Smile, Alisha

Have I mentioned that Zachary loves his sister? Yes, he is sometimes annoyed by his parents' inability to attend to him as previously, or oblivious to the possibility that I can't hear him due to her screaming, and even has observed that she doesn't "do" very much. However, when she's awake and he's allowed to touch her, it is pure - if sometimes overzealous - love. 

That being said, these pictures employ 2 tips shared by Sharona (of Sharona Jacobs Photography):

1) Manage the weird/harsh midday lighting of my living room with reflectors made from whatever  light-colored household objects are close at hand. She had used the bottom of a playmat; I opted for a fuzzy blanket. 

2) Bribery. Zach hates to sit still or otherwise interact nicely in general when the camera is out, however, I offered to let him wash Alisha's hair if he would cooperate for a few minutes. It worked!

And, just in case you couldn't tell from the first 2 images, the sweater is on backwards (but he did it himself, dammit), and the hair was spiked (we were, um, experimenting earlier), and when we left the house, he opted for green rain boots (sneakers apparently require too much effort when the parents make you put your own shoes on).

Washington Navy Yard

A couple weeks ago, at the Washington Navy Yard.

Sarah:

Zach:

 

Group shot (we got some help taking this one):

 

And this - we were at the Navy Yard for my father-in-law, Andy's retirement party - 40 years as ship designer with the navy. This was intended to be a photo of his standing ovation after a number of speeches and awards in his honor. However, what I actually captured turned out to be a picture of Sarah eating orange sherbet:

 

Sizing each other up

This picture is already a month old now - Alisha's head is so much bigger now! Yesterday Zach was telling me that he loves his sister. Primary reason? She's "soft." I can't really argue with that (she is soft). And fortunately, he hasn't squashed anything too important on her yet in confirming this quality.

Raspberries

Balding twins

Alisha's cute newborn hair has started falling off in front, making her look even more like dad.

Turn down the sunlight, please!

 

Grandma Marjorie (Baby Road Trip part 2: Fredericksburg, VA)

My mother can't travel, due to the state of her cancer. She's been terminal for over 10 years and will continue to exceed expectations, I'm sure. However, she was officially switched from treatment to palliative care in October. So we drove her new granddaughter south, to her home in Virginia.

Baby Road Trip - Part 1: Annapolis

It's hard to explain the motivation for this road trip, with a 2-week-old baby, without going into depressing matters. Such was the nature of the last few months - with the exception of Alisha joining our family.

Introductions... over the Chanuka/holiday period for Jenn's family - she had been planning to bring her family to visit us after the baby was born, not so very long ago. My mother's health. And being too pregnant to travel during Thanksgiving. In any case, the travel was less difficult than I expected, once we packed pretty much everything we owned into the car, anyhow.

Our first stop was in Annaoplis, where Alisha met her cousins, Sarah and Sydney, who took many turns holding her, in between chasing Zach in circles around the house:

Holiday decorations downtown Annapolis:

Sarah, the Chanuka elf:

With a newborn, time spent on the floor...

These 2 also spending time on the floor (Zach adores his cousin, Sydney):

Look, an X! (on the ground, at the Naval Academy, which Zach found to be otherwise boring... and Alisha slept:

Check out the new hat. If only my head were 3 sizes larger... (and soon it will be!):

At home...

It has been just about a week since we came home. Alisha is adapting well, liking all things more or less except for diaper changes.

Zach spent the first couple days whining but has since warmed up a bit, enough for a photo anyhow.

The new baby: Alisha Pam

Friday, December 9, we got to meet our daughter, Alisha. As with newborns, she came out cute, but looking like she'd spent too much time on the stove cooking. The picture below was taken on the morning of the 10th. (Mount Auburn Hospital provided the hat.)

 

Zach came by to meet the new intrusion on his life Saturday (thanks, Justin, for the family photo):

 

On first meeting he proclaims her "good" (which lasts about till she comes home and he realizes that things are going to be different).

 

And Sunday we headed home, Alisha engulfed in her giant car seat. 

Her birth was so uneventful it was both surreal and almost boring. I was induced on my due date, because of the potential medical risk of her small size. This was based on a tape measure to my belly plus ultrasound measurements that put her in the 13th percentile for weight. Well, she came out at  7 lbs 13 oz - perfectly normal in size. I wasn't super excited about the prospect of being induced, but was honestly scared of going into labor in the middle of the night or at work, given how quickly things happened with my first birth. So having the whole thing scheduled for a Friday morning gave me the peace of mind that Zach could be taken care of and there would be no ambulance involved. I started the pitocin around 11 am, started active labor at 5:45 and delivered Alisha at 7:02.

Alisha is named for her Aunt Jenni (Jennifer Josh's sister) - her Hebrew name. (Elisha, which is a boy's name - we think it was intended as Aleeza, but was mixed up in her hazy post-newborn days.) As happy as I am to honor Jenn with a namesake, it startles me daily -- that we have a daughter named after Jenn. Her middle name, Pam, is in honor of Josh's Aunt Pami, who passed away 2 years ago.