Welcoming Baby Ruth

Ruth Caroline was born on December 26, 2012 at 5:18 a.m.  :)

8 pounds, 6 ounces. 21 inches long.

It was a great, fast birth, and hopefully I'll be sharing the story soon!

But for now, perhaps you'd like to know how she got her name?  

Ruth is my mother's middle name.  Mom always commented on how she had never met a Ruth she didn't like (and, incidentally, never met a Ginny she did like!).  I was sold on the name in college when a few of my friends did a semester-long study on the book of Ruth in the Bible.  She was so courageous, and so full of faith!  I want my daughters to be just like her.  I want to be just like her.  

That was before I knew that God would give me a husband, or a baby, or two daughters, in fact!  Isn't He kind?

Ruth is of Hebrew origin and means "friend."  While we certainly didn't have another baby exclusively to be Gemma's friend, I do hope that they will be life-long friends!  I looked back for fun at the post where we talked about Gemma's name . . . and here it is!

Caroline, on the other hand, means "man" . . . but we chose it for its beauty and its associations.  ;)  It was supposed to be John's mother's name, which was mistakenly shortened to Carol.  She, in turn, was named after her two grandmothers, so Ruthie is named after her great great grandmother!  They were going to pronounce it like Carolyn, but we prefer the long "i" sound.  

Everyone wants to know how Gemma feels about the new baby, and I always tell everyone that "we're still working on being gentle!"  Having a new baby in the house has done nothing but intensify our darling toddler's mommy play, which is awfully sweet!  She loves baby "Roof!" but it's all still quite new . . . and she certainly missed Mommy and Daddy when we were at the hospital for two days.

It's hard to believe that our wee one is a month old already!