Dear oldest child,

Lately, while observing my beloved children, I have seen my patience-trying, not-quite-not-a toddler, "pilpeleet" and my usually more placid oldest son grow before my eyes. The oldest has gone from a spritely toddler to a full-on personality bearing little person, sometimes with a blazing temper (I have NO idea where he picked that up) to match. It is amazing to watch the transformations right before your eyes.

I guess my emotional incubator hormones must be kicking in, but lately I have taken pains to tell my son how happy I am that HaShem chose to give him to us to raise. I even started to draft a letter to him - hence the post title.

Maybe it feels like I give the little one a lot more attention since she DEMANDS it and he is more self-sufficient. For example, last night I offered to take the boy with me to run errands to the store since I always take the girl. He declined at first and then half an hour later he called me (mid-trip) wanting to go to the second store. Since I picked the grocery that most likely had all the items I needed, hoping for one-stop shopping (not necessarily the best or the cheapest or the closest store I admit) I had to disappoint the boy. Meanwhile the girl got to her cranky stage and we both lost our patience, in spite of the Dora DVD that made its way into the shopping cart at the beginning of the trip. Whining that she wanted to weigh things on the scale that I had already passed -for no reason other than to weigh it- promted me to tell her that I wanted a million dollars. A sure sign that I had lost ALL my patience with her. When I got to the car and saw the time it was clear why. Her "witching" hour had arrived and I was caught unaware! Woe is me. We got home as fast as we could after she continued her cry/whine fest because she wanted her library book in the back (with the groceries) instead of next to her - so, I flung it back there in hopes that she would calm down. Not my most proud parenting moments I assure you!

It also may have to do with the fact that the big kid will be "graduating" from the Montessori program they're in this year and will go into first grade next year. And the term Eran has been using to discuss the different programs include ragil (regular, which the school terms as Traditional) vs the Montessori program which is more "flexible" (shall we say? Eran likened it to kindergarten activities for older kids) and more along the lines of what he has been doing most recently. So there is an obvious shift in terms of schooling in that he WILL go to another school next year, weather I like it or not, and he will be considered a "real" student - as if all he has learned up till now didn't count.

So when I finally got home again last night I we were stuck with the State of the Union address on at least 5 TV channels and since it is WAY above their heads (and frankly mine at that hour) I took it as an opportunity to do a little math and spelling lesson. I knew I would be able to read all the highlights and lowlights of the speech on-line today.

I asked the kids if they knew who that man was? They answered his name (kinda) And I asked if they knew what he did? I had to tell them he was President of the United States, but they knew that is where they live. We said that the president had just finished 1 year of his time in his job as president and that is why he was giving this speech on all those TV channels (and they weren't even the favorite channels in our house, so why would we care, but I digress...)
I explained that he was elected for a 4 year job. (Gotta make sure to use terms that speak to your audience.) Then I wanted to know how many years he had left. That was a little abstract so I put my fingers up to illustrate. They got it! So then I told the kids that he may get a chance to keep the job after that for another four years (I was careful not to make this anything political - they need to understand the civics behind the office, not the politics at this point) And they were able to tell me that it could be 7 more years. Mini civics lesson OVER! And as he finished his speech and started handshaking his way out of the room, I hate myself for even thinking/realizing that he was the only black person the cameras showed in a sea of white politicians. Thankfully our local stations showed some of our Congressional leaders' responses, including Pete Olsen, Shelia Jackson Lee and Al Green.

I mentioned that I hadn't seen a book from the teachers in awhile and so that prompted me to try out his oral spelling skills. We did lap and lad and nap and hat and cap. It made me remember the lessons I used to have in my educations courses about how different people learn in different ways. He was able to do most of those words and their sounds (now that he has finally gotten over his ear infections and most recent bout of strep throat with a rash - some people call it scarlet fever) Of course that didn't translate to the page. I am not sure he could recognize all those words easily.

And of course, his fingers are severely peeling since he is (maybe) finally hitting that growth spurt he has been shoveling food down his gullet for the past 3 months in preparation for. We have recently been to 2 snake birthday parties so I said I would call him snake boy instead of monkey boy since he's peeling like a snake. And he replied with a snuggle and said I should call him "snake buddy boy" which turned out to be a real tongue twister for me for some reason. Then he proceeded to poke me full on in the eye with one of those snakeskin fingers [yuck] and it triggered a huge gagging reflex in me. I really thought I was going to lose my dinner (of a most nutritious nature - half a bag of kettle cooked potato chips) all over the living room. I called for a glass of water from my darling in the next room between choking fits and he was TOO SLOW in getting for me. By this point I was crying tears from choking and heaving and he's LUCKY I'm not a puker cause he would've gotten in straight in the face!

This post really took on a more rambling message than I meant. When I began, I meant it to showcase the gush of emotions (pregancy hormones anyone?) I am feeling regarding and around my oldest son lately and not to be a blow-by-blow of the night's events - although there are some that I am proud of and some I would rather forget. But I still WOULD like a million dollars if anyone has that lying around that they want to contribute to my sanity fund.

