Ken a/k/a Our Troublemaker

We've been working on coming up with gestational names for our growing babies, mainly so that we can stop flinching every time we refer to them as "the twins" and "the singleton." Of course, seeing as there are multiple women, multiple babies and one "Duane" contributing to our expectant state, I believe that the addition of more names is going to require a Who's Who page, lest the stray reader who stumbles upon my blog think that we are getting ready to shoot our very own episode of Sister Wives: Across Two Continents.

But I digress. Duane has officially dubbed "the singleton," "Ken," short for his namesake Ken Singleton. Haven't a clue who he is? Yeah, me neither. Nevertheless, I thought it was pretty witty. As a result, I concurred (which apparently is how this whole naming thing works-- two parents need to agree on one name) and "the singleton" is now "Ken." At least for the next 7 months (at which point I will exercise my executive powers as Wife and Mother, and christen him with a new name without any relation to pro sports.)

However, after this week, I'm finding it rather appropriate that Duane has taken on the naming of this child, seeing as Ken has now officially cemented his role as his "father's child." In other words, it's clear he is going to be the troublemaker in the group. At 6 weeks he gave us a scare by measuring a week apart from his gestational "house," at 8 weeks he spent an extra day partying it up following Diwali, while his parents stayed awake the entire night, wondering why they hadn't heard from him, and most recently, at 101/2 weeks, he failed to appear as scheduled once again.

I know I'm violating the cardinal rule of parenting multiples with what I'm about to say next, but really Ken, why can't you be more like your siblings?!? You know, the overachieving, punctual ones? Mommy and daddy have been through enough. Could you please just curb the antics until after you are in our arms?

But, we're on to him now, and when he didn't appear in my email as scheduled on Friday I remained cool as a cucumber. (Ok, if we're being honest, I may have sent one tiny email to our doctor asking if our scan had occurred, but it was nothing compared to the all-points bulletin I sent out last time.)

And sure enough, when we awoke Saturday morning, there he was looking cute as ever, waving to us from the computer screen with his newly unwebbed fingers. Naturally, we were overjoyed. Carlos, unfortunately, had his very own Toby moment-- literally, leaping across the bed, straight into my lap and letting out a  growl like we've never heard before directed straight at the computer screen. It was classic and left us rolling on the floor. (Poor guy... wait until we break it to him that Ken will be arriving with not one, but two roommates!)

And last but not least....

HUGE CONGRATS TO DOUGLAS AND CHAD ON THEIR TWO NEWEST ADDITIONS-- Looking forward to all the upcoming "Tips on Parenting Multiples" posts!!!