Knut Makes A Comeback!

When we were expecting Sam, we didn't want to find out his gender but we also didn't want to refer to the baby as "it" for the entire pregnancy so we were trying to come up with a nickname. I was thinking of something like "Grape" or "Peanut" or you know, something more common. Dave suggested "Attila The Hun" because at that point I was having a lot of morning sickness and Dave commented that the baby was being quite the little dictator. We figured once the morning sickness calmed down then the baby could be called "The Hun."

However by the time morning sickness was gone Attila had kind of stuck. People thought it was hilarious and it was very funny to have our parents call and say "How's Attila doing today?" It was especially funny when my friend became a teacher and heard one of the other teachers talking about a student in their class named, Attila, which is actually quite a popular name in Hungary, I think!

So we had already decided pregnancy number 2 would be Ghengis! However, Ghengis ended in a miscarriage at seven weeks and three days. Some people name their miscarried babies and mourn them in that way. Dave and I decided that we would mark this miscarriage by not using the name Ghengis for pregnancy number 3. I still think about little Ghengis sometimes wondering if it was a boy or a girl and what stage he/she would have been at.

So we were scrambling for a name by pregnancy number 3 (I mean, how many ancient dictators can you name???) and I decided to look up my Scandinavian heritage and I found Knut. (For some reason we thought it was spelled with a "K" and that spelling stuck.) So Miss Rachel Roo was know as "Knut" throughout my pregnancy and sometimes I called her "Knutie Patootie" and other things. As far as morning sickness goes, I had it my entire pregnancy with Rachel and so the dictator thing felt quite appropriate. And I had mostly forgotten about this all until I posted the picture of Miss Rachel Roo showing off her "I'm Happy And I Know It" skills. My Auntie Jean (who I'm named after, by the way!!!) said, "Oh Rachel's such a sweetie." And I commented back, "Not all the time" and Auntie Jean challenged me to post a "not so sweet" video of Rachel. So Auntie Jean, this one's for you!

(And Mom, don't watch this one because it will make you sad and for the rest of you, don't worry, she was just freaking out because I wouldn't put water in her lid-less cup. I tried it once before and didn't have the energy on this particular day to clean up spills. And I'd already tried to hold her and comfort her. Eventually I stuck her in her crib and she calmed down. And you can also hear Sam crying in the background (who knows why?!?!) and Nathan freaking out a bit too. The power of one temper tantrum on three kids. sigh.)