More pics from the Levine Whirlwind baby tour

This post is an addendum to Mrs. Carlye Levine's, previous post on her blog. Since I don't know how to upload pics to Snapfish or some other venue this is just a snippet of the 24 pics I got developed this afternoon.

Aunt Carlye and Uncle Sam holding Yael in her oversized blanket.
Eventually she'll grow into the adorable monkey suit outfit you got for her and we'll post pics of that when she wears it.



Aunt Carlye holding my loveable little camera hog Jonathan.


Barb can handle and hold even the smallest of babies and here's the proof - We're so proud that you could hold Yael at a few days and Jonathan at a few months old. Thanks for being part of our celebrations.

And also thanks for getting the TMX Elmo. Hope you all enjoyed seeing him and his antics when you were here.

Horsie, Horsie!

We start them off early in the South.

My 2-1/2 year old son thouroughly enjoyed his Thanksgiving trip to Louisiana (Huge thanks to Perry and Marla for putting up with ALL of us for so long), including a trip to the horse races. Good thing they skipped the Casino.
I had to put my foot down and insist that we had to wait to take Yael there until she was at least 2 months old.

It was a first for Saba and Safta too. See the look of awe on their faces

Big horses running at breakneck speed topped with colorful jockeys - leads to an interesting action shot.
Go Horsie #3!

Abba helps Jonathan cheer them on - Go Horsie #3.


I don't think Horsie #3 was the big winner - or I'm sure I would've heard all about it by now.
Oh well, you win some, you lose some. But is sure looks like they had fun.

Hot dogs and peanuts and popcorn - oh my!

Our first real outing

Yael, Saba and Safta and I all went out for a few hours to my downtown office today. For me it was mostly to check on the status of things at the office and to pack up my stuff so that no other poor schlub had to do it for me, since we are moving to the taller building next door.



It was the first time Yosefa and Avi have seen skyscrapers up close and in person and I made sure they got a really good look. We drove around a bit near my building so they could get a sense of the concrete jungle where we live and work. I then took them to my building. I took them first to the 44th floor where they got a good look out of the "executive" conference room window. They were impressed (among other things) that they could see the Aquarium where they had gone over the weekend with Eran and Yoni. (see pic)


Then we went up to the 52nd floor so we could pack up my desk and work area, where we were summarily accosted by all the ladies - in order to see the newest Namer.

We came during lunchtime, on a short week when most of [the engineers in] my dept were out (except of course for those most diligent worker bees - including most of the friends I wanted to see anyway, and my immediate supervisor - good business sense for him to see both me and the babe at the office! I was hoping that we wouldn't cause too much commotion, but who was I kidding, boy was I wrong about that - almost everyone wanted to see us both and stopped by to give the proper praise to the Princess.





This sculpture in front of my building reminded Avi and Yosefa of another sculpture in front of one of our miserable old houses in Jersalem, "The Mifletzet" in Kiryat Yovel. Now that you mention it, I wonder if they had the same weird artistic influence. You be the judge

My prodigy

So here's the latest yummy Yael news.
Yael is officially her own person. Her last link to me (the remnants of the umbilical cord) fell off yesterday morning at the first diaper change.
She is making all the proper baby movements that "the books" tell you about - rooting, sticking out her tounge, mouthing "ohs" and getting wide-eyed at all the appropriate things.
She is also already lifting her heavy head some and making what could be construed as distinctive sounds other than cries - my little prodigy.
I can tell when she is focusing on things like the difference between our navy blue couch and the stark white wall behind it, or when she is studying my face and the silly expressions I am showing her in the middle of the night when no one else is awake.
Her fingers are still long and the nailbeds are even longer, but she has only managed to inflict minor injury on herself - is it too early to order her custom-made Raabs (that was for you Daddy)?
We have to protect her from her over-loving big brother who wants to hold her hand (better than her soft head) while she eats or sleeps or gets any attention whatsoever. He has only actually climbed into the bassinet once - while it was on the floor and she wasn't in it, but he tries to hold her hand in the mornings before I am totally awake and I am afraid she will be squished or something wihle my back is turned.

