What's in a Name...

(My little man Rett - one of the only pictures I have where his eyes are open)

So our little guy has one big name and a lot of people have been asking where it comes from...so here's the scoop:

Full name: Everett Stephen Patton Cowley
Nickname: Rett

Over the last year or so Steve and I thought up a handful of girl names we just loved...but we struggled the entire time we were trying to concieve to think of one boy name we liked. We toyed with the name Donovan for a while (we more or less just like the name Van but wanted something longer) but we didn't like the idea of him being called Don and we have strong love/hate feelings about the soccer player Landon Donovan so that name kind of fell through.

Meanwhile, my good friend Stacy has a buddy named Rhett and after hearing countless storys with him in them the name really started to grow on me. I liked that it isn't something I hear often (I guess it's big in the south)...and the one time I did meet Stacy's friend Rett, our dog Wes ran right up to him and peed on his leg to mark him...so that had to be a good sign right!?!? (Wes also marked Steve once at the dog park after another dog tried to mark Steve's leg, so I take it as a sign that Wes cares about someone). I still wanted something a little more formal than Rett...and I remembered falling in the love with the name Everett the first time we watched the movie Family Stone (plus that is the movie that convinced Steve and I we wanted a big family, no matter how crazy/messy it got). So there it was...the first name was selected - Everett, aka Rett!

Now for the middle names:
Steve's middle name is his father's first name, so we kept the tradition alive and took "Stephen" as the first middle name. And in my family, my brother has a secod middle name "Covington" (his full name is Robbert Kipp Covingtin Riehle...I was always so jelouse of his long name) and that name is my father's, mother's maiden name that was ending in the male line. Well, it just so happened that Steve's, mother's maiden name (Patton) is also ending as well, so a second middle name was born!

(Everett with Grandpa Phil, Dad Steve, and Uncle Kipp...I still need one of Grandpa Bob)

And the last name: Well that was a given...but it's a pretty great name even if we didn't get to pick it out. Cowley is the name of the town in the UK where the Mini Cooper is made, it's a very prestigus name in american LDS history (kind of a family joke now), and it's fun watching/listening to people try to say it without saying "cow" for fear they might offend us...haha oh the amount of times we've been called, "Cooley, Colly, Cully...".

Anyway, I hope our boy likes his name. I figure it's a good, strong name for our good, strong boy!

Baby Everett - Photo Post

I have a few posts in the works about Everett's birth, his name, and our first week at home...but let's face it, no one wants to read paragraph after paragraph right now (especially while I have new mother fuzzy brain - yes that's the technical term)...so what follows are some of the pictures from that special day. (I'll get back to the wordy posts that go along with these soon)

Me in the early stage of labor after the epidural and before the complications (more on those later)

Steve got this shot right after Everett was born - we were both happy and surprised that he didn't have any of the normal new born baby alien look...this is him pre wipe-down...he literally came out this clean!!!

The big guy being held up next to his stats - born at 1:45 am, 7 pounds 14 ounces, 20.5 inches 

Everett getting checkout and cleaned up - and yes he is almost always this peaceful! 

Me and my baby!

Our first family photo

Rett's eyes opening and looking at me!!!

Can you tell how happy we are to finally be parents and have our little guy in our arms

Steve soothing Rett in the NICU after he got his IV and shots 

My two men

Steve - the best dad ever! Also I think this is the only time Steve has been this awake at 3am!

A little later in the morning after we got a tiny bit of sleep, my mom and Myk came to visit

Everett getting love from his aunt 

Mim (Grandma), Me, Steve, Rett, and Mykaela (Aunt) 

The new grandma getting lots of baby love!

Rett sound asleep, making his baby-bird face

I love his little noise, big heart lips, long lean fingers, squishy cheeks...

It's hard to see here...but Rett got a direct "gene dump" and was born with my "special" pinkies! Steve and I joked about this during my pregnancy but we never though it would happen!!!

