Katz 'couldn't be happier' about arrival of Kiera
Winnipeg Free Press
Friday April 1 2005
MAYOR Sam Katz and his wife, Baillie, are the proud parents of a baby girl named Kiera, born yesterday morning.
The healthy baby, whose full name is Kiera Olivia Maxwell Katz, arrived right on time and weighed six pounds and 11 ounces.
"I couldn't be happier," Katz beamed last night as he left the hospital to go home and spend the evening with his first child, Ava.
The three-year-old has already held her baby sister. "I could have died and gone to heaven just watching Ava hold Kiera," Katz said. "It was just precious."
Katz could not remember when he last slept, but said his wife of seven years is fine.
The baby was the first in at least 50 years, possibly even longer, born during a mayor's term in office. Katz said the name Maxwell comes from Baillie's grandfather, but the other names were just ones he and his wife liked. Kiera will get her Hebrew names later, the mayor said.
Staff in the mayor's office had been joking that the baby should be named Juno Katz in honour of the music awards show and festival now on in Winnipeg.
They also joked about Baillie's age. She is 38, but Katz agreed to reveal that detail with the proviso that she is "a damn hot 38."
Baillie winters in Arizona with Ava, but returned to Winnipeg before the birth.
The mayor said yesterday was fortunately a quiet day at city hall. Being a parent to young children while doing a demanding job is a matter of balance and an understanding wife, he said.
"Being the mayor is very important to me, but my family will always be number one -- that's just the way it is." Katz sets aside Sunday as family time, when his staff knows not to make any appointments.