Miriam Davida

Mallory's baby naming was yesterday. We decided to keep it small by just having family and while I would have liked to have had something with all of our friends, it made it easier to just keep it low key. We did it at the synagogue and then just had brunch with the bat mitzvah girls and other events that were there that day. It turned out really well. There was a waiting room for us to stay in until it was time for our "aliyah" up on the bimah. Max was so good and went up with us when it was time. Mallory slept through the whole thing. When we got up there, someone was pointing to the torah as if we were supposed to read out of it. Mark and I were like um...we don't know how to read that. Mark was like Kim you do it. I was like I'm sure I know how to read out of the torah. Then we realized they were just pointing to have mark kiss it with his talis. haha. We did have to read the before and after torah portion prayers which we were not prepared for but we played it off pretty well. Its a good thing I have been to about 500 bat mitzvahs in my day so I know those...I just didn't know I would be singing them in front of the congregation on that day. Afterwards Mark was like I think I did get an email saying that we should be prepared for those. Thanks for telling me! So then we said a little something about whoe Mallory is named after. Here it is:

We feel very blessed today as our daughter Mallory Dylan gets her Hebrew name. We did not know if we were having a girl or a boy until Mallory was born and we were shocked and thrilled to have a little girl in our family of 4. At 3 and a half months old, Mallory is such an easy going baby. She doesn’t even mind when her big brother Max jumps all over her and wakes her up. We are so excited to watch them grow up together. Mallory’s Hebrew name is Miriam Davida.

Mallory is named after her great-grandmother, Miriam “Butsie” Settler who passed away last October at 93 years old. My grandmother truly was great. She was a loving and adoring figure in my life, whether it was going to Orioles games with me where one time we caught a foul ball or filling up my refrigerator with bagels and turkey sandwiches on my 5th floor apartment at The Imperial, just one floor above her apartment. One of her greatest qualities was her ability to be adaptable to all situations, something we’ve seen that Mallory already possesses with Max still grasping most of the spotlight.

Mallory is also named for my grandfather David Hyatt who passed away in 2001. He was born and raised in Baltimore and had a passion for sports, playing basketball throughout his childhood and for the University of Baltimore college team. After serving in World War II, he founded a men’s clothing store in Baltimore, which is still a family run business today. Despite having several health conditions, he had a very active social life along with my grandmother as active members of their country club and other social groups. My grandfather also stood on this same bimah at Beth El for my baby naming 30 years ago. We hope that Mallory inherits his charm, his integrity and his loving nature toward family and friends.


After that, the rabbi said a little something to us and handed us a certificate with Mallory's name on it and that was it. We had to wait in the waiting room through the whole long service until it was time for lunch. Mallory stayed asleep the whole time and Max was so tired that he fell asleep on my lap during lunch which of course ruined his napping schedule for the rest of hte day! All in all it was a great day and Mallory is officially named. Unfortunately, you aren't supposed to take pictures in a synagogue on Shabbat but we were able to sneak a few before and after the service.