Round 2!

Round 2 has begun!

Shepard Nocona Lewis Neel was welcomed to this world at 9:12 AM on April 17, 2009! At 8 lbs 8 oz, he wasn't nearly the size of his older sister when she was born (9 lb 4 oz). However, Samara was 10 days past her due date and Shepard was born 11 days before his due date! Shepard (Shep) was 22 inches long, which is longer than Samara's length when she was born.

Shepard and Shana are doing well! We arrived at the hospital at about 6:40 AM on the 17th...Shana was a bit aggravated, to say the least, that we were 10 minutes late arriving! Everything went well and by 10 Am, we were showing him off to our families!

To say the least, the 1st 24 hours with Shep was definitely easier than with Samara. There have been no latching problems and we actually were able to sleep somewhat last night!

Samara has been a great big sister! We couldn't be more proud of how well she has adjusted (so far). She always wants to hold Shepard and make sure he's ok when he cries. Once, when the nurse came in to get a blood sample for a glucose test...Samara has just woken up...Shep started crying after the nurse "stuck" him with the needle. Samara instantly started crying and reaching for him (although she was about 10 feet away)...yelling "my baby (brother)"!

So, some may wonder how we came up with Shepard. Well, we (I) wanted to stick with the same basic format that we used on Samara. Yes, I am that much of a nerd! So, a space-related name, a comanche name, and a family name.

Shepard was about the only space-related male name Shana and I both liked. Shepard being the last name of the 1st American astronaut in space; Alan Shepard.

Nocona is a variant of the Comanche Chief Quanah Parker's father, Peta Nocona. As with Quanah, Peta Nocona was a great leader for the Comanche's whose name means "he who travels alone and returns." Nocona simply means, "wanderer".

Lewis was taken from both Shana's and my grandfathers. Shana's grandfather is Lewis Albert Adama and my grandfather was Frank Lewis Palmer. We didn't hit on this name until a couple of weeks ago; we had Shepard and Nocona nailed for the last several months...

There's the story! I'm sure I'll be subjecting you to more spam in the future. I hope all is well. As always, photos: