What's In a Name?

Yesterday was a good day. Clara and Wilson each went up in their feeds - Clara is at 17cc's/3 hours and Wilson maxed out at 18cc's/ 3 hours. The biggest news from yesterday (literally) is Wilson had a major bowel movement! It was 25 grams, which was 2.5% of his body weight!!! His weight actually went down last night as a result. Clara also had a good poop at 3:00 p.m., but Wilson managed to steal the show. So, in what is the strangest thing we have ever written, thank you for the prayers and positive thoughts on bowel movements, they are working!!!!

After reviewing the blog posts, we realized we never explained how we decided on Clara's and Wilson's names. Clara Marie comes from both our grandmothers. Clara was an African-American woman who helped raise John (Morgan's dad). John loved Clara like a mother and she was a grandmother to his kids. Clara was a feisty, intelligent, hardworking woman! When we shared the name with Judy and John in May, John almost teared up and said "My dad always said Clara was born before her time. If she was born 20 years later she would have been a doctor or lawyer." Wow, did we name Clara correctly.

Marie was Chris's grandma. She was also a strong, independent woman and a GREAT cook! Much of Chris' strength and practicality was inherited and learned from Grandma Danner. Chris lived with Grandma for two years when she was younger and Grandma is the person who taught Chris so many things, including how to cook and play cards.

John  Wilson is named after several special people as well. John is Morgan's first name, his dad's name and was Chris' dad's first name. Also, "John" is a McGarvey family name dating back to when they came to America in the late 1700's / early 1800's. Every generation of McGarvey (except one) has a "John McGarvey," but they all have different middle names. Using the name "John" was practically a given, but coming up with the middle name was a little more difficult.

Many of you know how close Morgan was to his Grandpa, Elmer Morgan, and we wanted to honor him if we had a boy. The problem was Grandpa always said, "if you name your son "Elmer" because of me, I'll change my name!" Chris didn't want another "John Morgan" so we debated naming him "John Elmer" and calling him Jack. Another name we had thrown around to pay homage to Grandpa was "Wilson." Grandpa was kicked out of his home in Hazard, Kentucky when he was just a few months old to live with his Grandmother in Owsley County so his mother could raise his other brothers and sisters. It was Grandma Wilson who taught Grandpa to read, gave him his love for the outdoors, and encouraged his natural curiosity. Grandpa skipped the first and second grades because of the advantages she gave him and he credited her with helping him achieve the successes he enjoyed in life.

There were several other possible combinations of names, but we truly hadn't decided on anything when Chris had her emergency delivery. While Chris was having her c-section, she looked over at Morgan and asked "what are we going to name him?" Morgan replied, "I think you've earned the right to pick his name." Without any hesitation, Chris said "John Wilson, and we'll call him Wilson."  Perfect.