A Little Bit of History

• So here's the story of how each of you were named and also the song that we have dedicated to you:

RILEY XIMENA- You were going to be either Riley Ximena, Josephine Buella, or Maxwell Mergatroid (if you were a boy).  We liked both Riley and Josephine, but were really leaning more towards Josephine.  You can thank Uncle Alex for talking us into Riley because he always said you were so riley in my belly we just had to name you Riley. 

As far as your middle name, my parents didn't give me a middle name so I thought it would be fun to give you guys really horrible, hideous middle names so you never wanted to get us so mad as to use them in front of your friends.  Just my cruel sense of humor.  Hehe.  So I picked Josephine Buella.  I though Buella was a really good, bad middle name to stick you with. Maxwell Mergatroid was picked because when Uncle Alex was born I was 4 years old.  Your grandpa had me convinced that they were going to name him Mergatroid.  He called me from the hospital at my daycare center and said "You have a new baby brother.  Do you know what his name is?"  Of course I answered proudly, "Mergatroid".  The answer was, "No.  Alexander."  I can still feel the disappointment today because I was so sure I had the answer right.  Then Uncle Scott picked me up from daycare and let me steer the car on the highway on the way home.  I was so excited, but when we told Omi she was not!  So then we came to Riley Ximena.  Your lucky your grandpa came to your rescue and found such a beautiful middle name.  I was going to pick Riley Fern.  I came up with Fern while looking at the altar flowers in church one day.  Then grandpa went to Cozumel and met a man who lived there.  He had a daughter and her name was Ximena.  He thought it was so beautiful that he had the man write down the name so he could be sure to spell it right and that was your souvenir from his trip. 

Your song is Shakira: My Hips Don't Lie.  I had a really hard time sleeping when I was pregnant with you and would end up watching Animal Planet or MTV/VH1 in the wee hours of the morning.  (The only time they play music videos anymore.)  Shakira: My Hips Don't Lie was always playing and it had such a great little tune that I would belly dance to the song with my big ole belly every time it came on.  Your dad got quite a laugh out of this, but when the music moves you - you got to do your thing.  (Animal Planet probably explains your love of animals.)

WYATT WILLIAM- Yours is a quick story.  We went through the baby book one time, fell in love with the name Wyatt, and knew it was perfect for you from the very beginning.  William was my grandpa's name.  He was my most favorite, special person in the world and I wanted to share his name with you.  It's also grandpa's middle name.

Your song is Born To Be Wild.  There wasn't a song that struck me when I was pregnant with you, but once you started coming into your own we knew there was only one choice.

BENJAMIN ANDREW - Our surprise baby.  Our oops.  We always told everybody that 2 was enough for us.  If it's up to us were done and the only way we would have another is if God wanted us to.  Well buddy - here you are - and we didn't plan you.  (But because you were such a great baby we decided to have another one.  Collin has you to thank for that.)  I knew almost the moment that I became pregnant with you and I also knew you would be a boy.  I wanted something biblical for you so when we were looking at those names Benjamin is what stuck.  Andrew is your dad's middle name and I thought maybe it was time that he gets a place in the names.  Not that we didn't pick them out together for each one of you, but now it was time.  I tried to get him to use Andrew for Wyatt's middle name, but it wasn't meant to be I guess.  That name was being saved for you. 

Dad picked out your song.  When I was pregnant with you we were watching Dancing With The Stars and Michael Buble sang: I Just Haven't Met You Yet.  The song is about knowing that there is a special connection just waiting to happen with that special person, but he just hasn't met you yet.   After that every time I heard that song it made me cry.

COLLIN GENE - I was listening to a Children's Memorial radiothon on US99 one day and they told the story of a little boy named Collin.  He was about 3 years old or so and had cancer.  The cancer had spread to his lungs so he couldn't talk anymore.  There was a teenage girl in the bed next to him crying and having a terrible time.  Collin wanted to help the little girl and make her feel better.  He had his favorite stuffed animal, a duck, with him in bed.  He kept trying to motion to his dad to give the duck to the girl, but his dad wasn't understanding what he wanted.  Finally Collin threw the duck in the girl's direction and his dad understood.  I thought what a wonderful spirit and soul this little boy had and  I wanted to share that with you.  I told your dad the story and asked him what he thought of the name and he liked it right away.  Gene is actually part of your Grandpa Red's name.  Grandpa Red was your dad's grandpa.  I never got a chance to meet him.  He passed away right after we first started dating.  A lot of your dad's great childhood memories are with him, like fishing and golfing.  The funny thing about this is when I asked him what Grandpa Red's real name was he didn't know and had to text Nannie to find out her dad's name.  Turns out is was Howard Eugene Long.  Well we weren't going to give you Howard as a middle name and one of my ex-boyfriend's was named Eugene so I wasn't sure how we could use his name.  Then your dad said, " How about Gene?"  And there it was.

I picked your song - Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting - because I was sure you were a ninja inside my belly and that you were going to come out of me with your Samurai sword in hand.  Turns out you were not a ninja, just a REALLY big baby.