We have misplaced our digital camera at the moment and don't have the proper software loaded on the home computer to download the pictures anyway - so pictures will be forthcoming eventually.

Introducing...

Yael Netanella Namer

being held by her big brother Jonathan

New Arrival

We're so excited to welcome our new addition to the family on November 7, 2006.

You can see the first family photos on my sister-in-law Carlye's website here: http://gracefullysocial.blogspot.com/ and I'll find some others and post them later on this site

Here is the link to our daughter's very own webpage:
http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/babypage.asp?URLID=1S5J3V1R0I
password: Namer

She was ready to enter the world quite quickly when she finally decided to join us and we're happy she waited for the doctor to show up. She was a healthy 6 lbs 13.7 oz and 19 inches.
And NO we don't have an official name for her yet - but we will very soon - I hope!!!

The Namer in-laws from Israel have landed in New York and are currently on their way to Houston for the next few weeks - It's gonna be a full house around here!!!

I finally deliver the promised goods

So maybe it took awhile, but here are the promised pictures from the Fall Festival.
And again - comments on our cuteness are always appreciated!

Unfortunately, I only had a few pics left on my Fun Saver camera or I surely would have snapped some of him at the petting zoo and with the pregnant goat too...Oh well.

Childhood memories -

No one would know from this picture that a cute, blonde pre-teen girl helped Mr. Independent get up to the top

but he didn't need any help coming down - Cowabunga Dude!

Aunt Carol - Thanks for spotting so we didn't roll off the side! And for holding the cherry red snowcone which of course we ended up spilling all over your shirt later anyway

So, what do you call those bouncy things - a moon walk? ....
We were not so big on the bouncy thing as our plain jumping up and down on the ground still leaves a lot to be desired - coordination is just not quite there for those muscle groups yet, I guess, since running in circles can sometimes still prove to be a challenge.

How apropo though - this moon walker, bouncy thing was an orange striped tiger - our Namer family mascot :)


Here's Bubbe in the front by the eye of the tiger


And a very pregnant Mommy at the back by the tail - And how do you like our orange balloon sword to match?




And what would a day at the park be without a trip or two down the slide?

This one made Mommy cringe when we got to the bottom and the gap between the slide and the ground was way too big for Mr. J to navigate - and so he landed with a pretty hard thud on his diapered butt - great padding - not even a bump in the road for this rambuncious kid

Good thing Aunt Carol was there to dust Jonathan off though, since Mommy just couldn't get there fast enough or bend down to pick him up.

It sure didn't bother him much though, he was off to do it again and again and again and even knocked some bigger kid out of the way on the way down.

Kids
You just gotta love 'em and the crazy things they will do to make your heart leap out of your chest!

I'm so special!

CHECK THIS OUT!!!

HowManyOfMe.com

There is: 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Tzniut (modesty) - Take 2

There's no way I can recreate exactly what was eaten yesterday by the Halloween blogger monster, but here is a second attempt, somewhere along the same lines

So there are many side effects of being pregnant, some of which are less pleasant than others, but I'll leave that to your imagination...

One unexpected side effect for me has been the fact that I am just much more comfortable in skirts than pants. In fact the last few times I wore pants just made me realize just how much I like wearing skirts - despite the fact that my legs are not so pretty since they are constantly covered in some sort of bug bites and/or scratches that are at various stages of healing.

In one of my previous posts I mentioned the fat lady, front pleated jeans - and about how those were the most recent pants I wore - leaving a bad taste in my "mouth" about the way I looked. Also recently I wore my most favorite pair of pre-pregnancy work-trousers to work and just did the rubber-band waistband trick to accommodate my pregnant tummy. I forgot about the zipper part and totally busted it open. It didn't phase me one bit and I just threw out the pants without much ado or hullabaloo about it - my favorite pair mind you, and that's a big deal for someone who doesn't like shopping for clothes for myself too much.

In addition to the airy comfort of long modest skirts, I also like the shorter knee-length flirty ones. .{Somewhere in here would be where the part about my son playing peek-a-boo under my skirt should fit in, but because of that other side effect known as "pregnancy brain", I don't remember how the story fits in now a whole day later} I wore a flouncy knee-length skirt yesterday and it just made me happy to have a feminine ruffle right at my knee. Because I have never been comfortable with my legs, a mini-skirt is pretty much out of the question, but it was really fun to wear a short(er) skirt and feel good about it during the last part of this pregnancy.

