Calista Catherine and Cassandra Claire Brady: Christmas Day

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 13, 2010

Christmas Day

Christmas was so fun this year because Calista was excited about the holiday. As you may recall, she especially asked Santa for a "crying doll and a laughing doll" and then was so happy to see it under the tree. She loved all her presents, and her unadulterated joy and pure enthusiasm were contagious. It made for a very lovely celebration! Baby Cassandra on her first Christmas (so exciting!) was darling of course and in a sweet lovey mood all day. Scott and I felt like Calista gave us the best present ever when she slept until 7:30 am. Nice! We woke up and played with Santa's presents, and when Eloise and Mike arrived shortly thereafter we had coffee and opened stockings. We were done opening presents before lunch (phew) and spent the rest of the day playing and relaxing. For dinner we had a delicious prime rib from Bi Rite - I remember my Grammy Evelyne and Grandpa Charles making prime rib for Christmas growing up. It's been fun combining Brady and Vannice traditions!