INTRODUCING... (at long last)

Zavier Shane Schultz

Zavier (pronounced- zay-vee-er)

"Zavi" for short. (Zay-vee)

Shane is Mitch's middle name, too. :)

Important details:

Born December 17th at 7:45pm

@ RUH Saskatoon

Weight: 8 lbs 5 oz

Height: 21 inches

Perfect.

How does one select a name for a child??? As I've said in earlier posts, Mitch and I find this responsibility incredibly daunting and have struggled to come up with names for our children. I remember the feeling I had as we wrote down Jett's name on his live birth registration. SO strange. I'm not sure how to describe it except to say: unworthy? God crafts this beautiful child and I don't feel qualified to bestow a name that will stick with this creation through their life.

Anyhow, as you know, we went a "less than traditional" route while naming our children. No "John" or "Mary" in our home. (Although those are both wonderful names ;) We really struggled to agree on names together; both having different preferences. For Jett and Kalena, they were both names we really liked how they sounded. Jett sounds athletic and masculine (at least in our opinion) and Kalena, sweet and beautiful. There is no familial connection to the names and no major attachment to their meanings, although Kalena does mean "pure" in Hawaii and who doesn't want their sweet daughter to be pure??? (Jett is a "black mineral" ;)

Here is what led us to selecting Zavi's name.

It started out as a funny response to people's comments. Several times I was advised that we should go with an "L" name since our first child's name started with "J" and our second with "K". The joke was that we should continue on and finish the alphabet. NOT happening. With a semi-spiteful attitude, I jumped right to Z in the baby book as a way of combatting speculations over alphabetical naming patterns. ;)

A couple of "Z" names resonated with us; Zavier being one of them. (We also liked the name Zander) Here was what it said in my baby names app about Zavier.

The 5-star rating is the rating I gave the name. :) As far as popularity goes, there were only around 300 Zavier's born in 2010. Not a very common name. (Xavier is considerably more popular)

I like the name's association to the Spanish language (I studied Spanish many moons ago and am more or less fluent) and the terms, "savior, bright and splendid" are wonderful wishes for a child. I've also seen the word "wise" associated with the name.

Did you catch the last "meaning," though??? 

Hilarious. (At least to Mitch and I)

I've looked at many many baby name books, websites and apps and I have never seen another name that means, "New House." I know that's not a deeply touching meaning, but I get such a kick out of it. Is it strange to name your child with somewhat humorous motives? This was not our only reason for selecting this name, (We DO genuinely like the name; especially the shortened form, Zavi) but it did play a small part in our selection process. Why not chronicle a major event in our lives while naming our third precious child? Being the fourth/fifth generations (Mitch is the 4th, our kids the 5th) on a century old farm and replacing the original farm house is a pretty big deal. We will not experience many moves in our lifetime, unlike much of the rest of the world.

Anyway, here's what some other baby-naming sites say about Zavier.

babynames.com

Baby Center

The Baby Name Wizard

Think Baby Names

So, there you have it! We are thrilled to have little Zavi as a part of our family. I anticipate many blog posts highlighting just how "bright and splendid" this boy is.

Jett and Kalena came to meet their new brother and it was SO special. Jett is completely smitten with little Zavi. He is quite the baby hog and wanted to hold him the whole time! He even sang lullabies to him. (I was melting, for sure) Kalena, on the other hand, was rather indifferent but if you asked her where the baby was, she would run to Zavi and point at him. I'm sure I heard her call him "Zay-bee" (A combo of Zavi and baby-- so clever ;)

As we packed up to leave the hospital today, I thought about how unfortunate it is that Zavi's first introduction to Saskatchewan fresh air is in these frigid temps. Our truck said -30°C as we drove home.

Snug as a bug in a rug ;)

Welcome to the world, Zavier Shane Schultz!

We love you SO much!