Now I have to mention my disgust with my pregnancy hair. Some people love the fact that they have glowing and shiny hair during their pregnancy, but not me. It is not only a mousy shade of brown, but it is both stringy and frizzy at the same time and the population of stray greys is ever-growing, much to my dismay. A few months ago I went and chopped about 4 inches off hoping that it would improve the situation - it didn't, although I don't have split or dead ends to report. And I have changed both shampoo and condition at least 3 time snow, all to no avail. This pregnancy hair (and skin) almost makes me consider wearing a hat or maybe a wig just so I could remember what a good hair day feels like.

Now I am contemplating the customary or not so customary ritual dipping in the mikve before giving birth. Haven't done enough research, can't remember if I was for it or against it myself, and time is quickly running out.

My doctor's visit this afternoon went something like this --- "Where do you live? Meyerland? Good! That's pretty close to the hospital. If you lived any further away, I'd be sending you there right now. Friday I am in Clear Lake so if you don't have any contractions that are 10 minutes apart before then, give us a call on Monday and we'll go ahead and get this party started"
And that's because I told her I had Pitocin with my last delivery and ended up having to have an epidural and at this point I am walking around already further along than I ever was with him (they really, really had to induce me with him - I mean from nothing), so I'd kinda like nature to take it's course as much as possible at this point.
Now I'm going to get off this computer and call our family friend the OB/GYN who has been displaced from New Orleans and see how irrational I am being about waiting this out and what I should really expect at this point. She was surprised at how long they let me keep walking around with my high-risk pregnancy in Israel, let's see how she feels about the most lackadaisical pregnancy I ever heard of in comparison.
Goodnight!

Tzniut (Modesty)

AAGH - the HAlloween Blogger monster ate most of my post!!!
I will have to recreate it later - too tired right now :(

This is the only part that survived because I cut an pasted it and it was still on the clipboard
Maybe it was the day before that he went underneath my skirt and did the not-so-modest peek-a-boo thing that made me cringe. I guess he can get away with that for a little while longer, but it wasn't pleasant for the mommy.

Tales out of school

I just had to share this...
We go to pick up Jonathan from school this afternoon and I notice he's wearing a different shirt than the one I left him in this morning.

Usually during potty training, if there are accidents it involves changing the pants. So I thought it a little odd that he was in a different shirt, but didn't pay it much mind.

Now just as a coincidence, this morning Jonathan specifically brought a no-sleeve tank top (not appropriate fall weather wear, but I'm not going to argue with my 2 year old son when I'm trying to get him out the door) and put it in his cubby hole, along with his spiffy jeans jacket and Bugs Bunny baseball cap.

When we came to pick him up, that tank top is what he was wearing, despite the fact that there was another short sleeved shirt in there too. So I asked him why he had changed shirts and he replied, "Went pee-pee on it" and continued playing with the Play-Doh.

He has had accidents recently at nap-time, so I just assumed that his diaper leaked and that they changed his shirt for health reasons. Logical enough I assumed. But the afternoon teacher was looking a bit pensive and seemed to be trying to remember something.

She then remembered that the reason he changed shirts was because one of the other boys in the class was using the toilet and still learning to aim (we're all learning to use the potty together it seems.) Well he completely missed the mark and peed all over my son. What can you do but laugh. I wasn't horrified until I just typed it up, my initial reaction was that it is a hysterically funny story. I just couldn't contain myself and laughed out loud. The teacher was trying to be diplomatic about it and even left the individual's name out of the story, but kids will talk. Jonathan told me again loudly at dinner as he was wearing that spiffy jeans jacket over his sleveless tank top, that Jack (or maybe it was Zack, whatever) pee-peed on me. Gotta love em ;)

To UltraSound or not to Ultrasound

My doctor has been uncooperative about granting me another ultrasound since the one I had at 18 weeks.
Could it possibly be that I have been uncooperative myself?

