Calista Catherine and Cassandra Claire Brady: Calista's Birthday at Pacific Primary

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!)

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Calista's Birthday at Pacific Primary

On Friday the 12th, Claire, Cassandra and I went to Pacific Primary to celebrate Calista's 3rd birthday with her Sandpiper class. We started by having everyone "turn on their ears" for good listening. Brilliant idea. They had everyone sing a song as I passed out the popsicles, "you get what you get and you don't get mad." Sure enough, not one kiddo threw a fit about the flavor of their popsicle. Amazing! I must remember that song...

I thought it was really sweet how both her teachers and classmates gave her a birthday wish and picked out a colored bead for her b-day necklace. Then we sang her Happy Birthday and she jumed from the #2 to the #3 to mark the passing of her year. Teacher Eric then made us a sweet sign with a photo from her party and all of the kids' wishes, which we hung in her room.