Magnolia Annabelle Crist

Here's our Magnolia Annabelle, getting more and more beautiful every day.

Magnolia, Melissa and Boston on a day hike.

I thought I would share our rationale for choosing Magnolia Annabelle to be our daughter's name. As some of you know, Zac came up with the name Magnolia from the Grateful Dead song "Sugar Magnolia." My first response when he said it was "no!" He was going through his Grateful Dead lyrics book and just throwing out potential names at me. After I said "no," he replied, "well, we could call her Maggie." I paused for a moment, then said "no." After a month or two, the name kept popping into my head.

I knew I wanted my daughter's middle name to be Annabelle, after my grandmother. My grandmother legally changed her name to Ann, because she hated Annabelle, I had always loved it though. When I mentioned it to her that I was thinking of using the name if we had a girl, I kind of noticed a glimmer of excitement in her eye, I think after so many years she had stopped hating the name she was given at birth.

With Magnolia popping into my head all the time, and knowing I wanted Annabelle as a middle name I finally came to the realization that both names fit together perfectly. Zac loves music, and I knew how excited he had been when he mentioned the name. Magnolias are my grandmother's very favorite flowering trees and bushes. She even had my aunt plant a Magnolia Tree just outside her window this last spring so she could watch it bloom those beautiful flowers she loves.

And that was it. We decided on Magnolia Annabelle Crist. Although I was so set against it at first, it's the most beautiful name I've ever heard, and I love the name Maggie as well, which is what most everyone calls our daughter.

Our boy name has an equally great story behind it, but I'll have to keep that a secret for now, just in case our next child is a boy!!

*Please Maggie fans, make some comments on the blog. I'd love to hear from some of you that are reading Maggie's updates!*