I declined to do one of the "optional" blood tests to see if the baby would have a possibility of having Down's Syndrome (at least I think that's what it was all about), I got a little pre-occupied with my son in the hospital and pretty much forgot to do the Glucose tolerance test for 2 months or so and now I can't be bothered to know the results.
The 1st optional test was one that made Eran crazy last time waiting for the results and I just couldn't put him through all that again - even early on in the pregnancy. To alleviate his fears, I strongly suggested that I wanted to have the CMV screen done - which is not usually done here in the USA and the results were as they should be - my levels were whatever they needed to be so that this pregnancy had no potential of having THAT particular problem.

And since I think I can pretty much pin-point the day and time the baby "dropped" (3 weeks ago Friday about 11:00 AM after having a particularly uncomfortable morning at work - not being able to breathe or sit comfortably - and coincidentally the day I realized that those feet that I thought were trying to come out my nether regions were probably actually contractions) Then all of a sudden everything changed and I felt a whole lot better and could actually breathe again.

Also, being that at the first ultrasound everything looked good and the baby is apparently in the correct head-first position (the doctor can feel it) and there is no bleeding or unbilical cords poking out anywhere, there seems to be no medical reason for another ultrasound.

I just can't get over the fact that I had SO many with Jonathan (every week twice a week for awhile) and now I am going through a whole uneventful (thank G-d) pregnancy on just the one major one (and the one confirming there was a peanut with a heartbeat a few weeks in).

I did have slightly elevated blood pressure (160/90) this last visit but I blame it on the 3 pickle slices I ate with my ice cream at 3 AM the night before (typical cliche pregnant-woman-diet remarks are not funny!!!), not to mention the cup of instant Ramen noodles I had for lunch the same day as my appointment. And by the time I saw the doctor 15 minutes after the nurse had checked it, my BP had dropped down to 130/90 which is much more my level.

So it was a minor blip and we continue on our merry way - me bringing in a list of questions to the doctor's office because I have pregnancy brain (a lot) where this little angel takes over all my brain power and I lose my train of though mid-sentence or worse!

So the doctor's parting words after commenting that:
1. I shouldn't get a flu shot at this late stage because it has the potential of putting me through undue fatigue and she wouldn't want me tired if I did go into labor at this point
2. she expects a very busy week as she has a few patients who are all right around delivery - I'll comply and wait a few more weeks for all our guests to arrive thank you very much
3. I CAN work until the very end as far as she is concerned
4. I would surely know if my water HAD broken, even if it was a minor trickle that I attributed to my lovely intermittent, uncontrollable hot flashes
was 4. "see you next week, if not before."

Some sense of humor - this doc, but like she was recommended to me by a very pregnant (or rather just delivered) mother, I recommended her to someone else this week - Hope she has room for new patients cause I can really appreciate the fact that she takes the time to listen to all my inconsequential pregnancy fears even though she's heard them all a million times at least.

Surprise...You're Having a Baby...Shower, That Is

My female colleagues at work totally surprised me yesterday with a baby shower including balloons, a homemade cake and corsage (and gifts to boot) It was held in the conference room on the 52nd floor of my building (that's where my dept is located - we used to be on the 44th floor) And in the next few months the whole company is moving buildings and will all be located somewhere between the 55-58th floors. We're moving on up in the world!!!

There are some pics that someone took that I will post later when she gets them to me. Gotta get ready for the day now - more later

Fall Festival

Sunday we went to a Fall Festival thingy at Godwin Park.
What fun to be had!!!

This is a Polaroid of Jonathan that they took for us to make him a Kid ID safety kit or something like that with a DNA sample and fingerprints and the like.

Eran just loves this picture so I thought I would post it.
Comments are always appreciated.


There was free popcorn and cookies and soft drinks to be enjoyed by all alongside the pavillion basketball courts which were converted into a makeshift stage for the local elementary and junior high schools bands, jazz ensembles and the like to perform.

Also there were clowns making balloon animals next to the face painting.

And there were bouncy things - a tiger striped moonwalk (Jonathan's not too big on jumping yet) and an obstacle course thingy that was more suited for bigger kids but didn't stop my fearless wonder one bit. He just had a boost up to the top by one of the bigger kids and he had no problem sliding down.

