Names...

This weekend we went to visit Mike's family in Jacksonville. We left around 7pm on Friday night and we made a pit stop in Tarboro to visit a friends new baby girl (she was so beautiful). While we were at the hospital she started to cry and later it started to scare Michael. While we were going to the car he was really thinking hard..."we are going to have two crying babies". I thought it was funny how it just hit him! Then we were off to his mom's house. We arrived around 10:30pm where we got to watch the end of some basketball games with his mom and then we retired for the night. The next day was my favorite day for many reasons. We got to announce/ask about our names, went shopping, and got to hang out with a lot of family.

Since Mike and I started to think about a family we have always thrown the name around of Zachary/Zack. Michael goes by Mike and I thought a short boys name like Zack would be just like his dad. Michael also wanted to name his son after one of his favorite baseball players, Ryne Sandberg. When we found out the we were having a boy I asked what about Zachary Ryan? (I asked to change the spelling b/c when you have an unusual spelling people will miss pronounce the name a lot!) Michael and I felt that it was perfect.

For the girl name it was easy!! When I first started dating Michael he told me of his great aunt who he absolutely loved to hang out with. While growing up they played games all the time and their favorite being Yahtzee. He said "she is just as competitive as I am". She also is a huge Tarheel fan and watches every basketball game! She does not leave her house when they are playing. When I first met her I immediately fell in love with her as if she was my own blood aunt. She has a zest for life and is just so outgoing and truly amazing! (To prove how outgoing she is we played the Wii yesterday and she kicked our butts at bowling and she is in her 80's.) So we always talked about if we have a girl we want to name her after his great aunt. Saturday we went to see her and when we were talking about names Michael said, "for the baby girl we were thinking, if it is okay with you we would like to name her after you, Madelin". She started crying (which made me tear up) and said, "she was truly touched and she was just so proud". So our baby girl's name is going to Madelin and we will call her Maddie. We do not officially have a middle name as of yet. There are two we like, but there is sort of a funny story behind that. Aunt Madelin's middle name is Elizabeth which I think is BEAUTIFUL, but with our last name starting with an N, Mike said NO to Elizabeth b/c Maddie's initials would be MEN. So we told Aunt Madelin and she just chuckled!

After our visit with Aunt Madelin, Mike's aunt Sue, his Mom and I went shopping. I found some great deals for maternity clothes at Ross, which Mom and Sue ended up paying for, which I am eternally thankful for. They wouldn't let me buy anything! Then after our shopping extravaganza we went home to watch our Heels win, YEAH!! Sunday was also a treat, almost all the family came over for a wonderful lunch Debbie made after church. God has given Michael and I just so many gifts and we are truly grateful!