Our First Baby!

Today, June 15, 2015 brings back so many memories!  Sixty-one years ago today we welcomed our first baby into the world.  What a welcome it was!  I weighed a whopping 95 pounds the summer of 1953 and a 9 months later gave birth to a 9 pound 3 ounce, 21 inch perfect little girl!  I had always planned to name my first little girl Claudia after my daddy, Claude Ward.  Then I came up with the bright idea of naming her a name beginning with "D" since we were Doyal and Drucilla.  So, for the first day we were thinking of Claudia Denise and calling her Denise.  My daddy came into the room and I was telling him our plans.  He seemed a bit disappointed but reminded me of the problems he and I had always had being called by our middle names and suggested we use the first name Denise.  Did I really want to do that, I thought.  NO!  I had always wanted my first girl to be named Claudia as I had always wanted my name to be.  So......we scrapped the idea of all "D's" and named that beautiful bundle of joy, Claudia Elizabeth for my sweet daddy and Doyal's wonderful mother.  I have never regretted the decision and I don't think Claudia Beth has either!

 

Henry Claude Ward

This was taken a few years before he died.

Claudia was just over 3 when her Granddaddy Ward died.

 

 

Millie Talsie Elizabeth Wright a couple of years before her death.

Claudia was 29 when her Big Mama died.

 

 

Is Claudia our favorite?  Ask her.  Then ask the others.  We hope all six of the children think they are the favorite.  To tell the truth each one is definitely favorite in his/her own special way.  But, when they get together and discuss this subject along with which one we love the most Claudia always gets the last word by reminding them,  "I'm the one they've loved the longest!"

 

 

Here we are surrounded by our children on Christmas 1988.

Paula on the left front, Sharon in the middle and Claudia on the right. 

The boys, Frank, Allen and Frankie in the back. 

Every time they are together Claudia reminds them that she is the one we've loved the longest.

 

I want to use this post to thank our first-born for many things.

 1.  First of all; thank you for teaching us things that only a first new-born can teach.  Things like, how to quickly and efficiently change a very poop-filled cloth diaper.  What to do when that first child throws up all over her mother and the car just as they drive in the parking lot at church.  How to "sterilize" a pacifier.  (For those who don't know take a guess.) How not to panic when the child is running a high fever and you have NO idea what to do.  How to handle a colicky  baby.  So many, many things that precious new-born taught us!

 

 

Claudia began teaching us the joy of parenthood from the day of her birth.

 

 

 2.  Next, the joys of early childhood.  Allowing, yes encouraging, her to bond with both sets of grandparents and not to be too concerned with their spoiling.  How not to panic when there were falls, bruises and scraps.  Learning that the term "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" is NOT in the Bible.  It is okay to get dirty!  Quickly learning that it is a good thing to insist on a child hold your hand when out in public. (By the way, she now insists on holding my hand.....what goes around, comes around.)  Using a child as an excuse to have pets and teaching them to take care of them.  Whoa!  That's a stretch, isn't it?

 

 

 

 

She loved pretty dresses.

 

 3.  And then that child became a sibling!  Claudia taught me the joy of being a sibling, as the closest I had ever come was having cousins that I loved dearly.  She was the best big sister ever (and still is.) Twenty-one months after she was born along came Allen.  Then, two years after that was Paula.  Next, after a two and a half year wait here came Sharon.  By this time Claudia was a little over 6 and she claimed Sharon as her own.  Those three siblings weren't enough for her so after another two and a half year wait along came baby Frank.  And what do you know!  We acquired another sibling later when 11 year old Frank (we still call his Frankie) Hazelman entered the family.  Not only did Claudia show us the joys of being a sister, but the others taught me a lot about rearing a big family......just what I always wanted!  On a side note......what if we had gone along with our first idea of naming all the children with their first names beginning with "D"?  That would have been a mouthful.

 

 

Happy siblings, Claudia and Allen.

 

And then there were 6!

 

 4.  A few years later our first child began teaching us the joys and trials (at times) of rearing teenagers.  These were fun years!  I understood how a female teen felt, thought, acted and all that good stuff.  Because of this it was  frightening at times.  She was the first to grow into womanhood, the first to wear make up (way too much blue eye shadow at times), the first for us to be concerned about the length of skirts, the first to date......and all that goes with what a first teen teaches their parents.

 

We learned to rear and enjoy teens beginning with the first teen in the family.

 

 

 

 5.  And then, Claudia became a mother teaching us the joys of being grandparents!  Not only were we being taught, but our other children were learning to be aunts and uncles.  When that first grandchild (and all that follow) is placed in your arms for the first time you are transported to the first time your own baby was placed there.  Claudia, thank you for presenting us with our first grandchild and allowing us to be a part of his life from his birth until now!  And thank you for giving us four more Fords!

 

Thank you for my first grandchild!

 5.  Now that this first baby is grown she is not only my daughter, but my friend!  Thank you for teaching me that a daughter will always be a daughter, and in many ways that baby....little girl....teen....young mother, but can grow into one of the best friends a mother could ever imaging having.

 

My daughter, my friend and, in this case my nurse.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!