Enjoy the rest of the week. The weather here is supposed to get awful. Stream-of-consciousness is good (but maybe I need a bell on my nose to let people know when I am chainging the subject - DING!)

another sigh of relief

Don'tcha hate it when you're waiting on test results and then they don't call. I'm talking about the 3 hour glucose tolerance test that I did on Monday after failing the 1 hour screening.

So you figure no news is good news, right?
So it's 3:41 and I'm waiting for the boss to leave at 4:00 when the phone rings.
Right away I see from the caller ID that it is the dr's office. Oh shit!
So I answer the phone despite my trepidation and once she verifies that it really is me she then tells me that "You passed! You passed with flying colors." I was so glad that when I hung up the phone I let out a loud Hallelujah that could be heard two floors down.

Which means that the first stupid hour long scan was not accurate (which I never did in Israel - I only did the 3 hour test or with Yael at all) Or it could be that I made sure to drink a lot of water and eat an orange every day before the 3 hour test. But in any case, I felt like a pin cushion, and the combination of no food and lots of calorieless sugar in my system made for a very yucky feeling all day long even after stuffing my face with lots of carbs and then some protein for lunch.

My favorite phlebotomist who usually is very gentle and I don't even feel the stick, was not so gentle that morning. The fasting poke also had to draw blood for my nuchal translucency test to check to see that all is progressing as it should be.

The fun part of that test was the UltraSound which I brought my mom along to see but they didn't let her back there. During that part of the test there was much movement and the babies look like babies already on the screen. One othe them wiped their brow and the other one had a hiccup and I could see their knees pressed up against the wall of the sac. And we have established a Baby A and Baby B and their positioned side by side rather than one on top of the other. And Dalia the tech who was wonderful was able to see their stomachs were full indicating swallowing already and that the heart rate was 161 for one and 165 for the other. Let the old wives tales arguing over the sex begin!

So glad I got the fun part out of the way early. Then I had to go back to the lab every hour and get more blood drawn. Usually they try to alternate arms, however my second arm was being uncooperative and the first stick hurt and didn't want to give any blood. The second one was also a dud, although it bled for a second after she removec the needle. So we went back tothe first arm and she drew from the same vein as before. And for the other 2 times as well. After the second draw I went up to the dr's office to check with the dr that all was ok and she had to rush off to deliver an emergency C-section and so was running VERY behind. I went back downstairs, had my blood drawn again and then went back to see the dr. Timing was perfect for me, at least 45 min behind for everyone else. She then sent me back to the lab with more blood tests to be done so it was good that we saw her when we did. My mom was there in the room and we cancelled out the fact that I won't have to have the BRAC screening as she has already done it and come back negative. One less blood panel for me to do! :)

Phew! The cat is WAY outta the bag.

Phew! Glad that's over with.
The cat is WAY outta the bag.

My co-worker came into my office late this afternoon asking for the number to the HR manager since she had already closed her computer. I looked it up on the phone for her - no questions asked. She then told me she was expecting. Since she has shared with me in the past some of her many fertility and other womenly issues, I was super excited for her and know she has a lot of pressure on her to make this a healthy pregnancy. I was so happy for her that I hugged her and then told her on the spot that I was having twins too.

Then we found out that we are both due in late July. Not such a good thing for the office. We ran to our supervisor's office together to tell him what we pieced together already. She told him earlier in the day and I had tried twice today and at least once yesterday to tell him about the pregnancy. He then put it together, why I was having so many drs visits lately. This summer will be interesting in our dept to say the least - since we both kinda have the same function. Same but different. And we are both due in late July (mine will probably be earlier, and she may also have high risk pregnancy issues because of all her previous procedures)

And since the higher ups' offices are so close together - sharing a wall, the Sr VP of our dept saw us lurking in our boss's office and wanted to know what was up - I think he was afraid we were both leaving. So now he knows too. Congratulations all around of course, but you could practically see the wheels turning in their heads about how they were going to cover things down the line, and the comments came out about what is IN the water around here?
The company receptionist is due in February, an accountant recently came back from maternity leave and then quit to manage her husband's office. The IT #2 is due in April and one of our manager's wife is due soon after that as well.

And I made Teresa, my office neighbor and all around chatting buddy, call me from her car so I could tell her today too so she wouldn’t be the last to know. I invited her to lunch with me and my friend from HR (who I told today at lunch) and Teresa declined so I had to tell her over the phone. I chastised her that if she had come to lunch she wouldn've found out then.

Not to mention that because this is the beginning of a new year where they finally have some capital dollars to allocate, the bosses are tied up with massive spreadsheets and a million meetings. This is exciting news for the girls, but on the back burner for the boys at least for the next 3 weeks or so.

Tomorrow should be VERY interesting.

