The Name-- Hazel's edition

okay: disclaimer I totally typed addition instead of edition on this title and just sat and looked at it for a bit, so there are no guarantees if this post will make sense.

When Trevor and I found out we were pregnant with baby 2, he was very excited. I went through denial, shock, disbelief, and finally settled into ignoring it. That lasted about 3 days until I started throwing up. Like it or not, this babe let me know she was in there from the beginning. Throwing up turned to head-aches, head-aches turned to heartburn, and heartburn lingers now with added kicks and rolls through the day.  To say she is more active then Miles, is a gross understatement.

We had a lot of trouble discussing names this go-round because I just couldn't imagine a boy name that I liked as much as Miles. So we threw a few around but never really settled on one.  We had Hazel picked out for a girl before we found out Miles' gender.  So we didn't spend a lot of time discussing girl names this time around, figuring we both really liked it and would use it.  Even though I joked that this had to be a girl, I really didn't believe it would actually be one, you see, Howards don't make girls.

Well at our gender appointment the first thing that flashed on the screen were girl parts. Doc H asked if I wanted to know the gender and I said, well it appears to be a girl. He laughed and confirmed that he thought it was. I told him that he didn't  have to make the announcement yet, make completely sure. So he looked a few more angles and yep, an absences of boy parts and then a clear shot of the girl ones! He said 100% this is a girl. Then he started calling her Hazel :).

Hazel is Trevor's Grandma's first name.  She didn't go by it though, and from what I hear she didn't even like it. But we do, and Trevor loved his grandma. I love it because I have a few really good memories of Trevor's grandma before she passed away in 2005.  I have heard even more stories about her and admire every one of them. She loved her family fiercely, something I hope our Hazel will share. Even though she didn't love the name, I have no doubt she would love her great-granddaughter.

I also loved Hazel because it means commander. I'm a sucker for a good-strong-woman name. I can tell our little commander will be just that, she certainly has no problem making herself known right now. And with the long line of strong woman she comes from, I don't see it being a problem in her future.

Hazel also passed all the barriers we have for names: not trendy, spelled like it sounds, gender-specific, no weird nicknames, classic.

We picked Lane for the middle name for a very simple reason. It's Trevor's middle name. It was also his grandpa's middle name. I felt strongly about passing Trevor's middle name on to a girl if we had one.  My reasoning (and he agreed) that someday Hazel will get married. She won't have the last name Howard forever. I wanted her to still have some family connection in her name. I also felt strongly that we shouldn't feminize the name. Plus, Hazel Lane just sounds good.

So that's it, why our July girl will be Hazel Lane Howard.