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The title of this blog also happens to be the name of our new baby. Rowan Isaac. Rowan is a Celtic name that means "little red one", and Isaac is a Hebrew name that means laughter. His initials (RIR) also spell the Portuguese verb "to laugh". So hopefully he will be a fun kid. We think he is already. He arrived today, November 28, 2007 at 2:15 pm (or thereabouts - I'll have to check the exact time). Both he and Katie are doing fine and resting a bit. He weighs 9 lbs, 2 oz., and as you can see from the picture, he has beautiful blond hair. He is a good little boy so far, and we're excited to have him in our family. Davin is with our good friends, the Smiths, this afternoon, but we think he understands a bit and is excited to meet his new little brother later this afternoon. We would like to thank you all for your love and your prayers, and hopefully we'll get a chance to talk to and see many of you soon so you can meet our little guy. If you want to see m...

Because airlines discriminate against pregnant people (apparently giving birth on an airplane is not part of the airline's full service, even in first class), we were home-bound this Thanksgiving. However, we were happy to share our Thanksgiving meal with our other family-less friends. We were joined by the Burrells, Campbells, Prices, and the Prices' cousin, Molly. We were especially happy to have Molly join us because she made it feel like a real Thanksgiving with real relations around. We invited the right people because they brought really good food, which is always a plus for Thanksgiving. We had all of the usual trimmings and some great specialties, but the plethora of pies made the meal complete. After dinner, we watched Davin and his friends Alana and Ian Campbell spin around in our office chair for at least an hour (how they managed to do that without getting sick is one of the miracles of being a child), while we digested and chatted. I am still amazed that we managed...

Davin has become interested in praying lately. His prayer usually starts with "Heavenly Father in Heaven" and follows shortly with "Amen!" (emphatically pronounced). He finds all occasions to pray. If we are wandering around the church by ourselves, he'll go up to an empty pulpit, fold his arms, and start his prayer. He can find a microphone in anything, even the evaluation light in my OB/ GYN's office. He doesn't always sit quietly through our prayers, but he is starting to do it more often. Whispering "prayer time, prayer time" is one thing that gets him in the mood to participate in prayer. Lest you think we are raising a little angel, he has his demon moments, too. Davin used to be really interested in taking the sacrament, but lately he has been a little naughty about it. Instead of eating his sacrament bread, Davin throws it at the person in front of him. Chris bravely retrieves the bread while I decide to hide under the bench i...

Davin, our avid little hoopster , looks to make anything into a basketball hoop. When we play with play dough, he asks that Chris or I make a little basketball hoop and basketballs out of the dough so that he can make baskets (he also asks for soccer goals and balls, football uprights and balls, and golf balls and club). If his basketball hoop is not around but he has a ball, Davin has found that Mom makes an excellent basketball hoop. I round my arms in front of me, making a perfect first position (one of the positions of the arms for all of you non-ballet dancers). Like my old ballet teacher, Davin will check my form and correct my position if he thinks it isn't correct. He then starts to shoot away. Unlike his basketball hoop at home, his "portable" hoop chimes with praise at each shot, will help him retrieve balls, and (at least at the moment) has a large baby bump which effectively redirects the ball back to him after his shot. Someday, when he is a famous baller , ...

Our costumes these year aren't a huge leap. We are BYU fans. I'm pregnant this year and it seems to have drained my Halloween creativity a little. Davin is a football player, I'm his crazed-fan mother, and Chris is the ref who is having a little trouble seeing the game. We hope that everyone has a great Halloween! Davin really is a super fan, though, but not so much for BYU (we are working on that). Chris took Davin to a Wake Forest football game not too long ago and it had a major influence. Apparently in nursery last week during their prayer, he started repeating over and over again "Go Deacons!" (The Wake mascot is the Demon Deacon.)

Even though I'm all "grown-up" (there are days when I wonder if this is true), I still need my mom. Today was a perfect example. Last week, my doctor advised me to try taking an antacid medication to see if it would help my morning sickness. For a few days, I felt great. I even started to think that maybe we had found the answer, maybe this was the cure. Again (as I stated in a previous blog), feeling good can be the most discouraging thing of all. This morning my oatmeal refused to stay down, so what could I do but oblige it? I was at the church helping to decorate for our ward Halloween party, and as I have learned to do, I tidied myself up and finished decorating the church. I tried to suck it up by telling myself that this was nothing new and that there is a cure-- having a baby. But deep-down, I was a little discouraged. After a long day of the usual, compounded by Chris not being home for the entire day and evening (again), I came home ready to wrestle Davin to bed ...

What are the Rees' up to these days, you may be asking yourself. Well, it is a good thing you checked our blog because here is a post to satisfy your inquiring mind. Chris is still in school and enjoying his classes, though he probably does more extra-curricular activities than he does school work. He is also interviewing for real, grown-up jobs, the kind that give you an annual salary and health insurance. He is dedicated to convincing these companies that he is more than an econ nerd, but instead the next charismatic leader that will change their company's future. He was good enough to convince me that he was a charming enough young man to stake the next eternity on, so I'm sure that one company will find him convincing as well. Davin is moving onward on his journey to tackle the potty. We have successes and failures, but more successes than failures, so we keep moving forward. He loves nursery these days (thanks to some great nursery leaders), watching football with hi...