When it rains it pours ! :-)

And you thought stupid tests were for high school

I'll just put it out there: I HATE MEDICAL TESTS OF ANY KIND.
Especially when the results don't come out like what the doctor wants and you have to do them again. Or worse - a more invasive version.
I'm done venting - for now.

Channukah Recap 2009

Is it fair to say that I could really do without 8 days of parties and terrible food, etc for Channuka this year. Gifts just didn't find a way to get wrapped between all our parties with friends and family and I can live with that.

Last week we had a craft party on Sunday where the kids made and decorated sugar cookies and a mat to go under their chanukia (and it was laminated so it wouldn't burn, good thinking rebbitzen) - instigating another trip to the shul the following Wednesday to pick it up. This was the same week I made oatmeal raisin cookies with them.

We had a Shabbat Party (as Yael likes to refer to Friday night dinner) for the first night of Hannukah. We decorated the windows and hung a banner and our brightly lit Star of David was hung kid-high on the wall. We had egga latkes and boxed latkes served with applesauce to go with the amazing chicken and grilled vegetables and Israeli salad my husband made - taking into consideration that Aunt Carol is lactose intolerant and therefore postponing my attempt at sour cream with latkes). We put the electric menorah in the front window (can't even begin to compete with the next door neighbor's yard and lights display which won the Civic Club Yard of the Month award) and lit the candle ones in the kitchen so there was enough room for the kids to play with fire alongside Abba.

Aunt Carol's cinnamon crumb cake was the perfect desert before presents and Bubbe and Purpaw joined Aunt Carol and us as the kids got games for presents (Yoni promptly lost one of the pieces to his 4 person Connect 4 (which he later found) and Yael had such fun making the bugs for the Cooties game that it didn't even matter that there was actually a game and turns involving throwing a dice involved in playing the game.

We joined a select group of Israelis and some others from the preschool for a beautiful channukah party at someone else's house that included a gift exchange for the kiddos.
Then we did another small gathering on Sunday at our house for latkes where I could serve my spinach dip and sour cream and applesauce with the latkes cause we did it after dinner. The latkes were a success, but the party was kinda a dud since we were all exhausted from the weekend. But the kiddos got their big present from Bubbe that night - Yoni got a radio controlled monster truck and Yaeli got a baby doll with a costume change including shoes. They loved it!
Another one of their favorite presents was Yoni's Transformer and Yaeli's plush doggy doll.

During the week of Channuka we also had numerous parties lined up to attend each evening, but I was NOT about to go party hopping, especially after a full day of work. So we had the responsible Bubble and Purpaw fill in till we could get there. We had the Shul party with picture taking and contained chaos and then we had the Montessori school party that had bounce houses and lollipops and balloon animals and face painting and a multitude of other general chaos that was truly fun to watch as the kids ran around and played with their friends, but I never knew where they were exactly. Then we had an Israeli style party hosted by the consulate at the Merfish Center the following night, but it was raining and we were pooped so we opted to save it for next year (although, at last year's party, Jonathan's picture made the Chronicle Newspaper)

Yael's class had a channukah presentation/craft on Tuesday and Yoni's was today. Eran made the arrangements to go and be present at both events since the office sent out reminders and I didn't want my children to be the ONLY ones that didn't have at least one parental unit available and present at the class party. I had an office party Tuesday that I took more of the Spinach dip and crackers, etc so that I knew that at least I could eat SOMETHING since the party was a gumbo/chili throwdown. I then played hookey from work on Wednesday claiming to be ill because I had a doctor's appt anyway and was so worn out I couldn't make myself get up and go.

And I also toured a new school for my son who is graduating from Montessori. So with all that we had going on in the last two weeks (including 2 trips to the doctor - changing my BP meds since the one they put me on originally game me a serious case of the shaky hands and arms - like I had overexerted myself by lifting arm weights for 3 hours) is it any wonder I am exhausted and my co-workers claim that I do more outside of the office than anyone they have ever known. So is that a bad thing that my kids actually have playdates when I can squeeze them in and a more active social life than I can ever remember. And is it any wonder that this is how I describe my life right now: "Life is good, but exhausting. But all I really want is to curl up with my family on the couch with some cocoa, some popcorn, a blanket and a good movie."

My current home improvement wish list

So I think we always want a few new things for our kitchen or our house, etc
I want I want I want

I want an interior designer to come and redecorate my living room because I HATE the wood paneling and am still undecided about putting up curtains over the wall of windows (that I wish were French doors) even though you can see straight into our living room from the yard.

I want new kitchen cabinets that are not ugly pressboard and have nice new prettty handles

I want a jacuzzi (or even just a 2nd) bathtub in my master suite.

I want to redo my walkin closet so that you can actually walk in and see everything - and do I really need that outdated vanity nook that is just a waste of space? (unless I can fiind a way to make it my sewing corner - which would mean that I need a decent sewing machine (I saw one at Costco for less than $200 that could do everything but chop vegetables - that's on my wish list too)

And while I'm thinking of small appliances, I want a bread maker and a really nice stand mixer.

