Maisie Lucille. When people ask me what Daniel and I named our baby and I say “Maisie Lucille,” many times we are met with “Oh, that’s interesting. How did you come up with that name?” They aren’t saying it to be mean, I think they are more saying it because they haven’t ever met a Maisie or heard that name used often.

Before we got pregnant whenever I heard a name I liked I wrote it down in my phone. I have Zooey, Heidi, Leighton and Willow, among some other boy names. I really leaned toward Willow, however Daniel wasn’t was into it. We kept discussing names and when we for sure found out she was going to be a girl, Daniel suggested Maisie. One of his grandmothers was known as Grand Maizy and the other was Byrdie Lucille. As much as I love Byrdie, I am sure my kid would have killed me had we settled on that. So when he suggested Maisie Lucille, I fell in love with it. It’s quirky without being too crazy and means something to our family.

Now, how were we going to spell it. There are several ways to spell it – Maisie, Maizy, Maizie, Maisy, and the list could go on. We discovered the British spelling – Maisie – and it felt right to us. No other reason other than it looked and sounded nice. It is the same spelling as Maisie Williams, Arya Stark, on Game of Thrones, but I promise you we didn’t pick it because we are big Game of Thrones fans. We also found out that there is a children’s cartoon named Maisy Mouse! How perfect for her to enjoy as she gets older.

We didn't really tell anyone outside immediate family what we were going to name her, because everyone always has an opinion. Most people aren't going to tell you to your face they hate the name but you can read people's faces. I never wanted to second guess her name once we picked it out and someone's adverse reaction could have made me second guess it. It's harder to hate on a name when it's attached to a cute little baby.

Here’s the lowdown on Maisie:

Maisie, a hundred-year-old favorite, meaning pearl or child of light. Spelled Maisy in a popular children's book series, Maisie is rising in tandem with cousin Daisy. While Maisie might be short for Margaret, Mary, or even a name like Melissa or Marissa, it stands perfectly well on its own.

In literature, Maisie is the name of the precocious young title character in the Henry James novel What Maisie Knew, and is also the main female character in Rudyard Kipling's The Light That Failed. And to bring things up to date, Maisie is a half-blood character in the Harry Potter series.

Maisie re-entered the US Top 1000 in 2014 at 658, making it one of the fastest rising names of the year; she's still got a way to competing with her English counterparts - in the UK, Maisie is in the Top 50.

I can’t wait to see how she grows into the name and makes it her own.

Oh, and it’s not May-C, it’s May-Z. 

Daniel and I are really lucky to have his mother watching the little one until she is six months, but that means we need to find a daycare soon as the months are ticking by fast!

We went and toured Bright Horizons near our house and while it’s beautiful with great curriculum and SO convenient, the price is outrageous. I don’t think the location can justify paying so much.

We have two others to tour, both currently have a waiting list with one fairly close and one further than we would like, but both with everything we are looking for in a daycare. Both come HIGHLY recommended but each come at a cost. Daniel and I will just have to discuss what we can and cannot give up when it comes to a daycare. Before we had Maisie, daycare was one stress that slowed me down from wanting to have a baby. How crazy is that – daycare?! It’s the cost. Everyone wants to give their kid the best and when you can’t afford to send them where you want to send them it’s stressful and sad.

It’s so maddening how much daycare costs. I was reading a book before Maisie was born called “Bringing Up Bebe.” The book is written by an American woman who raises her daughter in Paris. She goes on to explain several differences in how the French women raise children. While I don’t agree with everything in the book, the daycare part really stuck with me.

“The French have all kinds of public services that surely help make having kids more appealing and less stressful. Parents don’t have to pay for preschool, worry about health insurance, or save for college.

Many get monthly cash allotments—wired directly into their bank accounts—just for having kids.”

They don’t have to pay for preschool and daycare is subsidized by the state on a sliding scale for people based on income so everyone can afford it. The author goes on to say she had her reservations about a government program for her child, but that she was pleasantly surprised with the care her daughter received and ended up sending three kids there. Want to read more from her on daycare in the United States? Read here.

So we continue our search and although it might put us in the poor house, it’s all for the babe and that’s really what life is all about now.

I wanted to share Maisie’s bedroom as Daniel and I are pretty excited and proud of how it came out. Many baby rooms are very pink or very blue based on gender and very baby.

It started when I found an Orange Bird pillow at Disney early on in my pregnancy. Daniel and I knew we wanted to build the room around it. I wasn’t sure how we would do it but we started collecting anything Orange Bird. It was easier to envision it because a lot of the Orange Bird stuff is no longer around nor is it available anymore.

First, why Orange Bird? Orange Bird is significant for Daniel and I because he represents Florida and Disney. Daniel and I are both native Floridians and our daughter would also be a native so we wanted to pay homage to our love for our state, but we also wanted the room to represent our love for Disney, without being all characters or princesses. If you aren’t familiar, Orange Bird was the mascot for the Florida Citrus Growers back in the 1960s & 1970s and then became a mascot for the Sunshine Tree Terrace within Adventureland at Magic Kingdom. Daniel remembers back in the day visiting and interacting with Orange Bird and so he has always held a special place in his heart. Want more on Orange Bird? Click here.

So we had the pillow, next was to find other things we could build the room around. We learned that in Japan, Orange Bird was HUGE. Disney brought the character back and a lot of merchandise. I found a baby Orange Bird stuff animal and purchased that. We also found on eBay a record from in the 1970s that was released with songs from the Sherman brothers. There are a few records on eBay, however so expensive! I was lucky enough to find a decently priced one that I framed as a focal point in the room. A friend found another Orange Bird stuff character at the parks and grabbed it for us (we hadn’t been to the parks after it got too daunting for me to walk around in the heat).

Since we also wanted this room to be very Florida, we hit up some souvenir stores on International Drive to find “very Florida” gifts. We bought an alligator head, shark in a bottle, Florida map plate and Orange Florida paper weight. We hung IKEA shelves to put all these knick knacks on display and added a few other things that are special to us.

All the little things began to come together. But what about the big area behind the crib? Daniel woke up on a Sunday morning and told me he knew what he wanted to do. He gathered up several old Florida posters and even some old Disney posters and had them reprinted. Once we had the posters he used wallpaper paste and we made a huge collage behind the crib. I love how it came out and it really represents our personalities.

Later down the road we were gifted an amazing carved baby Orange Bird from our friend de Tiki. We also received a cool Orange Bird ornament from China, as well as an official Sunshine Tree Terrace poster from the parks. Thank you to everyone who helped to make this room special!

The furniture (dresser, bedside table and toy box) was build by my great grandfather in the 1960s from wood he gather on his land in Tennessee. It has been passed from family member to family member and I am very lucky to have it. It even has a queen bed that we will move into the room when she is big enough. I used and IKEA organizer for the closet and baskets that made it look like orange baskets. And of course, the crib is new! Luckily, we didn’t have to paint the walls and the carpet was fresh.

Daniel and I really love the room and it is our hope that as Maisie gets older she will love it too and keep it forever! Ha.