From the day I met Howard to the person I know today," Jody Kendrick said, "there have been so many monumental changes that are going to be blueprints in his life -- from making the big leagues to marriage to having a child. "He's a fantastic dad, a great husband and a great ballplayer. He's the whole package." After Owen was born, Kendrick made a personal pledge to be the father he did not have. "It makes me proud to know I'm going to be in my son's life," Kendrick said. "I never had my dad in mine. I've never met him. He lives in Ohio. He's also Howard, but everyone calls him Kenny. "If the opportunity is there, I'll be very open to meeting him, sitting down and talking. I've never tried to shut anybody away." Kendrick was raised in a maternal environment.

1130ypjchuji "I had two older sisters, and it was a military family," he said. shenzhen escort girls "My grandmother raised all three of us. I'm actually grateful that we were raised in a stable home. I graduated from high school with a lot of the kids I went to grammar school with, and that wouldn't have happened in a military family with all the moving around. "Our grandmother taught us to be respectful. She instilled a lot of discipline and hard work in us; that's one of the reasons why I'm where I am [playing in the Majors]. She passed away in '06 with cancer. Basically, I'm her." This is Howard Kendrick's first Thanksgiving as a father. Nowhere to be found in the 50 states is a prouder dad. Early last Christmas morning, Jody Kendrick presented her husband with a gift that keeps giving: a six-pound, 14-ounce baby boy named Owen. Eleven months later, the holiday cheer is evident as the Kendricks count their blessings.

"He was born two weeks early," said Kendrick, the Angels' second baseman, of his first child. "He was due on January 7, a day after our anniversary. "We didn't really want him to come on Christmas, but God decided it was time. We were ecstatic. We're blessed." Kendrick, a native Floridian now calling Phoenix home, has embraced his life as a dad shenzhen escorts at 26 with a profound sense of responsibility rooted in his childhood in Jacksonville, Fla., where he was raised primarily by his grandmother, Ruth Woods. "Every day there's something new with the little guy," Kendrick said by phone. "He's been walking since he was nine months, and he's all over the place now. He learned how to say 'horse' the other day. My father-in-law, Kent Jensen, is a horse trainer. He has Owen around his horses, and they all love him. "What's great about the offseason is I don't miss anything. With Owen, if you turn your head for a minute, you might miss something." He is one doting dad, which comes as no surprise to his better half.
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