I could also use an ice maker dedicated just for that purpose, or a new refrigerator with a built in ice-maker/water dispenser in the door that magically fills itself with food every week or two.

Or I could get a new water cooler/heater that I don't have to rent every month. and then I would just fill up the enormously heavy 5Liter water bottles at the grocery and then carry them inside the house myself - NAH, some things are just worth having delivered!

Oh and I also want a self folding clothes dryer that I don't have to pay for weekly either.
I can do my own laundry and actually prefer doing it, but I don't know how to tell the mostly Spanish speaking housekeeper that I need her to scrub the shower instead of folding my kids' clothes (and then hiding them somewhere in their rooms so that I can't find them when I need them in the frenzy of the morning rush to get ready).

What I really want is the desk that Eran keeps promising to set up for me so that I can have an uninterrupted "office space" altough my kids will undoubtably find a way to undermine my best intentions.

But mostly, I want my kids to sleep in their own beds or at least in their own bedroom. They are not considerate sleepers and hog all the space or steal all the covers which they then manage to kick off in the middle of the night. They have learned not to sleep directly on my head, but I have also been not-so-soft lately in my man-handling of them out of the way when I want to sleep and they are sprawled everywhere. And my Yaeli just sprouted up and is now most definitely a 3-year old and Yoni is packing on the pounds in anticipation of another growth spurt I hope.

We had a fantastic row this morning over the TV which I left on tuned to the news channel in the AM. When Yoni woke up and stumbled into the living room, I was listening to the news reports of heavy fog and where the traffic snarls were from my comatose-looking sprawled position on the couch. However, he grabbed the "shalat" (remote for those not in the know) and changed the channel to the grating sound of SpongeBob first thing in the AM. NOT ACCEPTABLE! He knows there are other acceptable morning cartoons that he can watch on PBS or the Disney Channel if he happens to be awake before me which is rare, but I can not and will not tolerate the vapidness that is SpongeBob first thing in the morning, or for hours on end either. He screamed and cried, I roared and bellowed, and not necessarily in that order. It was the low point of my entire day. The situation was remedied by my esteemed husband who blearily found the remote control battery from last night's Channukah present and distracted the child with his now functioning radio contolled monster truck which needed the battery to be charged up overnight before it was any fun for him.

Kidisms

Yoni was sitting on my lap today and asked how do you spell 100. So I spelled for him h-u-n-d-r-e-d. But that's not quite what he meant. He said no, Mommy, 1-??? so I clued in and started to say 1-0-0 when he got a case of the giggles and chimed in "1-0-armpit." Outta the mouths of babes.

And Yael has been hooked on a book that has a few nursery rhymes in it including Dinah blow your horn and Jack and Jill. The first one has I've been working on the railroad only Yael's improved version when she "reads" the book to herself is 'I've been working on the rainbow'
Then Jack and Jill go up the hill to get a "drink of water" and Jack comes down "with his crown" and Jill comes "running after him". I think I like her versions better.

And who can decide when I am Mommy and when I am Imma? It seems to be a lot more Imma lately. Not exactly what I chose for myself, but then Abba has become Daddy amonst the kid set when they refer to him. And he has always been Abba.

Snow Day and weekend activities

Yael and Yoni and I made the recipe from the box of rolled oats for oatmeal raisin cookies. We destroyed my kitchen in the process and it made me realize even more that a stand or even hand held mixer would be a good ivestment for these kinds of projects.
Yael actually tried the finished product, but it took Yoni some convincing as the first bite he took was hot and he spit it out immediately with a pronounced "bleh"
We only baked one dozen and I rolled up the others and put them in the freezer for a hostess emergency. Since they are made with parve margarine, and it only takes 10-12 minutes to bake them unfrozen, I figure a half hour notice might give me the chance to actually take a plate of homemade slice and bake cookies somewhere when needed. :)
Next to try, the Amish sugar cookies which you apparently can make into all kinds of shapes and then decorate - great hannukah craft that we just did at shul with a bunch of other kids...
And then the peanut butter and nuttella recipe that I found that I will have to make when Jonathan isn't around because he doesn't like peanut butter or chocolate spread on his sandwiches. Who does this child belong to?

Now I have to get all the paperwork from my mother in law's trip to the ER together to send to Israel because they need to get reimbursed but more importantly because apparently she fainted yet again. It has not been a good afternoon for my husband. What can he do from here? She is in hospital in Afula doing the same tests she had done here 2 weeks ago. If she's lucky - we are talking about socialized medicine...
He is really concerned that something may really be wrong because she acted a lot out of character for what he remembered. But I spent a lot of time with her on my own and she was just happy to buy a lot of American goods to show all her friends at home. Maybe there really is something going on. He's afraid of a big neurological event that might leave her without her faculties and then where will we be? Yikes, to even think about something like that!

