Valentina Antonia Finci, the daughter of Asher Finci and Judith Hartjenstein, is the First Baby of Pacific Palisades 2013. She was born on January 2 at 10:06 a.m. at the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica. The baby, who greeted the Palisadian-Post reporter and photographer with sleepy eyes and hiccups at her home in the Marquez area, joins 3-year-old sister Antonella Sophia. The family has lived in the Palisades since 2008. Since Hartjenstein’s previous birth was an cesarean, mom was scheduled for the same procedure on January 2 by obstetrician Dr. Allyson Gonzalez. ‘She is excellent,’ said Hartjenstein about her doctor. She explained Gonzalez chose the date because it was the 39th week of gestation. ‘Everything turned out well,’ Gonzalez said. ‘There were no problems, she’s a cute little kid and she’ll have a wonderful prosperous life.’ ‘It was easier this time than the first time,’ said Hartjenstein, who came home on Saturday after a three-day hospital stay. ‘My daughter came to the hospital and wanted to stay with me, so we decided it would be just as easy to go home.’ The choice of children’s names requires a brief explanation. Hartjenstein grew up in Berlin, Germany and Finci in Sarajevo, Bosnia. The couple met in the San Francisco Bay area in 1999, when they were attending the College of Alameda, a community college. ‘It was love at first sight,’ Finci said. ‘But we didn’t know we would live happily ever after.’ Finci was accepted to UCLA that same year, and the couple was serious enough about each other that they moved to Santa Monica. They married in 2002. Hartjenstein received her master’s degree in Spanish and linguistics from Cal State Northridge and was hired to teach Spanish at Harvard-Westlake High School in 2002. Finci received a bachelor’s degree in economics from UCLA and works as an operation manager for Tennenbaum Capital Partners, an investment management firm in Santa Monica. He speaks English and Serbo-Croatian and she speaks English, Spanish and German. When it came time to name their first child, they had two requirements, it couldn’t be a common name, or a name associated with Germany, America or Bosnia. ‘I heard Antonella one time when I was in Italy, and I’ve loved it ever since,’ said Hartjenstein, explaining how they selected their eldest daughter’s name. When it came time to name the baby, the couple tried to think of a name that would complement Antonella, finally deciding on Valentina. The middle name came from their 3-year-old, who insisted the new baby should be named Antonia. With the exception of Asher’s brother, who lives in the Bay area, the remainder of the family is still overseas, which means the three-week leave that Finci has off to help with the newborn is important. He shuttles Antonella to preschool as well as performing tasks about the house. Hartjenstein is on maternity leave until September.
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