What's in a Name?

Welcome to Anna's new blog.

Basically, it is exactly the same as the blog that told all about her first 12 months of adventures! However, it needed a new title as there are no 2 blogs that can be called the same!

It was going to be called 'Simply Anna' but I thought that it might be miss-read as Anna being called simple which she most certainly isn't. In fact, she is far too clever sometimes and outwits her Mummy and Daddy regularly! Then I had the brainwave that it could be called 'All About Anna'. Unfortunately, someone has already beaten me to it. Then I played around with a million other names but they were all far too geeky, sad, strange or embarrassing to even mention.

Finally, my inspiration came after Anna's bath. Anna decided, very early on in life, that she didn't like a towel wrapped around her after bath time. The problem was that she obviously needed a towel around her, in order to keep warm so, in order to distract her, I play Peekaboo. It has now been going on for so long that Anna looks at me expectantly as soon as she is picked up out of the bath. I would love to say that Anna loves playing Peekaboo for the thrill of seeing her Mummy's gorgeous face pop up from behind a towel but I think it has more to do with the fact that, as I hide behind the towel, Anna and her Daddy sneak off to hide from me. There I am, singing Peekaboo all to myself before shouting Boo as I emerge from behind the towel, to find there is no one there. Luckily, I instantly know where Anna and James are hiding as I can hear Anna giggling from their hiding spot! Anna hasn't quite got the hang of Hide and Seek yet!

So this is where the name 'Peekaboo Anna' comes from.

I had almost as much trouble deciding on a name for this new blog as we did when we were choosing Anna' name before she was born. Anna wasn't actually going to be called Anna until a few days before she was born. In fact, throughout most of the pregnancy, she was actually Alice.

As soon as I was 12 weeks pregnant, James and I had devised a list of possible names. Molly, Alice, Elizabeth (possibly shortened to Libby) and Grace were the top 4. James had suggested Anna too but I instantly dismissed it, thinking that I didn't like it. As my pregnancy progressed, Alice was becoming the favourite so we started to mention it to family and friends. Everyone was very supportive and didn't want to sway us by saying their opinion but there are certain family members who gave it away by their facial expressions (without even realising that they did it). With hindsight, I'm really pleased they did as I'm not sure that our baby girl looks like an Alice.

I'm not even sure why I suddenly changed my mind about the name 'Anna'. I remember it clearly though. We were driving to James' dad's and I heard the name 'Anna' on the radio. I thought it stood out. I think I must have repeated over and over again 100 times while driving to James' parents and , by the time that we reached Liverpool, it seemed perfect!

The perfect name for a perfect little girl!