Letters to Our Little Baby

Hi little baby,

Even though I haven't written much about you, I want you to know I think about you all the time. I'm so glad you've chosen to join this family. I think about how God knew you before you "were", God's "eye[s] saw [your] unformed body" (Psalm 139:16). That gives me a deep sense of joy knowing that your soul was paired with this family and me before you were even conceived!

Aveah, your big sister, loves you so much already! She's always thinking of you - she asks, Is baby coming?, when we go somewhere (as if you'd decide to just stay home this one time!). She kisses you and tries to feed you (through the skin of my belly). The other day she was playing with you by pushing gently on my belly. Immediately, you responded and pushed back - it was amazing! I realized how much you two already have connected! I knew that you were playing back with her.

Right now, we have your name picked as "Judah Sky" for a boy, and "Mila Olive" for a girl.  I have no idea what you are!  My head says it's a girl, but my gut says it's a boy.  I can't believe we haven't found out what gender you are - but that's okay - it makes me that much more excited to meet you!

It's strange how much I love you already.  It's a blessing of the second child for the parent to know, really know that there is a real human being in there - whereas with your first child, it seems very abstract.  I'm really treasuring these moments I still have you in my belly.  I know that these are some of the closest moments I will ever be to you: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  Mothers are truly blessed chalices.

Thank you, Baby, for choosing us and for being with us right now.

                                                                       . . .

Hey little one,

This is your dad, and I'm writing to you so you can look back at this when you're older and know how it was going with me when you were just a bun in the oven. I want you to know that the experience and feeling I have toward you is primarily peaceful. You, too, seem comfortable in the place where you're at and so far, have made this experience a relatively comfortable one for your mother who often says that she would be content to just stay pregnant with you (so I guess her peace has quite a bit of influence on mine). And even though I haven't experienced you nearly at the depth as she has, and don't know your gender (I wanted to find out beforehand, but your mom wanted to make it a surprise so I gave in, since she deserved it, of course), I'm aware of your uniqueness. Your introduction to others-- by your mother's looming belly-- brings joy to people who always remark how cute this belly is. I'm looking forward to knowing your personality and experiencing the joys and passions of this life with you. Let's do some awesome things together. Let's envision big and be involved in making those things happen in this small world. I wrote over you (literally, on your mother's belly), a few things I hope for you- peacefulness, joy in your inmost being, faithfulness to God, strength to do good things, a healthy mind and body, a giving attitude and way of living, to be present with people and understanding of them, and to be active in this world.

I hope you and I will love each other and understand one another for the rest of our lives. You're joining our team now and I welcome you as an important part of us.
6-3-12

Aveah Dove's Name Etomology

So, this is the story of how Aveah Dove (Avi Dove) got her name. But first, here is a list of all the names she could have been named: Kaya, Aurora/Rory/Ary (mom's favorite), Eden/Edie (dad's favorite), Aria, Charlie...

So, about 6 months pregnant we still didn't have a name for her. We wanted to have about 5 names selected that we both liked and then, once she was born and we saw her little face, we would pick from those names. Well, the problem was we didn't even have one name we both really liked, let alone a list of five names! So, we would ask everyone we knew for name suggestions: friends, family, random waitresses serving us food...  One particular person, Amy Leach, who was our neighbor and also someone Maren worked with, would come up to Maren everyday and place her hand on her belly and say a name, but none of them ever stuck.  Then one afternoon, Amy stopped by our house and she had her 10-year-old daughter, Rachel, with her.  After Amy gave her daily name to Maren's belly, Rachel casually said, Why don't you name her Avi Dove?  This was the first name Rachel had ever suggested.  Michael and I didn't say anything right away, but after they left we looked at each other and said, I sorta like that.  So we wrote it down on the name list.  After several more months, we still liked the name. We had it in "first place" amongst all the other names, but we were keeping it secret because we didn't want other people's reactions to taint our impression of it.  Moreover, we wanted to see her face and see if she looked like an "Avi Dove".  

In the meantime, Maren looked up Avi in her Baby Name book.  Avi was short for Aveah, and we liked that it could be a nickname, while Aveah was more of a full name.  We figured she could pick either to use when she becomes an older child and adult.  Aveah means "the Lord is my father" and is Hewbrew.  It turns out Rachel liked the name "Avi" because she was reading a young adult novel by an author named "Avi" (just one name, no first/last name), and she had a best friend named "Dove".

Well, needless to say, on June 27 when our first girl child was born, we looked at her and agreed that she was a Dove, an Aveah/Avi Dove!

10-year-old Rachel

next-door neighbor to Avi

name-giver of Avi

Avi-cado

We live in an avocado orchard.  Seriously.  Yes, we know how lucky we are.  We have two avocado trees in our small yard.  There are a total of 7 different types of avocado trees in the neighbor we live in, and about 150 avocado trees total.  That is, until this summer when Aveah was born.  She's our newest type of Avi-cado!

Here she is posing with a Santana avocado.

Naming someone for life.

Do you know how hard it is to choose someone's name?  The name they will have for the rest of their life.  The name that will be used multiple times every single day for their entire existence on planet earth.  This is stressful!  As the time dwindles down, we have to get serious about a name.  We've decided on one thing: that is to NOT name her until we see her.  We have a list of name possibilities, but we won't commit to one until we see her face and get to know her personality a bit.

Here's a little interesting note from an article I read recently that confirms our plan:

"Every parent has a favorite name picked out for a son or a daughter, but if you are wise, you will keep it a secret until the baby is born.  Never name a baby you haven't met."

- Teresa Bloomingdale, mother of ten

The Name Game

Here's your chance to post name suggestions. We are wanting a "unique" name, so that is your only qualifier. Have fun! (F.Y.I. We have decided not to tell anyone what his/her name will be until after she/he is born, so be patient.) Click on the "comments" word below to add some names.