The Neals

I just want to kiss those little lips! This is a side note, but I wanted to explain why we chose Jeannette as her middle name. My mom's full maiden name was Lina Jeannette Scialdone. When I was born, my parents were going to name me Sarah, and at the last minute, decided against it. My full name at birth ended up being Jeannette Lina Masino. The opposite of my mother's name. I just LOVE having a part of her in my name. Actually, my entire name! I love telling people that Lina is my mother's name.

I wanted something special for my daughter, and although our family tends to have lots and lots of GIRLS, I didn't know if Eliza would ironically be our only daughter. I didn't want to take the chances, and so after much deliberation (mainly on my part, because it just sounded so weird for me to hear my name as her middle name) we decided on Jeannette. I'm glad we did, because it wasn't my name to begin with. I can tell her someday that it wasn't only my first name, but it was the name her great-grandma and great-grandpa decided to have as their first baby girl's middle name. My mom.