He may be attuned to what is going on with them more than he would like to admit. Even before he got the message he was tense. We don't generally have shouting matches over miscommunication isues, but we did today, and a crying fit to follow and really all over something important but silly. He didn't realize my fears and I didn't understand where he was coming from and it all blew up out of proportion, but really over nothing at all. But ugly, hurtful things were said and cannot be taken back and it proves that we really need to watch and think about what we say before we spout off - especially in anger.

Snow Day

Or at least half of one.
We Texans don't know what to do when it snows in Houston, so we shut everything down.
Kids have early dismissal at 12:30
My office is closing officially at 12:00 Noon.
And my parents are in Louisiana to miss all the fun.

It snowed mixed with rain all the way to school to drop off the kids and then all the way from there to downtown. Nothing is sticking to anything yet, but the kids could see it on the windshield and in the air. Very exciting. It should make for a VERY interesting weekend.


That red stuff in the middle of the picture is the rain/snow mix. Captured at Friday, Dec. 4, 2009 at 10:15 a.m. CST

Happy half-day/snow-day Friday and extra time to play in the kitchen (to get ready for Shabbat).

Gratitude Journal - Giving

One thing I was happy to be grateful for is my husband and his generous heart which I made sure to tell him thusly:
I told him: One of the things I love about you is that when you have "extra" money, [we'll call it that for lack of a better term] you are quick to share it with others who may need it more than you. For me that is more of a challenge, maybe because I pay the bills, maybe because it is in my nature to want to save for a rainy day - all the while hoping that day never comes or that I will recognize it and actually be willing to let go of the hard-earned nest egg.

We as a couple have always been willing to share our home with our friends and family. For example: in the first year of our marriage, we had guests sleeping on our couch for various periods of time...My friend from the WUJS program who crashed with us for about a month, my cousin who came to visit with an open-ended ticket, but found a job and a place to live rather quickly on his own (once I pointed him in the right direction), one of Eran's childhood friends who needed a place to go to get away from his nasty divorce and to get started in his new life.
These were the good times. When we needed help, we were also quick to lean on our family and friends for the same.

Recently we went to a family function where a new, young mother is struggling to care for her newborn and to look for a job. She is also looking for direction at this point in her life. My husband came into some money unexpectedly and without a second thought gave her a generous portion - not as a loan to be repaid, but as a gift to help her out immediately. Can't we all use a little extra "folding money" as my grandma used to call it?

Also, another childhood friend of his was recently willing to leave his life and children behind and give the American dream a shot. He was very spontaneous about the whole thing and did not do the proper planning and prep that would normally accompany such a drastic thing. He did call once he was in California and we pointed him in the direction of the nearest Chabad so that he would at least be able to get a Shabbat dinner and a place to stay. He never called us from Israel about these plans, had he done so we might have been able to help him from this end - a place to stay, job, etc. He pretty much set himself up for failure - answered an ad in a newpaper in Israel and got on a plane with the Israeli attitude of "yiheh beseder" - it'll be ok. He then told us the sob story that he was here with basically the shirt on his back and not much else, so we eventually FedExed him some cash - which we all know we'll never see again.

Eran's answer to me when I reminded him of these things as an example of his generosity was that he didn't expect to see the money he "loaned" to his friend or the young mother, but he came into virtually the same amount unexpectedly so it was meant to be...for him to have the money in order to share it with those who needed it more than him at that time.

Another small example of the power of tzedakah - when I sent a donation to a fund for a friend who had just had a baby and then fell seriously ill, I accompanyed the check [which was 3 times the amount I expected/meant to give - when I sat down to write the check, it's just what came out] with a note about the mitzvot that some of us had been doing in merit of a full recovery. The day the check posted to my account, coincidentally, was the joyful day that her husband was able to report that they had taken her completly off all respirators - that she was conscious and breathing on her own and that he was grateful to see her smile return to her face.

For me there are always tangible and poignant signs of the goodness of Hashem - and I don't have to look very hard to find them. They pretty much bash me over the head and say "appreciate me!"

Gratitude Jounal: Entry 1

I'll start with 5:

1.This morning I am grateful that I took an extra two minutes to watch a bluebird in our tree with my kids. It then flew to the fence and a red bird joined it there. Then the kids pointed out a scampering squirrel after both of those beautiful birds flew away. This incident is what prompted me to start this journal in the first place.

2. I am grateful for the wonderful friends that made such a beautiful Sheva Brachos last night for one of our JWRP sisters. Congrats to Sarah and Daniel on the beginning of their new, beautiful life together. I wish I could have done more to help with the preparations, but the rebitzen said I basically planned the menu and sent some great recipes that they used!

3. I am grateful that the day the tzedakah check posted to the bank is the day all the news of SBR's strides on the road to recovery were posted. Maybe it was just the fact that I sent in a check, or the fact that I sent in more than I should have, or maybe there is no correlation - it was still a good coincidence.

