Blossom Clover Gives Way to Our Beautiful Light

The Vaughns and their camouflaged bundle of joy.

I thought it would be difficult to let go of Blossom Clover when the time came to embrace the name chosen by the parents of our darling baby girl. I think they did well in their selection. Meet Bella Ciana (pronounced "Chee-ana"), a fitting name that means Beautiful Light!

Baby Bella, 3 days old.

I love it! We call her Bella. I do wonder, however, if on some subliminal level the name choice was influenced a bit by Blossom Clover....initials "B.C" remain the same! That's great....I won't have to sell the monogrammed baby gifts on Craigslist! ;)
Sweet Bella came home to Orchard Scotts Residences this Friday morning with her entourage of Mama, Daddy and big sister Sofie. They spent the required extra night at the hospital together while Bella basked in the glow of ultraviolet light to mitigate the slight jaundice she had from an above normal bilirubin blood count. This is not unusual for a preterm newborn. Otherwise, she has been and is perfect!

Cherished moment!

I got five minutes notice of the family's arrival here and scurried to meet them outside to assist with the baggage. Glad I remembered just in time to grab the camera! You only get one chance to preserve these special moments for all time! After a photo session in our apartment, Sofie wrote and performed a special welcome song for her baby sister. I recorded it. Sofie asked my help to score the music, which was flattering since I have zero experience songwriting. Yeah, I know....I'm a poor representative of Music City USA.... Anyway, Sofie seemed to be pleased with it and that's all that matters.

Bella's song by Sofie with Mumu's score. 

I made good ol' American spaghetti for lunch and we'll have salmon fillets with baked potatoes and vegetables and salad for dinner. We're on our own for breakfast on the weekends, so we splurged and bought imported Oscar Meyer BACON to cook with eggs in the morning! Restaurants over here do not know how to cook bacon, so....I haven't had any to speak of in quite a while. This is really for Aron, not just me.

Bella awake and unswaddled with sister Sofie

While the entire Vaughn family was camping at Mt. Elizabeth Novena Hospital last night, I luxuriated in this rare evening off by enjoying a hot soak in the tub with a glass of wine listening to my favorite relaxation music. The tub is in the master suite, so this was a special treat. Now we will enjoy our family time together until Aron must jet off again Sunday back to Papua to finish up the school term. Since he will have taken his 5 days of leave for the birth, it likely means he won't be able to return to Singapore until the 25th. Oh well....
In the meantime, I look forward to many pleasant hours holding and gazing at our sweet Bella Ciana and playing with my best girl Sofie, of course, before I leave Singapore on the 27th. When Bella Ciana is old enough and if she desires, I will pay for lessons for her to learn to speak Italian! Ciao, Bella! Sofie will get dance lessons from Mumu. The future looks bright and I want to be around to watch these girls grow up.
Life is Good!

Two more weeks of this! Happy times....