Welcome to the World, Grace Katharine

Today, I’m honored to introduce you to our brand new baby girl, Grace Katharine.  Grace was born Thursday, August 7th at 2:34 PM, weighing 7 lbs 1oz and 19 inches long.

She has been our amazing Grace and our hearts are full welcoming another girl into our family.

I keep saying to Graham how wonderful it is to have another baby and to have two children.  We love this sweet, beautiful, precious little one and the strong bond she is already forming with her big sister.

I thought I’d share with you how we picked the name Grace.  Back when I was twenty weeks pregnant, we went in for a routine ultra sound where they found something that required extra testing.  As any mother and father would be, we were nervous and frightened for our baby’s health, even though the odds were in our favor.  While waiting for the test results to come back, I wanted to go to a church to say some prayers for our little girl.  I decided that we should go to the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco as they also had an art installation by Anne Patterson that I wanted to see.

The moment Graham, Josie and I walked through the cathedral’s doors, we felt at peace.  We took in the glory of the art and the cathedral.  It was a calm and peaceful Sunday afternoon and there weren’t that many people in the church.  It was quiet, allowing for reflection, prayer and faith to build that all would be okay with our baby.  We walked the labyrinth twice; Graham carried Josie and I had my hand on my belly.  We then walked around the cathedral and lit a candle at every spot where there were candles to light.  We stopped at each candle and prayed together as a family for our baby.  Finally, we sat in a pew and had some quiet reflection.  We left feeling faithful and much of our worries were put at ease in the sacred space.  It was one of the most meaningful moments I’ve ever had in a church and it brought me closer to my family in ways I can’t describe.

We were expecting to receive the results in three to four days following our visit to the Grace Cathedral.  However, unexpectedly, I received a call the next morning.  The results came back negative and all was in the clear with our baby.  We were having a healthy baby girl.

Graham and I had made a pact to not discuss names while we were waiting for the test results.  When the happy news came back, we were both eager to discuss names.  Graham came home from work that day and said that he had a name in mind; I said that I did too but I was really hooked on it and I was hoping he would like my name.  Graham wanted us to say our names at the same time but I chickened out (biggest regret ever).  So I said the name that I was thinking of first; it was Grace, the exact name Graham had in mind, for the exact same reason.

She is our amazing Grace.  She is a wonderful miracle who we are incredibly blessed to have.  Our hearts are full and we are so grateful our prayers were answered.

Grace has also popped up in other moments before she was even known to be in our lives.  When my dad was in hospice, he was very confused with cancer in his brain.  He continually tried to get out of bed but he was too weak to walk so my mom and I tirelessly tried to keep him in bed or put him back to bed.  One day, I decided to sing him his favorite church song that he said his mother sang famously at their church growing up; it was Amazing Grace.  I sat at the edge of his bed and sang it in repeat; it had this beautiful calming effect on him and he stayed in bed while I sang.

Thinking of my dad, and wanting the continuity of one of his favorite songs passed down to our children, I sing “Amazing Grace” to Josie when she is upset crying at night or she’s had a big fall and she just needs to be held and sung too.  By the second verse, Josie has almost always settled into my chest, gulped down her tears and begins to find peace again.

We chose the middle name Katharine after a growing line of Katharine’s in my family.  I have always been proud to be a Katharine, as is my mother and my Great Grandmother.  I hope that Grace  shares the pride that I do to be named after such strong, beautiful women.

Grace has brought all of this peaceful joy into our lives.  She is calm the moment she lies on my chest and she does remarkably well with her sister’s “helping” hands poking and prodding at her.

Above all else, I can’t wait to see all that Grace grows to be.  We are forever thankful to have her here.

Bassinet Bedding

As I’ve mentioned, we don’t have a crib in the nursery.  We’re just going to wait it out and see if Josie transitions to a big girl bed before the baby needs a crib; otherwise, we’ll take a trip to Ikea one day and buy a second crib in a hurry.  In the meantime, I have this absolutely beautiful hand me down bassinet.

I wanted to do a custom bassinet sheet since I didn’t get to put together bedding for a crib.  Last year, I got some remnant fabric from Rikshaw Design sample sale and I had that made into a bassinet sheet.  I just picked it up yesterday and I’m so excited about it…

If you don’t know about Rikshaw Design, then I’m happy to introduce you.  It’s one of the all time cutest shops and a fantastic place for some mommy and me looks (which I’m all about).  Rikshaw Design is a local company, based out of Marine, and Katherine, the owner, is the nicest ever.

They are currently having a major summer sale so act fast…

For the wee ones…

 

All items available here.

Happy Friday!