4. I am grateful that my kids are who they are. Jonathan feels things deeply and takes things very much to heart and Yael is a force to be reckoned with.

5. I am grateful that we are going to Louisiana for Thanksgiving to see that part of the family that will be there. We'll miss the others, but I won't have to put together a dinner party, my in-laws will be on their best behavior, and we can play with the baby Zoe and cousin Charlie! And a change of scenery just might be the best thing for everyone.

That was certainly a mish mosh...But stay tuned.
Tomorrow's entry will come sooner. We are off of work at 12:00 Noon! So glad I chose to take Monday as my switch out Friday holiday off so I could take the in-laws to the airport. Score! Extra time off!!! A calculated guess and strategical move on my part (I expected them to close up Wed at 2 PM)

Gratitude Journal

This is a new thing I am going to try. I heard about it from a "granola-yoga-y" lecturer this summer in Israel and read about it again today. UPDATE: Here is a link to an article on this subject by the woman who ran the workshop that I took in Israel. She also spent some many years on an Indian ashram before "finding" religious Judaism. My original comment about her stands.

Plus, lately I have been being very hard on myself - what with all the stresses of being a major-income earning mom, in my family, in this scary downturned economy.

I will try to log 5 things daily that I am grateful for without having any repeats.
Apparently this is a growing process and the first 100 are supposed to be the easiest....I'm thinking I might run out after 10 or so easy ones....We'll see how this goes.

More to come

Is it bad that my children have more abundant social lives than I ever did?
And that despite just wanting to sit on the couch and veg out I somehow find the time and or energy to buy and wrap gifts and then take them to all the parties they are invited to.
This weekend's parties made up for the recent lack of activity.
Eran's friend came over Saturday night and brought Bolt for the kids to watch. I made popcorn - easy enough and then I remembered that I had bought the ingredients to make a banana pudding pie, with a nilla wafer (instead of graham cracker) crust - so I did. Then it didn't quite set up right, but was yummy all the same.
We had recently been on a Target run and bought a few toys for our kids. It's a good thing, too, because those toys which had been riding around in my car for a month or so, found their way into the house and got wrapped up Sunday morning as birthday gifts.
The 6 year old got the bucket of dinosaurs or airplanes or animals - I'm not sure what-lots of pieces to keep him occupied, the 3 year old got the memory game and a princess face painting set, the 2 year old got the nerf lawn bowling set.
And I got to run kids back and forth to all the myriad events. Then of course, because they are still little, we get to stay with them.
Eran did the first party shift with the older kids - where since Yael was not specifically invited (despite the fact that it was held at her very favorite place) I spirited her away from there and to my mother's house to partake of the vats of cookie dough that lay await in her freezer. She tired of this quickly, so it was good that we only had an our to kill. When I came to pick them up at the end of the party, the older boys were glad to see Yaeli and the mother was like "for next time, siblings are invited, of course". Lot of good that does me now. And I had had such a terrible experience of overinviting and including siblings for Yoni that I was not going to inflict that on another mother.
Yael's party was at 3 so we had time for a leisurely family lunch. Then off to the races. I took the boys home and Yael and I picked up the gift for the 3 year old. It was for one of her friends from her old school that she hasn't seen in a year, so she was shy for like maybe a second. then she was enthusiastically dancing with Daphne and Ethan and still standoffish with Addy and Moriah. It was AWESOME because it was dancing and bubbles and scarves and all kinds of fun kiddie instruments. Not to mention that some of the songs they danced to were the Wiggles songs that we dance to off of YouTube in our living room. So Yael knew just what to do and I got my favorite workout in - dancing around with my giggling girl. It was exhausting for my outta shape self, but I also got to catch up with some old friends for a few minutes between putting on party hats and putting mangled straws in juice boxes and going to the potty.
Then we went to a fancy shmancy Gymboree party. Which was really a combination of the two other parties with extra languagues, some parachute "popcorn", real pizza and ice cream thrown in for good measure. I figured the kids would be worn out and full from the pizza and ice cream, but they weren't, and I had to make them some cous-cous when we got home. I was annoyed about that...first it was too hot, then it wasn't soupy enough (I worked hard to get that extra moisture absorbed)
Eran had gone solo to a friend's party because Yoni had fallen asleep and it was already late for Yaeli who had no nap. So of course, Yoni woke up the minute we hit the house and Yael fell asleep soon after eschewing her food.

My favorite Yaelism of the day:
Mommy give me your face, I want to shake your face off.
She then proceeds to grab my head and shake it.

Also, mommy I need to tell you sumfing...

aarrgghh...and promises of more to come

Read this first.

OK. Now read on....

Since Facebook has turned into my medium of choice to exchange news - and I am just scratching the surface of twitter, this outage has made my morning ritual of updating and catching up on people's statuses, frustratingly almost impossible. I am shaking my fist in the air at those pesky hackers!

