One Month

Our sweet Vida Jayne is one month old today.  It seems odd - as if we've had her forever and yet can't believe we're already measuring her life in months instead of days or weeks.

I want to give a little background and explanation of her name.  As many of you know, we were planning to name her something else since before she was even an idea, a J-name to stick with our J-theme.  Then, one night as we drove home I pioneered the question "If we didn't stick with J-names what would we name her?"  We discussed beautiful names, including Vida.  Vida was the name of Justin's grandmother and we both loved it, especially because it would always remind us of the sacred times we spent with her before she passed away three years ago.  I set the conversation aside for awhile, but neither of us could ignore the name.  It nagged at us and we remained uncertain about her name until after she was born.

In some of my first few moments alone with her in the hospital I said a silent pointed prayer about what her name should be.  Despite my reluctance to give up the name I had held on to for so long, I felt strongly that her name should be Vida.  Justin did too.  At the time, I had no idea that people weren't familiar with the name and would respond "....what?" when I would answer the question "What's her name?" with "Vida."  Nor did I know people wouldn't know how to pronounce it, not even once realizing it's the Spanish word for "life."  Those things were hard to deal with at first, and it is still unpleasant sometimes when people are noticeably taken aback by her name.  But the fact is that Justin and I feel it's the right name for her and that it is a beautiful and elegant name.  Her middle name, Jayne, is after my father whose name is Jay.

We are grateful for our Vida Jayne, who is healthy, strong and beautiful.  At times it feels like we have a little piece of heaven in our home.