Playful nicknames

Arabella would make a fantastic Minnie Mouse. 

She's tiny, she's cute...

...and sometimes she has protruding ears 😄 

"Umm, look who's talking, mom and dad. You gave me these ears, remember?!", Bella would likely say.

Dad's only teasing Arabella. You know we absolutely love every bit about you, no matter how big or small!

I think Minnie Mouse is a great nickname. Mighty Mouse, too! Both are cute and kind of fitting. And of course, she'll always be our tiny Tinkerbell, even when she's older and grown. 

Kiera calls her Bella-Boos, and the full 'Arabella' when she's trying to be stern with her. "Arabella! Get your hands away from that feeding tube! Momma's going to put your gloves on! Arabella, what did I just say?!" 😄

I call her all sorts of names: Belle, Bella, Boos...

But I also have a rather unique nickname for her. Most of the time (believe it or not) I call her "Kusher" or simply "Kush". 

Strange, huh?

I started calling her Kush after I first heard her suck on the soother. As it went back and forth in her mouth, it would make a "koosh" or "kush" kind of sound. That's how it sounded like to me, anyway.

Well, Belle fell in love with the soother right away, and from that point on it was non-stop "kushing" noises. It was pure Maggie Simpson. "Kush kush kush kush (pause...) kush kush kush kush (longer pause...) kush kush kush..."

It went on and on like this for hours. Arabella would "kush" all day, and "kush" all night. She would "kush" like there was no tomorrow. Sometimes it was the only thing that would soothe her when she was grumpy. And before I realized, I was hooked on the name and I couldn't stop myself from repeating it. She was my little Kush 💗

"Kush kush kush kush..." I would mock and imitate the noises back to her while she was in the incubator. Bella heard the familiar sounds and likely knew that her dad was close by. That was one of the many little things we did to pass the time during those early days. We would make funny noises, we would hum, sing, and do all sorts of silly things. We wanted to be just as playful as we had been while she was in the womb. 

Now that I think about it, we had a lot of great moments in the NICU...

Do you guys call your kids anything funny or peculiar? I bet you do! It's the sweetest, isn't it?

I don't know about you, but I just love nicknames, and I love this baby Kush! 😊