My Baby Names.

I know this story has been told once or twice before, but really, who gets sick of talking about a love story?  Especially when it's their own?

I'm linking up with Kathryn from Team Whitaker to talk about part of our love story that includes a baby girl and how we ended up choosing a name that was just for her. 

First, lets start with the mama.  My name is Allison Michelle and I love my name.  My name is unique and something my parents seemingly agreed on together.  My name has no family ties and was picked purely out of love for those two names.  How cool is that?  My two sisters have family ties in their names (Amanda Marie - Marie is hugely popular in my family - and Ashley Merideth - Merideth is my mom's maiden name), so you could imagine as the middle child, I had a complex about this.  When I realized I was the only one who was different out of us, I took it personally.  Then I got over it and realized how cool it was to be different and that even though they each had family names, theirs were different too.  To fast foward a couple years...

My husband and I found out that we were carrying a girl about halfway through our first pregnancy.  I was ECSTATIC and so relieved to be having a girl.  I don't know if it was because I came from a family of three girls or what... but I just felt like having a girl the first time around was perfect for us.  And I was totally right.

Our daughters name was discussed long before we ever got pregnant or were even married.  I was one of those girls who often thought about baby names throughout different times in my life and it's something Tony and I would discuss together.  I wanted our first baby to honor my dad and also utilize family names if possible and that's how we landed on Presley Rose.  Apologizing in advance for everyone who has heard this story a trillion times... but since I'm linking up with a whole bunch of new blogger pals, I must tell the story once more!

To say my dad was an Elvis Presley fan may be somewhat of an understatement.  He straight up loved the guy and his music!  And I remember his Elvis impressions were just great.  I also remember nearly every Christmas he would load the family up into our station wagon (aka, chick magnet or "chick mag" as it was lovingly known) and we would drive passed Graceland to see the blue lights on the house while listening to a little "Blue Christmas."  My dad was a fan before the family even moved to Memphis, Tennessee and I'm sure the admiration he felt for the King of Rock & Roll just got better after moving here for dad.  So Tony and I went with the king's last name for our child's first name.

Presley's middle name was handed down from my paternal grandmother - Elinor Rose.  It's a beautiful, timeless name and my grandmother is someone who is very interesting, open-minded, witty, and someone I have always liked spending time with - so many qualities I appreciate and would love bestowed upon my daughter.  Tony hugely loved my Gramma's middle name for Presley and he really pushed to use that name.

This time around?  We totally prepared our hearts for a boy.  At first, all I could think about was having another girl.  That's what I wanted.  But somewhere along the way I started to brace myself in case we would be bringing a boy into our family this time around.  So I prepared myself ahead of time so I wouldn't be disappointed or anything.  (I know that sounds awful - I can't think of another way to put it!)  And then bracing myself turned into neutrality which soon turned into hoping for a boy!  How that happened, I'm still not sure.  We came up with a boy name that we both agreed on right away: Benjamin Anthony!  (That should've been sign enough that we wouldn't be having a boy... agreeing on a name so easily!!!)

As you may know, this 2nd baby Duggan is a GIRL and we are so overjoyed.  And of course, we are having a very difficult time agreeing on a name that feels right.  I can think of dozens of names that work well with our last name, sound good with Presley, and names that have meaning to us.  My husband, on the other hand, is having a harder time finding one that fits his criteria - a criteria he even has yet to discover.  Meaning, he doesn't know exactly what he's looking for or expecting, but it is no doubt going to be a magical moment when he hears THE name.  [insert sigh here]

So, it might be a while until we come up with a baby name this time around.  Tony wants it to have as much background and meaning and purpose as Presley's, but I told him the important thing is that we focus on THIS baby and that what's special is her parents coming up with her name together.  And he agreed.  But here we are.  My mother-in-law suggested getting a book full of baby names - and we have a great one... in storage!  Just another thing being put on hold until we find a place to live...