Put me in coach, I'm ready to play

Only 4 more days 'till opening day!

Go Cubbies!

Becca got some great pictures in a recent photo shoot, and I couldn't help but share my favorites...

A Walk in the Park

The weather is nice! Of course this is Chicago so it will turn cold and snowy at least one more time before Spring really arrives. We took advantage of the nice weather to go on a walk-a-bout this weekend. Here's Maia's first picture by the lake!

More Proof that Most Babies Look Like Churchill

 

What's in a name? (Part 2)

Finally, the long-promised post about Maia's middle name. How did we decide on "Lauren"? It's an homage to both of her parents' maternal grandmothers: Elfa Laura Swann and Dorothy Ann Haxton.
Laura + Ann = Lauren.
Elfa (pronounced Elfie) lived with Andy and his family for almost 10 years after her husband John ("Jack") died, when Andy was about 10 months old. He never referred to Elfa as "Grandma Swann." As the story goes, when Andy was learning to talk he had two "moms." The first was his Mom. The second was Elfa, who his mom referred to as "Mom." Confused? So was he! At some point soon thereafter he solved the problem by inventing his own name for her: Monken. Don't ask me where this came from (aside from that it starts with "M") or how the spelling came to be, but it quickly caught on. Jeff even called her that, and neither he nor Andy feels right calling her "Grandma Swann" to this day. We thought about honoring her by passing the name "Monken" down to her daughter when she became a grandma, but in the end there could be only one Monken.

Dorothy also never went by "Grandma Haxton," but this was a conscious decision made by adults, not the ramblings of an infant. (The author can say this, as he was that rambling infant.) She came to be known as "Gammer," even by some folks outside the family, as an homage to Tolkein's Lord of the Rings. I'm not sure if it actually appears there, but it's at least an extension of Sam's affectionate name for his father, "the Gaffer." (Although Dorothy's husband was called Gramps instead of Gaffer.) Becca thought the world of her Gammer, and we were fortunate to be able to share the good news of Maia's impending arrival with her. Unfortunately they never got to meet, as the cancer she fought for so long took her from us in 2006.

So here's to Monken and Gammer! You were both one-of-a-kind. Please look after your great-granddaughter, and may you both rest in peace.



Andy and Monken in Nov 1978.


Gammer and her board in 2004.
 

2 Month Check-up

Maia had her two month check up this week. She weighs 12 pounds 11 oz, and is almost 24 inches. She is in the 95% for height, and the 50% for weight. She also received her first round of immunizations, which she took like a champ.

Other big news is that she is sleeping in her own room in the crib, instead of in a bassinet by our bed. She typically sleeps from 9pm-4am, is up for a snack, then back to sleep until 8am. She is starting to notice dangling things, and loves the mobile above her crib!

Highlights from our trip part 2

Highlights from our trip part 1

What's in a Name? (Part 1a)

Becca has reminded me that "Maya" had been a favorite name of hers for years, which is how it came up in our baby-name search. I wasn't a big fan of the "Y" spelling, but then I did some research and found the old greek spelling with the "I". At that point, I was hooked. So the astronomical connection was an afterthought, a bonus, an excuse both to hang a picture of the Pleiades in the her room and to never have to pay one of those bogus places to name a star after her.

(Astronomers don't use those names, there are multiple registries naming the same stars, and they're generally too faint for you to ever actually see your star, even with the help of a telescope. See here. However, if your local planetarium or science center is "selling stars" as a fundraising effort, that could be OK. End tirade.)

And now, for your amusement, a picture of our baby in a tiny bathtub:

Baptism!

This past week, we took our show on the road, first visiting Andy's parents in O'Fallon, Illinois and then visiting Becca's family in Fulton, MO. Maia did very well with all the driving. On Sunday, March 4, we had Maia baptized at my parent's parish. John Neudecker, her godfather, gave the homily and Becca's dad baptized her. Over the next few days, we will post the highlights from the week.