Friday, June 18, 2010

LeeLee and B name a baby!

Naming our baby. A HUGE task. But what girl hasn't thought about what she wants to name her children? I used to have a list written down in one of my journals - most of the names were names I thought were cute, names I had heard somewhere or names that were special to me. When we found out we were pregnant, I immediately started picking names with B. We had a list on our refrigerator for the longest time of our "top picks." I am SUPER old-fashioned, so most of my names were old family names, while B tends to be a little more contemporary, he chose names that were, well, different.


We knew that if we had a boy, his name would be James Harris, and we would call him "Hank." B's mother's maiden name is James, and my mother's maiden name is Harris, so it fit perfectly. We actually had another girl name picked out until I was about 12 weeks pregnant. (and no, I won't say, because we may use it if we have another girl).


Anyways, it was my Papa's 75th birthday, and we had a HUGE party for family and close friends at my grandparents' barn. I, of course, was HORRIBLY sick with morning sickness. I pretty much laid on the couch the entire time just watching everyone else eat. Not fun. So, I was wrapped up in this pretty little quilt that my granny had put together from old quilting squares from some family members that have been gone for quite some time. And on the back of the quilt, my granny had monogrammed all of the names of the women who had worked on the squares, and that's when I saw it....


Annie Louise


I had always known that I had an Aunt Louise, but never before had I known that Annie was her first name. I looked at B and said "If we have a girl, her name is going to be Annie Louise." And that was that.


My Aunt Louise died when my mom was young - she never married and lived in the same house she was born in with her 2 other sisters, who were also unmarried. I have grown up hearing stories about these women, and I hope that my own Annie Louise will leave her own legacy like her namesake did.

Introducing...

our sweet baby GIRL!

Yes, you read that correctly, we are having a baby girl. I have been so bad at blogging, but I have been religious about writing in my "Expecting a Miracle" pregnancy journal. That counts, right? Anyways, I had a feeling early on that we might be having a girl. Then, a couple of weeks before we had out big ultrasound, I just knew we were having a boy. I started picking out fabrics and outfits, and I even started calling my belly by our boy name we had picked out.


The week before our ultrasound date, I started having some mild cramping. I immediately called my doctor, and she had me come in. The second I heard that sweet little heartbeat, I lost it. Never before have I heard a sweeter sound. They did an ultrasound to check my cervix to make sure it wasn't preparing for pre-term labor - they squeezed me in really quick, and because B wasn't with me (my mom was - she came and picked me up from work to drive me to the doctor), the ultrasound tech identified the sex and wrote it down in an envelope and sealed it so we couldn't see it. Well, we had this BIG gender reveal party planned for the next week, so we quickly changed our plans and had everyone over for dinner that night. B and I opened the envelope in front of our family (my sister even got it on video), and I will NEVER EVER forget seeing "IT'S A GIRL!" B and I were so shocked, we could not believe. We both thought we were having a boy. I definitely did an ugly face cry. It was a precious moment, and I will always remember it.

So, here's our precious little miracle, named after my Great-Great Aunt, Annie Louise!