Redheads Have the Most Fun!

Last weekend, at my grandparents’ beach house, there was a remarkable observation at one point by my uncle Jon….over fifty percent of the cottage’s visitors/inhabitants were redheads—for two days straight! It was really nice to be in such great, bright, gingery company! The first day, my Mom had a photo shoot, and this whole red-headed family came. Mom’s friend Colin, who is an adorable redhead, wanted a picture for his parents’ 40th anniversary, and he brought along his wife, Erin and his gingery siblings (who were really funny and all very talented in many ways). That day, the redhead contingency at the house totaled NINE (that is counting the “strawberries”) as opposed to the five non-reds. The next day, Uncle Sam’s red-haired friend came to visit, and while we played at the beach, we observed that out of the ten of us there, six of us were red-headed. I think that all the redheads in Connecticut were at our beach house this weekend!

In Support of Mothers

My Aunt Simone’s other, cooler best friend (besides my Mom ;) is this really smart, fun lass named Shel Lyons. Shel graduated from Harvard Law School, is a world traveler, and according to my Mom, is a very upbeat, adventurous, informative, inquisitive spirit. She became a mother in the last year also, and has devoted much energy to exploring birth, motherhood, mothers’ and babies’ health, working moms, and parents’ rights; in fact, she recently started her own non-profit, Mothers' Rights Network (Trish, you two should meet). She and her little baby Calla (named after a flower like me!) both have blogs (Calla’s blog is the same template as mine in fact) and instead of just posting pictures and more pictures, Shel (and Calla) use their blogs to discuss very important topics concerning motherhood/babyhood.

Most of you who know my Mom, know that she is a firm proponent of breastfeeding. My Mom says that breast milk is the most precious gift we women can give our babies, and she considers me good proof of this. I have been breastfed for my whole little life, and in my entire fourteen months, I have had only two or three low fevers (two of them attributed to the cutting of my two teeth) and three very short-lived runny noses (which also coincided with teething). Perhaps we have just been very, very lucky, but my Mom feels that the super-teacher antibodies she gave to me through her breast milk really helped fend off much of the sicknesses that came my way.


My Mom feels lucky because her own mother was a strong proponent of breastfeeding. In fact, back in the late seventies, my Gram felt pressured to stop nursing, and regrets stopping when she did—at nine months. At ten months, her baby (my Mom)contracted a very dangerous bacterial infection called Spinal Meningitis, and my Gram always felt that it could have been avoided if she hadn’t stopped nursing. Now, this is a very extreme story, but it is part of the reason my Mom feels so strongly. One thing is certain; the benefits of breastfeeding are abundant—for both babies and their moms.

Of course, I don’t want to make breastfeeding sound easy. It isn’t—it is hard at first, for both mothers and us babies to learn! It hurt my mom a lot at first, but it was very important for her so she got through the hard part. Once that goes away, it is so easy! Instead of getting up to prepare and warm a bottle in the middle of the night, all you have to do is pick up your baby and cuddle close with him/her for a little while. Also, for working moms, breastfeeding can sometimes be out of reach; not all mothers are as lucky as mine, having two careers--one that she could do at home while caring for me. This is another avenue that Shel, a working Mom, explores through her research.

Now, breastfeeding is only one of the multitude of topics of Shel covers; it just happens to be one about which my mom is particularly passionate. Please check out both Calla's and Shel's blogs for a host of other topics on mothers, babies, and their health. Shel is a witty, colorful author, but more importantly, she has strong opinions, positive insight, information, and support to offer other moms. Whether or not you are a Mom (or Dad), and whether or not you agree with all of her beliefs, you will find her work interesting, informative, and hopefully, insightful!

Trip to Vermont, Number Five!

Last weekend, we took another trip to one of our favorite places to visit, the “’cation house” (coined by Theo) in Vermont. My Uncle Howard’s boss owns this huge, beautiful house near Stowe, and he is really awesome to let Howard use it a few times a year (and Uncle Howard is really awesome to take us along—and especially, to let my parents bring me and Ivy!) On this trip, I was the only person under twenty-eight, so I got lots of love and attention from all the adults. We had a fancy dinner at the Von Trapp Family Lodge (Howard and my Mom inevitably performed a medley from “Sound of Music;” they’re all about the showtunes) and I was so well-behaved. Both the pianist and harpist played lullabies for me when I stopped by to listen. Mom took lots of pictures of course. She dressed me up as a purple fairy because she loved the lush green ferns at the edge of the property. She also took photos of Rik and Dee (whose wedding she is going to photograph in the Dominican Republic in January)and Uncle Howard. The adults had a ton of fun on the trip, and stayed up until almost 4 a.m. both nights (I disapproved, but was too sleepy to object). Thanks for another fun weekend up north, Uncle Howard!

Proud to be Red(headed)!

I know that sometimes people poke fun at redheads, but my parents think it’s pretty special. Mom and Dad both have brown hair and brown eyes, so they were pretty surprised to produce orange-haired, blue-eyed me! Luckily, I am in good company; I look like my awesome Uncle Sam and Uncle Jon! My uncles hated having red hair when they were little because strangers were always coming up to them and touching their hair and saying how cute it was. My Mom, however, didn’t get much attention, so her Dad, my Beepie used to say, “Brownheads are people too.” I do get a lot of attention, but I don’t mind—at least, not yet!




Out of my Mom and Dad’s seven brothers, three of them are red-heads, but I am the first red-headed girl in both families since my Great Grandma Dete--who they say was a fair, auburn-haired beauty! My mom has done a little research on redheads, and she found out some interesting facts. We are very rare; we redheads make up less than one percent of the world population, and not much over two percent of the U.S. population….One study my Mom read said that redheads may have a higher pain threshold than non-reads—weird, but cool! We get sunburns easily (my Mom is crazy about protecting me from the sun!), but we often come with cute freckles….And we glisten really bright in the sun! Unfortunately, we often have a high incidence of teasing (being called “gingers,” “freckle-faces,” “carrot tops,” etc.). My mom says not to worry if I am called those things, and that I should be proud of my orange hair!

More Me!

My mom’s had a request to have more photos of me on my blog. Can you believe it—my blog, and folks have to request photos of me? I told her she’s better get on top of this at once….So here I am, all twenty-(one, two?) pounds of me, fluffy red hair, chunky thighs and all.

Point O' Woods

I love my beach house. My Gram and Beepie got it for me, Samuel and Caleb last fall, and we go there a lot in the summer and hang out together. The house is really tiny, but we don’t care because there are so many fun things to do there. When we’re at the beach, we have so much fun; we go swimming and crabbing and out for ice cream and to the Childrens’ Museum and for walks along the boardwalk and bike rides (Uncle Jon has this cool car that attaches to his bike and Samuel and I ride in it) and play in the sand and go out in Beepie’s boat and go out for dinner at Skippers and explore Beepie’s Secret Garden and go to the playground and stay up all through nap time playing and giggling—it’s too fun there to sleep! Mom does a lot of photo shoots while we’re there, but there are always so many people there who love me and take care of me, so I don’t mind. It’s one of my favorite places to be!

Playgroup pool party

It had been a very long time since my Mom had time to let me have playgroup. But she finally came through and we decided to host a little playgroup pool party--because it was so hot! It was really exciting because everybody was there--even our newest tiny member, Niko! It made me remember the day I attended my very first playgroup when I was only three weeks old and still wearing my preemie clothes. Look how far we've come...Julie and I aren't the babies anymore--we're part of the "big kids!"