Tenley

It’s been two weeks since Tenley has graced us with her presence. I have to mention, I was scheduled to be induced Tuesday morning. Everything was ready to go and we were to be at the hospital by 6am. Well, around 8pm Monday night I began to have contractions. This has been happening to me for weeks leading up to her due date so I thought nothing of it. Plus, I was going in to have her the next morning, bring on the contractions! I was ready! Well, unlike the other nights of contractions this time they didn’t go away with rest and this time they continued getting stronger and stronger. I tried so hard to fall asleep just so I could wake up the next morning and it would be time to head to the hospital but I couldn’t sleep. I’d dose off and 2 minutes later be woken up by a contraction. Mike was out with his brother helping him with something and came home around 11. He came in and immediately saw I was uncomfortable. I decided to go to the bathroom and then I saw blood and knew I needed to call the hospital. I called the hospital around 11:30 and they told me to come right in. This was my first baby I wasn’t induced with and labored all on my own. I don’t want you to think I didn’t get an epidural. That epidural was in within the first 55 minutes we were there. I don’t mess around! We got to the hospital at 1am and by 10:21am after only 2 contractions and 5 minutes of pushing she was born. It was a text book labor and delivery. Honestly, it could not have gone any smoother. 

We spent 24 hours with Tenley before deciding on her name. I brought out the big list because we looked at her and quickly realized she didn’t look like a Finley or an Eliot. And those were our top two names at the time she was born. I even had a shirt that said “Hello World, I’m Finley” in our hospital bag. (Anyone going to have a girl named Finley that wants a shirt?) Tenley wasn’t even on the list but Tinsley was. We kept coming back to Tinsley, again and again but kept saying no thats not it. We knew if she was Tinsley she would be Tinsley James, but I just felt Tinsley James Sass had way too many S’s for my liking and Mike mentioned it sounded rather Christmassy. When I randomly mentioned Tenley to Mike his eyes lit up. (A lot of people have asked where we got the name Tenley. I’m a tad embarrassed to say but I first heard it on the movie “Summer Catch” with Freddie Prinze JR and Jessica Biel. For those of you who don’t know the movie is about the Cape Cod baseball league. Jessica Biel plays a girl named Tenley and the name always stood out to me since then.) So, to make a long story short we made sure, spent another good hour with her and went back and forth between Tinsley and Tenley. I mean they are so close it made it even harder to decide. But, when we looked at her little face it was more than obvious she was Tenley. I just love her name! I know I’m a tad bias but I really hope she likes her name as much as I do.

Tenley James Sass. James after both her Uncle Jim and her Pappi, Peter James. I’m so happy we settled on a name that worked with James as a middle name. It was equally as important to both Mike and I that we have a child named after his brother and my dad. It makes me smile just thinking of it!

I have to be honest, I wish I put in a little more time in thinking of how close Kensie and Tenley sound when you say them together. It’s definitely still taking some time to get used to. I find myself saying Kensington a lot more than Kensie these days. At one point I called Kensington “Kenley”. But, you’ll all be happy to know not even an OUNCE of me wants to change her name. She’s definitely Tenley!