July 2001

July is going to be a big birthday month in our house.  This time around Noel got the best possible birthday present.

Sophie Turns Two (July 4)
Sophie surprised everyone by blowing out her candles in one big puff.  Maybe the practice blowing bubbles in the lake helped her lung capacity :-)  We had a big "make your own ice cream" party for her on June 30 with about 40 guests of all ages, and then a smaller one on July 4.  Noel spent the last week before the big party putting up a huge swingset that we acquired from our neighbors.
 

One can now have quite a reasonable conversation with Sophie.  She loves fresh berries -- today we picked and ate three different kinds while returning from a swim at the lake.  She loves to play "Ring around the Rosie" in the lake.  She hates having water poured over her head in the bathtub. She still loves to read, sing, and play music on various instruments.  Amazingly, she remembers books and songs that we haven't read or sung in a very long time.  She usually plays very nicely with her friends, although the normal 2-year-old "mine, mine" is starting to show up.  I guess one of my (Judy) favorite things about her (besides her intelligence, musical talent, and sense of humor) is her friendliness and social skills.  I really, really enjoy spending time with her because she is such a nice person to be with.  We plan to send her to nursery school starting in September, two days a week, for two hours at a time.

Dalia's Debut (July 14)
Baby sister Dalia Maya arrived on July 14 at 4:50am.  She weighed 8 lbs 8 ozs., and she was and is a rosy little rosebud, as you can see from the pictures.  Judy first felt contractions around noon on Friday, July 13 (her due date), while baking a chocolate layer cake for Noel's birthday.  Noel came home and we went to a regularly scheduled midwife visit, accompanied by our friend Lauren (in green, below), a lay midwife visiting us from Berkeley, who had been helping us out at home all week.  (She also attended Sophie's birth two years ago, and she and Sophie had a great time reconnecting during her stay here.)  At the office, Sue (Judy's regular midwife) informed us that Judy was dilated to around 3 cm, and she advised us to go home and rest, and that she would see us "in the wee hours."  Judy finished frosting the birthday cake (the "labor project"), had a late lunch, and did actually end up resting.  Around 8pm the contractions became stronger and more regular.  We alerted Noel's parents,  who drove down from Amherst, Mass., and they arrived around 11 to take care of Sophie.  At midnight Judy was dilated to 5cm and we went to the hospital.  First Judy labored in a tub, then on a birthing stool, then on the bed on hands and knees.  She pushed lying on her back starting around 4:30 and 20 minutes later we coaxed the big girl out.  Noel tugged on Dalia's armpit and then caught her and cut her  umbilical cord.  The labor and delivery were very intense and painful, but we did it drug-free!  It was nice not being attached to tubes this time, but afterwards they gave Judy only Motrin (what a joke!) for the afterpains.  Below are Dalia's newborn pix and the amazing birth team.
   

 
L to R: Lauren Kalmanson (amazing doula),  Noel (amazing partner), Dalia (minutes old), Judy, Sue Cavanagh (amazing midwife), and Laura Winter (amazing labor and delivery nurse) 

Of course, later that afternoon Noel returned to the hospital with his parents and Sophie to celebrate his and Dalia's birthday with champagne and chocolate birthday cake, which came out great! :-)

Dalia means branch or tendril in Hebrew; in most romance languages it means the flower Dahlia.  She is named for Judy's late maternal grandfather David and for Noel's late aunt Minna.  We decided that Dalia's ASL sign name will be the letter D moved from one side of the upper lip to the other, like the sign for flower.  She is big and alert, and her neck muscles are pretty strong for a 10-day old.  She's already smiling at us

Noel's parents stayed with us through the first week postpartum, which was an unbelievable contribution.  Rita took charge of the kitchen, with meal planning and preparation for the whole gang, in addition to entertaining Sophie, taking care of Judy, and holding Dalia.  Allen kept busy entertaining Sophie and Judy and also holding Dalia.  

In the pictures below, Sophie holds Dalia at 1 week old.  Sophie loves her baby sister, though naturally she's a little sad to lose her "only child" status.  She requests often to "hold my baby on the couch."  She has been somewhat more demanding, contrary, and whiny lately, though that's probably normal 2-year old behavior anyway.  She wants to nurse more than Judy is willing, that much is overt. We've been giving Sophie lots of attention and love to try to compensate.  She has a big new bed now and climbs into it athletically, flipping over the bar at the foot of bed like a gymnast.  Some nights are okay; some nights are a little wild.  Noel has been taking on Sophie's nighttime antics so that Judy and Dalia can sleep.
 

The lake has been gorgeous lately.  Here's our self-portrait with Lake Celeste as background.  Dalia is 12 days old here.  It's hard to believe that Sophie was once a tiny little peanut like her--she seems ENORMOUS now!