Four Generations

What a privilege to raise our son with a heritage of grandparents and great-grandparents who know and love God!

Four generations: Warren, Mom Jennings, Owen Wesley and Grandma Larreau

One month old!

Baby Burrito

Wesley is particularly fond of his dad (he gets that from me). When he's fussy or crying I can try to soothe him but if I just give him over to Warren he'll calm right down. One of the reasons for this may be because Warren is so good at burrito-ing him. I know this sounds odd, but burrito-ing a baby is serious business.

You may have heard of baby burrito-ing under a different name: swaddling. Before Wesley was born Warren and I were taught how to swaddle an infant, which is supposed to help if they're fussy. If there would've been a class specifically for swaddling I would've been given an F. Seriously, I just can't get this thing right. Warren says I don't do it tight enough, but I swaddle Wesley until I wonder if his extremities are going to lose circulation and five minutes later he kicks out of it. Warren, on the other hand, has the swaddling thing down like a pro (I think he secretly practices when I'm not watching). He folds the blanket corner a certain way, then wraps from the right, then the bottom, then the left, and the end result is what we think looks like a burrito. Warren is so exceptional at burrito-ing that Wesley will sleep for hours and hours in his cozy blanket. When I've had a short night's rest and bedtime has finally arrived again, I can't describe my depth of thankfulness for my husband's skill of burrito-ing. 

And to think: I've been married to him for fifteen months and still haven't unearthed all of his hidden talents.

What's in a name?

When Warren and I were engaged we liked to talk about what we would someday name our kids. We both love family names and wanted to name each of our children significantly after someone in our family. I knew that Warren had been very close to his grandpa Larreau before he died, but one day when we were talking about him I was surprised and completely thrilled to find out that Grandpa Larreau's name was Wesley! Wesley has always been one of my very favorite names. Before we were even married Warren and I knew someday if we had a son we would name him Wesley.

When we found out we were having a boy we also knew that we wanted our son's first name to start with the letter O. Grandpa Larreau's first name was actually Otis, and his middle name Wesley, although he went by his middle name. When Warren was born, Mom and Dad J. wanted to give him the O.W. initials. Therefore, Warren's name is Onesimus Warren. We were so excited to name our little guy with the O.W. initials after Warren, along with naming him Wesley after Grandpa. We easily decided on Owen Wesley.

The only problem we now have is deciding whether to call our little man by his first name, or the traditional "W" middle name! Warren and I both love the name Owen so much we want it to get used. But, Wesley is one of our favorite names and is after Grandpa, so we don't want it to just be his middle name. Finally, after he was born we came up with a solution to this problem:

Sometimes we call him Owen.

Sometimes we call him Wesley!

 We love how both names fit different aspects of his personality and can't wait to see how he grows into them even more the older he gets. 

A name is one thing that will be with our son forever. I hope he has an incredible impact on someone's life the way his Grandpa Wes had on Warren's. I hope he grows into a man of character, integrity and uncommon kindness like his dad. What a privilege to let our son carry on tradition and family heritage with the name

 Owen Wesley Jennings.