Oliver in August

Do you want to know a secret? We almost named Oliver, August. It's true. He didn't have a name till he was 10 days old because we just couldn't decide. And because we like to take our time with those things.

I had a dream while I was pregnant with him that we named him August (which was peculiar as I had no associations or thoughts of that name beforehand) , so when he was born it was hard to shake the feeling that we should.

But we knew his middle name would be Travis and "August Travis" was hard to say--especially with my partial lisp.
And I had loved the name Oliver as long as I could remember.

And it felt right. So in June, at 5 months old, we dressed him up in this sweet outfit and his father gave him a special blessing and made his name official.

And then in August I put this outfit back on him and took more photos because it was a little rainy the first time and I didn't get quite enough.

And I forgot that I hadn't shared them until Vanessa and I were talking about how cute sweet Penelope looked in her blessing gown and she reminded me.

In the end, Oliver is his name. I love the earthiness of it--it means "Olive Tree," and the symbolism of the olive tree and its associations with strength and peace are perfect, as he was born just 5 days before Christmas. I love his name, and I could not love him more.

And perhaps someday he will have a brother, and it will turn out it was him I dreamed about instead.

Speaking of siblings, this girl never likes her picture taken unless someone else in getting their picture taken...

My two babies.

His outfit is from here (and it looks like its even on sale now!)

And his darling shoes are vintage from Stacy's shop. I realized the day before I didn't have any shoes for him and am so lucky to live right by Stacy in real life. So I called her up and she not only had the perfect shoes, but she had 3 pair to choose from. Thanks again Stacy!