Baby Tobin

Well, baby Tobin is here at last, and the wait is finally over.  He is a beautiful, healthy baby.  I've already been asked when I'm going to write a blog about being a grandma.  I only have one day's experience, so far, so I'm afraid I can't say much about that yet!  So, I'll just write about the baby this time.

 

It's funny how everyone looks so closely at a newborn baby to see who he looks like.  It must be part of the whole process of welcoming him into the family.  I think he looks like the Bauer and Stobel and Ruppel and Wegner families--if we took him to Germany, he would be welcomed as one of their own.  I can see his round face in more than one great-grandparent.  His nearly colorless, blonde hair could come directly from either parent, since both were equally blonde at birth.  He is destined to have blue or green eyes, for sure, because all of his relatives have blue or green eyes.  Whose nose?  Who knows!  But those ears and feet and dimpled chin come straight from Grandpa Bill!

My own babies didn't look much like me, so I'm not surprised to find that Tobin doesn't either.  My genes must be recessive.  My ancestry is only half German; everyone else in this family tree (except my Dad, of course) is 75-100% German.  And this new baby certainly looks like he belongs in his family.

But there is so much more to babies than their looks.  In fact, looks don't really matter much at all in the whole scheme of things.  So far, Tobin seems to be calm and content; those traits alone can make his life (and his parents' lives) much more tolerable in the coming weeks and months, so we hope that continues.  He is healthy, too; we are aware that this is a tremendous blessing, since we know several families who have recently had babies with moderate or even severe health problems. 

Tobin has already learned so much in his first day of life.  He can breathe and poop and nurse--and sometimes even do all three at once!  He knows his Mom and Dad, and is bonding with them quickly and firmly.  He is brand new here on Earth, and he has a lot of growing and learning and living ahead of him.


I have no doubt that Meagan and Andy will be wonderful parents.  They are both ready for this new challenge.  Tobin will have the best of care, and lots of love.  Most importantly, I know that Tobin's parents will do everything possible to "raise him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."  I pray that Tobin will learn, at a very young age, just how good God is, and that he will learn to love and trust in the Lord with his whole being.  After all, his name, Tobin, means "God is good."

Tobin Lee Stobel, 1/29/2012, 7 lbs. 4 oz., 20 1/2 inches

Comments

  1. Dan VJanuary 31, 2012 at 10:43 PM

    Thrilled for your whole family, Janet. Meagan and Andy are very blessed, indeed. And you & Meagan look so much alike - but maybe not so much when she was a baby. (I don't remember) Looking forward to meeting Tobin!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Three Weddings and Too Many Funerals

Image
It's been fifteen years since my middle daughter, Meagan, married Andy. Fifteen years of living and working in and around Gering, and five, almost six, children later, everyone they know would say that they are happily married. Their wedding was big and formal, and held in our church, like many weddings were then, at least here in Gering, with a sit-down dinner and dance afterward at the Civic Center. They both grew up here, and were well-known in the community, so many local people attended their wedding. In addition, they each had large extended families who were willing to travel quite a distance to be present for their big day. It was a memorable day, for sure. Fifteen years ago, our family was quite small. They both settled in to teaching, living in an old house on Andy's family's farm before building a house at the same location about ten years ago. Now, Andy continues to teach at Gering High School, while Meagan has been focusing her teaching skills on her own childr
Read more

Introducing Anna

Image
Anna Elizabeth Tyler was born almost three weeks before her due date, at 10:53 a.m. on Monday, October 30th, 2023, in Columbus, Ohio. She weighed 5.45 pounds, and was 17.25 inches long. Her entrance into this world was more dramatic than we had hoped, since she had to spend eleven days in the NICU to monitor her breathing. But, after the initial scare, she is nursing well and growing appropriately at home. Anna at just a few days old Anna is the only one of our eight grandchildren who has spent any time in NICU. At one month of age, she is still small, but she is finally outgrowing her preemie clothes and moving on to newborn sizes. It's hard to be more than 1200 miles away from family when they need help, but contemporary forms of communication make that much easier than it used to be. Nevertheless, Bill and I were glad to join our daughter, Erin, her husband, Reed, our grandson, Will, and baby Anna, for Thanksgiving. We got to see for ourselves how their whole family is thriving.
Read more

A Little Covid

Image
Like so many of you, I am tired of hearing about Covid-19. As I look back to 2020 and the intervening years since then, I can't help but think that our government, along with many others throughout the world, may have overreacted, insisting on too many, perhaps unnecessary, restrictions. However, the fact remains that I am currently quarantined at home because, for the first time, I officially have Covid. I would never have known I have Covid except that it morphed into a sinus infection. So, I dutifully made my way to Urgent Care because I knew I would need an antibiotic to get over it. And, of course, I had to have a test to rule out Covid and Influenza A. Except, even though my vaccinations are up-to-date, the test was positive for Covid. My Covid symptoms have been minimal, probably because I’ve been vaccinated: some fatigue, some sneezing, and a headache that won't quit. Initially, I passed off those symptoms as my normal allergy symptoms, aggravated by the windy condition
Read more