Time of birth: 12:49 p.m., July 22, 2005
Weight: 7 pounds, 5 ounces
Length: 19 inches
How to pronounce her name: Lay-el
Little Lael came into the world Friday without a hitch. Mom and baby are doing well, though the Empress will be in the hospital for a few more days recovering from her second C-section.
You’re probably wondering a bit about the name Lael. It’s kind of hard to explain the quirks of family, but our son, Seth, was named after his grandfather, Sam – we pick the same first letter of a deceased relative. Seth’s middle name Daniel was in honor of journalist Daniel Pearl, who was slain while my wife was pregnant. Pearl’s wife was pregnant at the same time.
So Lael is named after my dad, whose name was Leslie. A lot of our friends were guessing Leah, but the name never really caught on for us. Lael’s middle name Sophia has no special significance; we just like it and as my wife says, it gives our girl another option if she doesn’t like her very Hebrew name.
One strange note. It seems that the birth of a child in our household seems to break our air conditioner. When Seth was born during a sweltering week in June, we had to replace the heating unit a few days before he was born and the cooling unit a few days after. Yesterday – a concrete-wilting day in July – something in our NEW air conditioner failed. So here we’re waiting for the repairman as I write, because we don’t want mom and baby coming to a 96-degree bedroom. I just wish he’d hurry up and arrive. (Actually, Seth’s grandma has volunteered to stay and wait for the guy. Thanks grandma!)
Mazel tov.
Posted by: Jack | July 24, 2005 at 12:19 AM
Congratulations~she is gorgeous!
Now Anne will be able to go all girly and buy lots of pink things.
Mazel tov again( even though I don't know what that means :)
Posted by: Babac | July 24, 2005 at 02:00 AM
Congratulations- What a beautiful name.
Posted by: Helene | July 24, 2005 at 06:38 PM
Mazel Tov. What a beautiful little girl.
Posted by: Gooch | July 24, 2005 at 09:56 PM
Hooray! Gorgeous! And glad all went well. Congratulations!
Posted by: Julia | July 24, 2005 at 10:42 PM
Congratulations! I wondered if the baby had come yet and here she is! Welcome to the world, Lael!!!
Posted by: Anika | July 24, 2005 at 10:56 PM
YAY for the Empress and her newest subject *bow* *scrape* :)
Mazel Tov from me too, she's gorgeous.
Posted by: Kitty | July 25, 2005 at 05:32 AM
Congratulations!
Posted by: JJ | July 25, 2005 at 05:35 AM
Mazal Tov! Much Nachos to you and the family.
Lael is a hebrew name?
Posted by: psychotoddler | July 25, 2005 at 07:32 AM
Congratulations to you and the Plosh on your new arrival. A photo of you with Lael Sophia is hanging in our newsroom today -- your old friends (the few of us who remain in Hurricane Land) are keeping you in our thoughts.
Posted by: Bob King | July 25, 2005 at 10:20 AM
I'll pass all the kinds words on to Anne. She should be home sometime on Tuesday.
Bob: Good to hear from you again.
Pyscho: Yes, it's a Hebrew name.
Posted by: plosh | July 25, 2005 at 02:33 PM
Oh I see.
If you pronounce it Lah-el, it means "to Gd".
Many hebrew names get changed when anglicized. So, to take my kids for example:
Ya-a-kov is Jay-cob
Re-fo-el is Rah-fa-el
Ye-Ho-Shua is Jah-shua
Yo-ni-na is Yo-ni-na
Cool name. Mazel Tov.
Posted by: psychotoddler | July 26, 2005 at 06:52 AM
Congratulations to both Anne and Plosh on the little bundle of fun :) I love the name too!
Posted by: Elle | July 26, 2005 at 07:23 PM
Many congratulations!
How is your son adjusting?
Regarding air conditioners - the solution is to not have a baby in the summer. Of course, if you had a baby in the winter, the heater would probably break... :(
Posted by: Ontario Emperor | July 27, 2005 at 04:59 PM
Many thanks to all! I'm home and feeling fine and the baby's asleep (yaaayyy!!!). Check out some pics in our latest photo album, listed way at the bottom on the right.
Posted by: Anne | July 27, 2005 at 05:09 PM
Enjoyed the photo album.
How could you have such a winning smile before the birth?
P.S. Thank you for only including "before" and "after" pictures, not "during."
Enjoy your rest during the few seconds that you actually get any. :)
Posted by: Ontario Emperor | July 28, 2005 at 12:53 PM
!Felicitaciones from Nuevo Mexico! -- The Andersons P.S. Lael Sophia -- what a cool name.
Posted by: Neal Anderson | July 28, 2005 at 03:38 PM
Beached Orca Anne?! Pfffffffft.. i've never seen a whale smile that wide ;)
Posted by: Elle | July 28, 2005 at 03:42 PM
Thanks Neal. Maybe we can get our families together sometime in AZ soon.
Posted by: plosh | July 28, 2005 at 05:21 PM
Congratulations...beauty!
Posted by: Lizzie | July 29, 2005 at 07:55 PM
A very late congratulations! She's gorgeous! It's wonderful having a girl. How funny, my dad was Leslie too, so we ended up with Lucie, which was my mother's great grandmother's name as well and my sister's former middle name before she got married. Marc was his middle name so her middle name is Mae after my best friend's grandmother who was a very good friend to our family. I must say the Jewish tradition of naming your child after deceased relatives and honoring them that wasy is kinda nice.
Posted by: Anne-Marie | August 07, 2005 at 07:34 PM