Claire Ruth

I realized that I still have not posted what we decided to name our precious baby girl. Her name is going to be Claire Ruth.  I love being able to call her by name and hear the girls name her. With Kate and Carly having a Kk sound at the beginning of their names we decided that we liked the idea of her name also having that same sound. Zack was the one that first brought up the idea of Claire and I loved it! I love the way it goes with Carly and Kate. I also like it’s meaning which is clear and bright. Then, it was just finding a name to go with it. Kate and Carly both have family middle names so we also liked the idea of the middle name having meaning. We had both really liked the name Ruth.  Ruth was his grandmother's middle name, my Aunt Anna’s middle name, and my grandmother Curtis’s sister first name. So it has a lot of meaning for women that have been very important in our lives. Ruth means loyal friend which is also a great meaning. Plus,  it is one of our favorite stories in the bible.

I am currently 36 weeks pregnant which means I have four weeks to go, yeah! Let me just take this time to be honest about some things. I really wish I could be that glowing beautiful woman on the cover of Parenting magazines with the perfect round belly, but I am not. I want to love being pregnant but I don't. This pregnancy has just been the most difficult one for me. I don't like having those thoughts in some ways because I don't want it to take away from the love that I have for Claire. I know that there are many women that crave and desire so much to be given this gift of pregnancy. I really try to keep that perspective. I truly feel blessed every time I feel her kicking inside of me reassuring me that she is there. I long to see what she looks like and acts like. I just battle with myself over my feelings because I also want to enjoy these last weeks with just two girls. I love seeing their relationship and being able to devote my time completely to them. However, I am not myself at all right now. That is the tough part. I have developed the condition cholestasis in the last couple of weeks. It is a rare condition that happens in pregnancy, usually the last trimester. If you have had it in previous pregnancies or have a sister or mom that experienced it you have a higher risk for developing it. My mom had it when she was pregnant with us and I also had it with Kate. My OB told me today that when they discovered I had it with Kate my bile salts were off the charts bad. I do not feel that it has gotten to that point yet. So what is it? Here is the definition taken from the American Pregnancy Association:

Some women experience a very severe itching in late pregnancy. The most common cause of this is cholestasis, a common liver disease that only happens in pregnancy. Cholestasis of pregnancy is a condition in which the normal flow of bile in the gallbladder is affected by the high amounts of pregnancy hormones.

For whatever reason the itching is worse at night and it keeps me awake and makes me feel like my skin is crawling with bugs. It can present some risks to the baby which is why once you are diagnosed with it you are typically induced. I am continuing to have blood work drawn to monitor it but it has not shown that the bile salts are really high yet, however my doctor is confident that I have it due to my past. Claire and I will continue to be monitored to make sure that she is safe. Ultimately, that is my primary concern.

On another note, we have been enjoying our time with just the two girls.

A couple of weeks ago we went to a Splash Park in Allen with our friends Jamie, Justine and Caleb. It was a perfect way to deal with the Texas heat. Carly and Kate enjoyed filling up pails of water and running over the spraying water.

Carly

Kate

Kate and Carly

Carly, Justine and Kate

We have trained them well. Here they are reapplying sunscreen by themselves.

Across the street they also had a sandy area and playground. We found a nice shady spot underneath the slide that we all enjoyed. It is the really fine sand that gets into everything but is very soft. I was loving it while they were playing with it, but not when I was trying to clean it all off. 

My nephews Will and Kale and my niece Breanne were in a Grapevine Musical of  The Little Mermaid.  I was so proud of the three of them. They all did such a good job!  I took Kate to go see it and she loved it. Here she is with the girl that played Ariel.

Will and Kate

This young woman played the Sea Witch and did an incredible job!

Afterwards, Kate had a tea party with the cast. 

The cast then came around to sign autographs.

One of Kamara's neighbors let us come to their community pool for a couple of days last week and it was so nice! We had the whole pool to ourselves and the girls loved it!

Kate

Carly

The girls all together getting ready to swim again.

Kate has become quite the fish this summer. She really likes it if she can touch the bottom of the pool. Carly still just likes it in small doses.

Both girls love to write. Here they are writing on a collection of cards and envelopes. Kate will put some cards in envelopes and come up to me and say "This is for your friends" or "This is for my friends."

My sweet friends from church gave me a girls night out to celebrate Claire. We  had dinner at Uncle Julios in Allen where they gave me a couple of gifts and some giftcards. My sweet friends Dina and Tracey made an awesome diaper cake and some yummy cake balls to top it all off.

Jennifer, Kim, Jenny and Tracey

Robin and Tara

Michelle and Alyssa

Kam and Me

Jennifer and Angela

Rachel, Krista and Kathie

Janis, Robyn, Jennifer and her sweet baby boy Corbin

Yummy cake balls!

One of the many reasons why I love Zack.  I had told the girls that we would have an ice cream party as a treat  after dinner last week like in one of our Fancy Nancy books. They wanted to put on their dress up clothes and for us to join in, too. So Zack went and got his suit jacket on and then they put a tiara on him and a Superman cape. It was a special treat and fun memory. We had vanilla ice cream with all the toppings. Whip cream, chocolate chips, M&Ms, chocolate syrup and jelly beans.

Here are some recent pictures that Zack captured of the girls playing in the water out front. They are my new favorite pictures!

A picture that I took of the girls getting ready to hang out with Daddy while he does the yard. He always wears a bandana and they wanted to wear one, too. Love it!