The Story of Axl

So many people ask me about Axl's name and where it came from.  Most people think he was named after Axl Rose or Axl from the sit-com The Middle.  In fact his name didn't come from either of those.

The story began way back in the summer of 2009 when I was pregnant with Olive.   Whenever I get pregnant, I like to play the "name game" immediately, but Scott doesn't like to participate until much later into the pregnancy, at least until we know what we are having. We already had "Olive" picked out if the baby was a girl.  In my typical fashion, as soon as I found out I was pregnant in 2009 I started e-mailing Scott lists of names to name our unborn child should it be a boy.   He replied to every single name with "no."  Finally one day I got fed up and told him that he needed to send me a list of possible names.   In spite, he replied "Axel."  I wrote back and said "never" and then didn't ask him anymore to play the name game.   Shortly after, we found out we were expecting a baby girl and so had nothing left to discuss.

Fast forward to pregnant with Axl.   Because we were both pretty certain we were having a little girl we concentrated most of baby girl names.   Scarlett was the name we finally chose.  We talked a little bit about boy names, but nothing serious.  We both really like the name Michael and figured that would be our baby's name if it happened to be a boy.   Scott and I joked around about the name Axel.   We had picked the middle name Bradley because it is my dad's middle name, so that was easy.   A few weeks before I was due, my dad was over at our house watching basketball with us and he asked about names.  I jokingly said the baby's name would be Axl and he LOVED it!   He and Scott talked about how cool the name was.   So it was at that moment that I told Scott he could name our baby Axl if we had a boy.  I figured I was safe though as I was convinced we were having a little girl.

Fast forward to January 4, 2012 when baby was born, the midwife asked if he had a name and Scott proudly announced "Axl."

I fell in love with the name after my dad told me how much he liked it, and EVEN more in love with it as soon as I saw my baby Axl for the first time.

Axl is Three Months!

Well, my newborn baby boy is no longer a newborn anymore.  Three months always seems like such a big milestone for me (and my babies).  It is like they finally wake up and become more aware of the world around them.  The fussing and crying decreases significantly and the smiles and giggles become more abundant and not so much work to elicit.

I cherish every moment I get to spend with my baby boy and even though I have done the baby thing twice before I am still so much in awe over the things the baby does.  I love when he wakes in the middle of the night to eat because I feel like that is our only time we get to spend where we don't have the distractions of everything else going on.  I love to marvel at his little limp limbs as he quietly nurses and I often remove his socks and rub his soft little feet that have yet to be hardened from running and walking every where.   I love how during his night feedings he slowly rubs my face with his soft hands and then he quietly drifts off to sleep and I get to feel his sweet baby breath on my face as he dozes.   I never got to experience these quiet moments with Logan and Olive because they both were able to nurse while laying down and so I just slept while they ate.  It makes it easy to enjoy this time with Axl because he only wakes once a night to feed.

During the day I love to watch Axl try to bat at toys, suck his fingers and watch (for seemingly hours) as he studies his hands and feet.  He talks so much and loves to watch and laugh at his big brother and sister.  It is so great that he is laughing now as they try to entertain him because it encourages them to continue! We call him "Mr. Serious" because when he isn't laughing, smiling or talking he has such a serious look on his face.

Axl has sleep through the night four times now, which is great, but I prefer he wake once to eat because I worry about him gaining adequately given he had such a hard time gaining in the beginning.

I love every minute with my baby and with Logan and Olive and am so grateful I have had the opportunity to spend so much time away from work to enjoy my babes!