What's in a name? (Part 1)

We surprised our friends and family when we announced that our new baby girl's first name was Maia. We'd decided on the name by the time of her gender-identifying ultrasound, but since we were going to to tell everyone that we were expecting a girl, we wanted to wait to announce her name until she was with us. Both of her grandmothers were dying to know what it was. Both are great with cross-stich-type handiwork, so of course they needed to know the name for the Christmas stocking they were working on (for example). When that didn't work, Gran Puckett was straightforward and direct, hoping to convince us that a grandmother deserved to be in the circle of "those who know." Gramma Ramsay was sneakier, throwing the question at Becca at random intervals hoping to catch her off-guard. Didn't work! Although, I hear that a certain one of Maia's aunts caught Becca with a slip of the tongue very early on. Thanks for keeping the secret!

To keep up everyone's spirits, we offered a hint: The name had only 4 letters. This eliminated Gran Puckett's best guess at the time: Rachel (Maia's great-great-grandmother, and a solid "biblical" name). Gramma Ramsay's guess at this point was Anna. At some point, one of our friends (I think it was Alison) said she'd found a list of 100 four-letter girls names. I don't know if this site is the one she found, but it'll give you a list of 127 possible names, including Maia! So it was right there in front of you guys, all that time! Of course, so were some of our "runner-up" names: Asia, Klee, Luna, Olga, and Yuki. (No, not really.) And much as we would've loved to name her after her great-grandmother, there was no way were gonna saddle her with the name "Elfa." Sorry, Monken.

So anyway, what's in a name? Well, Maia is a very old Greek name. In mythology, Maia was the eldest of the Pleiades, the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione. (And no, this is not a sign that we intend to have six more! If we were, these would be their names. No thanks!) Maia is also a star in the open cluster called the Pleiades (also M45 or the Seven Sisters; see below). But I wouldn't say that we named our daughter after either a daughter of Atlas or a star (although that's my favorite association). I would say that we gave her a very pretty name with a lot of history. Although, I guess we've cursed her with a lifetime of spelling out her name ("Maya" is almost 8 times more common than "Maia"). But, with a name like Puckett, is that anything new?

Maia seems to have a variety of meanings in different cultures. In Greek it appears to mean "mother" (she was the mother of Hermes by Zeus), and mythologically she was the goddess of fields and/or "spring growth." The month of May may be named after her. I also find the Hebrew meaning, "close to God." It could also mean "the great one," although don't tell her that, we don't want it to go to her head! And if you care to include modern mythology, Maia is the singular of Maiar, a sort of demigod race to which both Gandalf and Sauron belonged in Tolkein's Middle-Earth.

Do we know any Maia's? Not personally (not even Maya's), which I think is part of the appeal. But I can't help but think of Maya Angelou, the Mayan culture, and for some reason, SNL's Maya Rudolph.

Coming in Part 2 - The origin of the Lauren.



Photo of the Pleiades, copyright Robert Gendler (http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/)


The Pleiades star cluster (M45), labeled with the names of the mythological Seven Sisters, plus their parents (Atlas and Pleione). (from the Starry Night planetarium program)

Play Date

Abigail holding Maia

On Friday, my friend Alison and her 18 month old daughter Abigail came over for lunch. Alison and I sort of swapped kids for the day, Alison got her baby fix and gave my tired arms a rest, and I got to play with a sweet toddler.

Abi was very into the baby, bringing us her bottle and pacifier whenever she cried. She even held the baby for a short time, until she became very 18 month old-ish and decided she was done.

Maia spent the weekend very fussy. Actually, fussy doesn't even begin to describe her mood on Saturday. She has all the symptoms of reflux, except she doesn't spit up (thankfully). We are switching her formula and the type of bottles we use hoping that will help, but everything I've read says that there really isn't much you can do but wait it out.

