What is in a name?

So some of you might be wondering why it took us 5 days to name Baby Carter... wish I had a real great reason but I don't :). We couldn't decide on a name the whole pregnancy. We'd both like a name then one of us would start to hate it and it got the worse the closer we got to my due date... we had nothing. Finally it looked like we had a name: Mason. We did like Carter and we also liked ______ man I can't even think of the 3rd name... oh yeah Cameron, that was it... probably good we didn't choose Cameron since I already had forgotten it so quickly. Anyway... We both liked Mason, it felt like it fit... I felt pretty good about it though Levi was still not committing. It took us a few days to name Cole too so I was determined this time to not take that long... well that was a bad plan :). We took longer.

Once we had him I just didn't know. Naming a baby is a lot of pressure and a big commitment. I just couldn't decide what to call him. I had called him Carter a couple times by total accident so I started leaning towards that name. I thought maybe looking up the meanings to those names would help. We hadn't picked the other 2 boys name because of their meanings but I thought it couldn't hurt. Well I wrong again, it made things worse. Cameron meant crooked nose, Mason had to do with Masonry & Carter meant a person who carts things... Seriously?!?! I felt like we were back to square one. Did he have a crooked nose? Did he look like a person who was going to cart things around?... nope didn't help

At this point he had gone unnamed for 3 days. Neither of us felt like committing to something just to leave the hospital. The charge nurse that walked us out was giving us a hard time about not picking a name... she was like "You even found out what you were having..." I know, I know. In all seriousness she then told us that she works in the birth certificate office and people call and try to change the name all the time, they don't like what they pick then regret it- See I didn't want to be that person. She did tell us a funny story about a family wanting to name their baby "King Pimp" but that is another story for another day.

Once we are home the name will come to us for sure... right? WRONG! We came home to 2 kids randomly puking and it was a bit crazy for a couple days. Family down to see the baby and sick kids makes for a buys house. It wasn't until everyone was well that I felt like I could even think about a name. I called the doctor one afternoon to make an appointment for Baby Boy Bowers and that was embarrassing, to admit we hadn't named our baby yet after several days :). Finally on Valentines Day we took a vote. Wesley went first so he wasn't influenced by anyone else and choose Carter over Mason... I was surprised cause all along he had said he liked Mason better. Levi choose Carter and Cole agreed (but then again he agrees to everything :). We decided on Carter Joel- Joel being after my Dad. Little CJ as we could call him someday, was finally named! His name may not have the best meaning but he is a named after a great man and his name has a story behind it.

Welcome to the Family Carter!!!!!! WE all love you lots!

Wesley at 5

It is craziness that Wesley turned 5 this year!!! I can't believe it. He came into the world suddenly and surprised us all. He's been looking forward to 5 for a long time. For him big things were going to happen when he is 5. He'll go to school this fall, he's going to have another brother... just to name a few. Now when he is 6, THOSE are some big plans. He is going to be old enough to move out and drive a car. Ha Ha, who knows where he got that notion but at 6 I think he'll be disappointed :).

Right now Wesley is into pretend play. We got him all sorts of dress up clothes for Christmas and he just loves them. For his 5 yr pics I wanted to really capture the essence of him, so I wanted to include that fun in the shoot. I thought it would be super fun and cute to dress Cole up too. Cole however was not a fan of the mask and was only going along with the other things because brother was. It is so cute and fun to watch Cole look up to Wesley, do what he does & try and by like him. Even in the simple things like eating breakfast, if he sees Wesley drink his milk Cole will quickly put down his food and take a drink, like Wesley is the ring leader and he must copy him. With that being said though, Cole is independent and doesn't really care what everyone else is doing most of the time, he'll continue to do what he wants to do. I think the copying Wesley is more of a game.
AT 5 Wesley is really into:

• Dinosaurs! Everything Dino interests him. Cole and him play great together making dinosaur sounds and stomping around. It's their favorite thing to do together.



• Hot Wheels. He got a track (well 2) for Christmas and loves racing the cars, this too is a great thing for Cole and him to play since Cole has always loved cars. (Wesley kind of copies Cole in a way too :)



• Loves Books (this has not changed)



• His favorite shows are dinosaur or animal shows, Curious George & Veggie Tales
  


• He loves his BB Gun he got for his birthday
  


• Loves pretend play. He dresses up as a pirate the most.



• Loves his Maggie doggy. We had to include he in the shoot too. He is really attached to her right now.



• He's doing great with his letters. I can even dictate words for him to write and he will write the letters out... sometimes backwards and rarely in a straight line, but they are there :)
  

He is an OUTSTANDING big brother. He is so sharing and concerned for his brother. He is so excited to see the new baby this week, he can barely contain himself. I am so proud of the boy he is turning into. God has blessed us with one special boy. There is something different and special about him... I can't explain it and some of you know what I am referring to because others point it out to me as well. I think God has big plans for him!