Calista Catherine and Cassandra Claire Brady: Christmas Eve Night

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!)

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Christmas Eve Night

We spent the night at Callaghan's, a lodge in the mountains near Mt. Ashland. Mom made a delicious dinner, and Calista opened her special Gotz doll from Nonnie and Kiki that can go in the bath. Calista was so excited! She was also so excited about being in a new environment that she was not interested at all in going to bed, and actually figured out a way to climb out of her pack n' play and tried to open the door to the other room we were in. When we opened it, this tired little pumpkin looked up and said, "Hi!" like she was ready to be included in the party. It brought back memories of Christmas Eve for me, when I would be sooo excited to wake up in the morning to see what was under the tree!