The Kansas City area’s Jewish community has its first baby of 2016.
Baby No. 1’s vital stats: Mara Elaine Jackson, born at 10:09 a.m. Jan. 2 — two weeks early — at Shawnee Mission Medical Center. She weighed in at a strapping 6 pounds, 12 ounces, with a professional record of 1-0.
Mara’s the first child of Overland Park residents Brandi and Willis Jackson, who met while attending Shawnee Mission South High School. They picked their daughter’s first name, in part, in honor of two of their grandparents, whose names started with “M.”
“We named her after my paternal grandpa, Marshall Eisen, and Willis’ paternal grandma, Monica Jackson,” Brandi said. “Willis’ grandma just passed away last month.”
Also — get ready, now — Mara is short for Maranello, Italy, Willis said. Maranello is the name of automaker Ferrari S.p.A.’s test track in that city, where the company is based.
“I liked it,” Brandi said of the name Mara. “It’s unique enough, but not so unique that people would say, ‘What?’”
Willis said his wife instructed him to find an “M” name in case the baby was a girl. The couple chose not to know the sex of the baby before Mara was born.
“If it was a boy, it was going to be Willis the fourth, because I’m Willis the third,” he said.
Brandi said that, before Mara’s birth, they’d called her “Bean” — “the Baby Bean.”
“She had this app that would tell you what the size of the baby was each week,” Willis said, “and one day she’s like, ‘It’s the size of a bean,’ and I was like, ‘Alright, why don’t you just call it Bean, then?’”
They chose Elaine for Mara’s middle name in honor of Brandi’s paternal grandmother, Estelle Eisen.
The Jacksons already have noticed some parallels between Mara and themselves, Brandi said.
“I was early as well, but she is him,” Brandi said. “She looks like him, and her personality is feisty like his. She wants it her way, and that’s all Willis.”
Mara has siblings of sorts — two miniature Schnauzers.
“I think they’re gonna like her,” Brandi said. “One of them is a little more skittish with noises, and the other one’s just gonna want to lick her. But they both liked her blanket that Willis’ mom took to them.”
Brandi is Jewish and Willis isn’t, though “I’m a big admirer,” he said. They aren’t members of a congregation, but they plan to raise Mara Jewish.
“We go to all the High Holidays and family traditions and celebrations,” she said.
The Jacksons got married on Dec. 15, 2006, at Club 1000 in downtown Kansas City. Rabbi Neal Schuster performed the ceremony.
“He was just so personable,” Brandi said of Rabbi Schuster. “Because Willis isn’t Jewish, we had to find a rabbi who would (perform the ceremony). Willis and I took classes in Judaism together, and we took classes together in marriage counseling.”
Brandi and Willis both received undergraduate degrees from Kansas State University. Her degree was in education, and she teaches second grade at Rising Star Elementary School in the Shawnee Mission School District. She also received a master’s in education from Baker University. Willis’ degree was in electrical engineering, and he runs his own project-management consulting company, called Dev Copilot. His clients are software start-up companies.
The Jacksons also received plenty of education to prepare for Mara’s birth.
“She was really prepared,” Willis said. “She did five days a week of cardio at the gym for way more than halfway through the pregnancy.”
Brandi and Willis took parenting classes, and Brandi has been a nanny and babysitter since she was 12. They used the services of a doula named Stefanie Olson, whom they both praised.
“She’s done it 400 times,” Brandi said.
That moment — that magical moment — when Mara was born made its indelible impression on the Jacksons.
“I was really overcome when she came out, because Brandi worked really hard to be able to have a natural birth,” Willis said.
The doctor held Mara up, “because she was a bean — I didn’t know what (sex) she was,” Brandi said. “She was amazing. Once I figured out she was a girl, my first thought was, ‘Oh, thank goodness we don’t have to figure out the circumcision stuff.’ ”
Mara and her parents received a free one-year subscription to The Chronicle and gifts from the following advertisers in honor of being the First Jewish Baby of 2016:
Baby’s name engraved on a plaque from Allen Glass
Engraved crown ring from Brookside Jewelry BKS
Coupon from Burger Fi
“It’s a Girl” cigars from Cigar and Tabac, Ltd.
$25 gift certificate from Cosentino’s Price Chopper
Bouquet from Craig Sole Designs
A new pair of sunglasses from Eyestyle Optics
$25 gift certificate from Gates Bar-B-Q
Challah from Great Harvest Bread Co.
$500 gift certificate toward kindergarten tuition at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy
Two tickets to any one show of the Johnson County Community College Performing Arts Series 2016
One night’s stay plus breakfast at the Residence Inn in Overland Park
25 gift certificate from Rileys Phillips 66
$25 gift certificate from the Tasteful Olive
$25 gift card from Urban Table
