Going through all of my boxes of crap that I kept from when I was younger, I often found pages and pages of 8+ names of children - first and middle . . . and sometimes last - that I wanted in the future. If any of these names made it past my high school years and into college, then they were quickly vetoed upon marriage.
A few years after Elliot and I were married and trying desperately to have children, Elliot brought up the name STELLA. Are you kidding me? I had just thought of that same name that same day and didn't say anything about it. There we had it. Our first daughter's name would be STELLA. Of course, when we finally got pregnant, I tried to have other options. We didn't even think of a boy name, we just had STELLA & OLIVIA. During the ultrasound when we found out she was a girl, Elliot decided that she was STELLA. It took me a few more weeks, but she was definitely Stella.
And now that she is 7-years-old, I cannot imagine her with a different name. She's perfect.
We've had quite a bit of time over the last 7 years to contemplate and come up with different names for the children we hoped to have. Tastes have changed, some names have gotten old, some have gotten popular and therefore vetoed, and some shouldn't have been on the list in the first place. We had a few boy names on the back-burner, but both of us never thought we'd have any boys. Elliot was sure we were just going to make girls.
We have girl names. Lots of them. We could have at least 5 more daughters and be perfectly satisfied with their names. Boys . . . not so much. All of the names we had before were quickly vetoed (by me) when we found out we were pregnant because I KNEW I was having a boy. Elliot was still sure we were having a girl. Even after we found out he was a boy, he went through several weeks of denial (he denies his denial, but it happened folks).
The only name we had for a boy was MALCOLM. So when we had the ultrasound, I was sure our little guy was going to be Malcolm and I was happy about that. However, Elliot totally threw a wrench in my party and said he wasn't feeling it. I was like, whatever . . . you still think we're having a girl, but he started suggesting other names. MAXWELL . . . vetoed because I think it's over-used . . . I like it, but over-used.
We went back to our old names that we had previously vetoed (and we vetoed again): ELIJAH (we can't agree on how you pronounce it), McCOY, JACK, DUNCAN, DEWEY, . . . none of them fit. So we went back to the drawing board and just threw out some names. Here's what we came up with:
MALCOLM, DEWEY, DUNCAN, SPENCER, JACK, EZEKIEL, McCOY, HENRY, VINTON, PHINEAS, ORSON, WILLIAM, MAXWELL, CHARLES, EZRA, OWEN, ORRIN, ELIJAH, OLIVER, and MOSES. All 3 of us went through and said yes, no, or middle name and made a new list. I quickly decided that Stella didn't know what she really thought and she gets to have her own kids someday, so her votes were canceled.
We narrowed it down to our top 6 names: MALCOLM, PHINEAS, ZEKE, DEWEY, JACK, and MOSES and we put middle names with them (Elliot, Duncan, Spencer, Vinton, Dewey, Henry, McCoy, Elijah, Kent, Adams . . . mostly family names). Then Elliot and I separately voted on the names we thought went together the best and made a new list from that.
We went through it again and again and again, saying them out loud, putting them with Stella's name, yelling it with our angry eyes, coming up with possible nicknames, . . . we had to take a break. But not before I vetoed Dewey because of the way Elliot kept saying it like a moron. Break time. This was all in April and we didn't discuss it again until June.
People hardly even ask me how I'm feeling anymore, they mostly just ask what we're going to name him. I don't know how people don't decide until they see their baby or how they keep it a secret . . . we're not trying to do any of that! We really want to name him, we just can't agree! And another thing I slowly learned is that when people ask, "What names are you thinking of?" what they really mean is, "Let me give my unsolicited opinion on each of your names."
Elliot vetoed ZEKE because he didn't like EZEKIEL. I vetoed JACK for some reason, someone said that PHINEAS would get made fun of (load of crap, have you heard any of the other names people name their kids? If you're the one making fun of him, you're a jerk), so Elliot vetoed that name even though I kept throwing it back on the list. Elliot vetoed MOSES because he said he'd probably call him Mos (Dwight's cousin from The Office). DEWEY was already gone, so we were left with MALCOLM again. And I was totally happy with that name. Elliot, not so much.
Somehow we also tossed around BENNETT and HARMON for a while, but I can't remember how they got off the list, if they're off the list.
Then one day Elliot came up with McALLISTER and was super excited because he could call him MAC. I vetoed it right away, but he kept telling people about it, Stella told people about it, and I told people about it and I haven't met anybody who didn't think it was totally cute . . . except me. So Elliot and Stella have been pushing MAC on me for the last month and for some reason I just can't do it. It's not his name. Even with Elliot's many attempts at manipulating me into thinking that I needed to repent of something so that the Spirit could confirm to me that his name was MAC, it's just not his name.
Knowing our history and the fact that we could very well be on a 7-year plan for having children, this might be our last child (I'm not having babies when I'm 40). I don't think this is our last child, but Elliot does . . . or did, until I convinced him that McALLISTER is not this child's name, but that if he feels so strongly about the name, maybe it's the next one.
