Naming Gemma

Luke and I knew what we were going to name our first baby {God willing} before we even said, "I do":
Augustine Patrick for a boy
or
Gemma Patricia for a girl.
We have a "thing" for unique Saint names, clearly.

Since our first little bundle was a boy, Augustine Patrick he was, thus claiming my Mom's namesake for his middle name.  My Mom, Patricia, passed away when I was seven, and we wanted our first baby to be named after her. 

When we saw two pink lines again, about a year and a half after Augustine was born, we knew the baby would still be Gemma if she was a girl, but we'd have to come up with a new middle name.  {And thank goodness she was a girl because we still don't have a first or middle name picked out for a boy!}

I can't remember exactly when I first heard the name Gemma, but I fell in love with it immediately!   
Initially, I didn't know anything about Saint Gemma except that she was a Saint and that she had a beautiful name.
As I learned more about her, though, the name became more significant for our baby.  Coincidentally, Saint Gemma's Mother also passed away when she was seven.

Coming up with a middle name to go with Gemma took us a few months. 
One night while I was registered students for the soccer programs my husband runs, I came across a little girl named, Michaela.  I loved the spelling of her name, as opposed to the more common spelling, Mikayla.  Given that Saint Michael is one of our favorite saints and that "Gemma Michaela" sounded so pretty together, we quickly decided to go with it.

And the name suits her perfectly--our sweet, little Gem!