What's in a Name?

As soon as you find out if you are team pink or blue, you are pretty much asked immediately if you have any names picked out. George and I had a girl name and a boy named picked out from the start and when we found out we were having twins, we started brainstorming of a second boy and girl name. Although, it was much easier to come up with a second boy name than girl name for us. I knew one thing about our girls though -- I wanted them to be named after their grandmothers and other family members. I wanted to be able to introduce my girls to their namesakes and explain why we chose the names we did. I wanted them to be named after women that were so important in our lives and molded us to be the people we are today. 

With that being said, we had lots of conversations about names. We knew that their middle names would be Jane (after George's mom, Laura Jane) and Diane (after my mom, Rita Diane). We could not think of two more important or better ladies to name our girls after. After all. they were the two most important women in our lives and all we could really hope was that our girls would have the same traits that made our mothers such amazing women. 

When coming up with first names, we wanted to use something with "Ann." George's sister is Rachel Ann and not only is she his sister, but she has become so much more than just the sister I never had, but one of my very best friends. I know she will have such a big role in the girls lives and using her middle name just seemed so fitting. We decided on Annabelle Jane for one sweet baby girl. A huge bonus -- my childhood best friend married George's brother, Matt, and she is Cortney Ann! We could not think of a better way to honor Annabelle's paternal aunts!

In brainstorming for a second name, I started thinking of other important women in my life. Aside from my mom, my Aunt Dixie Ashley is hands down the most important woman in my life. She has been an aunt, friend, confident and just played such a huge role in shaping me to be the woman I am today. There is no other woman in my life, aside from my mom, that is more important to me. With that, we came up with Ashley Diane for our second name. I can only hope and pray that sweet Ashley will possess the traits and qualities of her grandmother and aunt, and I am so glad that she will be a daily honor to them. 

We are so excited to meet sweet Ashley and Annabelle and cannot wait to share with them their namesakes! I also love alliteration and love that I have two "A" girls! And if one day, baby number 3 is a boy we've got Andrew on reserve! :)

Grandmothers:
Laura Jane and Rita Diane

Paternal Aunts:
Rachel Ann and Cortney Ann

Maternal Aunt:
Darlene Ashley