What's in a name?

What is in a name? Picking out baby names has always been something I have enjoyed. When my mom was pregnant with my brother I always had names picked out for him (I thought it was a her) at the time I didn't understand that the baby in my mom's tummy would definitely be 100% white (pardon the non politically correctness I was 3!) I had names for a white or a black baby. Then when I was in early elementary  I wanted my daughter to be named Rose. Then I fell in love with the names Ellie and Emmy, after a pair of twin girls I know! As I grew older my names changed. Then I got into teaching.
    Boy can teaching put a damper on the name game! It is amazing how a kid can make an impression on a name, so when you think about that name you can't help but think of that student, it can be good or bad. I remember my first years of teaching wanting an Emily and Elayna (Emmy and Ellie) Ethan and Emory, then I wanted Natalie and Brooke and Ethan. It's funny how much things can change. When it came time to finally pick out names for our future child we knew that our name had to fit the following criteria...  First, it couldn't be in the top 30 most popular names. Second, We wanted it to have family history somehow. Third, If the name was in the top 100 we wanted to spell it uniquely. The last thing we wanted was our son or daughter to have to go by Ethan I. or Emily I their entire life. No one wants to be the 3rd or 4th kid with the same name in a class.
      So here is what we came up with... now we are having a girl this time but if we were to have a boy (and if God blesses us with a boy next time) his name will be Carsen James. Carsen is from a Carsten in the Idler family tree, but we thought it was a little hard to say so we dropped the 't' and James is from Jeremy's Grandpa Gifford, James. But as I announced in a previous post we are having a little girl. We had decided on a little girls name almost 2 years ago when we first started trying for a baby we always knew her name would be Catelynn Mary. Cate after my grandma Kathleen, Lynn after my Aunt Jeannie Lynn and Mary after my Aunt Pamela Mary. I loved our boy and girl names dearly but  I REALLY wanted a girl so we could honor these 3 women in our family.
      All 3 of these ladies that Catelynn is named after have gone home to be with the Lord. I never met my Grandma Katie but what I know of her I know I would have loved her. My Aunt Jeannie died from stomach cancer the weekend we found out we were pregnant. I actually had no idea her middle name was Lynn until I was about 6 weeks pregnant my mom said it would be really special if you could include your Aunt Jeannie's middle name somehow in your girl name (my mom didn't know the name she just knew I was going to include my grandma's name and Aunt Pam's middle name somehow). I asked my mom what her middle name was and she said Lynn. I was floored because it had always been Catelynn. We didn't really want the name Kathleen it was too formal for us so we had come up with Catelynn. I knew that was a God thing! Catelynn's middle name is Mary is after my dear Auntie Pam who went home to be with Jesus after a long fought battle with stomach cancer almost 2 years ago this April. My Aunt Pam and I were very close, I miss her so much. These 3 woman are all apart of my Mom's family and we feel so privileged that our daughter can be named after such strong and Godly women.
         So all of this being said my wonderful cousin Kristan offered to make the letters for Catelynn's nursery. Kristan is SOOO creative she amazed me! When I agreed i just assumed she would paint the letters and maybe put polka dots or something I never would have expected this....

Love it!!