She turned 4 weeks old this weekend, where did the time go? I'm so thankful I have 8 more weeks at home with her. I know a lot of women have to go back to work at 6 weeks, and I can't imagine having to go back next week! If I had more energy, I would turn this post into a rant for federally mandated paid maternity leave. The weather is finally getting better, so I plan on getting out of the house a lot this week, starting with a trip to Target today. Yay Target!

Be Mine!

Maia's first Valentine's Day

Sleeping on dad's shoulder

Happy belated Valentine's Day. It was a pretty quiet day in the Puckett household. We had planned on going out for dinner, but 11 inches of snow and sub zero wind chill put an end to that. So we had pizza and beer and stayed in.

I'm really looking forward to better weather. I am getting a little stir crazy cooped up all day, every day in the house with the baby. Looks like next week will be better, so I'm already making plans for getting out and about. My mom and dad gave us a membership to the Museum of Science and Industry, which is just a few blocks away, so I'm anxious to get over there.

Maia continues to do well. She is more alert during the day, and is starting to notice things such as the mobile above her swing. She loves looking at herself in a mirror, I hope we aren't raising a narcissist!

I'm too excited to sleep!

I'm too excited to sleep! Cubs pitchers and catchers report for spring training tomorrow in Mesa, Arizona. Baseball season is right around the corner! Not much longer will I have to pretend to care about the Bears, Bulls, or Blackhawks. Soon, the voices of Pat, Ron, Len, and Bob will soothe me to sleep like nothing else has. (I heard plenty of muffled baseball commentary during 2006, but nobody told me that I was to make my debut during the offseason!) And yet, I still can't wait! I ask that all donations be put towards airfare and tickets for my parents and I to beautiful HoHoKam Park, home of the most popular team in the Cactus League in 2006. We've picked up Soriano, Lilly, Marquis, DeRosa, Izturis, and a new rally baby (I think they mean me). This is our year!

10 Pounds!

Lots happening this week. Maia had her one month check up. She is 10 pounds, 7 ounces and is 56 cm, which is about 22 inches long. Everything looks good, she is in the upper percentile for height and weight, but still on the charts.

Gramma (grandma Ramsay) came up to visit this weekend. It was nice to have an extra set of hands. Makes me see why people have live in nannys. The highlight of the weekend was Maia smiling! Her face just lights up, and I think she has one little dimple. We were able to give Maia her first tub bath over the weekend. She liked it!

Maia also slept 6 hours last night, from 10:30 to 4:30. At least we think so, neither Andy nor I can remember waking up to feed her before 4:30. Let's hope this trend continues!

A Tale of Two Babies

Cousin Madeleine at 2 weeks.


Maia Lauren at 2 weeks.


So things are going well. Maia is a calm baby, she only freaks out when she is hungry. When she is really hungry, she screams, her whole head turns bright red, and she shakes her little fists. It's hilarious. Of course we only laugh for a second or two and then we feed the kid.

We have been very fortunate to receive a bunch of hand-me-downs from Maia's cousin Madeleine. Madeleine was born in October 2004, and was a little over 6 pounds at birth. That's her in the picture above at 2 weeks old. Notice how huge the sweater is, and the rolled legs of the overalls. Now look at our child- same age, same outfit. I think I better round up some receipts, I have a bunch of newborn clothes that I need to return!

So, welcome to Maia's Blog. We aren't sure how often we will update this, but we want to be able to share the minutiae of parenting Maia with our friends and family who are far away.

As most of you know, Maia Lauren Puckett was born on January 20. Weighing in at a hefty 8 pounds 12 ounces and 22 inches long, she was, in the words of every hospital employee who saw her, a "big girl." After a rocky few days involving trips in and out of the Neonatal ICU, we brought her home on Wednesday, January 24.

The time since then has flown by. Right now, we work in two hour blocks of time-feed the baby, burp the baby, change the baby, rock the baby, wait for the baby to wake up and then repeat.

So, stay tuned for updates. In the meantime, here are the highlights from the past two weeks. Hundreds of other pictures can be found at http://public.fotki.com/rlr244/maia-lauren-puckett