Yes, it is what it seems.

Thank you Sara Metz!  Best. Hat. Ever.

Dear Noa Mayhem

From 1 Samuel 25:25 we learn: Ki'shmo ken hu--which we will translate liberally to mean "Like her name, so is she".

Noa Mayhem De Lowe….today we give you your birth name, a responsibility that we did not take lightly and approached with much thought.  We bestow it upon you with reverence to your family on both sides as well as our hope that 'like your name, so will you be'.   Your Hebrew name, Noa, means "movement or motion", and in Japanese, means "my love or affection".  Your middle name, given to you in honor of your great-grandmother, Dorothy May, is from the English word meaning "chaos or rowdiness".  With these names, we wish for you to be able to approach this world with love and affection, but also with spunk and the willingness to shake things up, fight for justice, and stand up for yourself and your beliefs. We wish for you a softness and a fierceness to your character, the strength to navigate the world in all of it's chaos and to redefine the meaning of mayhem as an active engagement in the world's ever evolving chaos, and our responsibility to work toward creating positive change to make the world better for all generations.  

We will call you Noa…

May you navigate this world actively and confidently, always in motion, with a balance of soft love and affection, and fierce spunk and commotion.  

We will call you Mayhem…

May you learn from your middle name an openness to redefine and adapt, to find your individuality and embrace it, and to be proud to create positive change in our world of chaos.  With this twist in definition, we hope you all always revel in the uniqueness of your family and self, and that you will find ways throughout your life to find the good in what at first glance may not be seen as so.

You are named in memory of your Great Grandmother Dorothy May Peavey, your Papa Tom's mother and Mama's grandmother.  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.   Your middle name is a reminder to us of Grandma Dot, both in that it is an eccentric variation of her own middle name, May, but also in terms of our chosen interpretation of the word 'mayhem'.  Although she did not think so of herself, Dot was a revolutionary of her time.  She raised four children within five years of each other, left a marriage that was not right for her, and lived with her female partner for 30 plus years.  She left  the east coast and everything she knew to pursue an alternative life, during the back-to-land movement in southern Missouri.  Always living close by, she was a loving and dedicated grandmother to Mama and Auntie LaLa, and she would have loved to have met you.  She was strong and tough, and was certainly willing to wreak havoc when necessary, to live her life honestly but without the need to protest or politicize.  She was who she was, with no apologies, during a time when this attitude was not popular, especially when expressed by women.  She saw a world of chaos, and she made change to create a more honest life for herself, and she did it all with a toughness and gusto, but with joy and affection as well.  We wish to bestow upon you her devotion to family, her commitment to pursuing her authentic self, her intellect, her adaptability and her strength of character.

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.  With your brother Amichai, may you be fierce like a lion, a leader of our people, the joy of our family.

Our Doula.

I believe in the importance and power of having a doula present during labor and birth.  So much of the experience of birth, especially home birth, is shaped by the personalities of those present.  The midwife was a given for us because we knew we would again be in the hands of the incredible Simone, who so expertly brought Amichai into this world.  She brought us all of the things we wanted in a home birth midwife-- knowledge, philosophy, skill  and faith. The doula's role, however, is to create an atmosphere of ease and calm, giving the birthing woman the experience she wants.

There were many qualities we were looking for when deciding who to have as our doula.  We wanted someone who would bring the right kind of calm energy. A person who would know instinctually what I would need, as well as what Melissa would need, often without a spoken word.  We wanted someone who would think on their feet and intuit what needed to be done in the moment, a person who could change and flow with the energy in the room.  We wanted someone with an eye for photography and the skill to catch moments even while doing other things.  We wanted someone strong and gentle, someone smart and spiritual.  A tall order, yes we know!

But this was an easy decision for us because it just so happened that we already knew this person, the one who could be all of these things.

We were so blessed to have our dearest friend, Ben, as our doula.  He was everything we imagined and more during my labor and birth, just as he is in the rest of our lives.  It was just perfect to have him there as baby girl came into the world, especially since Ben and his family will be such important parts of her life.  There are not words to adequately explain our gratitude.

Early labor Yahtzee is a must!

Doula hands

Sweet First Days: Getting to Know Eachother...

I am writing at the end of a glorious rainy day, cuddled in home as a family.  It is nasty outside, but there is only warmth and relaxation in our home.  We just ended the first 72 hours together, with lots of important visitors surrounding us, and plenty of time just the four of us as well.  After a good night of sleep last night (all four of us to varying degrees!), today felt heavenly.  All is good in the De Lowe home, and our children are changing drastically every day.  Amichai has grown up so much in these three days---his speaking and social skills (lots of kids visiting) just shot up in these days, and he has been such a sweetheart with his sister--so aware of her, so thoughtful and concerned.  It has been the most incredible thing to see.  And of course, baby girl changes by the hour...she looks different all the time, as her swelling goes down and she settles into life on the outside.  We are getting to know her too, and we flow with ease as a foursome.  It feels absolutely amazing thus far, even in our exhaustion and with much of Shayna's recovery still ahead of us.

Here are a pile o' pictures from the first three days...will add more later!

Boy Meets Girl...

We could not have asked for more out of day #1 as a family of four.  Check out Amichai's most heartwarming reaction when he first meets his sister!

Just after meeting her, Ami included his baby in his ritual of naming everyone in the room....the greatest of initiation ceremonies into the clan.

Baby Girl De Lowe has arrived!!

We are so happy to announce the arrival of our beautiful baby girl, born at home at 5:32pm on Friday, November 14th.  Baby girl came quickly, born in our bedroom, a chubster with a full head of hair.

Baby Girl De Lowe (name to be announce on the 8th day of life!)
8 lb 7 oz, 21.5 in

Our whole family of four are doing so well, and enjoying the first day of life together as a whole family.

Love to all.

NYC Marathon 2014

This year I (Shayna) got to really share my favorite day in NYC with Amichai.  Although he was a total crab (possibly due to the cold), I still loved sharing this wonderful, inspiring event with my son!

Ami and I were there at the start to cheer on the special needs marathoners and that is always so touching.  

Then we helped cheered on the masses as they ran by