May Flowers

One of the things I loved about this house when we were house hunting were the beautiful roses bushes and pomegranate bush in the back yard. I love flowers, and the rose is one of my favorites. It is both a beautiful flower as well as my namesake, and I am glad that I could share it with Clara.

Growing up I knew a boy named Tracy and never felt like it was a very pretty or feminine name. But Rose was my middle name- my special, beautiful, name. Tracy Rose. The Rose redeemed me, and gave me a sense of pride. Whenever anyone asked my middle name it sort of felt like revealing a special and beautiful secret.

I'm not that great about maintaining our rose bushes or helping them thrive, but despite my lack of skill and watering they have been coming back every year and I have been enjoying their blooms and amazing fragrance every summer.

My little Clara Rose.

Ready to graduate from Newborn to 0-3 Month onesies.

My favorite newborn outfit for Clara. 

First Pomegranate bloom of spring!

Lucy likes to dress herself and often chooses to wear this dress backwards because she can only button the back buttons when they are in the front.

Patch of weeds = free landscaping!

Clara being the recipient of a LOT of love.

Lucy likes to pick these weeds flowers and put them in a vase for the kitchen table.

Lucy loving being a big sister.

We're Watching You

Late night nursing session and then skyping with Uncle Boydie.

This picture makes me laugh every time I see it.

We're watching you, Uncle Boyd.

A Rose By Any Other Name

Naming a baby is hard! I take it seriously and pray for inspiration, think about it a lot, study it out, make lists and excel spread sheets, try different first, middle and last name combinations, etc. We usually have a name picked out that we are thinking about and considering, but still wait to finalize it until the baby is born to see them and see if the name fits and we still feel good about it. 

"I'm here! What's my name?"

This time we didn't even start name searching until about two weeks before she was born, and no name was really sticking out to me as I searched. I barely even found one that I liked about the week before she was due.

We want our children to feel good about their name, it's meaning, origin, and namesakes and to be proud to be connected and associated with it.

After she was born I didn't get that "confirmation" feeling with the name like I had with Lucy and Peter, so we kept discussing it and waiting to officially name her and fill out the social security paperwork. The problem was that there was no other names coming to mind! "Heavenly Father, if this isn't her name, please let us know what is!"

We finally decided to just go with it on the Friday after she was born when we had to fill out the social security paperwork at the hospital since we didn't have anything else, but I was seriously second guessing myself for about two weeks after. "Zach, I think we named our baby the wrong name. But I don't know what else it is supposed to be!"

April 23rd was the first day that I actually felt like it could be her name. (She was born on the 17th.)

Clara Rose Davis.

I love the name and think it is so pretty, it's just that it didn't seem to be her name for some reason.  Who knows. It's officially her name and I don't have any plans on changing it, but I am still getting used to it.


To my sweet Clara Rose!