Where's the Q?

Last Christmas, I spotted the cutest ornaments. They're meant to look like decorated gingerbread cookies in the shape of letters. I saw them too late and they were picked over, so I was unable to find an ornament for each of my girls. 
Since most stores are already decked out for Christmas, the ornaments are out. Guess what? There's no "Q." I realize names that begin with Q are rare. I can think of a handful. But still... if you're going to have alphabet ornaments, don't you think you would include them all? (Except maybe X, although there are plenty of boys out there named Xavier, so maybe X shouldn't be excluded, either).
I grew up rarely being able to find personalized items. When Katie, Molly and Matt were cruising around on bikes with little personalized license plates, I got nada because everyone felt my name should be spelled KristEn. Nope. Two "i"s. Even now when I make appointments and such over the phone I'm greeted with either "Ok, so it's K-r-i-s-t-e..." "No, i-n" or "C-h..." "No, it starts with a K." 
I didn't realize when my daughters were born that I saddled them with somewhat common names but with "different" spellings. It wasn't until I started looking at personalized cups, pencils and stickers that I realized I will likely never find these items for my daughters unless I go through a "do-it-yourself" company. Still, I never thought a line of alphabet ornaments would only include 25 letters!

What's in a Name?

Naming children can be one of the most stressful decisions a parent makes. No one wants to set their child up for ridicule... unless, of course, you're a celebrity (Apple, Pilot Inspektor, Dweezil... you catch my drift).
Coming up with four names was not easy. We didn't want anything outlandish, but we didn't want them to share a name with several other kids in their elementary classes. It's going to be hard enough for people to see our daughters as individuals without them having to share their name with classmates, too.
The names we chose received mixed reactions. Most people claimed to like them. The majority that didn't at least lied and said they liked them. A couple people were vocal in their dislike, but it didn't really phase me. They're my children, so I have the final say in their name (well, Hubby had some input, too).
The Social Security Administration keeps track of popular names for boys and girls. I decided to look up the top names for 2005 (the year my daughters were born). Cakes is in the top 100, although we chose a different spelling. Sue-Sue is just out of the top 100. Tortilla is in the top 200... but, again, a different spelling. Roo just missed the top 300... for boy's names. It has always baffled me that people prefer her name for boys, but who am I to argue? Even now when she has pigtails and is wearing pink some people will say "oh, you have one boy?" when they hear her name. The only other people I know with her name are female, so how her name became associated with males is beyond me.
These names will be with them for a life time and, quite frankly, I can't imagine calling them anything else. Perhaps years from now they'll go through a phase where they'll wonder why in the world we gave them the names we did... but hopefully they'll never have the resentment that, oh say, little Banjo or Pilot Inspektor may have over their names.