Simchat Bat: Rejoicing in a Daughter

On June 8th, Juniper was given a Simchat bat, or baby naming, by her Grammie and Papa Al. Over 50 Rohr friends came to witness and welcome Juniper with lots of Mazel Tovs and generous praise. We stood by the door, and allowed each person to have a moment with Juniper.  People commented on her eyes, "How blue! Where did those come from?" We listed the relatives with blue eyes, most notably my mother and Andy's Uncle Mike. 

People made lots of funny faces at Juni, pinched her cheeks, and kissed her toes. She watched them with big eyes, shoving her hand into her mouth, a sparkling chain of drool covering her arms and chest. A few women said knowingly, "She's teething!"

During the ceremony, Andy & I stood next to Rabbi Hart with Susie & Al. I held Juniper, who cried until I passed her to Daddy, and within minutes fell asleep. This impressed the crowd and murmurings of Andy's expert fatherly care and "Daddy's Little Girl" abounded. To each other, Andy & I giggled. He said "I wanted to tell everyone, she's never like this for me!" And then to Juniper, "Good performance, honey!" We were very pleased that she showed off her Daddy to those who have known him since birth. 

Susie and Al shared their heartfelt sentiments and welcomed their community to share in the joy of their new granddaughter. 

Rabbi Hart gave her a beautiful blessing, and sang a song: 

This is very good. 
This is very good.
Man woman and child! 
All things good. 

Everyone sang. 

Andy & I read a few prayers. 

Brian and Sarah, Andy's brother and sister-in-law, and Juniper's godparents, read to us. 

A commitment to Juniper Maya
By Brian Rohr, Uncle & God Parent
Written on behalf of myself and Aunt Sarah on the day of your baby naming

You are new to this world,
Finding rivers racing through the landscape of the heart,
Finding feet walking through the river and
A robin or a blue jay nearby, watching and maybe waiting?

A gift came forth,
Streams connecting out to join in the heartsongs of those who love.
And who are you, what will you love?  
What is the medicine you brought to the world to teach and celebrate?

I commit to you, beautiful one,
That I will watch you and learn who you are.
I will pay attention, even if I am far away.
You will know a place in my heart and I will stay aware.

I commit to you, deep soul,
That I will be there, in your life, 
making an effort that you will know me and I you.

That I will be present if you need me,
To care for, to share wisdom, to listen to, to love.

I share with you, dear Juniper Maya
The words that one who shares part of your name, the great Maya Angelou of blessed memory once wrote:

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”

And I commit to you through your life to celebrate both your butterfly and your great transformations and changes that will help create the beauty of you...

For you are a being – strong and powerful,
Having come into this world through the love and bodies
Of your parents - artists, writers, lovers and workers, 
Of bold and gentle and wise creators who 
Pray everyday for your safety and life

And I commit to offer my hands and heart
In respect, honor and celebration of the fullness of the life 
you have come here to live.

A whole world awaits you,
I stand before what is grown from love

And say yes to you who I have only just met.

And I shared the meaning of Juniper's name with everyone. Both her first name and her Hebrew name, Maya Chava.

One day in looking at Hebrew names (in anticipation of her naming), we came across the name Maya which means "brook" or "spring." As we looked into the name more carefully, we found that Maya has a great number of meanings across many faiths and cultures: Divine Goddess, mother of Buddha, power and wisdom, spirit, magic, sleep, and so on. We had a few middle names selected prior to this discovery and my last name thrown into the mix, making for an exhaustingly long name. I kept having the vision of Juniper struggling to write out all of her names, and later in life becoming frustrated by the lack of focus in our choice. One day, on my way home from work, I kept thinking "Juniper Maya Rohr" until suddenly I found myself crying. A sign I couldn't ignore. It was so beautiful and simple, so fitting. I ran home to Andy and a week before she arrived, we settled on her name. 

To complete her Hebrew name, we found that we both had a beloved relative with a name that began with C. My Great Aunt Claire and Andy’s Grandfather Charlie - and so in keeping their spirits alive as people who made us feel a sense of joy when we were children, we chose Chavah. 

From Chabad.org: 

"Chavah embodies both the essence of life itself and the creative ability to grant that life to others. The idea of “mother of all life” expresses not only the ability to physically give birth, but also to create, nourish, and enhance all facets of life. This is the ability of a mother - to take something from the state of potential, develop it, and bring it to actualization through her creative abilities." 

Good Morning!

She's ready to run.

Everyone says its all worth it once your baby smiles at you, and it is true. It definitely soothes the soul to see your baby happy. Juniper recognizes her parents now and gives many smiles, especially in the morning. Sometimes those smiles can quickly be followed by tears. I said to Andy the other day "I can see now that parenthood is spending your whole life trying to make this little person happy and often utterly failing." I suppose you come to accept the failures at a certain point, and wait until your children learn that you're only human too.

Juniper has learned recently to soothe herself by sucking on her own hand, which she now does emphatically. It is possible that she could even have begun teething, as she is turning into a drool factory. But there is no evidence of teeth yet. Regardless, it is nice to know that she has something other than the nipple to rely on.

When she's not eating or sleeping, which isn't very often, Juniper can now be engaged in play. Apparently, a part of growing a healthy young baby is tummy time, which some days feels like baby torture. In the beginning, all she did was push her legs and arms out and cry face down into the floor. "I feel ya kid. I hate exercise too." I'd muse. And sadly, we've had to rely on our caregivers to really push this activity. Seeing her struggle can be too heartbreaking and doesn't seem like playtime yet. Despite, she's really done an amazing job. Here is a super cute video of Grammie egging her on. Look at how well she holds her head up!

She's starting to understand her own movements in relationship to objects, like this stuffed bunny, which she's figured out how to push over so it laughs:

And you can really see the difference in how touch affects her. We play a rowdy game of "I've got your feet" every day, which makes her giggle. We're hoping she's not as ticklish as her Daddy, but so far touching her feet yields some nice smiles. And though the first few days of bathtime didn't go over so well, she's now in love with bathtime.

A cutiepie on the kitchen counter awaits her bath.

Finally, it seems that Juniper has gone from being a baby that likes to lay around to one that wants to be carried, upright and alert, sucking on her hand, taking in all the sights. She especially likes being around people, being outdoors, and looking out the window. Also, she loves to practice standing. She's a very active baby. At just over 10 pounds, we're both exhausted already! Just wait until she can swing from us like trees.

Juniper suckin' on her paw.