scared to pass them.

And I suppose I wanted to be a singer.  But again, I didn't really thing that it would happen, except for maybe if the Spice Girls' agent was driving down the side streets of my small hometown while me and my friends practiced our routine.

Never know where you're going to find the next talent, right?

I was kind of hoping to marry rich there for awhile, but let's face it.  I'm not Desperate Housewives material.  I'm just not tall enough, and I don't like gardening or victorian style furniture.

And I have also developed some strange vendetta against large houses.  I'm sure I'll get over that one day.  But for right now, I don't want more bedrooms than there are people in the house.

I promise I'm going somewhere with this.  It may not be related to anything I've said so far, but what else is new?

So now I know what I want to be when I grow up.  I think before I felt too limited to one thing.

Most photos on this page courtesy of Google.com

Okay, so she may not be the best role model, but I want to look like a shorter version of Victoria Beckam.  I loved her when her last name was Adams.  I really can't place my finger on it, but she's cool in my book.  Don't care if I'm not as skinny, but I do want to be a bit smaller.  And I like her hair.  No matter if she has it short or long, she pulls it off well.  Kate Gosselin nearly ruined it, but she will fade and Posh Spice will still be there.

 

My, ahem, chest will never look like that, though... and that's quite alright with me!  Heck, I'm scared to get lasik eye surgery!  Oooh, but I want it so bad... no more glasses or contacts would be awesome!

Wouldn't mind having her jawline, though.

Next up is Ree Drummond.  The Pioneer Woman!  She blogs, takes pictures, cooks, home schools and has 4 kids.

Josh already put the ax to homeschooling, and that's okay.  Our kids would be hermits if I homeschooled them.  And honestly, I don't care to cook much.  I do it for survival and to surprise Josh, but that's about it.

But Ree, she blogs.  For a living.  It's taken her places.  I like that.

And I want 4 kids.  Two boys and two girls, just like she has.  They can be in any order, though.  I even have their names picked out.

Julianna Katelynn

Madison Elizabeth (or Madison Sierra if you ask Josh)

Brooks Lee

Winston Everett (or Everett Winston?  We like both names but may mix & match)

Dooce (Heather Armstrong) is also an amazing blogger who makes more than a living at it.

Both of these women are amazing photographers as well.  Which is another thing I want to be when I grow up.

I don't dream of portrait studios or backdrops, but I know they'll be in my future.  My canvas is the world, and the people in it are the masterpiece.  I'm not personally a fan of nature photography.  Sure, I appreciate it, but it's not what I'm passionate about.  I love people.  I love capturing them, remembering them forever.  I especially love what mother's tell me when they see their children in photographs.  When it takes their breath away.  To know that I've helped make a memory for a family.  That's huge to me, and I plan to do a lot more of it.

Photo by: Blue Frame Photography

And last, but most certainly not least.  I don't even know how to categorize this in the "what I want to be when I grow up" except to say that I want to love my family more and more.  And show them.  It's amazing how well these people get along.  I want to build a home on family property.  Have I shown it to you (only a million times)?

[I do have a confession, nothing in this picture belongs to my family.  It's our neighbors land, looking down the mountain from our property.  But let's just say I could get used to driving out of my driveway and seeing this everyday.]

I should also mention that I spent the first 19 years of my life seeing this.

One by one our family migrates to the top of this mountain.  I want my kids to grow up running downhill to visit their grandparents.  I want my kids and my nieces and nephews to spend their summers painting turtles and making dog pens into paper airplane clubs (which is totally what we did growing up).  I honestly don't know if that will be possible, time wise, but we'll see.

So that's what I want to be when I grow up.  I was blessed and lucky enough to meet my awesome hubby before I grew up, so that's already marked off my list!  In case you were wondering...

Now it's your turn... what do you want to be when you grow up? 

Hi, my name is Megan.

Or is it Meghan?  I hope it's Megan.  I really have a complex with that extra "h."

It's like the extra "a" in Rachael.

What?

Huh?

Oh yeah.  You have no idea what I'm talking about.

Before I was born, my parents didn't know whether I was going to be a boy or a girl.  I think they were hoping for a girl, though.  My mom was anyway, seeing as she already had 3 sons.

They had a name picked out: Megan.

Pretty name, huh?  I like it!

["What name did you have picked out if I was a boy?"  "We didn't have a boy name picked out."]

But at some point in time during the pregnancy, both of my parents had dreams that they had a little girl named Susan.

C.R.E.E.P.Y.

And it makes me feel special.

I mean, heck, didn't people in the Bible have dreams about what to name their kids?

At any rate, all my life, people have accidentally called me Megan.  Something about me just says, "Hi, my name is Megan."  And I've even answered to it a few times.

The other day I was at the office and two of my new co-workers came over and asked, "What is your middle name?"

"Why do you want to know?"  [Deep down, names fascinate me.  And for some reason, I knew Megan was going to be involved in this convo.]

"Is it Megan?"

After I composed myself I told them the short version of everything.  Both of them kept almost calling me Megan and they secretly wondered if it was my middle name.

W.E.I.R.D.

