Less than Twelve Parsecs

Mara has recently been doing some silly things. Here is the evidence: Mara requests a photo of the owl she has in her hands and "smiles" at the camera. Mara eats flour while we make pancakes. Mara puts a large green sticky bubble on her body and announces: "G'een d'ess on Mara!". Mara has eight socks on her right hand. Mara looks at Greg with two carrots in her mouth. Mara puts a stamp on her eye. Mara has multiple socks in her mouth. Mara puts leaf stickers on her cheeks. She had also put two of these leaves together and declared "Mara made g'asses!" but we didn't capture the evidence in time. Mara passes out in bed with a well-diapered frog after having a few drinks.

Gaius David Tener was born on May 16 2015 at 10:07am, measuring 8lbs 2oz and 20in. Mara and Daddy were alongside Mommy the entire time, helping out. Everything went way better than expected, we had a quickly progressing labor and got to the hospital 17 minutes before Gaius came into the world. Here's a short timeline: T-18h:  The pool is finally ready to use, so Elena gets enthusiastic and swims happily for 40 minutes. She is done with the "must-happen" chores before baby #2, and the next two weeks are planned for mommy relaxation time. T-11h (near midnight): Grandma Buny from Romania texts that she dreamed baby was coming. T-8h (1:48am):  The water breaks, but no contractions, everything is calm and peaceful. Elena calls the midwife, Maria , who says to relax and try to rest, labor should start within 6-8 hours; she texts our doula Tara  to let her know. She gently wakes Greg up to tell him the news; he groggily smiles and tries to go back to sleep. Two minutes