De Lowe Down: August 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

Why Amichai Sasha?

Yesterday evening, our son was entered into the covenant of the Jewish people and officially given his name....Amichai Sasha De Lowe!

Here is an explanation of the meaning and intention of his name which we read at his Brit milah:

From Kohelet Rabba we learn:
“A person has three names:
one that we are called by our parents;
one that people know us by,
and one that we acquire for ourselves.”

Amichai Sasha De Lowe….today we give you your birth name, a responsibility that we did not take lightly and approached with much thought and reverence. We bestow it upon you with a sense of your family’s history as well as our hopes for you in the future. We look forward to witnessing your life as you continue to earn names of honor and deep meaning.

We will call you Amichai…
For as long as we can remember, long before you were a part of our lives, one name has always stood out in our minds. Amichai. My people live on. This beautiful name carries with it many levels of meaning—

The Israeli poet, Yehuda Amichai, from whom your name came into our minds so many years ago, wrote in the poem ‘What Kind of Person’:
'"What kind of a person are you," I heard them say to me. I'm a person with a complex plumbing of the soul, sophisticated instruments of feeling and a system Of controlled memory…But with an old body from ancient times And with a God even older than my body. I'm a person for the surface of the earth.'

Your soul is complex, Amichai, filled with memories of our collective past and with the bright future ahead of you. Your name reflects that.

To us your name is about connection, both to the Jewish people as a whole and to our family. Your name says that our people are strengthened by your birth. It connects you to the history of our family name and to the people who lived that history. The De Lowe name carries so much within it—a long, proud and rich history that was also marked by hardship and loss. Your name is Amichai De Lowe, in honor both of our family members whom we lost in Germany and of those who lived on. We see in your name the fierce juxtaposition of loss and new life, of destroyed futures and persevering ones. With your name Amichai, we honor and remember those who came before us, while we also celebrate the future of our people through you.

We will call you Sasha…
In Slavic language, the name Sasha means 'helper and guardian of mankind', and we hope that you will embody this meaning of your name.
We call you Sasha in memory of your Great Grandmother Sylvia Winston. It is still unbelievable to us that you will never meet her, as her presence remains so strong in our family and in our lives. Sylvia was the life force of her family for 94 years. She lived life to its fullest until her very last days. She loved her family with all of her heart and with all of her might. She made it her business to know everything about everyone she came across, and she remembered every detail and every story that each person told her. To be in her presence was to be amazed. While she could drive us all crazy like no one else could, she could also touch our hearts like no one else could. Sylvia was strong. She was small in stature, but giant in heart and chutzpah. She had seemingly endless room in her heart for love. She would have loved to have known you. Grandma Sylvia always had to be the center of attention, so we know she is glowing right now with pride that you were named for her! We wish to bestow upon you her devotion to family, her commitment to human connection, her sense of humor, her ability to really know people, and her lust for life.

Lastly, your family name, De Lowe, links us to one another and to those who came before us. As we bring you into the covenant of the Jewish people today, so too do we bring you into the proud heritage and trajectory of the De Lowe family name. May you be fierce like a lion, a leader of our people, the joy of our family.

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Introducing....

AMICHAI SASHA DE LOWE!!

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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Baby De Lowe is here!!

We are so proud and joyful to announce the arrival of our son to this world.

Born peacefully at our home into the arms of his Ema.

August 23, 2012
7 lbs. 12 oz.
19.75 in. long

Mama, Ema and Baby De Lowe are healthy, relaxed and fully in love.

More details (yes, including a name!) and backtracked storytelling to come!

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Location:Butler St,,United States

Sunday, August 19, 2012

The Pregnancy Posse.

When I (Mel) was 15 years old, I met a girl named Ali. She and I were fast friends...almost inexplicable how close we became in such a short period of time. A couple of months into our friendship, someone asked us how long we had been friends. We paused, looked at each other for a moment, and then both exclaimed '8 years!'. It seemed more representative of our growing friendship than the measly two months that we had under our belt. Well, Ali and I have been friends for 15 years now, but this blog post is not really about her.

It's about Peyton and Liz. Their due date (which is now three days past) was five days before ours, and we met them in the hood.

We have been friends for 8 years now.

Shayna and Liz...39 weeks, 4 days...and 40 weeks, 2 days!

Sportin' those bellies...

Mel and Peyton sportin' their own set of bellies.

Belly Shakin Videos

Check out the third video for a special guest appearance.

Spiraling Downward...

We don't know what we are going to do when pregnancy ends and everybody stops coming to our home for all services! We are the most spoiled people on the planet. "What pediatrician?? You mean you would like US to walk the ten blocks down to YOU?" Unbelievable.

A private belly dancing class in our living room is the doozy though...as posh as posh can get. But boy was it fun to watch the belly move....and to inspire downward motion into labor.

Here are some fun pics of Shayna getting her groove on (she was AMAZING at it)...and some videos to follow...

A Little Encouragement on OUR end....

Our midwife told us at our last check-up that we are in the zone of 'optimal timing for birth'...sooooo...sounds like a good time to start various labor encouraging tricks that, if nothing else, also serve to pamper the body and soul :) What a great excuse for massages, good food, wine, and belly dancing classes!

Shayna started out on Friday (after our last pre-birth task was checked off the list---a thorough house cleaning!) with a labor-encouraging (literally geared toward that!) massage....this pic below was taken minutes after she left the massage room....life is good.

We left the spa and went out for dinner at an amazing restaurant near our place (comfort food!--another trick)...and Shayna enjoyed a glass of bubbly (full body relaxation!). The result was more contractions (Braxton Hicks---don't get too excited!) than she has ever had....and a good night sleep with no infant entering the scene :)

Stay tuned for videos and pics of our belly dancing adventure the following day....

Spicy Foods Make Labor Start?

G-ma and Nonno are such comrades to the cause. They figured if they went out and ate spicy pizza in California, it may get things going over here in Brooklyn!

Dreamin'...

In case anyone would like to know what our baby will look like...

Friday, August 17, 2012

A Bar Bathroom Doodle.

We have entered the waiting game. Freedom from the daily grind and any day could bring the event that will change our lives forever. There is no other time in life like these days we are living right now. Throughout life, we have events that we wait anxiously for, but never an event that is so utterly life changing AND we have no idea when it is coming. The span of possibility is shortening, but still, will it begin an hour from now? Or two weeks?

So how do we use our time from now until then?

Some twiddle their thumbs. Others pace the room.

We go out to bars. Pretty much every night. Our days are filled with fun activities (lots of walks, watching movies, final details to prepare our apartment, etc)....and our nights, well...good food and a chill bar scene seems to be the staple. Now, don't get the wrong idea. Though we do firmly believe that a glass of wine in these weeks of waiting is great for Shayna and the baby to get movin', Shayna is not dancing on the bar these days. Just a chill space for us to revel in these moments before the arrival of our love.

But with that said, though we can pretend that each of these nights are just regular nights of summer relaxation...our baby is on our mind. So when I (Mel) went to the bathroom of the bar the other night and saw writing all over its wood walls, it was clear that our state of being at that moment needed to be documented for all time. Who knows? Maybe we'll bring lil De Lowe there in the coming weeks and take another picture? :)