One night as we were saying our family prayers, Elliot asked for inspiration to find a name for our son and immediately the name FINN came to my mind. I wrote it on the white board right after the prayer. I didn't know what we were going to do because I was now sure his name was FINN, but Elliot had already vetoed PHINEAS and refuses to name a child a nickname. So I thought of FINLEY.
So last week for about 2 hours, his name was FINLEY. Now he's back to being called BABY BROTHER or THE BOY. I know we saw some junk there on the ultrasound, but seriously, it would be so much easier if he ended up being a girl.
Against all of my protests, I guess we'll have to see this little guy to know who he is. And we can't wait!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
I. LOVE. IT!
I blame it entirely on pregnancy hormones. I shouldn't choose paint colors during that time, though I do believe I did a good job this time. Seven years ago when we painted the bathroom before we moved in, I was looking more for a peachy color and ended up with this gosh awful pink (actually, it's called passion fruit). Seven years my friends, seven years it's been this color and though there are about 99 other things I could probably be doing instead of doing a bathroom project, here it is. And I love it.
I didn't do a thing. I just got to play with their totally adorable kiddos (Brynlee and Ellie weren't available for photo opp)!
Elliot's beautiful cousins Ciera, Josie, and Laura at the 4th of July concert in Utah.
Seconds after we arrived at Aunt Ruth's home in Highland, Utah for the reunion, Stella had Rebecca in her control and dressing her up and applying make-up. She made the other family members serve her as well. I'm not positive, but I actually think they liked it.
And this beauty. I'm a great travel companion.
Stella just lost her other front tooth on Monday at school! Occasionally she exaggerates her lisp and can't stop looking at herself in the mirror (what's new), but when she's just talking normal, it's the cutest lisp EVER!
It looks like a rental house carpet. Gross. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
With my new burst of energy, Monday happened to be the day that I finally decided to get it done. I only did half of the living room on Monday and then finished on Tuesday so we'd have a place for our family to play.
I kept sending picture text updates to Elliot throughout the day to show him how disgusting our carpets were.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Elliot
Stella
Jeff Yeates
Grace Yeates
Nick Walker
Lindsay Walker
Georgia Walker
.mp4)
I told Stella at the beginning of the summer that if she read 50 books by the end of the summer, I would take her to get a manicure and pedicure. She was a little overwhelmed by the number 50 at first, but once we started writing the titles down, she got excited about it and loved the challenge.
I got a pedicure too because I'm the Mommy and I've been pregnant for 10 months. It's a good reward for both of us.
Her teacher is Joy Woodmansee and used to babysit her in the Kid's Club at my gym a couple of years ago.
Stella started right in on her homework after school which was a delightful change from last year. Of course the assignment was called "All About Me," which Stella LOVES. I love her too. It's going to be a great year!
. . . also a little weird.
She's still learning how to put them on correctly. Who doesn't look a little dorky in goggles?
My doctor said his due date was August 10th, but according to my calculations (which I've gotten really good at doing for the past 7 years) his due date is August 14th.
(back: Bailee Anderson, Rachel Russell, Alex Harms, Stella Dibble, Hannah Bangart, Allison Farar, Claire Dibble, Clark Campbell, Brynlee Bangart; front: Mylee Anderson, Lucy Dibble, Anabelle Dibble, Raymond Dibble, George Dibble, Karson Haskell, Brooklyn Haskell, and the crazy kid is Justin Cook)
And now that she is 7-years-old, I cannot imagine her with a different name. She's perfect.
The only name we had for a boy was MALCOLM. So when we had the ultrasound, I was sure our little guy was going to be Malcolm and I was happy about that. However, Elliot totally threw a wrench in my party and said he wasn't feeling it. I was like, whatever . . . you still think we're having a girl, but he started suggesting other names. MAXWELL . . . vetoed because I think it's over-used . . . I like it, but over-used.
MALCOLM, DEWEY, DUNCAN, SPENCER, JACK, EZEKIEL, McCOY, HENRY, VINTON, PHINEAS, ORSON, WILLIAM, MAXWELL, CHARLES, EZRA, OWEN, ORRIN, ELIJAH, OLIVER, and MOSES. All 3 of us went through and said yes, no, or middle name and made a new list. I quickly decided that Stella didn't know what she really thought and she gets to have her own kids someday, so her votes were canceled.
We narrowed it down to our top 6 names: MALCOLM, PHINEAS, ZEKE, DEWEY, JACK, and MOSES and we put middle names with them (Elliot, Duncan, Spencer, Vinton, Dewey, Henry, McCoy, Elijah, Kent, Adams . . . mostly family names). Then Elliot and I separately voted on the names we thought went together the best and made a new list from that.
We went through it again and again and again, saying them out loud, putting them with Stella's name, yelling it with our angry eyes, coming up with possible nicknames, . . . we had to take a break. But not before I vetoed Dewey because of the way Elliot kept saying it like a moron. Break time. This was all in April and we didn't discuss it again until June.