Guest Post! Katherine from Little Miss Rylee!

First of all, thanks to Alicia for letting come hang out at her place today! Congrats on your little fresh baked baby! 

Secondly, before we get started, let’s all take a moment for a collective deep breath of said fresh baked baby… And…GO…

Because, truly, is there a better smell in this world? I think not. Now, moving on…

Hi! I’m Katherine. Wife to Andy and mama to a sweet little 3-year-old monster. 

When we found out we were having a girl, we knew instantly what her name would be. It was all too easy. In fact, we’d had her named picked out for years. You know the “we’re-so-in-love-I-know-we’re-going-to-get-married-but-we’re-not-yet-engaged” stage of the relationship where you talk about the future and make all sorts of promises and big plans…well that’s when we’d decided if we ever had a daughter her name would be Rylee. Rylee Rice. Kinda feisty. (at the time) totally different for a little girl, but not too far out there. We both loved it. It was settled.

And you know what? It’s a good thing because choosing a name for your kid is tough work. Especially if you’re married to a middle school teacher. Trust me.

We have plans for another wee one in the not so distant future, so from time to time, we’ll {ok, I’ll} bring up a name suggestion. Our conversations are short and tend to go a little something like this…

Me: I kinda like the name Bryce for a little girl.

Him: Bryce? Babe…Bryce Rice? Really?

Me: What about the name Harley for a girl.

Him: I can just see it when she hits high school “Oh yea…I’d like to ride that Harley.” NO.

Me: Alexander?

Him: I had a student named that once…he was a jerk.

Me: I like the name Benjamin.

Him: Are you joking? Benjamin? Ben? Uncle Ben’s Rice? You’re killing me.

Me: I love the name Ryann for a girl.

Him: Ryann? So we’d have Rylee Rice and Ryann Rice…don’t you think that’s a little too much of the Ry-Ri Ry-Ri?

Me: What about the name Dyllan for a girl?

Him: We can’t do that. We have friends with that last name.

Me: Ok FINE, what names do you like?

Him: ::BLANK STARE::

Moral of the story is this: naming a kid is hard. Exponentially harder if you are, or are married to, a teacher. Parents agonize over this stuff.  If a friend tells you their baby’s name and it makes you shudder? Chances are they spent hours over the course of months choosing just the right name so shut the hell up and smile.