My middle name is Andrew after one of my dad's mission companions Andrew Johnson. Well. .. .30 some-odd years later. . we have Drew Wesley Ball, primarily named after my middle name. We knew we'd call him Drew so we just named him Drew instead of the full Andrew.
James Wesley Stewart came to the Salt Lake Valley with Brigham Young. His name is on a pioneer monument downtown. He is an ancestor of Rachel's.
I have to admit when Rachel suggested Wesley I immediately thought of the initials "D.W." I thought "Why does that sound familiar?". Oh yeah, because of DW Drums! My personal drumkit is a Pearl but I have always liked DW and I have a DW double bass pedal. I got on board with the pioneer/family name and advised Rachel that I might end up calling him DW. (DW stands for Drum Workshop by the way). Maybe he will become a drummer.
Baby B's name story follows a different road. Cash Kimball Ball. Cash for a first name has no real backstory other than it just felt right. It was the first name Rachel and I really agreed on and we agreed on it right away when we first discussed it. When you are naming two you run through a million names. My personal top 2 were #1- Bo-Jackson (yes, a 2 name first name! since the Royals finally made the World Series this year I told Rachel it was fate and we had to go with Bo Jackson! She still denied.) and 2- Jalen (some say it's a girls name but I liked the sound of it and the only Jalen I knew in existence anyway was former basketball player Jalen Rose (so. . . a guy)). Rachel loved Mason. I offered up Mason for #2 to be named either of those options and she wouldn't take it. We needed to find names we both liked. We got down to a final 4: Cash, Drew, Jace, and Jensen. Interestingly enough, we settled on Cash for "Baby B" pretty quick. Like I said it just felt right so there must be something for this kid's name. We had Cash decided at least a month ago and really the name up in the air was for "Baby A" and wasn't decided from the other 3 finalist names until we looked at him this morning after he arrived.
Kimball is named after my step dad Kimball Barrow. That was the first and only name locked from the beginning was that one would have a middle name of Kimball. He was a great influence for me personally during my teen years. I always told Rachel the one thing I regretted about waiting so long to get pregnant with Cannon was that he passed away before he could see him (obviously can't know that at the time). Our kids have other great Grandparents but Rachel and I knew he would've been a great grandpa as well.
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| Drew Wesley Ball |
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| Cash Kimball Ball |
These guys came rapid fire this morning. Rachel's water broke around 5:45 AM. We left to the hospital and got there around 6:15. She kept telling me to drive faster because she felt like she needed to push. Well, when we arrived there was really no time for anything and next thing I know she is pushing and Baby A (Drew) is out (about 6:35)! No time for an epidural either! They started setting her up for a C-Section since Baby B (Cash) was breach. While they were prepping her for the C-Section her water broke again! No time again for anything and next thing we know Baby B just makes his way on out breach and all! No problems luckily on either delivery and quick as can be. Both boys are hanging out in the NICU for a bit (the breathing machine on Cash for a bit to help his lungs but he's doing solid) mostly precautionary since they are a bit early.
Crazy day for sure! October 21st has changed from just another random day on the calendar to an important day in our household forever.
