Friday, May 29
Here is Dexter swinging away in his awesome new swing - thanks Perlsteins, Aris, and Doodle!
Dexter's First Gift
Dexter likes to kick back and enjoy a good nap. He sleeps with his hands up behind his head a lot...much like his daddy. I thought this picture was too cute and showed off his older baby tendencies.
Also, showing off his "older" tendencies - Dexter snuck out this week and bought me a bottle of wine. Strange right? Who would have thought a baby could manage that.
Isn't the label great? He certainly knows me!
Dexter Happenings
Sunday, May 17
Wow - I am so tired! I grabbed a few seconds today though to upload a few more pics to Picasa (click the 'our pictures' tab above).
I can't wait to feel a little more rested and write a longer blog about the whole experience of having Dexter and this last week. There have been so many answered prayers that they are almost too numerous to list. During our stay in the hospital several issues came up in Dexter that could have been causing all the early contractions - I'll write more about this soon. It is so amazing to realize what all God has protected this little one from...we know of several serious things, but what we learned at the hospital made us realize how many more unknown issues there probably are/were. Thanks so much everyone for your encouragement, support, meals, and prayers over the last few months. Sander and I feel incredibly blessed (in the true sense of the word) to have our little boy home with us safe and sound.
The picture above is one of my favorites from the week. Our neighbor's junior high daughter won this at a school thing recently and offered to give it to Dexter. We declined as we didn't have a spare corner in the nursery, but we had to grab a picture with Dexter. We think Dexter is a little old man in a baby's body. His face says it all I think.
Some Good Ones
Friday, May 15
Here are a couple of our favorites. Check out the "Our Pictures" tab up yonder for more.
So Why Dexter Eliot?
Thursday, May 14
I know Dexter Eliot isn't the most common name around, and Whitney and I have gotten a few inquiries as to the source.
We're both big on names being very important, and we had just a few criteria for what would pass:
- unique but not weird (e.g. Sander)
- meaningful-respectable
- specific to this baby's traits, personality or events concerning his life thus far
- preferably after an author or musician
- doesn't sound like a hick when you pair it with our last name (e.g. Billy Ray)
So we hemmed ourselves in pretty tight. I read through a book 60,000 names and another with 100,000 names and we developed a relatively long "short list". None of them stuck out as a the obvious chioce, so we prayed that God would give us an overwhelming feeling of what the little guy's name was or better yet to show us in a vision or dream. None came for a long time, so we just figured we'd wait until we met him to name him.
Dexter was one of those names on the list. We first contemplated it pretty early on when we were laughing at how often he would pop out on the right side of Whitney's belly (Dexter is a form of the Latin word for "right"). It can also mean "skillful", "prosperous", "righteous", and "dyer of cloth"...and everyone needs colored cloth. Anyway, we figured he'd center up as he filled out the belly, but he didn't so we kept bringing it up and l. In the mean time, one of our friends had a dream about our son - that we had named him Dexter and that all of our friends were laughing at what a funny name that was but how well it fit the baby. Another pro is that Dexter Gordon was a renowned jazz saxophone player in the bebop era, which is my favorite era of jazz. Anyone who doesn't own his album, GO, needs to GO to the store right now and get it. So with all of that in its favor, Dexter was up there on the list.
Eliot was one of the other names on the list. We first thought of naming him this after T.S. Eliot (hence the spelling). Looking into it, I also really liked the origin - Elliott is an Old English form of Elijah, which means "The Lord is my God". Nothing could convey our deepest hope for him more than that.
When he was born, we got a good 2 hours to get to know him before they gave him the K-shot, eye drops, and all the other good stuff that makes babies groggy. And since Whitney did a natural birth without pain medication, he was wide-eyed and alert, showing of his funny little personality. After trying out our potential names on him, we agreed that this was, in fact, Dexter Eliot Ray.
So as we embark on the new stage of life leading a little boy into manhood, we pray that he will be a man who is righteous, skillful, and prosperous, and that the Lord Jesus Christ will be his God and the passion of his life. We ask that you'd pray that for him as well.
Click here for the full post after the jump…Dexter pics are up!
Monday, May 11
Click the "Our pictures" tab above to see the two latest albums, complete with captions.
People have been asking, "where did you come up with his name." We'll answer this, and more, in the next posting. Off to soothe the baby man.
My sister's pics of Baby Ray!
These were taken by my sister Meredith. We have lots more that we will arrange in a better way and more of just Dexter...were a little tired still, so it will have to wait a day or two. Enjoy!
Baby Dexter Eliot, born May 10, 2009 at 2:30pm.
The first grandparents to see him!
Tonya (Tootsie) and Sander with the baby man.
Rays!
Mom to be and nephew. (also the photographer - thanks for sharing!)
Andrews grandmother...grandmother name tbd
Soon to be dad with nephew
Carrie and I (looking hot after my surprise labor...no make up or shower for me Mother's day morning!) with our nephew/son!
The awesome Pregnancy Support Team and son.
Click here for the full post after the jump…
Babymoon!
Monday, May 4
Sander surprised me this weekend (yes, 12 days before my due date) with a little "Babymoon" here in Houston. For those of you who don't receive the babycenter.com propaganda on a weekly basis you may be asking...what is a babymoon? Well, according to babymoonguide.com, it is: Babymoons are designed for optimum pampering and luxury. These “last hurrah” trips for parents-to-be provide the perfect setting to relax and reconnect as a couple before entering (or re-entering) parenthood. Pre-baby vacations are one of the hottest trends in travel today, and with good reason. Moms and dads-to-be know that luxury vacations without sippy cups and bibs may be out of reach for a while, so they’re seizing the opportunity for one last romantic getaway.
Sander planned it all and so out we headed, with our hospital bag in the trunk "just in case". We went for "drinks" at Empire Cafe, dinner at Barnaby's, then off to downtown to check into the Magnolia Hotel. For those of you that don't know, this is the best hotel in Houston. It is a boutique hotel downtown that is very affordable, has great decor, awesome staff, and free milk and cookies before bed. Milk and cookies before bed - um - YES! It was fantastic. After we checked in we walked a few blocks to the Alley Theatre where we saw Maritius. It was great to see a play that I was unfamiliar with and this one kept you on the edge of your seat.
It was super fun and a great time to chat through our thoughts about the past 3 3/4 years of marriage and the upcoming changes. On the one hand it feels like we were just married, but thining through the last few years we realized how long we really have been married. Looking back I'm glad we are having a baby now...if time goes by this quickly, we'd better get on this baby train now!
Here we are ouside our hotel - thanks Mr. Valet Parking guy!
Click here for the full post after the jump…
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