We have names!

Drum roll, please!!!!

First, let me say, choosing was HARD!! I wish I could have given everyone all of their names... ladies, you did a terrific job picking them. But choices had to be made, so here we go!

From Mari: Little Boy will be known as Miska. Mari wanted a Finnish name (yes, she's a native of Finland!) and kindly provided us with an MP3 so we would pronounce it correctly. She tells us this is a variant of the Russian Misha, which is a pet name for Mihail, or as we Yanks know it, Michael... which means "who is like God."

From Catonsville Cats: Big Boy is now Oliver. Now, CC had really wanted to name one of the torties, but when Oliver was the first name she threw out I was done - reasons to follow. Oliver is one of her favorite cats from the PetSmart where she volunteers with the cats up for adoption. Oliver happens to be the hero of one of my favorite movies (yeah, it's a schmaltzy B movie, and proud of it), called "The Enchanted Cottage" AND is a character in one of my favorite Shakespearean plays, "As You Like It." The name has two meanings - "presser of olives" and "elf army" (Germanic). I'm going with "elf army"... LOL!

From Aunty Pol: Little Girl has been christened Lessa. Lessa is one of the "Dragonriders of Pern," in the classic series of books, by the same name, by Anne McCaffery. Aunty says this is the first online entry of hers that has ever won (yep, it was a fair up random drawing, hon) and we are pleased to dub our sweetie Lessa, which means "joy."

And finally, from Hyacinth: Big Girl is now dubbed Gia. Gia means "God is gracious" and is a form of both Hyacinth and Jane. How could I not name one of the baby girls Gia!!!

And now, a surprise. I reserved naming rights for Mama in order to bestow them upon Judy, after the walk. Judy had the idea for the walk and served as our pack leader. She was, indeed, surprised this morning, but quickly rallied and suggested Mama Lucia, or Lucy, meaning "Light." Well, what do you know, we had three other suggestions for Lucy as one of the baby names sooooo... Mama Lucia it is!! Now... how to pronounce it!? There are three different pronunciations LOO-sha, loo-SEE-ah and, the one we're going to go with loo-CHEE-ah.

Did I mention that picking among terrific names is hard work? I'm pooped! I gave the babies a weigh and a hug, wrote this and am going to crash now!! I'll leave you with one pic until I can get some more in the pipeline!

From left to right: Oliver, Gia, Lessa and Miska

Oh, and in the photos you can see some tabby-like undercoat on the boys that's not obvious in "real life." The guys look solid black in person.