Names that could have been...

Because I'm not the greatest at keeping up baby books, I like to try and record things on the blog that I want my kids to know/remember. When I was younger, I always wanted to know what my parent's almost names me. It was Amanda, by the way, but my dad had a bad association with the name so Peggy it was. I am named for my mother's mother.
Anyway, I thought I'd list out names that were on my list for each of the children so they can look back on it one day.

Kate - We didn't discuss names until we knew she was a girl. I remember telling Rick I liked Ellen and Kate. He immediately said, "Kate." That was it! Easy! Never thought about boy names.

Claire - My first choice was Elizabeth, nicknamed "Lizzie." However, Lizzie McGuire was a popular kids TV show at the time and Rick thought people would think we named her after the show. :) We kept Elizabeth as her middle name. We went back and forth between Audrey and Claire. Rick changed the  screen saver on our computer to say "Claire Elizabeth" one day and that settled it! Never thought about boy names.

Henry - We debated on whether or not Henry would be a junior. I left that decision up to Rick. Once he decided he did not want a junior, the only name on my list was Henry. Rick was taking a church history class at the time and a lot of men he read about were named Henry. Thanks to all of that reading, Henry it was. We carried down Rick's middle name and his father's middle name, Scott, and gave that to Henry.
Girl names on my list were Alice and Lillian.

Jack - Because his gender was unknown until birth we only loosely discussed names. He actually wasn't named until about 24 hours after he was born. For girls, we tossed around Alice, Lillian, and Sophie.
Once I knew he was a boy, I wanted his name to be John which means, "God is gracious." We had Jack after a miscarriage and the meaning of his name was important to me. He was almost named John Elias but we went with John Richard (Rick's name). Other boy names we discussed were Paul and Miles.

Simon - Simon was named Paul for about 3 weeks before we changed our minds. Then, we went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth between Simon, Oliver, and Levi. We finally picked Simon Oliver and it was perfect. Again, girl names on my list were Alice and Lillian.

Baby #6 - We will know in 2 weeks whether it's a boy or a girl and then the name will be picked! I can't wait!!