Billy T. Reuben

Like many of you out there we have a really hard time calling our family members by their actual given names. Nicknames are just so much more fun, don’t you think? Here are a few of our favorites:

Samuel----Sam, Super Sam, Sam-I-Am, Slug, Slugger, Sambo, Fuss Bucket, Chicken Legs, Chicken Little, Billy Reuben (from having his billirubin checked several times)

Cassidy—Cass, Cassi, Casserdoo, Casserdoodle, Casserole, Susan (long story), Princess

Benjamin—Ben, Benjamotomous, Shopping/Boating (long story), Smokey

Garrett---G Dawg, G, Chicken, Corndog, Garrett the Carrot, Gare, Gare-Bear.

 

P.S. I’ve just been re-reading my recent posts and I’m slightly embarassed that I’ve divulged so many random thoughts! See what sleep deprivation does to you!

P.P.S. Super Sam slept from 10pm to 3:15am in his crib last night. Way to go Sam!

Not my first rodeo..........

It's my fourth, actually, and it still hasn't gotten old...........being the only one awake at night with Sam, musing about who he will become, what strengths he will have, what challenges he will face..........and here are some other random thoughts of a new mom in the middle of the night....

• How is it possible to feel two conflicting thoughts at once:I can't bear the idea of never having another baby, and yet I can't handle any more children than we have, and I know we can't go on having kids forever...... One day at a time, Kelly
  
• Do our children remember, even subconsciously, how we held and loved and kissed them as newborns?
  
• I mopped the floor today, and now I feel as if the honeymoon's over. I really, really love the relaxed pace a new baby creates---I expect so much less of myself, and I'm able to separate the things that matter from the things that don't. How do I maintain this feeling through the day-to-day grind? The reality is, floors have to get mopped!
• I've thought lately how important mothering is. Not just the mothering that we do as mothers, but stop and think about how many people mother (nurture) you? Recently, I've been so grateful for friends that call and stop by, people that have brought meals, the nurses in the hospital, the neighbor who writes a thoughtful note telling me to hang in there, a husband who takes care of all the details, etc etc. I'm so thankful to all the people that essentially mother me. I hope I can do the same for others.
  
• Did you ever stop to think that everyone in this world started out as a newborn baby? I mean think about it---the rude driver in the lane next to you, the bully at school, the neighbor that grates on your nerves,criminals, your in-laws, etc etc. The next time you're tempted to judge someone harshly or be easily annoyed with someone, try picturing them as a tiny baby. They are someone's child, just as your children are yours, and someone held and cuddled and loved them. It makes you think.....
• And finally, I really want to go to the Rascal Flatts concert on Feb 26, but I'm not sure if A) I can justify the $200 price tag or B) I could be apart from Sam-I-Am for an evening. But how can a girl with a new pink ipod loaded exclusively with RF miss such an event? The jury's still out.............

New pics of Sam coming soon, I promise. Oh, and have you met our other children? We still love them and sometimes take pictures of them, too.

My own piece of heaven

What is it about babies that draws us to them, that makes us want to hold and cuddle and snuggle them? In Sam's case, it could be because he is quite possibly the world's sweetest baby. But I think what draws us to them is their proximity to heaven. They are our closest link to a Father that we long to be with, that we can't quite remember. But I feel as if my memory is jogged a bit as I hold Sam. It's the most wonderful feeling, and I wonder if we will all be just overwhelmed with that same love and happiness we feel when one day we do return. Thanks, Sam. I promise to set you down soon. But not yet...........

Sam-I-Am

Samuel James King

19 January 2009

1:50pm

8lbs

18.5 inches

Welcome to the world, baby boy! We are so glad you are here. I wish you could understand already how much we love you! Thank you for coming to our family. I only hope we can make you as happy as you have already made us.

Happy (almost) Birthday to Me!

I'm having a birthday--shout hooray!
Everyone should want to sing to me today (tomorrow)!
One year older and wiser (chubbier) too!
Happy Birthday---to Me!


I can hardly believe it---35 tomorrow! I am so excited---it feels like the beginning of a GREAT year!

The Waiting Game

The crib is up.

His clothes are folded and organized in drawers.

The diaper bag is packed.

I’ve officially stopped sleeping at night.

AND, my toe nails (is that one word or two?) are freshly painted.

Baby boy, we’re all waiting on you!

I’d like to say a word about Gluppity-Glupp. Also, Schloppity-Schlop. (Unless you’ve read The Lorax a million times like I have that reference will make no sense to you.) I’d just like to say how much fun the last week of pregnancy is! I just really love being unable to sleep, eat, or breathe. I love having swollen feet and ankles and not being able to bend over. I love being an emotional nut case (no difference there from normal, really) and crying and raging alternatively (or simultaneously). I especially love waiting for this huge impending event over which I have no control. Right now it is 4:46 am---what are you doing? I’ve been up for a while, had a snack (bread with jam and butter and a glass of milk) and now I’m posting like any 38-week pregnant woman would be doing. I hope to fall asleep again before I have to get the troops up at 6:45.

Thanks for letting me complain. It really will all be over soon, or just beginning, however you look at it. And I KNOW  it will all have been worth it. I just can’t wait to meet our little (okay, big) guy.

P.S. He still has no name. Any ideas out there?

Happy New Year!

 

A bad case of the sillies!

Goodbye 2008, hello 2009! Goodbye to being pregnant (only 18 more days), hello to a new baby…………….goodbye to being 34, hello to being 35…………….goodbye to 3 children, hello to 4………….goodbye to 11 years of marriage to my F.P.I.T.W. (favorite person in the world), hello to 12….goodbye (hopefully) to unrealistic expectations, hello to a more moderate approach….goodbye to “sport shopping” (as R calls it), hello to being less materialistic……goodbye to my high-strung personality (let’s don’t push it, Kelly), hello to a calmer, more peaceful me…..goodbye to negative habits, hello to positive ones…..goodbye to making lists of things to do, hello to becoming the person I dream of being---spiritual, kind, thoughtful, beautiful, gracious, intelligent—you know, your basic stay-at-home-mom with the perfect house/kids/husband who has it all together and……….WAIT! What was that about unrealistic expections? Ooops! Maybe I’ll just try to be me this year, and to be happy with that. Now THAT would be something to celebrate.