I've now decided that I should have an alter-ego named Megan.  Too bad I didn't think of that a few years ago... that could have been my pen name for this blog!

Every time I share a weird story like this, someone else has something similar to share... so share away!  Fascinate me!

What's in a name?

Here's an interesting article.  It's short in itself, but the short of it is that in a UK poll of 3,000 British parents, 1 in 5 regretted the name they chose for their child.


Okay, so surveying 3,000 people isn't the most official poll.  And it was done in the UK.  Who knows what they're naming their kids over there?  But it's still interesting.


I say that because weird names are another one of my pet peeves.  If a name is hard to pronounce correctly, or easily misspelled, then it can be tough on a kid (and when they're an adult, too).


Have I mentioned that I love thinking about names?


My name is easy.  Susan.  It's right up there with Mary or Jennifer.  Not hard to spell.


And I hated my name until I got to college.  "That's my mom's name!"  I hated hearing that.  "I have an Aunt Susan!"  That too.


But now I'm so thankful for my name.  It could have been much, much worse.  At least mine is easy to spell and hard to mispronounce.


Unique names are really cool, but when it's hard to pronounce or spell them correctly, that's got to be annoying.

Your thoughts?

What's in a Name?

Josh and I want nine curly haired blond headed kids.

Give or take a few.

Just not yet.

Oh, and they probably will have thin, straight, brown hair.  But one can hope, right?

But that doesn't mean that we haven't though of names for them... in detail.

Which brings me to my point... what's in a name?  I imagine some name choices go down like this:

Doctor: "Congrats!  It's a girl!  What's her name?"

Mom: "Name?  Uhhh.....  for my kid? ...  How about... Jesicca? J-E-S-I-C-C-A."

Doctor: "Ooookkkaaayyyy..."

You've met those kids as they grow up.  They're the ones that go by their middle name, which is something like 'Mahlika.'

And then there's the names that I probably shouldn't mention on my blog, but I will anyway.  There is at least one person in the world with each of these names.  I couldn't make them up.

Placenta.  (How pretty!)

Pajama.  (PA-juh-muh)

Shithead. (shi-thead)

Nosmo.  (Last name: King.  Nosmo King... Nosmoking... No Smoking)

Twins: Nova & Candy  (Last name: Cane)

------

Josh and I have considered a lot as we name our non-existant-yet children.  We liked Everett Lee Fowler, but his initials would be ELF.  Can't really monogram anything there.  Ever.

Here's the names we have picked out.  I'm a planner, can you tell?  Note: These will likely change because, well because they're not on a birth certificate yet!  Nothing is ever set in stone until then.

Girls:

Madison Elizabeth (Josh loves the name Madison, and Elizabeth is my middle name)

--meaning: Madison: son of Matthew, which means God's gift; Elizabeth: consecrated to God

Julianna Katelynn (This is my favorite!  My mom's middle name is Anne; Mother-in-law's middle name is Lynn.)

--meaning: Julianna: youthful & gracious; Katelynn: pure & pretty one

Boys:

Winston Lee (Winston is Josh's middle name; Lee is a family name of mine- Dad & brother & cousin's & grandfather's middle names)

--meaning: Winston: victory town; Lee: sheltered from the storm

Everett Pressley (We wanted to honor Josh's grandfather because he was a huge impact on his life, but weren't in love with any of the names directly from him.  But he taught Josh how to play piano on an Everett piano.  Bingo-- we love it!  Pressley is my maiden name.  I'm not really sure if I like it as a middle name.  Don't want the poor kid to get made fun of at school.  Makes a fine last name, but not sure about middle name.)

--meaning: Everett: strong; Pressley: can't find a meaning- it's a last name!

Brooks  (I can't remember the middle name we like with that.  But it was my great-grandmother's maiden name.  She died last year and I think it's a rockin' name!  I didn't realize that anyone else had named their kids that until I started searching around.  I still love it!)

--meaning: Brooks: a stream

What did you name your kids (& why)?  Or, if you don't have any yet, what do you want to name them?

Horrible Names for your Children

Josh and I love to think about baby names (ok, well, I do, anyways!), even though we don't plan on having them for several more years. We also get a little silly most of the time, and this is what we usually end up with: a list of horrible names that no one should ever name their children. Most of them are screwed up phonetics and lots of silent letters. This was originally birthed out of the random way people spell kids' names these days, especially in western NC. It get's a little ridiculous! My mom knows a kid with an apostrophe in his name! Anywho, enjoy!

(in parenthesis is how it would be pronounced)

11) Phrainck (Frank)
10) Jackoabeh (Jacob)
9) Maurthaheh (Martha)
8) any State name in the US, or the world for that matter (with the exception of Dakota and Virginia)
7) Mattelion (Madeline)
6) Marjey (Margie)
5) Mursaihdeezh (Mercedes)
4) Fillap (Phillip)
3) 8rian or Eighdrian (Adrian)
2) Bowelfore (Balfour)

and last, but certainly not least:

1) Tioneekwah (Shanekwah-- okay, I don't know how to spell that the 'normal' way!)


And if you didn't understand any of that, then you just don't know Josh and I well enough. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!