And I was thinking in the car on the way into work what an abomination it is that I waste so much time doing it in the first place. Especially since I heard this AM that the Marine Corps has banned these social networking websites from its computers, etc - effective immediately. And how can they do that - oh yeah, its the military - Glad to be working in the private sector (even if it has lost its luster recently)
Now I have to go cold turkey from my addiction too - NOT FAIR.

And I have lots to share lately:

• My whirlwind trip to Israel and all the intrinsic go-withs..., reflections, new friends and experiences, not enough time to see everyone and everything, travel delays, etc
• Astros game - fun, non-dramatic times with the kids and even my dad - who graciously sprung for a yummy dinner and parking. Good times! It deserves its own post with pics (hopefully coming soon)
• A tragedy -in a family other than my own- that [still] rings close to home.
• A family member who went for surgery and I am thirsty for updates from his immediate relatives to let us know how it went...

Plus I have special plans for this afternoon/evening that I want to make sure are still viable considering the circumstances - the kid friendly fun part of them have already been cancelled.

Finally - I was given a juicy work analysis project yestereday that I just can't get focused on because of all these other things going on and my recent dry spell has made me lazy in the actual real "use your valuable learned skills" work dept...

Glad we in my family like to be spontaneous and can be flexible. :)

More to come

recent investments in my marriage

1. We recently went shopping together. My husband wanted a new sofa that I hated the instant I saw it. So instead we bought a house full of furniture. We picked out pieces we liked and didn't like together. I had the final say, but we made the decisions together.

2. our weekend wedding getaway to Florida for his boss's brother's wedding. I had never even MET the bride, but we got along famously. I even liked her friends. Why was this trip important? for several reasons...firstly, we are not beach people, but we still had some fun in the sun. It was alone time that we really needed - and the kids were ensconced in their new room at Bubbie and Purpaw's house. And, since I didn't know most of the guests, and spoke the same language as the family, I could be unihibited and was treated like family for the whole event. The fact is that the bride and I actully have a lot in common and other than the fact that I have nearly 10 years and two kids on her, I can see us being friends.

3. we had a spontaneous waterfight in the yard - just the two of us. He sprayed me with the waterhose after a particularly raucous screaming match where I nearly hyperventilated because I was so worked up. It totally disarmed me and reminded me of a previous waterfight where we both sprayed water at each other, in the early stages of our relationship, in our first apartment. It was exactly what I needed to relieve the tension and bring me crashing back down to the reality that what we were screaming about was just misaligned anger about other things going on in our lives. I didn't even bother to hose him down - he got his point across without saying a word - and I let him keep that victory.

I have made some missteps too recently - including mentioning his weight struggles and diet choices in front of his co-workers. BIG mistake that I realized as soon as the words left my mouth - but I had no way of correcting other than to be aware of it and steer clear of it next time around. They are the people that he has interaction with on a daily basis and who am I to draw attention to my percieved flaws - to them or to anyone else for that matter.

I believe in moments. Like when you are running, and both feet leave the ground. Unsustainable. Impossible to capture. Transcendent.
-Anonymous author, Marie Claire magazine

Since I am on an excercise kick which is changing my life-I finally had the lightbulb moment-I found this quote quite intriguing. I could almost feel the air beneath my feet which were both planted on the ground in front of me under my desk when I read it.

Words can mean so much.

On that note I want to mention how I also realized some of my conscious or unconscious thoughts that I don't even share with my immediate family may be causing them unconscious harm. What I mean is like this - I think of my son as being smaller than other kids his age and might even refer to him - in thought - as a runt. That doesn't detract whatsoever from my infinite love for him and my joy in watching him grow. However, he may pick up on the fact that I think it is a problem. For example when he was on this year's baseball team, I voiced my concern over starting him in the league too early, despite the fact that some of the kids on his previous team were in the same league. About mid-way through the season, I realized that because he was a bit smaller, he might get an extra pat on the head or a little extra coaching - to his advantage. It was also ironic that the one friend that we were closest with was the oldest and tallest kid on the team. We made it throught the season and next year I will keep my qualms to myself.

That was hard

So yesterday on the spur of the moment my darling husband mentioned that there was a Lag B’Omer bonfire at the shul/school down the street from us and why don’t we go?

Ok – I said shrugging off the tiredness of the day. So away we went.
It was super fun!

You try keeping track of 2 small kids in the throng of people while it gets progressively hotter and the bugs come out to feast on you. Then throw in some darkness, and a huge bonfire to keep them away from. It was total chaos, but oh such fun!

Yoni came back soaked from head to toe from the fire hose – and I was mortified until I learned that he wasn’t the only one.
It was so hard to let him go and have fun with his friends, but I did the best I could. I gave him a visual boundary (ME: DO NOT, under any circumstances, go past that tree there - do you see – the one 5 feet from the fire pit) and let him at it. He was laughing and screaming and having a grand time. Until he got tired. Then he was a little whiny. But it was hard for me to let him go and have fun...not Israeli enough I guess.

