What is in a name?

For our children, there is a lot of thought and meaning into their names. We finally are coming out with our daughter's name. Juliana Ursula Kim Beitler. Yes, her name is longer than she is! LOL! But a lot of thought has gone into this name and we love it!

Let me explain how we came up to this name. Juliana is after my Mother in law. Chris says this is a "stretch" but honestly this is how I thought of the name, so a stretch or not, it is the truth. My Mother in law's name is Judith Ann. I am not a fan of either (no offense!) so I wanted something that sounds like it and came up with Juliana. I swear when you say "Judith Ann" real fast it sounded like Juliana to me LOL! I am not making that up! Stretch or not, I am adding it to her story because its true! Also, my sister's middle name is Ann so instead of just "Julia" which I was considering we added the "Ana" to it for my mother in law and Lauren's middle name (these are not lies...I told you I believe in naming after people -- stretch or not!)....Her middle name (the first one) is Ursula. Ursula is my Mom's name. Kim is Juliana's given birth surname.

So now let me explain why we chose these people to honor. First, my Mother in law. I can honestly say that my mother in law is an awesome grandmother. When she comes over, she gives the kids her undivided attention. My children adore her because of this. They love to play with her, have her read them books, anything as long as its with Grandma Judi! Now, my Mom. What can a girl say about her Mother? Again, just like with Carmela, I can only hope that Juliana is half the person my Mom is. My Mom is the rock in my family. We have gone through some tough times, but she has always made it through, and made sure we made it through laughing and smiling. She is a great grandmother and even a better Mother. Her family is her life. We can't thank her enough for all that she does for all of us in our family. As I mentioned, Kim is Juliana's surname in Korea. I wanted something of roots in her name. I wanted something for her to hold on to from her birth country, and her birth mother. We found out that the social worker named, her and so we feel Kim is something that she got from her parents (both parents are "Kim"). We hope that when she is older, she loves her name, but if she wants to go back to her roots part of her name is in place for her to do so.

While I"m at it, let me explain the other kids names too. Carmela Elizabeth -- Carmela is my maternal grandmother's name. I can't say enough about my maternal grandmother, my Grandma Carrie (who's real name is Carmela). She is my idol and my life. I adore her to the core of her being. She is someone who is sweet, honest, strong, caring, and loving. In my darkest days as a teenager, I thought of her and I can honestly say I was so afraid of disappointing her that it kept me in check ...well to an extent LOL. If my daughter grows up to be half the woman of my Grandma Carrie, then I will be a very lucky Mother. I mean that. Carmela's middle name is Elizabeth. Elizabeth is named after my paternal Grandmother's middle name, and my paternal Great Grandmother's first name. My Grandma Mae (dad's Mom) and my Grandma Liz are two woman that I admire. My Grandma Mae, I really think has a big heart. My sister and I are her only two grandchildren and I really believe she is proud of us and loves us to peices. She has had a difficult life for the most part, and I wanted to make her proud by using her middle name as our daughter's. The other person with the name Elizabeth is Grandma's Mae mom, my Great Grandmother (following all this yet?). Grandma Liz lived three doors away when I was growing up. I spent so much time with her. She used to call me "little one". She passed away when I was 18 years old, and I still miss her. She definitely added humor to our lives.

Lastly, we have Joseph Andrew. Joey was named after my father in law (yes, he is just "Joseph" LOL so no stretching there). Andrew is named after my paternal grandfather, who's real name was Andrew but went by Grandpa Hank. So why these two men? I never had the opportunity to meet my father in law. He passed away a few years before I met Chris. However, from what I do know, he had a knack of making everyone feel special in their own way. From what I hear of him through Chris and his siblings, I really wish my children had the chance to meet him, and have a relationship with him, but we know he looks over them everyday. My Grandpa Hank was my favorite person as a kid. Unfortunately he died when I was 7 years old from cancer. I still miss my Grandpa to this day. He was such a kind, gentle man. I just adored him.

And there you have it -- the names behind the people! Oh yeah, and if you're wondering, Ansky is named after a Yankees commercial from 1996 with the 5 guys and the taxi ride, maybe those in the NY/NJ area remember it, when they got in the cab, they realized they were sitting wrong and they really were spelling "Yanks" so Ansky is our "Yankee dog". Eli is named after Eli Manning, the quarterback of the NY Giants! We named the day before the super bowl when we picked him up actually, and we held the right to change it had Eli had an awful super bowl, but he didn't and Eli is still "Eli" LOL!

I sure talk/write a lot huh?