What's In a Name?

I got tagged twice for this so I figured I should finally sit down and post on this! I know a lot of people have done this and it's been fun to hear why everyone named their kids what they did. We are so blessed to have had 3 babies to name. With my condition it's truly a miracle that we have ANY children, let alone 3 HEALTHY children!! So here are the what's and why's of our kiddos. I also included my favorite professional picture and a snapshot of them.

CHASE THOMAS





Growing up, my brothers and I used to play at our cousin Nathan's house a lot. Nathan had a friend named Chase who was over there all the time too. He was kind of a crazy kid, but I always thought he had a cool name. When we found out we were having a boy, I ran the name by Craig and he really liked it. So since I picked the first name I told Craig he could pick the middle name. He wanted to name him Chase Rodney. WOW! RODNEY!! No offense to anyone out there with the name Rodney, but I just never had that in mind for one of my children. So I convinced him to pick something else and he came up with Thomas. I'm not too big on Bible names either, but Thomas was way better than Rodney - so it became Thomas. Which is perfect now because he is obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine! However, had I known that naming my child Chase would literally mean that I would spend my days "chasing" him around the house, in public, or wherever we are I would have named him Sitting Still. Sounds kind of like an Indian name doesn't it? :O)

MALLORY JADE





We had a very hard time naming Mallory. When I was 18 weeks pregnant with her we went to go find out if she was a girl or a boy at an ultrasound. We found out she was a girl, but we also found out that my body was halfway through the laboring process. Thanks to many priesthood blessings and modern-day medicine she is here today. We were hesitant to name her because we weren't sure if she was going to make it or not. Looking back I think we were trying to stay unattached to her because of how scared we were of losing her. At the end of the pregnancy we finally finalized a name for her. I had read a book - don't remember the name of it - but the main character's name was Mallory. I took it to Craig and he said, "Mallory? Like on Family Ties?" That show must have been before my era because I have never seen an episode. But he liked it so we went with it. We tried to come up with a middle name, but it seemed like nothing fit. I ended up getting one of my friend's wedding announcements in the mail. We were in the same ward for years growing up and she was a great friend - and her name sounded good next to Mallory. So Jade it was!

CLARK TYLER






Clark was actually going to be Corbin for the longest time. We called him Corbin for months while I was still pregnant with him! But Craig and I kept saying, "We love the name Corbin, but it's just not clicking!" We couldn't seem to find anything to "click" as we discussed names. So I finally just asked Heavenly Father if there was a specific name he had in mind for this child. I know that happens in the Bible - Heavenly Father has a certain name that He's wanted a child to have. So I questioned Him, and a couple of days later, we were watching Smallville. The show about Superman (Clark Kent) in his teenage years. The thought ran through my head, "How about Clark?" At first I thought, "No, it's too old fashioned." But a few days passed and Clark still kept coming into my mind. Meanwhile, I had a brother who was on his mission at the time in Hong Kong, China. I had written him an e-mail and had asked him what he thought of the name Clark. I was blown away by his response! When he answered my e-mail he said, "Holly, it's weird that you asked me that because the other night I was laying in bed and the name Clark Kent just popped into my head. And I started thinking about Superman." He said he thought the name was a good name. Wow! So my brother who's on the other side of the world has had a "Clark" impression too! I felt strongly that Clark was this child's name. Then I had to get the guts to bring it to Craig because I was so sure on this! He ended up loving it! He wanted to name him Clark Kent Kurtzeborn. (He LOVES Superman, but I told him there is no way we are doing that to our child!) I said no to Kent. And he suggested Tyler. Which is also his middle name and his mother's maiden name. There was also an Apostle named J. Reuben Clark. Clark was a good name!

I tag Sarah H., Crystal T. (I know he's still in utero!), and Amie W.

Our Easter

It has been so fun to read about everybody's Easter traditions! I never realized there were so many different ways to celebrate! Some just do egg hunts, some just do baskets, some dye eggs, and some just do plastic eggs. Craig and I were talking about what kind of Easter traditions we wanted to establish in our family. I know our oldest child is four, but we never really talked much about this holiday's traditions. We decided that we would dye eggs the night before and leave them on the table along with their empty Easter baskets and the Easter bunny would come in the night and hide them somewhere in the house. We told them when they woke up in the morning they would have to see if they could find where the bunny had hidden their eggs and their baskets. When I first asked Mallory who would be coming in the night, her eyes got really big - and then her smile got really big and she whispered to me, "Santa Claus!" I laughed and had to tell her, "Not quite." She was cute! Anyway, we dyed eggs the night before - successfully with no spills. The kids thought it was the neatest thing in the world to change the color of the egg (we have never done this before).





Craig peeled and ate half of one of the boiled eggs and he offered the other half to Chase and Mallory. They both hated the taste! They love scrambled eggs, but apparently hard-boiled eggs are out of the question!



We didn't fill their baskets with a whole lot of candy this year. One, because we didn't want them to have a sugar rush right before we went to church. And two, because I would end up eating half of their candy anyway - and then I would be mad at myself. (Yes, I have self-control issues when it comes to candy) So we mostly filled their baskets with cheap books and toys. The "Easter Bunny" hid Chase's basket behind the couch in the living room and he hid Mallory's basket in the closet under the stairs.





Mallory loved a fun light toy that she got in her basket. From the look on her face you can tell it was pretty mesmerizing!



Clark snacked a little bit on Mallory's chocolate bunny. He loved it!! It was his first taste of chocolate! (We start early in our family :o))



But I think the biggest hit was from Chase's Easter basket. The "bunny" gave him some Billy-Bob teeth. (88 cents for a 4 pack! We're cheap!) We got the best laughs from these teeth!







We get our kids two formal outfits a year - one at Christmas and one at Easter. So here were their Easter outfits for church:

Chase


Mallory


Clark


I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

5 Months Already!

Clark turned 5 months old yesterday!! Time is flying by so fast. I think the more kids you have the faster time goes because of how busy you are! Clark is getting so big! I can't wait until his 6 month appointment so see how much he weighs. Mallory just wears diapers to bed at night - but Clark is in the same size diaper as Mallory! Yeah, size 4!! I swear he's going to out weigh her by the time he's a year!Clark cut his first tooth on Valentine's Day and he cut his second one the beginning of March. All of my kids teethe so early. By 10 months Chase had every tooth in his mouth except for his 2-year molars. He was biting and eating pizza at 9 months! I love it because we don't have to mash up their table food for very long. He's also sleeping 12 hours at night. He has been since he was 10 weeks old. He's such a good baby!! We've really gotten spoiled having him :o)

Some recent pics of the bebe:

Big Boy Teeth



Contagious Smile :o)


Happy As Can Be


Clark and Me


It's Bathtime!