And of course, lest I forget there was the petting zoo where I made Bubbe go in and chase after him. Not to mention the attraction of the slides and other outside climbing things that are there all the time. Aunt Carol was kind enough to chase after him on that one. He's not too big on the swings anymore though - he'd much rather run and be active on the other things.

We've taken Jonathan to that park on several other Sunday afternoons and he always loves it. Only once have I found something disgusting in the rocks that cover the entire playground.

I have some pictures, but I need to scan one (see above) and get the others developed first. Am on my way to do that now (still hasn't happened yet - three days later)... more later.

We live at the doctor's office

Once again I was proven wrong...

What a waste of time at the pulmonologist.
She didn't order an x-ray since we just had one 2 weeks ago, she glanced breifly through his x-ray record in the computer, asked how he was doing in general, listened to his back and chest, came to the conclusion that his current cough is a head cold or virus from daycare, didn't come down on his asthma medicine (which I keep forgetting to give him anyway) and just told me I should contact my pediatrician for a pediatric dose of the flu shot since they were out at the clinc. Then she told me I should get one too as pregnant women are in the highest risk category and get priority.

I still think she's great, but I am not sure I am completly satisfied with the fact that since she was in clinic during the time he was in the hospital (she was the one who had him admitted) we didn't see her or hear from her even once. This time our pediatrician didn't come to the hospital either, but he did call a few times to get a status report.

What is it about me and doctors. I don't seem to like the ones I choose to use, but I feel guilty about leaving them.

What will I do about the new baby? We'll need immunizations and well baby visits pretty soon after the arrival I'm sure. Guess that's just one more thing I'll deal with when we get there.



My doctors appointments are going well though. There is definitely some positive movement in the direction of the things considered. I can pinpoint the day and almost even the time that the baby dropped - about 2 weeks ago. The baby is in the correct position (head down) and the discharge is not bloody so there is little chance that the umbilical cord or placenta are in the way of the baby. Which basically means there is no medical reason for me to have another ultrasound - despite the fact that I ask for one every time I see her.

I forgot that we listen to the fetal heartbeat at every visit too - that to me is not as much of an indicator as an ultrasound that everything is as it should be.

This last appointment went really well - The doctor was REALLY far behind.
I was scheduled at 3:20 and didn't even get called back there until after 4:00. She offered to give me a little Pitocin and get this show on the road - she seems to think that the baby is just going to pop out easily and quickly (and I am beginning to think she may be right) but then she realized that we're barely at 36 weeks and thought that maybe we should let those lungs mature just a little bit longer. I'm all for that!!!

I also asked her what happens if she personally can't deliver my baby. So I found out that she doesn't work weekends (she just had a baby herself in August) but that she won't leave at 5 on the dot if I (or any other patient) is pretty much ready to deliver. She assured me that the staff was magnificient no matter who did the actual delivering. It just made me aware that she probably won't be the one to actually deliver me since this has been such an uneventful pregnancy unless I happen to fall into labor exactly when she is on call at the hospital and not seeing other patients and if it is not 3 in the morning. I really should call Fran = I mean Dr Ivker and see how this is supposed to work and what I should be mentally prepared for even though that is never exactly what happens.

We went out for dinner tonight and despite the fact that I was doing the pregnant lady waddle all day long on account of my terrible shoes, swollen feet and painful back and jabbing pains in my nether regions (and not necessarily in that order) - my ever loving family took great pains to laugh at me as I waddled up the walk to the door of the apartment after parking the car. I did however make the driver let me out at the door of the restaurant and then fetch the car to pick me up. Then since I was wearing brand new fat jeans, they had to comment on how fat they made me look. Fashion tip from one unfashionable very pregnant lady who was just happy to find something different to wear - large women should never wear front pleated bottoms (skirts or pants) it just adds to the very obvious problem areas.

Finally - MY turn ... well almost

Well - Jonathan has another check up tomorrow
- at the pulmonologist this time.

