What's in a name...

http://www.babycenter.com/top-baby-names-2008

Click on link above to see the top baby names of 2008. Looks like Jackson will probably have a lot of classmates with the same name since "Jackson" is climbing up on the list, but I think Garrett is safe!

I don't miss looking at those darn name lists. I remember spending hours, night after night, searching for names. Looking at the list now, reminds me of what "Jackson and Garrett" almost were:

Jackson Reece - before knowing if it was twins or not (due to fertility) we like Reece and Reed for 2 boys. After knowing it was one baby, but not knowing the gender we liked Ava or Kinsley for a girl...both agreed on Kinsley...and Jackson for a boy. "Jackson" was Aaron's grandfather's name and my Great Grandfather's last name - so it was perfect.

Garrett Ryan - Garrett was going to be Jenna if he was a girl. Jackson and Jenna, sounds perfect huh!?

Well....as we know now, It's a BOY! (which I am thankful for now!). And when they said "It's a boy" we didn't have any names in mind. Boy names are hard to come up with.....we think. We thought of many, many, many - Kason, Luke, Grayson Paul (wow, even had a "multiple"family middle name...Paul is Aaron's middle name, Aaron's Step-Dad's first name, and it was my Grandfather's name), Hudson, Anderson, Ryder - and now I forget the rest because the list went on..... and on..... and on.

Aaron and I have ALWAYS agreed on Garrett. When trying to get pregnant with Jackson we both liked the name "Garrett Jackson" but the little boy who lived next door was named Garrett, so we tossed that name out the window. The neighbors moved before I was pregnant with Garrett, so when picking a name we knew that could be an option once again......but it took me awhile to say YES to it because I felt I was giving up because I was tired of being creative. I actually remember the night we found out it was a boy and went to dinner with our family. Everyone (even Aaron) wanted the name Luke. I didn't give into the pressure because I however, wanted the name to be longer and stronger like Jackson. So, after Aaron and I kept going back to the name "Garrett," and we became set on that. We didn't tell anyone for a little while (keep in mind - "a little while" is not long in our family. I am the one that calls people at 5AM to say I am pregnant) because we wanted to be sure on it before hearing the opinions of others.

"Garrett" and "Jackson" both have 7 letters in their names & their middle names both start with a 'R' like my maiden name (okay...so maybe we didn't plan the whole 'R' thing because of my maiden name, but I like to think we did), so that is their connection.

By the length of Garrett's paragraph, can you tell it took us longer to come up with his name?

So, now that our children are born, can you see Jackson as a Kinsley or Garrett as a Jenna or Luke? I really hope you can't see them as a Kinsley or Jenna....we may have issues if you do.