Tagged! Kid's Names...

I was tagged by The Narretto Family to explain how I came up with my kid's names. So here goes starting with our oldest...

{Let me just start by telling you that I am a total name nerd. I tend to be slightly obsessive over names. Only few people have been able to understand my criteria so most names that have been thrown out there while I have been pregnant are nixed pretty quickly. It's very hard to explain my criteria~I'm a member of a naming board on baby center...yeah, I'm weird like that.}

Ainsley Elizabeth: (pronounced Ains-like rain and then lee)While searching for names my mom mentioned that she knew twins growing up named Ainsley and Adelaide. I thought Ainsley was very different but not too out there and just feminine enough and I had never heard of it before (this was 5 years ago) until we started watching The West Wing. Ainsley Hayes was the beautiful blonde on this show (Emily Proctor is the name of the actress) and for some reason that name stayed in our top 3. When I went into the hospital at 33 weeks and we found out that our baby girl would be born early, we were forced to decide very quickly and we both agreed without hesitation that her name would be Ainsley Elizabeth. Elizabeth is after Mike's grandmother's middle name.

Harper Elise: So as soon as I found out I was pregnant for the second time I started on my obsessive name search again. Once we found out it was a girl Mike was quick to say no to just about every single name I suggested. How he agreed to Ainsley I had no idea because the names I was suggesting were not too out there at all. But he was stubborn about it and would not budge. I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone telling her that I just needed another name that would "go" with Ainsley but that was different enough that I wouldn't start hearing it every where once she was born. She said "what about Harper?" "Oooh" I said, "I really like that but there is no way Mike will go for it". After I hung up I just knew that Harper was the name I had been looking for and was so nervous to bring it up to Mike. That night while we watched tv I nervously sat there thinking about how much I loved this name but all it was going to take was one swift "NO" from Mike and it would be gone forever. So I got the courage up and said "so what do you think about the name Harper?" -holding my breath I waited..."for a girl?" he said. "yes, that is what we're having" I said. "Hmm...not bad, we'll see" he said. We'll see-these two words mean YES in Mike talk. I was thrilled!! Harper it was and then I wanted something more feminine next to this name and I liked Elise since it is a derivative of Elizabeth so her and Ainsley would share a name in a sense.

Bennett Patrick: I've written about Bennett's name in the past so I will copy some of it from my post:

I was actually considering using Anderson before we settled on Bennett (we would've called him Anders, Anderson is my mom's maiden name) or Cooper (Cooper is Mike's Grandmother's maiden name). So when we found out about Bennett having Down syndrome, for some reason I changed my mind about Anders and Cooper, plus Mike was not totally on board with these names.

The name Bennett had been on my list from the beginning but for some reason it never made it to my top list. So when I opened up my baby name book to search for a new name for our son I came across Bennett again. Bennett means "Little Blessed One". I instantly thought this is the name. Although part of me thought, (I was still in my grieving stage) he's not blessed though, he has Down syndrome. How can anyone think he will be blessed? Again, it had only been a few days and I was still so upset, I couldn't even think past the diagnosis of Down syndrome and what it might mean for our lives. I thought, sure he will be a blessing but is he "blessed" when he has Down syndrome? I know this seems harsh but when you are in this situation, at least for me, it was so hard to see past the negative aspects at first.

The more I thought about it though I felt like this baby was blessed with something different. I felt like maybe he would be blessed with the gift of bringing out the best in people possibly, and I found out he had, even before he was born! Possibly he would help people see past a diagnosis and show them that sometimes what we perceive as hardships are really blessings in disguise! Sound familiar?:) And you know what? It was the only name Mike has never made a face at, or said no to or that he had to "think about". He agreed pretty quickly.

Patrick is Mike's middle name as well as his dad's middle name.

So there's how I came up with my kid's names. Now I will tag:

Milk, Noodles and Lot's of Laughter

The Wilkinson's:Life As We Know It

Raising Reid