A few friends and family members have partially guessed the reason Sweet Charlotte is named what she is. Do you know why she is named Charlotte Ann??
 |
| First Mommy & Charlotte Ann picture! I will never forget when, moments after she was born, Adam looked at me and said through tears and smiles, "Charlotte Ann is here!" letting me know we had a daughter. Talk about all the meaning her name held for us right then and there...! |
Throughout the pregnancy, Adam and I went back and forth trying to pick out possible girl and boy names since we wanted to wait until the baby was born to find out which we were having. Early on, we were pretty set on the boy name but the girl name had us struggling to agree which made me wonder if we were having a girl since we kept coming back to the name and changing our minds. Each time we thought we had finally settled on a name, a few weeks later one or the other would say he or she wasn't sure about the selection and we wound up back at the drawing board. I was surprised at how difficult it was to choose as I felt a sort of pressure that the name had to be just right.
However, one girl name did keep popping to mind over the forty weeks. Early on, we both loved it, even though we didn't know anyone who had that name in person, but then we talked ourselves out of it yet kept coming back to it. I guess it just goes to show that what is meant to be will be! <3
Back in early 2014, the city where Adam and I first met in person...
after three months of Skyping,
talking on the phone,
emailing,
reading books,
praying,
and reading countless articles as well as having many conversations,
was Charlotte, North Carolina.
In spite of my living twenty minutes from a local airport, when Adam first came to see me in North Carolina all the way from California he flew into a busy airport 90 minutes from where I was living at the time. That trip seems to be frozen in time in a way. It was a whirlwind of all the feels and life changing as well as extremely ordinary in the everyday way of life at the same time. On his last day of the visit, we spent the morning and afternoon in Charlotte before we said goodbye at the airport. The last thing he said to me, before walking through those airport doors, was whispered into my ear as we kissed and hugged goodbye one last time, "I'm all in". Those three little words were so reassuring as I stood on that curb wondering what was going to happen and feeling so small in that big city.
The other reason we liked the name, Charlotte, was because it is the female version of Charles which is what we were going to name a boy if we had had a son. Charles is a family name on both sides but more so on Adam's side of the family with it being his middle name, his Dad's middle name, and his grandfather's middle name. His great great and great grandfather also had Charles as a first name. We don't know about the previous generations but w were going to name a boy Charles Adam honoring both of our families' traditions of including Charles and of the sons gaining their fathers' first name as a middle name. We planned to call our little boy Charlie and during the pregnancy I said it would be cute to call our daugther Charley as a tomboyish nickname but Adam was opposed to it. He did say, during one of the first days in the hospital, that if we wanted to call her that (since we wouldn't be having any boys to name Charlie) we could but I'm not losing hope that we will have a Charlie some day maybe? Besides, now, having met Charlotte, she doesn't seem like a Charley but who knows?! Maybe when she is older, she will want to be called that. For now, she seems dainty and girly as the name Charlotte seems to signify for me.
Throughout the pregnancy, we loved the idea that boy or girl, the child would have the same initials of C.A. (also representing Adam's home state..hehe!). We had kept the name choices to ourselves when family and friends asked us what we were thinking of naming our child, but did disclose that the initials would be the same without revealing what those initials were. It was fun hearing the guesses from folks as the birthday of our little one approached. My Dad did say that he had guessed the names Charles and Charlotte the night before we went to the hospital when Adam remarked that that boy or girl, the first five letters were the same in either name. So, to our knowledge, my Dad is the only one who guessed the names! We also didn't realize it but both of our Moms had childhood friends named Charlotte!!! How fun is that?!
When one of our friends' three year old daughter learned of Charlotte's name, she expressed confusion and said, "That is the name of a spider Mom!" referencing the renowned children's book, "Charlotte's Web"..hehe. I had also forgotten one of the characters on the popular TV show from my college days, Sex and the City, was Charlotte York. York is the town where Adam and I got married...! We also have learned about a Carmelite nun in France who is a Blessed. Her name was Anne-Marie-Madeleine Thouret, and she was also known as Sister Charlotte of the Resurrection. Another saint connected to her name is St. Charles Borromeo who is a patron saint of learning and the arts. Finally, the name, Charlotte, is also associated with St. John Paul II (see him behind us in the picture from Adoration below?!) since his birth name was Karol (Polish form of Charles). Perhaps he will be her patron saint...she has quite the list of saints already!
When on a play date earlier this summer, my friend looked up the meaning of Charlotte in her Catholic names book and we learned that it is of French origin and means little and strong. This is SO appropriate given Charlotte's birth story. It's so incredible to think that she was born into this name that is so fitting given the circumstances around her birth. She had to fight her way through and be strong. She was tiny at 6 lbs. 7 oz. but the doctors were amazed at the fact that she was able to grow and thrive as she did when they saw the state of the uterus in the surgeries after her birth earlier that day. They couldn't believe she was unaffected by the fibroids and was able to be born the way she was. She truly was little and strong to join us and I thank God every day for this miracle baby!!
A couple months back, a fellow new Mom and I were talking about how attached and sentimental we were being over moving to the next size of clothing as the babies are growing out of newborn and three month old clothing. It's amazing how attached we get
to those clothing items isn't it? I was feeling sad over the weekend when I switched out
some of the NB/0-3 month clothes and commented to my friend that I was glad I'm not the only one feeling
sentimental over something seemingly so silly. My friend's response was that she thinks it's a little harder
when you know the child will be your one and only and that knowing this makes her want to savor every
moment. Even the ones when baby is being fussy. How true these words are...especially more so as my maternity leave ends and back to school time approaches so quickly as the end of August gets closer...I already miss Charlotte on the days she will be away from us. This upcoming week is the last full week before I return to work so we're cramming in as much as we can. We;ve agreed to sub for two separate Adoration hours, will begin eating solids tomorrow, have a couple play dates scheduled, will hopefully get to a couple Zumba and other exercise classes, take some walks, and have lots and lots of snuggles in the mean time!! She is such a huge source of
happiness and a ray of light that any time not spent with her pales in comparison! Hopefully the next week will slow down time a bit. This song was a nice reminder as to how quickly life can go so I hope to be able to soak up every moment not only this week but in the upcoming weeks as we transition back to school!
No comments:
Post a Comment