I would safely bet that we'll have yet another chest X-ray where a very pregnant mommy has to step out of the room to avoid irradiation of the fetus. And then maybe she'll (the pulmonologist) see that he's not really asthmatic since the stupid pneumonia and then subsequent pneumatocele caused all kinds of trouble.

Then the following day I get to go to my now weekly (instead of bi-weekly) doctor's appt. My office should be thrilled with me by now for taking so much time off! At least I am getting my reports out on the early side since I don't have a shadow right now; but the back-up thing - where I am training the new girl (that they hired specifically to do my job while I am out - I think) and one of the other girls (who is just not that interested in doing what I do) - to be my backup and get my reports done in a timely manner - it's just not going that well. I hope they can handle it (or improve on the labor intensity of my position) and that maybe I'll be free to do something else a little more meaningful (or at least less tedious) when I come back from maternity leave.

Last week I went to see my doctor and despite her disappointment in me for not doing the stupid glucose tolerance test, all went well. I only gained a total of 3 lbs since my last visit a month ago. Hospital food in Sept must have agreed with me. (I accidentally skipped my appts in Sept as I was at the hospital with Jonathan right after Labor Day and I was checking my blood pressure regularly at the hospital too. I thought one appt was on the 28th, but it turns out it was for the 21st when we were just recovering from surgery.)

And now I know that I am really in the home stretch.

According to the doctor, in my current state I could walk around like this for several weeks or go into labor in a few days time. It's all pretty lackadaisical from her point of view. And I am taking special pains not to do any unnecessary walking around so as not to encourage gravity to do its thing and pull this kid out early. [My slightly "hormonally-altered" pregnant brain remembers all the women in the hospital in Jerusalem that they told to walk around to help them go into more advanced stages of labor - so I am deliberately avoiding that walking around thing as much as possible] Do you see a pattern here????
***In all seriousness, at work I try to do all my printing at once so as not to have to walk to the printer multiple times since it's down the aisle from me and coincidentally located right next to the woman I work with who can't be civil and who harbors a mutual dislike for me. She also happens to be the one who works most closely with the same reports I do and seems to take sinister pleasure in making my life miserable (and lots of other people's for that matter).
***Also, it rained on Simchat Torah so we didn't walk to shul (like I was going to walk anywhere at this point - and most especially not in the rain!) and so we didn't take Yoni to see the dancing and general merriment. And that's a shame :( - although he did have a slight fever on Friday afternoon and he still has that nagging bit of a cough, though its definitely getting better. But he did make a flag at school and we sang "Torah tzivah lanu Moshe" while he paraded around the couch at Bubbe's house many, many times. So I think he got the general idea of Simchat Torah - anyway - he's only 2! (ok, ok - so he's closer to 3 at this point - bli neder)

All I know for sure right now is that my in-laws from Israel will be arriving (if all goes well on their first flight to the USA or anywhere for that matter) on November 9th and will be here till after Thanksgiving. And I would prefer that this baby come closer to their arrival date so that I can take full advantage of them being here in our tiny apt with a new baby too. Sarcasm?!, I think NOT!

In case you were wondering - we did the American thing and registered for a whole bunch of baby stuff. Eran is very superstitious - so that means no baby oriented stuff can come anywhere near me or our apartment until the baby arrives - so as to stave off the evil eye I guess. But we went ahead and registered at BabiesRUs and Target (and used a different mailing address) just in case people wanted to get us stuff and didn't know what we wanted/needed. We need lots of stuff since we were in transit a lot of the time that Jonathan was an infant, most of it is lost or packed away (lost) or we didn't think we needed it to begin with.
Now we know better! We NEED all kinds of stuff.

Little Dr. Namer

So maybe TV shows like Grey's Anatomy and ER are inappropriate for a normal 2 yr old to watch on a regular basis, but we watched Grey's Anatomy together this week (he was asleep by the time ER hit the airwaves anyway) so I had the opportunity to use all the proper platitudes that mothers are supposed to say about how much doctors can help people feel better.