Everett Stephen Patton Cowley

Making Room for Baby!

Well we are officially 1 week out from our due date! Better yet, I think we finally have the house ready for our little guy's arrival (or as ready as first time parents who have no idea what they are doing can be!) So here we go...the tour of our baby-fied house:

First, the family room nursery corner

We know we will be spending a lot of time downsatirs and won't want to run upstairs to the nursery every time we need to change a diaper, feed, burp, or care for Rett...so we dedicated a corner of the family room to all these tasks.

The baby corner with side table storage 

The "play yard" complete with changing table and bassinet for a new born

Baskets hold burp cloths, blankets, diapers, wipes, and toys

Next up...The Guest Bath:

This is where we'll clean up our little guy and hopefully he'll enjoy lots of fun baths 

It doesn't look too different from before...

But the new black baskets hold all of the baby bath products, towels, and toys!

And behind the curtain hides this fun little tub

Next Room...The Dog Room:

Okay, that sounds weird...but yes, even Wes and Ash got into making room for baby and gave up half of their storage rack to Rett. Eventually the "dog room" will become a play room for both the pups and kids so this is just stage one of several! 

On top we've got the sitting and feeding chair

And below is a shelf packed full of extra diapers, wipes, diaper pail refills, and future feeding/eating stuff that we won't need for a few months

And now my favorite...The Nursery:

First, I have to say a major thank you to my amazing husband Steve for all of his hard work making this room happen...he did sooooo much work and made all of my nursery dreams come true! Then I have to say another huge thank you to Stacy for helping me paint the room and ceiling (that was one intense day! But it was a blast!!!) and my Mim for making the window bench cushion, paper banner, and paper window garland (she is magical with paper!). So here it is:

The details:

All the soft and snugly blankets

Wood bird and branch mobile in front of our striped bead board feature wall

Our picture wall which is a mix of colored nursery rhyme prints from my favorite nursery book and black and white family baby photos (now we'll know who's nose and eyes Rett has)

All of the clothes are in the armoire (and no I didn't not buy them so don't think that I made them match the room on purpose...that was just a happy coincidence!)

A vintage school chair holding the stuffed bunny Steve gave me over 10 years ago! 

(He's not quite velveteen...but I'm thinking Rett will love him all the same)

I'm also hoping he loves the collection of The Little Prince books we have for him

(We'll start with the pop up book and work our way to the original french book)

The paper banner - this was made by Mim for our co-ed baby shower and now it adorns the crib 

Mim also made these paper garlands for the baby shower and now they make the perfect window swag!

This is the nursing area...a rocking chair just like my mom had when I was a baby, a little end table, wall sconce, and a long cushy window bench...this area is going to get used a lot!!! 

The metal "R" was from the sign of the first design job I had! When the company changed their name another designer and I did a little dumpster diving and took the letters of our last names. (She actually got to use hers in her wedding and now I get to use mine in Rett's nursery!) 

These little buckets I got from Ikea. The metal one will hold dirty laundry and the yellow one holds extra stuffed animals and toys that didn't fit in the bench drawers

This detail is more about function then beauty. For most people scorpions are just a part of living in the east valley...and Gilbert has actually proven to have more scorpions than early Ahwatukee did (were I grew up). When my sister was a baby we found a scorpion in her crib with her!!! And while it didn't sting her the scare of that possibility stuck with me always. We have actually had a few scorpions upstairs near the nursery the last few months so we're not taking any risks! The moment I put sheets on the crib I also put glass jars on the feet. Scorpions can't climb the glass so these little jars will give us the peace of mind that our little guy's bed will be pest free!!! 

And now some pictures of me enjoying the room (although please note that we had literally just finished the room when Steve took these so I was hot, gross, and not looking too good...even for a 39 week pregnant lady!)

I do love this belly picture! Good job Steve!!!

So there it is...a ready house and a ready lady...now we just need to get these last few days over with so we can really welcome our baby home!