Saturday, March 2, 2013

her name.

here is the story of hattie jo's name...

let me start at the beginning though.

before we were married james and i each had a name picked out, his was a boy name, mine was a girl's.

so when we found out bean was a girl there was no discussion. she was eliza june.

james claims he doesn't make girls, so we didn't discuss names with newbean. we'd just use the boy's name we had on reserve, but then that ultrasound happened and we ended up finding out the sex. after a few days i smiled and we i started thinking of girl names and happened upon one we weren't going to share, but then did. i wanted to say (and hear) delia jean all day long...i still do!

then came this pregnancy, and i was finally getting my wish of not finding out the sex. so we had to discuss names. i told him if we didn't pick a name it would end up being hazel. he hates that name as much as i love it.

there was no pouring over baby books, or much talk at all, just a few "do you like..." or "what about..." from me, and a some "no." eye rolls and "it's okay" replies from him.

i don't even remember when i suggested hattie, or what his answer was, i just know that was her name.

where did i come up with it?

well, back in middle school every once in awhile i would walk to my best friends house after school. (this was a big deal, since i couldn't walk to my house in the country!) the path from the middle school to her house when right past evergreen park and the main cemetery in town.

many of my ancestors are buried there since my dad's side of the family never moved far.

one day a headstone right near the sidewalk caught my eye. hattie and albert vandercar (my maiden name)

hattie...i like that name.

file it away.

see it again and again, and ask ma "how are we related to hattie and albert vandercar?"

it wasn't until aunt nancy, our family memory keeper, wrote about them on her blog that i pieced it together.

there is our hattie.
there is me.
there is my dad.
there was my grandpa.
there was my great grandpa vandercar.
there was his mom...hattie.
so she is named after her great-great-great grandma!

and her middle name? well, for awhile it was going to be mae, after my grandma elser. then i got worried that we would have a june and a mae. people that didn't know we had another daughter with a middle name that wasn't a month, might think we were silly. 

so, i changed it and now she carries the middle name of two of my favorite aunts! my mom's twin sister (my second mom) and my dad's youngest sister (the memory keeper)

i just love it. didn't mean for all three girls to have "J" middle names, but i like it!

not sure what we will do if we have a 4th girl! running out of popular early 1880's names that aren't super popular now. (all three peaked around then) i told james it might have to be hazel.

which reminds me of a funny story from the hospital. one of his army buddies stopped by to visit, he's from the south and a good ol' country boy. we started talking about names and this happened...

dan - hattie jo, that's a great hill jack name. i actually have an aunt named hattie.

later in the conversation...

me - i REALLY love the name hazel and always wanted a hazel, but james HATES it.

dan - i have an aunt hazel too.

me - really?!

dan - yep, she's hattie's sister. 

----

too perfect!

also random - i saw a huge plaque at the hospital of a lady named hattie when we took her back for her 48 hour test. i wanted to stop and take a picture. james didn't get it.

we didn't share her name beforehand and i got worried that nancy was going to see multiple searches for "hattie" on her blog. 

then i posted this picture, and the guesses started flying!
while home for Christmas i had to keep a straight face while lying when my aunt guessed correctly. we just wanted it to be a surprise. i didn't think the one "H" was going to be a huge deal. mostly because i don't remember it being like that with eliza! 

all in all i am so glad we waited to share. it was fun to have eliza announce it and surprise everyone...especially since almost everyone was certain she was going to be a boy!

still got that name on reserve!

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