So at first we really wanted to wait until Little Miss Hals' official arrival to announce her name, but in the end, we decided it would be a lot of fun to enjoy announcing it at Christmas time. We made an ornament for each of the Grandmothers with a sonogram picture and her name and really enjoyed getting to tell them at least one thing in person. Let's be realistic - we told them we were expecting over the phone, the gender over the phone, and guess what - when she's born? 95% chance it's going to be announced over the phone. So why not get to announce something in person and to enjoy sharing that next piece of information? And so we did!

When we were trying to choose her name I had an abundance of ideas and Daniel had an abundance of veto power. Except with girls names, he liked far more of them. There were far fewer that got "the axe" right away. Now if you'll remember the story of her gender announcement, we initially thought she was a boy, so when the sonogram lady (who was just awesome and the sweetest) told us she was for sure a she, not a he...you better believe the first thing I did when I got home (after buying a girlie outfit on the way) was to look up the list of girls names we had going. I quickly had a top four and spent the rest of the day trying them out. When Daniel and I went out to dinner that night and chatted in disbelief that our he was a she and how awesome the 19 week ultrasound had been, HE brought up names. (My jaw dropped...he usually avoided this subject). He asked if I had thought about names any further, I said I had and gave him my top four...and he replied "ah, well, cause I was thinking about it and I really like ****" (my jaw dropped even more). Me - "really?! Are you sure?! That's the first time you've actually you said you like a name - why do you like that one?!!" And Daniel just shrugged with a sparkle in his eye and said "it's cute." It was done.

Maybe I should be telling you that we fought for months or that we had each always dreamed of that name...but really, it just fit and as we tried it out I loved it more and more and more. I also loved that he had remembered it from our discussions months prior and had loved it enough to take the initiative to bring it up. (And really, it WAS one of the top four on my list...but I had always wanted it to be a name that he bought into and had some ownership in -- it made it that much more perfect).

We have chosen to name our daughter:

~Hannah Alexandra Hals~

There are so many things you consider - initials, meanings, how it will sound when a teacher calls her name out on the kindergarten roster, whether it will sound distinguished at graduation...and all kinds of other things, but in the end we were very excited about this name. Hannah means favor or grace and has such wonderfully old Biblical and Hebrew roots. Alexandra has Greek and Russian roots and means "defender of humankind" - which the humanist and justice-seeker in me loves. From the beginning my deepest wish is that our daughter grow up to be a kind person. And as Daniel said, it IS a cute name! But not so cutesie that she would be embarrassed to introduce herself in a job interview as a young woman. And...it fits all the traditional aspects we require (we're big fans of traditional spellings for names, etc). And a totally silly and superficial thing I am excited about? H and A are usually especially beautiful letters to have monogrammed on something. Hannah is also a palindrome and gets bonus points for the fun alliteration - Hannah Hals!

At 20 weeks, when Hannah was supposedly the size of a banana, we could not help but take this picture! Hannah you will thank me some day, but it is because of me that Banana is not your middle name. :) Yes, mommy loves you.

Telling our parents was a lot of fun. Daniel's family was excited and seemed to like the name - it wasn't one that they expected, but it seemed to be well received. And I got to tell my mom and dad separately (we told my mom on the way to the ultrasound) and each of them did the exact same thing...they read it out loud and it affirmed not only how much I like the name and how distinguished it sounds...but it was really special to hear each of them say it out loud. :) Made my heart very happy and I loved the sound of her name even more!

Daniel's mom has been working tirelessly to pull together some of the cutest decorations you have ever seen for my shower this weekend. Last night when we got home she had more creations laid out on the table and the beautifully monogrammed and decorated diaper wipes container solidified what I have been dreaming of that much more! I really could not be more excited about her name and its cuteness!