Dylann Alexia Stapel aka Pickles is 10!

Dyl turned 10 on Sunday! Yea! I have no idea where the years have gone. She was once so little and silly, and now she is a texting, cheer leading, goofing off 10 year old!

There are a lot of people who ask me why I named a little girl Dylann??? When I found out I was pregnant, I went through all the names, boy and girl, trying to figure out who my baby would be. At the ultrasound, when we found out we would have ANOTHER girl (#2 was not as bad as finding out it was a girl with #3 for Christopher :) I was kind of at a loss. I loved the name Madylan. But, in a world of nicknames, I figured we would all call her Dylann anyway.

When we told my Grandma Salt what her name would be, she said, "Well, is she going to be an outlaw? Will she shoot guns?" I told her that Marshall Dillon was a good guy, not that I even thought of him when I chose the name. Good ol' Grandma! Then she went through all of the nicknames she might be called. Dyl, Dyllie, and more very colorful names in which I will shelter my child from on this blog. :)

In the hospital the night after she was born, Topher & I were trying to figure out the spelling. I wrote it on a piece of paper a zillion times. Dillon, Dilon, Dylan, Dylanne, Dilanne. After watching an episode of Beverly Hills 90210, when it listed "and Luke Parry as Dylan" it came to me. She would be Dylann. Then I made Topher figure out the middle name. I tossed him the baby name book, and he made it to 'Alexia'. He didn't turn past the A's at all. So that is how she got her name.

I have received a lot of interesting looks & comments over the years as I yell her name, tell people her name, take her places where her name is called. Her first Dr.'s Office visit, the nurse comes out and yells, "Dylann Stapel", I stand up with a baby in all pink and walk towards the nurse. She looks at me very confused and says, with a baffled look on her face, "Dylann???"

And so it goes! She is my Dylann. She is my "mini-me", the only one of my girls who looks like me (poor thing). She is very, very shy. But when she gets warmed up- WATCH OUT! She loves lambs, from the time she was little. She has a ginormous collection and raises one for 4-H. She helps our neighbor with foster animals. She loves the color purple, pancakes and coke! She love, love, loves sloppy-joes!

She is such a good kid!

I love you Dylann Pickles!

(And the nickname "Pickles", it comes from the show Rugrats. The little brother's name is Dillon Pickles. Not just anyone can call her "Pickles". You have to be in her inner-circle, or she will use her super power of ignoring on you. And she is very, very good at that! )