Starlight arrives

If you are reading this then you no doubt have heard that we have been blessed with the arrival of another girl. The expression on Iris' face says it all. Viola Luce Rasera-Holden was born on Dec 15 at 4:42 pm at our home. She was 7 lbs 2 ounces and 20.25". The birth was an amazing experience and Alisa will tell that story tomorrow. We get asked about the name choice so here is the basic story.

Pronounced: (VEE-OH-LA  LOO-CHAY)

Viola is the heroine from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. (And I consulted my long time friend and Shakespeare scholar. The pronunciation we are using is less common but still correct) 

Viola is also a derivative of Violet… a purple flower (you know how we feel about purple flowers!) 

Luce means “light” in Italian. It is also a derivative of Louis , which is Alisa’s father’s name and Wally’s father’s middle name. 

SO in short, she is a “heroine of light.”

I am once again in awe at the miracle of birth, the strength of women, and especially Alisa. Seeing the birth of your 2nd child is no less miraculous than the 1st. The experience is definitely different but just as amazing. This week has been filled with wonderful moments:

• the obvious-seeing our 2nd child enter the world 
• discovering that our 2nd child is a girl 
• seeing the expression of wonder on Iris' face when she got to see Viola for the 1st time minutes after her birth 
• seeing Iris hold Viola for the 1st time 

Some of the more surreal moments: 

• Changing Viola's tiny diaper and then changing Iris' relatively huge one
• Having Iris help me open my birthday presents while Alisa looked on with Viola in her arms
• Having Iris hand me the diaper for Viola

 It's 12:25 PM Dec 22, 2012. Yesterday the world was supposed to end but instead Viola is 1 week old and I look forward to the most blessed Christmas ever.

Just like Iris, Viola has her own picture site and you can see it here. You will need to email me for the password if you didn't get it in email already.