This week's minor developments

As Kristiana noted earlier, we formerly called our daughter "floppy girl" since she was so completely loose she could almost drip through any small crack between the arms holding her. But that's really changed in the last week or so. She now very intently holds up her head to see what's around her, and she's starting to try to crawl though she's not quite strong enough yet.

We have finally received all the documentation we needed to apply for Chiara's passport, and yesterday we shot the pictures and then ran over to the post office to put in the application. Shooting the pictures was a project in itself, since babies have to conform to the same photo guidelines as everyone else, which basically meant laying her down on a white surface and trying to snap a picture where she's a) facing forward instead of looking to one side or another, b) not flailing her arms or pumping a fist at the camera, c) wearing a suitably mild-mannered expression, and d) wearing head and body at reasonably non-twisty angles in relationship to each other. It's a real trial-and-error process, mostly error, so thank goodness for digital.

The Chiara FAQ, by Kristiana

Posted to Kristiana's mailing list yesterday, and now reproduced here.

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Since we get a lot of the same questions from friends and family, we thought we'd prepare the Frequently Asked Questions About Chiara.

Q: So how old is Chiara now?

A: She was four weeks old on Friday, July 11th!

Q: How is she doing?

A: She's doing great! Her height (currently 22.5") is in the 93rd percentile of girls, and her weight (9lbs 3oz) is in the 50s. She is starting to hold up her head when she's on her tummy, and she almost turned over on the doctor's exam table Friday (much to the surprise of the doctor, who said she was very strong -- and that normally she wouldn't be able to do that for weeks)!

Q: How, exactly, is your daughter's name pronounced, exactly?

A: Here, then, is the proper pronunciation of Chiara Alexeika:

Key-AH-rah Alex-SAYkah

Q: How did you choose that name, anyway?

A: Here's a brief synopsis.

First, many of our opinions about our daughter were formed during the pregnancy. These impressions included "essentially good-natured" as my pregnancy was a *relatively* easy one; "determined" and "stubborn" as she would not permit me to lie on either side since about 27 weeks (she would kick me repeatedly until I moved to my back); "her own piper" since she was a week late; you get the picture.

In addition, since "Robin" would be taking my last name, rather than Michael's, we wished to include a family-inspired name from Michael's side.

Since both Michael and I read a lot, we had a number of female character names that we had liked for some time. As more personality traits arose, we started winnowing down the options. Going into labor, we had six possible names. By Friday evening after a full day with our daughter, we were both pretty sure who she was.

The name Chiara has roots both Italian and Celtic, though it was the Italian that actually inspired us. When we were in Venice in September 2006, I ran out of books, but managed to find potentially the only bookseller in Venice who carried English-language novels! Two books I chose because they were murder mysteries set in Venice, which we ended up loving because they were so fabulously written. Chaira is the precocious daughter of the detective-inspector Brunetti (the hero of the series), and if you were to read some of these books, I think you'll guess why we chose the name. In brief, she is thoughtful and studious, but also very strong-willed and opinionated.

Alexeika, her middle name, is inspired by another character. This one worked for us because there are already a number of Alex and Alexandra names in Michael's family, and we wanted her to be unique, while still paying tribute to her family. Michael's grandmother Josie was one who had the opinion that children should have family names, and we wanted to be sure to honor that, albeit in our own fashion! Also, I thought at the hospital that she might actually turn out to be a "Lexie," so we gave her a middle name that would allow for that!

Q: So what are you calling her?

A: She's introduced to people as Chiara. What we're *actually* calling her these days doesn't tend to match what's on her birth certificate -- "beautiful girl," "squirmy girl," and "hiccoughy girl" are the most frequent names she's called. She used to be "floppy girl" but she's a bit less floppy these days.

Q: The all-important question -- how is she sleeping, and how are you sleeping?

A: Mom and Dad are pretty tired, but we're coping. Chiara sleeps a lot (she's a good sleeper). We've been relatively fortunate -- she generally sleeps four or five hours at a stretch during the night, and sometimes a couple of hours at a time during the day. But not right now. Right now, she's determined to be amused by her daddy, who is trying his best to meet the challenge.

Q: You've probably been pretty inundated with visitors. Who's been to see her?

A: Her first visitors in the hospital were Michael's parents and his sister. Since then, the Mazour grandparents have visited several times, Kristiana's mom has spent a couple of days here, and over the fourth of July weekend we had Kristiana's father and stepmother, Michael's sister, Cousin Alexandra, neighbors and work friends, etc. Chiara has also been to visit Apple a couple of times.

Q: I sent you something. Did you get it?

A: Yes we did! Thank you thank you thank you so much for thinking of us! We're so sorry that we have been so bad at sending out acknowledgements and thank-you notes. We plead for forgiveness, as much of the time we have trouble getting out from under our daughter, but we're going to catch up, we promise.

Q: So where can I find more pictures of Chiara?

A: You will find almost-daily photo updates at m-and-k.smugmug.com. Here's one of my my favorites, albeit one that's slightly blurry.