M&M&M&M&M&

When Matt and I first met, we were like ... aww, YOUR name begins with an M and MY name begins with an M and that must mean we're like, soul mates! AAAHHH!!! And then we burst into song while little white doves flittered about, and the world was brighter, and the air smelled sweeter, and tiny woodland creatures gathered around to celebrate our love. It was straight up Disney.

And then when we had our first child, we were dead sure, above any name in the world that he should be named Michael. After Matt's dad. And his middle name would be my dad's middle name.

An Heirloom name. Those are always nice.

UNTIL you realize that every single person in your immediate family has the exact same first initial ... and you have another baby on the way. And you're like, well ... does she have to be an M too? Will she feel left out if we go with that name I picked out in 3rd grade? I always KNEW I would name my daughter CRYSTAL, after my doll! Will she act out in middle school because her name begins with a C? And we'll pick her up from school to find she's pierced her eyebrow in the bathroom and she'll say ... "Helloooo, M people ... I don't belong here, anyway. So I pierce. Check out my tongue."

Hello, baby name generator!

In all honesty, choosing Madeline's name was easy. We named her after my grandmother, and gave her the middle name Jean. Because BOTH of her grandmas are Debroah Jean. And she has a Great Grandma Myrna Jean, and a Great Grandma Erma Jean, and my name is Melissa Jean, and my sister's name is Amanda Jean ... and everyone reading this is going "No! No! Make it stop!" But my point is: she got an heirloom name too.

And all was right in the world.

UNTIL number three.

And even that would have been great, if the ultrasound tech wouldn't have found a "thing-y," because I could have come up with girly names all day long.

But another M for a boy was tough!

I almost didn't do it. I almost said heck with it, I'll name him whatever I want. I've always wanted a Joshua, I'll name him Joshua.

And I'll call him Joshua. Not Josh. Josh-u-a.

But then one of my students asked me what I planning to name him, and I explained my dilemma. And she told me the sweetest little story.

She said, (in that teenage way, where they barely come up for air, and they don't break between sentences) "You don't have to give this baby an M name when I was little I used to be upset because both of my sisters' names began with M's but MY name begins with an N and for the longest time I was sort of depressed about it but my Grandpa told me, Nikky, don't be upset you were born to stand out. ***INHALE*** And so I took that to heart I was born to stand out and I spend every day trying to do just that."

That girl's hair was hot pink. And it was spiked in every direction possible. And she wore A LOT of fish net.

Ok. WELL, I didn't care if we had to name him MELVIN, his name was to begin with an M.

And so we found little Merrick. Which means Mark, in English, which happens to be Matt's heritage. And that was how we made the heirloom connection. (Well, that and I've just always liked the name Joshua, and now that is his middle name.)

But every now and then, we run into people who put all the M's together and I feel judged. Like we're the Duggars or something, who named all 400 kids with a name beginning with J. (except we have better hair, obviously)

But I don't have time to explain the whole story. SO, now I've written it all down, I think I may just take the link to this particular post, and print it to a business card. And when people look at us all weird, like "oh, I get it ... you're like the Duggars." I'll just hand over the card, and say ... "You can read about us here. And no. We are not like the Duggars. We used M ... duh. And we have better hair. Thankyouverymuch."

Head over to http://www.onceuponamiracle.com/ For True Story Tuesday!