Updated Winter/2012
Our daughter Aliza was born on a Monday morning, in January of 2003. We went in to the hospital to be induced at about 6:30 a.m. and by 9:30, we were parents. I had told our next door neighbor, who was outside with her dog at that wee hour of the morning as we were leaving, that I was going to kid my doctor that I wanted to be all done with this birthing business by noon. God must have decided that sounded like a good plan. I knew nothing about her arrival in this world because I was unconscious during the c-section, and due to the emergency situation of it all, Mark had to wait out in the hallway and pace as if he were becoming a father in 1954. But he and my mom got to see her within a few minutes of her birth, witness her first bath, and hold her in the nursery.
Anyway, she was born, and while I was still unconscious and couldn't put my 2 cents in, her daddy named her Aliza Jewel (I'm just kidding-- we had decided on that name for a girl, weeks beforehand). She was named, bathed and 3 hours old by the first time I saw her. I remember her wide, bluish gray eyes looking up at me so curiously, and her little rosebud mouth so pouty and cute, and I knew immediately she and I would understand each other.
I think most babies either look surprised, confused, or angry during their first few weeks. Entry into this world must bring on extreme emotions.
Aliza was one infant who constantly had a look of surprised glee on her face.
True to her name, which is Hebrew for "joyful", she was a happy, bubbly, social little girl. She was smiling at us at 6 weeks, and sleeping through the night at 2 months, and this was of course due to our skillful, brilliant parenting. We just knew we had done something right with this girl.
I remember at her 1-year well baby check up, Aliza was playing peek-a-boo with me. She was holding a blanket up over her face, then lowering it and saying "pee-boo!" She had a 75 word vocabulary by 18 months of age; I know because I wrote them down and saved it in her baby book. By age 2 she and I were having conversations. Verbally she has always been ahead of the curve, and developmentally she was right on track in every area.
When she was about 20 months old and we told her she was going to have two baby brothers, she said very matter-of-factly, "one, two." That was fine with her, she understood what two was, and at 20 months old she was far too busy to talk to us about it any more than that.
She was so wonderful, we decided we had to have another one just like her. You can read how that worked out on the next tab.
Aliza was one infant who constantly had a look of surprised glee on her face.
True to her name, which is Hebrew for "joyful", she was a happy, bubbly, social little girl. She was smiling at us at 6 weeks, and sleeping through the night at 2 months, and this was of course due to our skillful, brilliant parenting. We just knew we had done something right with this girl.
I remember at her 1-year well baby check up, Aliza was playing peek-a-boo with me. She was holding a blanket up over her face, then lowering it and saying "pee-boo!" She had a 75 word vocabulary by 18 months of age; I know because I wrote them down and saved it in her baby book. By age 2 she and I were having conversations. Verbally she has always been ahead of the curve, and developmentally she was right on track in every area.
She was so wonderful, we decided we had to have another one just like her. You can read how that worked out on the next tab.
Today she is 9, going on about 14, an avid dancer and basketball player, and addicted to her new iPod Touch. She is a wonderful big sister to her special needs brothers. She is more caring and empathetic than a lot of kids her age. I'm so grateful to have her, and I struggle constantly not to spoil her. She is such a blessing!
