Namesake: Ada Joan

Ada:  This pregnancy we knew we were having a girl.  We had dropped our past girl ideas (Jacy and Jaylen) and had actually agreed on a different name, Nola.  I can’t tell you what boy name was our favorite since it is potentially still in the running for #4.  When I was something like 6 or 7 months pregnant we were in the car leaving our favorite lake in Ames, Ada Hayden, talking about the lady the lake is named after.  I mentioned I really liked the name Ada and Mitch agreed and that was that.  The beautiful lake which our family thoroughly enjoyed walking around and fishing at, is named after a lady who grew up on the land, happens to be the first female to earn a Ph.D. from Iowa State, and became a professor teaching her students about flowers on the land while devoting her life to preserving prairie lands.  I can’t wait to teach Ada about the person and beautiful lake she is named after.

 

A little bit of our family history at the lake all the way from my pregnancy with Maddox to my pregnancy with Ada and her first trip there.

 

 

Ada popularity in 2012: 487^th

 

Joan:  Pronounced Jo-Ann, after her Great-Grandma Joan (Mitch's Grandma) whom we so wish she could meet.   We had agreed on giving this middle name to our first daughter before we were even married.  The first name has changed over time but the middle name was always going to be Joan.  Ada Joan ended up flowing together so well too.  It became extra special when baby Crosbi was named after Grandpa Virgil.  So we ended up with little cousins Ada Joan and Crosbi Virgil.    J

 

Joan and Virgil / Ada Joan and Crosbi Virgil

 

Namesake: Grady John

Grady:  We really struggled with coming up with a boy’s name this time around and it was extra challenging since we didn’t know if we were having a boy or girl therefore had to come up with a name for both.  We were still trying to stick with the J and M theme but just could not find anything we liked starting with those letters.  The girl name we had was Jaylen.  It was literally only a few weeks before I was due that we finally cracked down one night, decided to give up the J and M theme, and sat together going through the website nymbler.com which allows you to enter a name and returns “similar” names.  We entered Maddox and were just searching through lists and lists of names.  I really liked Brady but Mitch couldn’t get past the Brady Bunch.  So when I came across Grady I threw it out there and Mitch’s eyes lit up.  Grady Sizemore was an all-star centerfielder for the Cleveland Indians (at the time, not now thanks to some injuries, and I’m a little nervous about claiming him as Grady's namesake since he's young and has already made a few embarrassing mistakes in his life, ha :).  The Irish name fit with his St. Patty’s day due date too.  We immediately agreed on Grady. 

 

Photo Credit: Pinterest here :)
 

Grady popularity in 2010: 314th

 

John:  This is after his Grandpa Johnnie, Great-Grandpa John, Great-Great-Grandpa John, and Great-Great-Great-Grandpa John.  It was really special to us carrying on a family name to another generation.  I do secretly hope that Grady will carry it on to the next generation too someday.

Grady and his Grandpa John.  Gulf Shores 2011.

This picture is fabulous.  Wish we all still had big hair like this.

 

Namesake: Maddox Mitchell

 

I’m long overdue on these.  Better late than never I always say. I'll have Grady and Ada up later this week.

 

 

 

Maddox: This was just a name I had seen and had kept in my mind over time.  I think it originally came from Angelina Jolie’s son.  It was easily sold to Mitch because of the Cub’s pitcher Greg Maddux.  At the time we planned on naming all of our kids with J or M names so this went along with our planned theme.  This name was agreed upon shortly after finding out we were having a boy at 22 weeks pregnant.   It was difficult keeping the name a secret for that long until he was born!

 

 

Maddox Popularity Ranking in 2008: 208th (in 2012 it was up to 167th)

 

2004 Cubs vs. Cardinals at Busch Stadium with Mitch.  Me in my Maddux shirt.  Greg warming up.  I still have this shirt and it happens to actually be a boys shirt which is now patiently waiting in Maddox's closet for him to grow into it. :)

 

Mitchell: This is obviously after his dad just as Mitch’s middle name (Mark) is after his dad and also they share the same initials…two M&Ms. 

 

I believe this will always be my favorite picture of them two.