Kids names

This is a post I put on my Uncle Jeff's blog as a guest post awhile back, I thought I should have it on my blog as well.


How we chose our kids names. The first name we wanted them to be different and unique. The second name is a family name with first boy and girl being named after there parents.

Zoë Michelle:

Zoë: I chose the name Zoë, it was a name I have loved for many years. I first heard it when my sisters friend was trying to name her baby and she was thinking Zoe and I said that sounded so funny and for some reason she had to keep repeating that name to me cause i kept thinking it was Ziggy. She never named that baby Zoe and after awhile I started liking it more and more. Lee also took quite a bit of convincing to get the name I wanted. We never found out what the baby's sex was until the day she was born so we had to figure out boy and girl names. After my whole pregnancy of saying the name Zoë for a girl Lee started liking it more each day as well. What made him give in was that he got to spell it the way he wanted which was having the french diaeresis ë. Lee served his mission in Quebec so was happy to bring some french influence into the name.

Michelle: This one is easy to explain, it's my middle name. I wanted my baby to be named after me but not my first name which I hear all the time.

Dreyton Leland:

Dreyton: this name was another name I chose, it took awhile to figure out a name for Dreyton. Lee and I had a hard time with choosing a name as the ones we wanted seemed to be very popular right now. Jacob, Ethan, and Preston were our top names at the beginning but they were too popular for our liking. One day I was just thinking about all the little boys I knew from daycare, and Dreyton popped in my head. Dreyton was a VERY cute boy, a little bit of a trouble maker but was such a cuddler too. I instantly loved that name for my baby as soon as I remembered it but again it took a bit of convincing for Lee to agree with the name. It wasn't because he didn't like it but because he wanted to name our first boy. An xbox360 (nintendo system) later the name was chosen.

Leland: well I hope everybody knows where this name came from, Lee's first name. Lee actually has two middle names James and Haines, Haines is Lee's mom's maiden name. After picking the first name Dreyton, Leland was a better sounding name to have as a middle name and I really liked that name more then the other two names.

If we had the ideal situation a boy and a girl next we already have the middle names picked out. I am not going to say what they will be until they're here but they are names from our grandparents.

Potty Training

Lee took the van to Edmonton this week because of the snow, so I decided it was the perfect time to get Zoë off the diapers during the day altogether. Yesterday was the first day she went without diapers and there was no accidents at all, and today the same. It's SO exciting to know that I won't be using diapers for her for too much longer, she still wears them at night and probably will for awhile.

We took away her toddler bed a few weeks ago and replaced it with a really nice single bedroom set we bought off kijiji, and now with her night time soother gone and her getting potty trained she is growing quickly out of the toddler stage. It's fun now that I can converse and we can have conversations with each other now too, her vocabulary improves so much every day.

Skyping with my hubby

Lee has been gone a lot lately as he's been doing his last semester in Edmonton and he's been gone this whole week to do training for work in Utah. We started skyping with each other which is a video chat online which has been really nice, the kids love to be able to see him. Only a couple more weeks left and there should be no more travelling!

Entertaining my toddlers at home

I had Zoë and Dreyton clean some of there toys the other day because they could always use a good cleaning and it keeps them occupied for a very long time.


This is another toy that Zoë LOVES, it's called a cool school computer and Zoë has gotten really good at playing it. It has different centers like art, colouring, music etc..

No More Soothers

Zoë was getting to a point where she would wake us up about 3 or 4 times in the night asking where her soother was and so we decided to get rid of them. She only had them when she went to sleep but Dreyton had his 24/7 so she would always steal his and hide. We made it a big deal saying we were giving them to cousin Drew since he's a baby. She packed them all up (minus 2 that are hidden in Dreytons bed which he still gets when he goes to sleep) and gave them to Drew. Afterwards we went and got a special present at toysrus because she gave them all away, she picked a puppy that acts like a real one. The first night was hard for her, she cried for about 3 hours until finally falling asleep. After that one night it's been great, she doesn't wake up in the night and she goes to sleep really good. It's a little harder for her to fall asleep at nap time so she doesn't have a nap often which was the case before the soothers anyways.

The Magic Touch

Nana and Pops came to take Zoë on a play date today. They went to costco and bought some really cute dresses and took her to the science center which she had a blast at. It is so nice that our kids have adapted to being around lots of family and actually enjoy going out without mommy and daddy some days, Dreyton has changed a tonne since moving to Calgary as before he would cry and run to mommy and daddy if anyone tried to get close to him. He now gets really excited when he goes and visits family or when they come over to our place.

"Pops" (Neil's name for his grandkids) has a magic touch with our kids. When Zoë was the same age as Dreyton we were visiting in Calgary and went to our family ward, Neil held Zoë one Sunday and through the majority of sacrament she just sat there on Pops lap. That was an absolute shock to us as she was usually scrambling to get down after a few seconds. Earlier today just before they came to take Zoë, Dreyton was laying down on Pops for at least 20 -25 minutes completely still. The only reason he moved was because they were leaving, and of course after they had left he was running off the wall again.

We have offered Pops to move in as we could use this "calming effect" on our kids more often! Unfortunately I don't think he will accept, right now anyways.

Urban Playhouse

Today Lee and I took the kids to this playhouse in Airdrie, it was a really fun place with different centers. Dayna came too with her kids as well as one of her friends too.

There was a dress-up area so Zoë got dressed as a unicorn


Lee with the boys, Dreyton and Drew while the girls were climbing in the climbing structure


There was a water area where the kids could play in a moat full of toys.


Dreyton playing in the art area where they have playdough and other crafts and puzzles

New Haircuts

Zoë and Dreyton finally got much needed haircuts. Zoë's hair got cut more then I wanted it too but I really like it and I know it grows quick.