Ramblings About Names

Knowing what to name this kid has been very difficult. Our dilemma was/is that we want to have a name that will be somewhat easy to say here but yet aren't willing to give up the names that we like the most and even the spellings that we like the most. Problem is that that really counts alot of our names out.

For instance, I really like the name Swailey for a little girl. Firstly, that spelling here wouldn't give me the pronunciation I want. That doesn't matter too too much...lots of names in the United States don't sound like they are spelled...a little education (i.e., just telling everyone how it's said) goes a long way. But, another thing about this name is that a popular name here is Sueli (don't really know how to spell, but it's pronounced Sue-el-li. If we say Swailey (pronounced Sway-ly), will people tend to just start calling her the more popular name Sueli? I can relate to that (again, the whole Michawn-Michelle thing). I totally didn't mind it...like I've said before, even made me stand out more sometimes...forced me to talk more to whoever I was talking to. So, really...all of these little things are not enough to make us not pick a name if we think it's actually the name that we are supposed to name our child. Guess Swailey just wasn't it this time.

Another thing is that we wanted to try to avoid names that were already words here...as was the case with Eissa's original spelling of her name (Asa). The first name that we liked for a boy was Kai. Unfortunately, that pronunciation is also a word. It's spelled differently, but when said, sounds the same. It is spelled "cai" and means "you fall." O.K., whatever. Now, Caiu is a popular name around here...it happens to also be a form of that word and means "you fell." But, as far as we know, we are just going to go with another name...but, you can see some of the obstacles we come up against sometimes.

We aren't worried that much about it. We figure that even with an unusual name (and you know we will be using an unusual name), we will just have to help people with the spelling and pronunciation...no matter where we live.

Another thing that we wanted was for the pronunciation to be the same (or relatively the same...same vowel sounds at least) in English and Portuguese. That was another big obstacle.

BUT...I am happy to report that we have finally settled on names. YAY!! Thank God for some great time with Jesus and some answered prayer. The name thing was, for some reason, weighing heavy on me. I just wanted to have that ready.

Anyway, as soon as the little munchkin gets here, you will know the name. I'll even fill you in on what the alternate name was (if the baby is a boy, I'll tell you the girl name we wanted).

I'm very excited that that detail is taken care of. I mean, we could always change our minds I guess, but I'm at peace now.

And, some pictures...taken Saturday night after the party. Some pictures of bedtime...





Um, can you tell I like little people feet?


Trying to climb Grady's ladder.