Daddy-Dotter-Date

Seesters

Rosie Jo and Maile-- who knows what their relationship will morph into? At the moment, Rosie constantly wants to "pet" the baby, and when Maile is napping, Rosie wants to "check on the baby" about every 10 minutes, which means jumping on the bed and doing flips and then pretending to be asleep while Maile, champion sleeper, frowns and stretches her fists above her head. And I wonder if Maile is tuned into her sister already-- today when Rosie got the giggles, Maile broke into one of those enormous open-mouth-baby-gum grins, flashing her DIMPLES. Dimples, people.


One of these children is just pretending to be asleep. One guess.
Oooooh, stretch.
Many generous people have given us adorable new clothes for Maile. Rosie tried several of these new cute baby outfits on... with frustrating, tantrum-on-the-floor results.
Face stickers. Or "ake-up."




who says you can't have fun with newborns?

aw.

Flower Children

To satisfy everyone's curiosity, here's a bit more about Maile's name:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maile
Alyxia oliviformis, known as Maile (pronounced MY-lĕ) in Hawaiian, is a species of flowering plant in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, that is native to Hawaii. It grows as either a twining liana, scandent shrub, or small erect shrub, and is one of the few vines that are endemic to the islands. The specific name means "chain resembling olive" in Latin. The leaves are usually ternate, sometimes opposite, and can have both types on the same stem.^[2] Flowers are quite inconspicuous and have a sweet and light fragrance of honey. The bark of the vine is most fragrant and exudes a slightly sticky, milky sap when punctured which is characteristic of the Apocynaceae family. The entire a plant contains coumarin, a sweet-smelling compound that is also present in vanilla grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum), woodruff (Galium odoratum) and mullein (Verbascum spp.).^[3] Fruit are oval and dark purple when ripe. Maile is a morphologically variable plant and the Hawaiian names reflect this (see Ethnobotany section).


The other day we took Maile to her first pediatric appointment. When we were checking in, the receptionist asked baby's name. I said, "Maile." She wrote it down and asked, "And last name?" I said, "Stevenson." She looked at me-- "What?"
"Stevenson."
"How do you spell that?"
hehehe.

And just to be fair and balanced, here's a bit about Rosie Jo's full name, Roselani:
The Roselani is the damask rose, brought over by missionaries, and now celebrated as the flower of Maui.

Kilaki

Kilakila o Maui, Haleakala

Ua kapu Roselani nau hookahi.

Surmounting regal Maui, Haleakala

Reserved is roselani for you alone.

“Na Lei o Hawai‘i,” John Kelly, Jr., Folk Songs Hawai’i Sings, Japan 1963:17.

Aftermath

So the day baby Maile was born, we got to rest and relax at Claudia's for a while, and then celebrate with Aunties Katie and KJ...
The unfortunate thing was that Rosie, such a good sport through all of the sleeplessness and back and forth and drama, came down with a stomach bug to celebrate her sister's birth. Here she is with barf-bucket in her little tent. After Rosie had the bug, we thought we were in the clear, but then the adults all had to give it a try too. Yikes.


6 hours old and so so tiny...

We made pasta!




Auntie KJ took amazing photos...

Rosie was a very sweet and gentle Little Red Big Sister
And Kate and Rosie had a wonderful time drawing together-- look at this auntie-niecey LOVE fest.


Tuckered out after a long squawk.

Baby Maile up close

Cousin KJ is a real artist--here's some up close and snuffly pictures of baby Maile at 3 days old. I especially love the close-ups, because that's how I see my baby-- with my nose right in her fragrant little neck. It's amazing to me how deeply I love this little person who I couldn't even visualize 2 weeks ago. And, phew, good thing it's so much easier the 2nd time around-- all that new baby care stuff, like that alarming umbilical stump (fell off on day 5, thank heavens!) is so much less stressful this time.