I'm very late with this post, and my only excuse is that the "blizzard" reeked havoc on my internet connection & it has been spotty. So better late than never, let me introduce you to John Robert Reece.
Baby Johnny is #2 of the 5 babies that will be joining my family & extended family by May. This little troublemaker is my daughter Courtney's nephew. The son of her Hubby Ray's brother Chris & his wife CJ. Chris is, at this very moment still away at basic training, he's in the Air Force so are you beginning to see why I call this angelic looking baby a troublemaker?
CJ was due February 10th (still 3 days from the date of this post). We had known for days that we would be getting a large snowstorm. Hmmm... little did we know what it would become. We started joking with CJ days before the snow started that Johnny needed to stay put, not to get any ideas, you get the gist.
Let me remind you that between 7:30am on Tuesday morning & sometime in the middle of the night, the sky dumped nearly 2 feet of snow. They closed I-70 (the main artery across Missouri) at one point. Yep, that's a lot of snow, FAST! So imagine my freaked out surprise when I got a phone call Wednesday morning from Courtney saying that she was at the hospital & that CJ was in labor. Oh that's not even the crazy part of the story.... CJ got up around 1:30am to get a drink & her water broke and contractions started about 2am. Super duper, except her car is under 3 foot + snow drifts. She called 911. The ambulance could not make it either sooooo they call in the Missouri National Guard. Yes, you heard me. They reached her fine, but the few miles to the hospital took an hour, conditions were so bad- very blizzard like. Meanwhile word has passed through the family but nobody could get their car out. The girl's mother in law, Karin, lives in Lawrence & she and Courtney were supposed to be co-labor coaches. Now my girl has inherited a couple of interesting attributes. One of these is a stubborn gene, and can be a blessing or a curse. Yes, I will admit that this is maternally passed. The other is loyalty. This girl of mine will go to the end of the earth for her friends. If she loves you, she will do without to give you what you need. I only hope she got a little of that one from me too. And on that night, those 2 qualities came together and created the perfect friend & sister-in-law. At 4 in the morning she suited up in cold weather gear, and WALKED her happy ass to the hospital so that CJ would not be alone when her son came into this world.
My heart swells with pride & love for this crazy daughter of mine when I think about what she did for her friend. But, as is my nature, I also go to "What If" land. They are all fine, of course so I can let that go pretty easily.
As you can imagine this created quite a stir. Everyone that know's them was blowing up their Facebook status & Tweeting like mad. The 4 TV stations in Kansas City made the trip out to interview them, as did the KC Star. Here is how Channel 9, KMBC reported
Even Aunt Courtney made it into the slide show of still photos. Love that girl.
Meet the sweet little man. 6 lbs 9oz
His super proud Auntie Courtney. She's just a little bit tired.
So I hope that #'s 3, 4 & 5 make much calmer entrances! Emerson Kate should be next..... here's hoping with-in a week or so! :o)
xoxo
Lissa
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