PadThai got a new name when he entered the world outside the womb. . .we introduce Keenan Charles Ulrich, born at 4:58 a.m. on January 21st, 2008. He surprised us all when he chose to make his big debut three weeks earlier than his due date, tipping the scales at 6 pounds, 12 ounces and measuring 19 inches long.

He's our lil' bundle of perfection, and we'll share him with our friends and family through this web site.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas, PadThai!


Grandpa Charlie built this fantastic rocking horse.
Strong enough for Ben, made for Pad Thai.



PadThai is very lucky. He is already so well-loved in our extended family, despite his being "just a big ol' belly bump" right now. Ben and I are so grateful for all of the generosity our family has shown us in helping us prepare for PadThai's arrival. Thanks to them, he will be one of the best dressed boys around, riding in only the hippest of red car seats and strollers, and playing with only the most fun and fabulous toys. Besides some fantastic grandparents, aunts, and uncles, he'll also have some very sweet older cousins to look up to--we know he's going to love his new family just as much as we do. The kiddos in this picture are his future cousins Tommy, Sarah and Ally, and baby Zack (Isaac) down below.

All I want for Christmas is a name for PadThai!

PadThai finally has a real name. . .at least it's about 95% certain. But we are still opting to keep it under wraps--in case Benny comes up with a funny reason he doesn't like it. (Yes, this has happened on several occasions.) I'm SURE he would rebut and say the same about me. . .but this is my blog post and I will not allow him to defend himself!

I wouldn't say we ever had that "ah ha" moment I blogged about a few months ago, but we did kind of re-stumble upon the winner and settle on it in a matter of a day or two. Surprisingly, it is not one of the 10 names we had been seriously considering for the past several weeks--instead, it's a name I suggested once upon a time, and Ben nixed it immediately back then. . . .so I kind of let it be and didn't ever bring it up again. . .until we had both reached our breaking point in the name search and had to start recycling previous rejects. It's been about a week now since we "settled" on it, and we both still seem comfortably happy with the idea of our little man's new moniker. To me, it's a name that suits a guy who's smiley and caring and charismatic. . .just a few of the traits I hope our son becomes.

Maybe we'll drop a few hints as the due date approaches! Here's one: PadThai's new name did not originate in Thailand!
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I haven't posted a Belly shot in quite awhile (actually, I haven't posted anything!), and thought I should. . .although, this one is actually a few weeks old, when I was about 30-31 weeks along and PadThai supposedly weighed about 4 pounds. His latest ultrasound measurements still indicate that he is larger than average. His leg bones are, GULP!, >95% in terms of length. Tall genes run deep on both sides of the family, so this is not a surprise to us.