Cyclone Warning

And then there were three. As we prepared for our third child, we learned something interesting from the other women we knew who had had three. The third pregnancy was apparently much more difficult than previous experiences. And so it was with Katie. She deal with some painful (but not dangerous) medical issues and just had a very uncomfortable pregnancy (relatively speaking, I mean, since they are all beyond anything I could comprehend—CYS accomplished). But then it was time.

The children in Katie's family all have K-sounding names, and I've always liked names like Clara, Kara, Kira, and whatnot. And at the time the current Doctor Who companion was a Clara, so I liked it even more. So we had her name picked out in advance, as opposed to Allison, who will be up next.

Clara and Clara


Clara was born around 11:00 at night, if I recall correctly. Our friends around the corner helped watch Sam and Allison while my parents drove down from Salt Lake (we were living in Lehi). I came home a few hours later to crash. A couple days later we brought her home in the minivan we had gotten a couple months earlier. That was a change, but I've never cared about what I drove as long as it got the job done.

Having three kids meant more competition, so I don't know if that has had an influence on Clara's developing personality. Our first two didn't do things like color on the walls and run around naked, but she was more wild from the get-go. One day I called her Cyclone, and it stuck.

Clara is the child who chases the cats and hits her older sister (and James). But she has a sweet side as well, wanting to play with Allison all the time, and she has started using her imagination to play quietly on (rare) occasions. She basically survives on milk, chocolate or plain, and I'm glad we got her started on that young. Katie doesn't like milk, so we didn't have Sam or Allison start drinking it early enough to like it.



Clara is tall for her age (now about 3 1/2), and has the same blonde hair and lanky body that Sam and I do. She seems reckless, but I recently realized that she is reckless in a way that doesn't endanger herself. She doesn't climb bookcases or play with knives, she just colors on things, hits the cats, and spills water on the floor. She's the child that you might love even more because of her naughty side. But to be fair, with the older kids starting school, Katie says she has gotten very sweet and helpful when it's just them and James. So I'm sure once she's a little older I won't worry any more about her.

Right?

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