Also, once he left the hospital after his ordeal we presented him with this Sesame Street Medical Kit so that he can pretend to be a doctor too.
We (mommy that is) like the stethoscope that has a little button you push to make a heartbeat noise. Whenever he comes across the Oscar the Grouch blood pressure cuff with the Telly Monster gauge, he comes over to one of us (usually Mommy) and wants to check our blood pressure. Interestingly enough, that was truly the thing he hated most (after his "boo-boos" of course) in his prolonged hospital stay. They would come around every few hours to check vital signs (blood pressure and temperature) and he hated them both. What he didn't mind so much (as long as those boo-boos were relatively covered up) was the stethoscope every doctor (and nurse and nursing student and respitory therapist) wanted to use to hear his lungs. Maybe because some of them let him play with it too so it wasn't so foreign and strange. Also, at some point we took BP readings on most of his menagerie of stuffed animals since he was so bad about the BP cuff on himself.
But what was baffling to me was the fact that he really hated the underarm thermometer. What could possible be bad about that I wonder? Especailly in comparison to some of those other things...portable X-ray machines being brought to your bed, chest tubes attached to drains on the floor, a beeping pulse-ox monitor whose alarms were annoying loud - so much so that he would "shush" it whenever it went off (usually when he was trying to stand up on the floor for a few minutes or move around on the bed)

Maybe I'll get the opportunity to kvell about him being a doctor one day - after having spent so much time in his short little life (we're quickly approaching that 3rd b-day) around hospitals, but right now I am too busy worrying about him gaining some weight so he can grow. He left the hospital at 24 lbs and 2 weeks later with his shoes on he had gained 0.6 lbs. I know some dogs that weigh more than that!!!

TMX Elmo

Uncle Sam and Aunt Carlye wanted to make sure that Yoni was feeling better so they somehow feneigled the newest toy sensation around - Tickle Me Elmo - the Extreme edition - (check out this story) and made it arrive at Bubbe and Grandpa Stewart's house at the end of September just as Mr. J was coming home from the hospital.

This thing is amazing!! It's like a fuzzy little robot.

Elmo laughs and pounds his knee and bends over and falls on the floor. He even gets a little winded and cries "phew", but then begs for more - pleading "again, again".

Eran has already asked if there was a way to turn him off (there is, but I won't show him). Elmo starts up again at the slightest hint that someone might be paying him the slightest bit of attention.

Yoni can't get enough. He hugs him and then watches him go. He also "tickles" him as he would tickle a real person. It's so much fun to watch :)

As soon as I can figure out how to download the pictures and videos from our camera to this computer (don't have the software to do so installed on this machine) and then once I figure out how to upload the videos, I will try to post them to this blog.

Happy New Year and the Follow-Up

So I'm maybe a little centered on my son's health crisis right now.

We made it out of the hospital just in time to be at home for Rosh HaShana and to have to scramble for babysitting for Yom Kippur. I am not about to send my still-recovering-from-surgery kid to play with tons of other bigger kids at shul right now and catch whatever is going around all the different schools. Although I had no choice but to return to work immediately (don't even get me started about that - but they really have all been so suppotive and concerned) and therefore send him to HIS school. And that was an ordeal as well.

After two and a half weeks in the hospital, the first day back to daycare we wanted him to ease into things and get out of there at an early hour of the afternoon - 2:30 or 3ish. But somehow it got longer and longer and by the time 4:30 came around, he was still there at school. I was not a happy camper and pretty much fumed for a few hours after that and didn't go get my clingy, cranky child - who I hadn't left for more than a few hours at a time for the past 3 weeks - till long after 6. (He was already at the grandparents' by then)

So we made it through the first week somehow and are now into the second week out of the hospital. Meanwhile they sent me home with no antibiotics or pain meds for this child. Hey, they did give him an epidural (feeling no pain!)And both antibiotics and pain meds in the hospital intraveneously and even 2 doses of pain meds by mouth, but even after the outpatient ear tubes procedure they sent me home with BOTH oral antibiotics and a prescription for liquid Tylenol with codine for him to take as needed. This was a slightly more invasive procedure (don't you agree)and a bit of a longer hospital stay to say the least.

