She's got a name!

Like I was mentioning the other day, deciding on a name for our baby has been really tough this time around.  I've never gone this long in a pregnancy without picking out a name so it's been something that's been on my mind a lot these days.  It must have been the prayers of some friends after reading the letter I wrote to my girl last week that helped me to figure things out!  (By the way, thanks so much for all your sweet comments that day)!  It was just "one of those days" that day and when I sat down to write, the words just kinda fell out of me.  By the end, I was in tears, but they were good tears.  I had been meaning to write something for this little girl considering that this pregnancy I haven't done any journaling like I did when I was pregnant with Alyssa and Audrey.  I really want to take the time to write more letters to all of my girls so that they have something special to look back on when they're grown.

Anyhow...on Saturday morning, my sister Yvonne emailed me a list of names she thought I might like.  Some of them were definite "no's" but others were ones I had been considering.  Let me just add in here that it's been tough finding a name that isn't someone else's child's name.  Especially now that I blog.

Well, the name that stood out to me the most was Olivia.  I'd considered that name before but kinda put it out of my mind.  For some reason, seeing it again sparked a new thought in my head.  I really liked that name but in the back of my mind, I'd been hanging onto the idea of finding another "A" name.  The thought then came to me...how about we change the spelling so that it starts with an "A" instead?"  We could even go a little further and change the spelling even more to make it a little more original. 

We could change it to...

Alyvia

or...

Just stick with...

Alivia

I mentioned the name to my Hubby and he immediately thought it was perfect!  Like I also mentioned before, since both Alyssa and Audrey have Grace for their middle names, this litle girl will also carry on that same name and have Grace as her middle name too!

So there you have it.  We have a name!  I am so excited but the only thing now is deciding on the spelling.  I really, really wanted to go with something that had a "y" in it like Alyssa and Audrey's names do, but at the same time, I don't want the spelling to be so confusing that people won't know how to prounounce the name clearly if they just see it on paper.

And that's where all of you come in.  Can you do me a huge favor today and give me your imput?  I would love to hear what you think about the spelling of the name.  And just for some added fun, I wanted to do just a tiny little giveaway today as well.  The other day when I had my day out to myself, I found a few little cute things and picked them up without quite knowing who the items would be for.  And then...it came to me.  The letter I wrote to the baby the other day was my 200th post!  Can you believe it?  Since I didn't include any fun giveaway on that post, I thought I could just do that today. 

So...if you want to help me with your imput as far as the spelling of our little girl's name that would be great!  Just leave me a comment and include which spelling you like better and why!  That will really help me to make up my mind!  Thanks so much and hope everyone's having a great start to their week!

P.S.  Here's what the tiny giveaway will include ( a journal, a little notepad and some soap rose petals)!

I'll pick a winner first thing Wednesday morning!  Thanks so much for your help!!!