Little Rylee

I love that we call Riannyn, Anny. I love nicknames. It sets those who know you apart from those who don't. They're sweet, and personal. Liz is short for Elizabeth of course. My Dad says you can make more nicknames out of Elizabeth than any other name. He called me by as many as he could think of. Betty, Liza, Beth, Bethy-sue, Eliza, Liz . . . Those who have known me for a really long time remember my "Lizzy" days. When I told my husband I could recognize friends who have known and loved me for years because they still call me Lizzy, he decided he too should be a part of that group. When he proposed, he said, "Lizzy, will you marry me?".

I wanted a nickname for Merrylee, but couldn't think of one. Thankfully I have a very creative sister (thank's Buggy), who immediately came up with one- Rylee. Like Anny is taken directly from the spelling of Riannyn (RiANNYn), Rylee is at the end of Merrylee (MerRYLEE). We held off calling her that for a little while so we could get used to her beautiful full name. (by the way, it's pronounced like the word "merrily", some of you still seem confused by that. My fault, the spelling is confusing . . .), We also waited because Anny couldn't pronounce her "l's" or "r's". Rylee to her was "Why-wee". Not quite so cute. However our brilliantly advanced eldest daughter can now pronounce her "l's" quite proficiently! So we're taking the leap, and are going to start using Merrylee's sweet nickname, Rylee. Feel free to use it too! Here's some sweet photos of the little darling herself.