Our Little Lad's Name

We are happy to let you in on a little secret - our new son's name will be:

Gordon was the name of my paternal grandfather and Charles, the name of Brad's paternal grandfather. This little boy is getting a big name - I'm so glad that both Gordon Addington and Charles Kidder loved Jesus and left a legacy of faith for their families. We pray the same for our Gordon, that he would love Jesus with all he is and that a love for people would flow out of that. Both of these men also loved popcorn and reading, so naturally, we're hoping he loves those things too!

Here are a few other fun memories/facts about our grandpas:

Grandpa Charles hated cheese (with a strong passion) but loved peanuts, he served in Europe during WW2 as a medic and made a living farming in Hastings, MI while driving a school bus during the school year. Brad would follow him around as a small boy and ask, "What doin' Grandpa?"- this is a favorite story for Grandma to tell. :) Another favorite story: Brad, as a young boy (around 3 years old) was so proud when he "tricked" his Grandpa into eating a cheese puff, he recounts that "Grandpa didn't want to eat it but I told him he would like it and that he needed to try it and finally he gave in. After tasting it he made a disgusted face and spit it out! I thought it was hilarious and tried to get him to eat more over the course of the evening." :)

I've written a pretty extensive post on my Grandpa Gordy, which you can read here, but I wanted to write down a few fun things I've been remembering lately. He loved riding bikes - really anything that had wheels was intriguing to him. He had a special affinity toward trains* and loved to ride them. He had an amazing reading-out-loud voice and would read a favorite book to all the grandkids as he and grandma would travel to see everyone (my favorite was Summer of the Monkeys) over the course of a year. I think I remember his favorite animals as ducks. According to my dad, Grandpa didn't like eating Sloppy Joe's and wasn't a huge fan of mexican food. :)

*Completely off topic, but Michael has shown a love for trains developing too! We're excited to make him a train "table" for his birthday. Shh - don't tell him though. :)  

We, or I, hit the 30 week mark yesterday! 3/4ths of the way done - wow! I keep telling people that I'm trying to keep my expectations in check with reality, which can be difficult to do toward the end of pregnancy. I'm thankful for the experiences I've had with my first two kiddos and so I'm trying to live and learn with some of those lessons in mind (example: preparing for Gordon to come AFTER his due date).

Brad took some head-shots (for the shop) for me this morning before church and snapped a 30 wk, 1 day picture for me too!

Gordon,

We can't wait to meet you! Your sister keeps trying to talk me in to buying things because, "Gordon really likes this!" or "Gordon needs it mom!" We hope you can develop your own tastes and likes despite her strong opinions, she's already decided your favorite color is orange - but I want you to know you're welcome to change your mind on that topic. I hope you're not offended by the fact we've called you by a number for quite some time - I may still call you #3, affectionatly, just for fun sometimes. It makes me happy I have an ultrasound picture of you as a "girl?" from the day you were being stubborn and wouldn't let us see your gender - I also have some clear images of you as a "boy" but you can be confident that I'll embarrass you someday with the "girl?" picture. :) We love you already little guy, I can't wait to hold you in my arms, but now - even as I type this and feel you move like crazy - I'm content to wait until you're closer to 40 wks.

Love you,

Mom