Alex was born on Monday, March 18, 2002, at 5:54 a.m. He weighed 6 lbs., 15 oz., and was pink and crying right from the start. He has a head of soft reddish-brown hair, which was a surprise to everyone since both Matt and Leanne were born with thick black hair. We call him our "German Leprechaun" because it would have still been St. Patrick's Day back in the U.S. during the time he was born. (More detailed birth story)
The story behind Alex's nameAlex's middle name, Lester, was actually chosen long before his first name. As it happens, two of Alex's great-grandpas are named Lester, and his middle name is intended to honor them both. Leanne's maternal grandfather, Lester Mudgett, a retired paper-mill worker and gunsmith, lives in Oregon. Matt's maternal grandfather, Irving Luster Hoover, who is known as "Lester" or "Les," is a retired farmer and P-51 builder and lives in Kansas. Both great-grandpas are about the same age and share many character traits that we admire. We're grateful that we were able to take long-distance trips during our first year of marriage to visit and meet both of these incredible men. As it happens, Alex was conceived during our trip to visit Grandpa Hoover. Alex's first name was chosen during a long car trip that we took shortly after learning that the baby would be a boy. We went through the alphabet and just started saying every name that we could think of for each letter. We got as far as "R" before we backtracked and decided that we both liked the name Alexander. Matt says it's a good, strong name that reminds him of Alexander the Great. Leanne researched the meaning of it and found that it comes from several Greek words and means roughly "defender of mankind." Given Matt's line of work and the heritage of military service on both sides of the family, Leanne thought this was quite fitting. |