Her Name

Well after a couple month blogging hiatus, I'm back!  I did write this post a couple months ago yet never posted it! A lot of people have asked how we chose Olivia's name, so without further delay, here is how we chose our baby girl's name...

I don't know why, but it was much harder to come up with a name the third time around! All the names we had on our "list" before with previous pregnancies, we didn't really want to use, so we were back at square one. I had told Steve I didn't want to think of names until after we knew if it was a boy or a girl because I didn't have enough brain energy to think about two names (picking a boy and a girl name), ha!  So we found out on October 16th that we were expecting another girl.  Steve "knew" all along and at our 12 week ultrasound, the technician had made a gender guess of girl, so neither of us were really surprised.  Karis, from the moment we told her I was pregnant, wanted another baby brother. She would even tell people it would be a boy!  So when at our 12 week ultrasound we found out it was potentially another girl, we kept telling her, "but what if God gives us another girl?"  Initially, she would say, "nooo"!  Then the week before our 19 week ultrasound, she suddenly changed her mind and decided that having another little girl around (another princess like her as she would say) was not a bad idea afterall!  I was excited that she came around. So she, too, was thrilled when we found out it was a girl.  Steve, the kids and I were all together in the room when the technician said it was a girl and it was fun to be together as a family when we found out.  Isaac didn't fully get it yet...but we started referring to the baby in my belly as "baby sissy" to him. And if you ask Isaac where the baby is, he will generally walk up to me, pull my shirt up and kiss my belly...too darn cute!  (I didn't think we would find out the gender, the baby had her legs crossed and tucked up in fetal position and wasn't moving.  After much belly tapping and me rolling from side to side, she finally moved just enough for the technician to get a glance!)

After we "officially" knew the gender, I was ready to think about names.  But we were at a loss! So we would write down names here and there, throw names back and forth until we had about 10 names (first and middle) written on a piece of paper.  After writing down several of them together to see if they looked and sounded good together, we still didn't have a name.  Then we set our list aside and just decided that we'd figure it out in due time.

As a side note, Karis wanted to name our new baby "Relexa"...yes people you read that right, Relexa. I was on the phone telling someone we found out we were having a girl one day, but didn't have a name picked yet, and when I got off the phone, Karis looked at me in all seriousness and said we could name the baby Relexa.  Oh my!  I asked her a few days later where that name came from and she mentioned a friend of ours from church's little sister (who's name is really Alexa).  So I reminded Karis that her name was Alexa...Karis said, "yea but I like Relexa!"  She became so fixed on this name, she would tell people that her little sister's name was Relexa.  So I was like, we have to figure a name out quick!

One night while I was preparing dinner, Karis was looking over her world map place mat at the table saying the names of certain countries out loud (kind of talking to herself really).  Steve was helping get the table set and I was finishing up the meal on the stove when all of a sudden I heard Karis say the name "Olivia".  It stopped me from cooking and I said, "Karis where did you hear the name Olivia?"  Steve interjected quite quickly and said, "no honey, she said Bolivia!" Oh ok, that makes sense, she is looking at a world map after all...but how in the world (no pun intended) did she know where Bolivia was, I didn't teach her that?! Anyway, we had a good laugh about the whole conversation...but a few days later as we revisited our list of names, we really began to like the sound of Olivia. 

Thus her name came about...

Olivia Noël Valentine

(It took us a little while longer to figure out the middle name, but we eventually landed on Noël).  

Steve and I are big on the meaning behind the name and names that are not very popular (although I'm sure popularity can change over time).  So both Karis and Isaac have a purpose behind why we picked those names and they are not names we hear too often. You can read more about the meaning of Isaac's name here: Meaning of Isaac's name. Karis didn't get her own blog post just about her name...but we did write about the meaning of her name in our yearly letter here: Meaning of Karis' name.

Anyway, when we heard the name Olivia and began to think about it, our first question was, "what does the name mean?"

Olivia means: Olive Tree.  Olive Trees are frequently mentioned in the Bible and considered an emblem of beauty and peace.  Olive trees are long lasting and endure over many, many years. It would be our hope and it is our prayer that Olivia would know the enduring love of Christ in a way that transforms her heart to be a person who is steadfast through many, many years and impacts lives of those around her for the good of the Gospel.

Olive trees are very frequently mentioned in the Bible. It was considered an emblem of beauty, prosperity and religious previlege. - See more at: http://www.biblical-baby-names.com/meaning-of-olivia.html#sthash.ezamUcir.dpuf

Olive trees are very frequently mentioned in the Bible. It was considered an emblem of beauty, prosperity and religious previlege. - See more at: http://www.biblical-baby-names.com/meaning-of-olivia.html#sthash.ezamUcir.dpuf

Noël: in its traditional meaning is the word for Christmas. We celebrate Jesus Christ's first coming at Christmas, which is the most important birth we celebrate! So in choosing Noël as her middle name, it is significant in that we celebrate the work of God through Jesus Christ in his first coming while we wait with anticipation his return. It's our prayer and hope that Olivia would be saved at a young age and embrace the truth of the Gospel that came through the life of Christ.

Even after deciding on a name, I told Steve that I reserved the right to change my mind on the name, so not to go monogramming anything! There was always a little part of me that wondered if the Sono technician was really right about the gender! Toward the end of pregnancy, I began telling Steve that we probably should start thinking about a boy name just in case they were wrong on the gender (especially with how long it took us to settle on a girl name, I wanted to be ready with a boy name, ha!). After she was born before I could see her "lady parts" I remember saying, "it's a girl right?!" Sure enough, little Olivia graced us with her presence two weeks early and life has been one tired whirlwind since that day! 

Check out these neat pics below:

some olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane-these trees are dated at possibly 1,000 years old, Amazing! After we had chosen her name, my brother sent me this picture from his trip there this past fall.

me at 37 weeks pregnant with Olivia sitting under a "baby" Olive tree

Birth story blog coming soon!