I have a teenager! 13 years ago today

at 5:04 they swept my newborn first child, a son, up to the NICU because he was blue. His lungs were "sticky." Estimated due date was 2.5 weeks away, so he wasn't considered premie. At 6 pounds 11 ounces and 20.5 inches long, he was the biggest baby in the the NICU, but he was also the sickest. The well babies, or premies, they'd put in an incubator. Ross was put on a big bed, one arm tied down with monitors on it, IV fluid line going into his umbilical chord and the other arm tied down (because he was pulling his IV line out of his ubmie!) He had a respirator in his mouth & a feeding tube down his nose.

I didn't actually get to see his face (all taped up) or hold him until he was 5 days old, when they pulled the respirator out. I had no idea what to name him. Preliminarily, we named him Joshua Nathanial...because, according to his great grandmother Luekenga, anyone who names their child "Roscoe" has rocks in their head.

As it turns out, Butch, the paternal grandfather, who asked to have his name changed at the age of 5 - from Carey (after Carey Grant) to Roscoe Wayne Luekenga, Jr., after his father, was looking forward to a posterity of Roscoe Wayne Luekenga's all the way down to the XXXII. Butch, as his mother called him because she neither liked the name Carey, nor was she fond of the name "Roscoe," proudly named his first child, a son, Roscoe Wayne Luekenga III. As his first son, the third, brought HIS first son into the world, a lot of thought went into naming the child. We had no opinions from anyone, except grandma (married to the "first" Roscoe) who said "Anyone who names their child Roscoe has rocks in their head." Thank heavens for a grandma with feet planted firmly on the ground, right?

(11th birthday)
Wrong. As it turns out, my father-in-law came to visit me in the hospital the day after my first born came into our family. He brought me a beautiful bushy green thing (which I cried the day it finally gave up the ghost - 19 months later!) Turns out dad walked from his office to the hospital during his lunch hour, just in time to spend a few minutes with me, as my nurse walked in to get his birth certificate information. "What are you naming your child?" With a big smile on my face, (as this was the first time we actually had said his name out loud after choosing it - with my FIL in the room to witness...) "Joshua Nathanial" Well, she wrote the name down, and a few seconds later Roscoe Wayne Luekenga, Jr. got up and left the room. I figured he needed to start heading back to work.

Meanwhile my first born lay upstairs with tape & tubes covering more of his tiny body than not...I was discharged from the hospital...all alone. No baby in my arms, just a bunch of flowers and balloons and an empty car seat.


8 days later, however, I was able to take him home. My father in law didn't hold him, didn't want his picture taken with him, nothing. I couldn't figure it out - he said "He's not my grandchild, he doesn't have my name" uh - woah! Then Uncle John (the third, with a son who was John IV) told us when this boy is 14, they're going to take him out hunting and tell him that his mother didn't love his daddy enough to name him after him.

I'm not going to have a lifetime of razzing from his family, so at 3 weeks old, we changed the boy's name to Roscoe Wayne Luekenga IV. Yes, I caved, but it should be noted I called him "son" for the first 9 months of his life. I tried to call him "Butch" after the tradition of his great grandmother, a woman who didn't like the name from the start...but as my mother-in-law so poignantly worded it "Butch is a dogs name." Turns out when Great Grandma (remember "ROCKS" if you name your child Roscoe) heard that we changed his name she said "Well, it's the first true Luekenga great grandchild" WOAH! Why can't people just come right out & say what they want?!

I did eventually start calling him Ross, and eventually Rossi. What I loved the most - is when he turned 7, he told me that he wanted to change his name on his 8th birthday because he didn't like the name "Ross." (Claiming When I called out "ROSS" he didn't know who I was calling for, him or his dad!!)

so Here he is - 13 years after the whole fiasco of getting him here...taller than his mom, with feet as big as his dad and with a name from his grandpa!