Tender Moments

Clara does some of the cutest things right now, and I don't want to forget them.  I've also found that sometimes her monthly updates are not sufficient, as she'll start and stop something before it's time for the monthly report.

Hug - Most nights, Spencer and I put Clara to bed together.  Our routine is short and simple.  Jammies, a book or two on the couch with daddy, brush teeth, say prayers, sing a song, kisses and lay down.  One of us will be holding her for song and prayers, and she'll say "hug!" and pull the other one in by the shoulder.  She will wrap her little arms around each of our shoulders while she gets peppered with kisses on both cheeks.  Sometimes she'll push our faces together for a kiss too.  It's so sweet!

Fun - After we finish an activity, Clara will say "FUN!!"  Then, with her limited, but expanding vocabulary, she'll try to recall every part of the activity that was fun.  For example last week the two of us went raspberry picking.  We encountered a dog, several bees, and ate dozens of berries as we picked.  As we drove away she said, "Fun!  Doggy.  Nummy.  Bee.  Nummy.  Fun!"

Wee - For naptime and nighttime when we're not getting to bed too late, I'll indulge Clara's request for "weeee" - or rocking her in the rocking chair and singing to her.  She'll snuggle down into my arms, just like I'm holding a little baby and we'll rock and rock and sing.  She makes her requests by singing the songs she wants to hear until I take over (or we'll sing together).  We've got quite a collection of favorites, but some of her more popular requests recently are "You Are My Sunshine," "My Heavenly Father Loves Me," "I Love to See the Temple" and "The Star Spangled Banner."  I'm more than happy to sit and rock Clara, as the kicks and flutters inside are a constant reminder that the time we have as just us is limited.

A name, a name

Baby naming is one of those things that I thought would be so fun, back when I was in high school.  If I was bored in a class, I'd turn the page in my notebook and scribble out the names for my future children (usually about 15 girls and 3 boys).  Turns out naming babies is actually kind of hard.  We named Clara about 6 hours before coming home from the hospital.  If I had to boil down my criteria for baby naming it would be this: the name must be easy to say, easy to spell, gender specific, and not overly popular.

Spencer and I tend to like older names - those that have fallen out of fashion.  Many are making a comeback, which means they are not completely unfamiliar, but they're still not names that our child would share with three or four other kids in their classroom.  We like to look to our family tree for names, but I've also discovered a great source recently in the Social Security database of baby names.  I like to look at the popular names of the 1910's and 1920's.  Here are the top girl names from the 1910's with the ones I would actually consider in bold.

Mary
Helen
Dorothy
Margaret
Ruth
Mildred
Anna
Elizabeth
Frances
Virginia
Marie
Evelyn
Alice
Florence
Lillian
Rose
Irene
Louise
Edna
Catherine
Gladys
Ethel
Josephine
Ruby
Martha
Grace
Hazel
Thelma
Lucille
Edith
Eleanor
Doris
Annie
Pauline
Gertrude
Esther
Betty (my sweet grandma's name too!)
Beatrice
Marjorie
Clara
Emma
Bernice
Bertha
Ann
Jean
Elsie
Agnes
Julia
Lois
Sarah
Marion
Katherine
Eva
Ida
Bessie
Pearl
Anne
Viola
Myrtle
Nellie
Mabel
Laura
Kathryn
Stella
Vera
Willie
Jessie
Jane
Alma
Minnie
Sylvia
Ella
Lillie
Rita
Leona
Barbara
Vivian
Lena
Violet
Lucy
Jennie
Genevieve
Marguerite
Charlotte
Mattie
Marian
Blanche
Mae
Ellen
Wilma
Juanita
Opal
June
Geraldine
Beulah
Velma
Theresa
Carrie
Phyllis
Maxine
Nancy
Emily
Georgia
Fannie
Kathleen
Hattie
Inez
Sophie
Rosa
Lorraine
Hilda
Harriet
Norma
Eunice
Sara
Cora (very cute, but not with a sister named Clara)
Ada
Geneva
Alberta
Loretta
Mamie
Christine
Dora
Lula
Estelle
Verna
Audrey
Madeline
Shirley
Eileen
Daisy
Sadie
Olive
Naomi
Lola
Flora
Lucile
Olga
Mable
Muriel
Susie
Maggie
Maria
Jeanette
Nora
Miriam (my maternal grandma's name)
Erma
Dolores
Victoria
Wanda
Janet
Lottie
Caroline (though I always worry about the Caroline/Carolyn issue)
Rachel
Irma
Henrietta
Roberta
Winifred
Eula
Patricia
Rosie
Anita
Rebecca
Della
Nettie
Sally
Fern
Lydia
Adeline (but not Addie)
Carolyn
Amelia
Nina
Jeanne
Elaine
Goldie
Katie
Bonnie
Antoinette
May
Marcella
Lorene
Essie
Arlene
Ollie
Dorothea
Jeannette
Veronica
Effie
Isabel
Freda
Regina
Sallie
Cleo
Ora
Isabelle
Rosemary
Addie
Eloise
Joan
Lela

Autumn Bucket List

One of the popular things floating around pinterest last year and this year are seasonal bucket lists.  I decided to make one for our family for this fall, and it's something that I think will be worthwhile for the holidays and next summer too.  Time just passes so quickly and I want to make sure we make the most of it, especially while our children are young and we have lots of opportunities for family time.  Here's our fall bucket list for this year - it encompasses some goals, some chores and some fun things we want to do.  Some should be no-brainers (like home and visit teach, go to the temple, watch conference) but I included them so they can stay fresh in our minds and we can make more meaningful efforts in those areas.

I had this printed up as an 8x10 and framed it so we can check things off with a dry erase marker as we go.

It's A....

I thought it would be fun for this pregnancy to find out the gender of our baby with the whole family.  We made a little event of it, and it turned out to be a great evening.

Yesterday was my 20 week ultrasound appointment and Spencer unexpectedly got stuck at work.  It was ok though, because I felt a little less awkward asking the ultrasound technician if she could just write the gender down for us, rather than telling me.  She was so happy to do so, and had me look away anytime she was looking around that area, so I wouldn't happen to see and find out. :)  I'm pretty blown away by the technology of ultrasounds.  You can see the whole skeletal structure, but also the bladder, kidneys, stomach, liver, brain, etc.  The ultrasound technician wrote down the gender for me and sealed it in an envelope (along with the gender-revealing ultrasound picture).

Right after my appointment, I headed to The Sweet Tooth Fairy, where I had previously placed an order for cupcakes to be picked up that day.  When they received the envelope from me, they were to fill the cupcakes I had ordered with pink or blue bavarian creme.  I picked them up a few hours later.  Then when we ate our cupcakes, we would know what the baby's gender was.  My mom pointed out that with cupcakes, everyone would get to the middle at a different time, so I decided that we would just give Clara a cupcake to start and let her be the grand revealer.

We had our parents and Aunt Carol over to enjoy the cupcakes last night, all anxious and excited to find out if Clara will have a baby brother or sister.  I gathered guesses from everyone before we dug in, and dyed their milk accordingly.  Two [party poopers] requested water or white milk. I was the only one with pink milk!

Clara couldn't understand how we could all just be standing around chatting when there was cake to be eaten, so we quickly cut to the chase.

 Taking a bite, and revealing the first glimpse of PINK!

 And finally, some convincing evidence.  A very pink creme-filled center. :)

Clara is going to have a little sister!

YAY!!  Clara claps with everyone else, while grandpa tries to help her make sense of the situation.

Two girls!

We are all very excited to add another little girl to our family and we love her already.