Yael also had a great time and she was the belle of the ball. Someone had dressed her in a very cute blue and white checked frock with a collar and rutching with mushrooms. She also got to see all her teachers – old, new, favorites and not so much. She also had a side pony tail that was just too adorable (I, unfortunately, was not responsible for any of her outfit)

Here's a picture of a different outfit of my beautiful tomboy princess:

Gotta love the barefoot tree climber in a pink organza (Is that what you call that material?) dress

Here's another on, just to show that this was not a one-time affair:and that both my children are barefoot tree climbing monkeys. Just goes to show anything is possible if you don't tell them they can't do it, they'll show you they can.

Yaelisms - Part II

I knew I'd forget some and so of course I did -

BIG-ONE: It is never enough for Yael to say something is big. It is always "Big One" and said like it is the biggest deal in the whole world, and I guess it is to a two year old - For example: "I want apiece of chocolate. Oh, big one"
Or I want to have some toilet paper (which she calls paper towels) - the same size as always but it is "big one".

Pretty hair: anytime we brush her hair or put it up in pig tails or a pony tail. I ask her if she wants to do pretty hair and she will run and get her brush and ponytail holders. Trying to explain coo-coo (pony tail in Hebrew and peek-a-boo too) is just too hard.


She either has the littlest bladder I know or is still in the I hafta see every potty in every place we go to stage. We go at least once everywhere and sometimes up to 5 times within an hour.. Guess it is fun for her to feel like she has control over SOMETHING.

But we always give the kids choices...meat or chicken? [fish is not an option since Eran doesn't like the smell - but I'm trying to win him over to tilapia]
Flat (cheese quesadilla with tomato salsa) or rollada (cream cheese or hummus in a tortilla)

My kids are great helpers in the kitchen as long as you know that you will have 2 individual helpers and not that they will help each other.
When I make "Israeli" salad - cukes and tomatoes with some lemon juice and olive oil dressing, I cut up the veggies pretty small and Yael puts them in the bowl and stir. Then Yoni helps add teh dressing and stir.
Yoni makes the best matzah balls. When I make them they come out like leaden cannon balls, but his come out nice and fluffy. He also does nicely making guacamole. And you know what - if you let them help you make it, they are more likely to eat it - even if they are picky eaters. Some of my kids' favorite foods are GREEN: cucumbers, grapes, guacamole, apples - WHO KNEW!

Before I forget them:

Here is the latest installment of the Yaelisms. Sorry it's been so long since I've written. Life just got in the way as usual.

• We have recently been singing the Baby Bumblebee song a lot – over and over and over again. She asks for it by saying “Bee song” and doing the “buzzzzz” movement with her hand landing in her other hand like a buzzing bee… So for those who don’t know and love it, here is our version [- the words in RED are interchangeable]:
  
  Cupped hands swinging back and forth:
  I’m scooping up my baby bumblebee
  Won’t my mommy be so proud of me
  I’m bringing home my baby bumblebee
  Open hand and look wounded
  Spoken: OUCH! It stung me
  Then Yael usually asks me to kiss her finger and I shake my hand as if it was stung
  
  Making squishing movements with hands
  I’m squishing up my baby bumblebee
  Won’t my mommy be so proud of me
  I’m smushing up my baby bumblebee
  Open hands and make a “yucky” face
  OOH YUCK!
  
  Wiping hands on pants or shirt
  I’m wiping off my baby bumblebee
  Won’t my mommy be so proud of me
  I’m cleaning up my baby bumblebee
  Open hands out to the sides and say
  ALL CLEAN!
  
  We usually sing it at least 3 times in a row and sometimes she twirls around and around. Very cute :)
• She calls Grandpa Stewart “Purpaw” cause she can’t quite make all the correct sounds for Grandpa. I then call him “Purple” just to tease her and she laughs and says “no, not purple, mommy – purpaw”…So I think we have a new kid friendly nickname for Stew – Purpaw Or Grandpa Purple: And you and I have no say in the matter – the child has spoken.
  
• When we talk to him on Skype [it’s the new landline don’t ya know] she always wants to know where’s Bubbe? Cause the first time we did this Bubbe was in the background watching Law and Order on the couch and she waived at us. Now she thinks Bubbe should be there too, even if she knows that Bubbe is in Conroe or sleeping in her bed.
  
• We are taking Yoni to a modeling audition this weekend to see if he has what it takes. If he gets it, the prize includes an advertising campaign and a scholarship to Page Parks which is where we wanted to go anyway. This is a FREE way to see if he really does have what it takes – but I just don’t want to be one of those stage moms. So I’ll tell him to be the best he can be, don’t scrunch up his face when he smiles, to do what they tell him and that’s that!