So tomorrow we have the follow up appt with the surgeon. And of course Jonathan managed to already have a serious cough - so much so that he woke himself up last night and almost threw up. He did cough so much this evening that he vomitted a little, I actually expected more.
So I expect a chest X-ray and an inspection of the incision and drainage sites and I don't know what else except a lot of general crankiness on the part of Mr. J. Luckily my brother and sister-in-law managed to somehow send him an amazing gift that arrived yesterday - I'm sure to devote a whole post for that one :)

Another milestone - I actually managed to remove the huge gauze pad (Sunday night) that was over the drain site (which caused all sorts of trauma and drama for such a small wound) and get a quick peek to at the steri-strip that was over the actual incision. Not to mention the other 2 Band-Aids that are covering the original chest tube sites. All of this despite a hyper-sensitive 2 year old who doesn't want to see his "boo-boos".
During the entire time he was stuck in the hospital bed he was covered by either a sheet or a towel so as not to see or remind him of his "boo-boos", despite the tubes hanging off his chest that were connected to the drains taped to the floor and the IV that was sometimes connected to the IV pole at the side of the bed. Not to mention the ever-present pulse-ox monitor that was fitted to his big toe with a glowing red light that he had to have covered by socks (and the sheet)at all times.

Bathing has also been a challenge, but every time seems slightly less traumatic. We'll get there. He's only 2 and bathing is an issue anyway since he doesn't get to swim in the bathtub with his toys right now. Now I can pretend to give him kisses on his tummy and sneak a peek at those bandaids and he lets me get away with it whereas at the beginning, he wouldn't let me touch his shirt at all. As my husband says - "Step by Step". We're getting there.

Pneumonia in May

Most people can do General Practioners or pediatricians and that's enough, but my family seems to need teams of specialists.

So we're in the hospital with this "pretty good case" of pneumonia (for a 2 year old or an adult, I'm not sure which) according to the pulmonary specialists. They say it's not the worst they've ever seen, but pretty impressive nonetheless.

So the first day we see a Dr Chris O-Something or other who turns out to be an Asthma and Cystic Fibrosis specialist. So I mention that I had tested positive during my pregnancy as a CF carrier and that we had tested Eran and he came up negative. I even went so far as to produce the letter stating that (in Hebrew - but hey it had the exact strain in English and with our translation that was enough for the doctors) This whole thing sparked Dr O's interest and they ordered a CF test done on my little man anyway since he could have any one of the other strains. Luckily the test was pretty non-invasive, just a simple 2 hour sweat test on his legs. But waiting for the results is agonizing. We got off lucky. Jonathan is CF free.

So meanwhile, the doctors have ordered 3 different strong IV antibiotics to be administered to fight the pneumonia while we're in the hospital. And the pulmonary specialist who we saw at the end wanted to send him home on an oral antibiotic that would have had to clear the Center for Infectious Diseases approval. Since they weren't exactly sure what strain of bacteria was causing the pneumonia (if any), they didn't get approval for that particular drug, but they sent him home on some other oral antibiotic that they suggested I supplement with Hershey's kisses to counteract the diarrhea. For some reason, my son is not a big chocolate or cookies fan. Go figure. But I sent extra kisses to daycare for the poor soul who was elected to fight with him to give him his meds during the day.

So anyway, mom is pregnant and can take Mr man down to the X-ray room, but cannot actually be in the room when they do the X-rays to see how the pneumonia is progressing or rather resolving. This is almost done every other day. And he starts crying the minute we step into that room with those big machines.

At this point, Jonathan is not very verbal. A few two word sentences is about the extent of his actual verbal capacity (and his name for me is "Me" - quite confusing sometimes), but he is very insitent about getting his views known in other ways...pointing and crying and whining mostly. And at this point we are still wondering if he is speech delayed because of his constant ear infections (hence the ear tubes a month earlier) or if it is something to do with his congenital CMV (hearing loss and other development delays are the earmarks of CMV at this stage - we get to wonder until age 4 or 5 I guess) I wonder how much non-verbal clues kids actually pick up on. Sometimes I didn't like the person who brought us down in the elevator for our routine chest x-rays and I was definately stressed out about the whole situation.

The good thing is that they eventually let us go home on oral antibiotics, with a follow-up X-ray in 2 weeks to see that the progression of the pneumonia is still good.