Calista Catherine and Cassandra Claire Brady: Gma and Gpa Visit!

About Calista and Cassandra

Calista Catherine was born at 5:32 am on February 15, 2007. She weighed 8 lb 1 oz and was 21" long. She was born with a "true" knot in her umbilical cord, which is rare (it only happens in 1 out of ~8,000 births) and is supposedly both auspicious and a sign that she will be wise. She was excited to show up for the birthday of her grandmother Eloise, so they now have that in common along with a middle name.

Cassandra Claire was born at 5:37 am on October 17, 2009. She weighed 8 lb 4 oz and was 20.5" long. She is a quintuple Libra - her sun, moon, rising, Mercury and Venus are all in Libra - so we think she will be very fair, balanced and aesthetic. Her middle name is Brisen's paternal grandmother's middle name (Evelyne Claire Vannice).

Both girls were born at the wonderful CPMC in San Francisco, in Laurel Village, in the exact same delivery room (one of only two big rooms!) which their mom thinks is a very special thing.

Calista and Cassandra both derive from Greek mythology. Calista means "most beautiful," and is part of a myth involving Zeus, Hera and the Ursa Major constellation. Cassandra was the daughter of Hecuba and Priam, the king of Troy, and endowed with the gift of prophecy but fated by Apollo never to be believed. (We've promised our Cassandra to take her predicitions seriously!)

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Gma and Gpa Visit!

Mike and Eloise came for the last weekend of May. We all loved seeing them, and I was especially moved when Eloise said that she gets Calista withdrawls when she doesn't see her for a while! (Naturally, I can relate because sometimes I feel that way when I haven't seen her for a few hours.) Saturday happened to be my and Scott's 5-year wedding anniversary, which we spent going to the wine country for our friends Tiffany and Torsten's wedding, and spending the night in Calistoga. Mike and Eloise watched Calista, so it was the first time Scott and I had spent the night away from her together! We missed her a lot, but knew she was in superb hands, so it was the best possible scenario. They said she was a champ, and we believed them, so hopefully they will do it for us again. :-) On Sunday we all met up at our friends Sarah and Mark's house in Marin for their pool party, which Calista thoroughly enjoyed. She wore her cute new bathingsuit from Aunt Kirsten. It was quite the fun-filled weekend, and we really can't thank Gma and Gpa enough for all their help and support.