holiday poem

To the diligent daycare workers who take care of our babies while we are at work during the day.... to be rolled up like a graduation diploma scroll and attached with curling ribbon to their gift
(full text of poem below)

As a little babe in arms
You’ve been graced by all our charms

You help to keep us clean and dry
And put up with all our cries

Here’s a gift, just for you
A great big THANKS for all you do

There’s a candle jar to light the way
And chase away the long, hard day
A sweet aroma will fill the air
Just to show how much we care

Snuggle up in the blanket to warm yourself
And be reminded of those squirming elves
Who eagerly greet you every day
As you help them grow and laugh and play

Some sweets for you to enjoy with grace
Just a small way to put a smile on your face

We hope you love our giggles and grins
Happy Holidays from the Namer Twins
With Love – Daniel and Benjamin

activation

sorry for having to do it, but I have been getting a lot of span comments on some older posts so I have activated the word verification feature. Don't let that deter my loyal following of your commenting duties.

Gratitude Jounal: revisited

Got some interesting spam comments on a post from about a year ago.
Realized that I haven't looked back in awhile and looked at that post again.
Upon re-reading, it was, as usual, something positive that Eran had done to keep things in perspective for me. That is especially important at this juncture since he is so testy about certain things right now (our health, family, money) and how we are strapped financially to meet our regualr obligations in a timely manner.
At least he is not sullen about them as he has been in the past. This time to his credit he is not mulling over things silently in a funk, but rather discussing them daily with me in rather heated discussions that get everything out in the open and vented. And it is not even really arguing because we are in agreement on most of the things but just annoyed that things are out of our control for the most part and we just have to get over it and get on with our lives.

In any case, to keep things positive I want to show gratitude for 5 things for the next few days if I can manage it so here is installment #1:
1. We are both gainfully employed if not doing our dream job, but at least something that will provide for our families
2. Our family is growing by people and friends - both our immediate family and those we have become close to recently
3. I am grateful for the chaos that IS managing the lives of our children including playdates, teacher conferences and holiday programs that they work hard to produce for us
4. My job has allowed me to learn a new skill in coding invoices which is not necessarily transferrable in this state, but that it something else that I now know how to do in any situation once I learn the codes...Maybe I'll take a night job in medical billing for some extra cash - I used to do freelance copy editing and I miss that extra $$$ for what is essentially an easy task for me
***PHONE CALL***
5. Having an extended family that is willing to help run car-pool and basically raise my children so that I can continue to work a full -time job in order to provide a roof over their heads.

***Now I'm not as happy as I should have been. In the middle of witing this post, I was grilled about our financial status by my better half. Would that I could give him a better report so that he could come back down off the ledge...

more strange coincidences

I am already well aware that my first-born Jonathan is a special gift and a special child.
He was diagnosed with a condition (CMV) in-vitro, that was confirmed via amnioscentises, that could have had potentially dangerous life-altering outcomes including severe birth defects or learning disorders or deafness onset in childhood. In my deepest depths I knew that everything would be ok, but the doctor appointments where they explained all the possibilities really gave my husband pause and he went out into the world scared. He then somehow found himself working for extra money at the time at a swimming pool in an ultra-orthodox neighborhood where the hours for swimming were separate. He met the esteemed Rabbi Pesach F there who performed our wedding (who when I went to kallah classes in Har Nof she pulled one of his books off her bookshelf) And at the time I was pregnant with J he asked for blessings and prayers from all the Rabbbis and other religious people he saw there, feeling that their extra blessings would make things turn out ok.
Still struggling with the idea that we were blessed to raise a set of twin boys as well as Jonathan, my first born boy and my special princess Yael (who's name is a perfect fit for her), I was fiddling with Jewish birthdate calculator online.
In addition to beating the odds that he would suffer from one or all of the terrible things the doctors were predicting since he was confirmed to carry this virus, the same doctors who suggested that I consider terminating the pregnancy (Are you kidding me? This was my first pregnancy, thery were being overly cautious, and I KNEW all would turn out ok), Jonathan was born in the holy city of Jerusalem, on a Saturday (being born on Shabbat has some special significance I have been told), on the day BEFORE a leap year (could you imagine denying a kid a birthday except once every 4 years?), and he was born umla'ah (with a partial brit) which is also a special significance (so I am told) Being that he was a first born boy and my first pregnacy, he would have had a pidyon ben celebration after a month, but since my father is a Levi, meaning that his family served the cohenim and therefore my son was not to be bought back - he is the grandson of a Levi after all...
As if this was not enough special-ness for one child. February is a busy month for us celebration-wise since my husband was born on the 15th, Americans celebrate valentine's day on the 14th, and Jonathan was born on the 28th. I was fiddling around with the Hebrew birthday calendar. And it turns out that Jonathan and Eran share the same parshat ha shavua - Terumah, the first week of Adar. These are the kind of signs from above that some people don't take the time to notice. I notice, but I just don't get the full significance of these celstial "coincidences" because I feel inferior learning-wise since I don't devote my entire life to it. When I am in my family mode, it is all I think about, My work and family pieces of my life can not and do not overlap. Once I arrive at the office I am who I am (albeit a hard worker and a little outta place as the only Jew in the company) Once I leave the premesis, I become super mama bear and hope that I will get back to the other side of town to get the babies and not disappoint them. At this stage, I am more about hoping I get there on time so that the day care lady can go home to her family. Then I go get the "big kids" and am assaulted at the door with hugs and kisses (the best end to the day) and then its home again and off to bed!

4

Sunday was Yaeli's 4th birthday and the twins are both 4 months old.
The theme of 4 comes in 3s and 7 are the days of the week
(shabbat is the 7th day of creation)
Deep Thoughts before my usually rushed Tuesday morning staff meeting.
That is alll.

anthem

So my oldest son is OBSESSED with sports. I don't know how this phenomenon came about but I will admit that I might have sparked an interest when I received comp tickets to a few baseball games and slyly convinced my dad that he should take the kids. Of course I had no idea that it would blossom into such an addiction. He will avidly watch and be totally consumed by baseball, football, soccer, basktball, car racing, bull riding and just about anything that has a color announcer giving commentary.

One of my favorite memories is when he had a play date at our house with the Rabbi's son who when I spoke to his mother I convinced her to let him come over to watch the SuperBowl since I had ordered a party package from Bnei Akiva and that there would be no issue of not having kosher enough food for him to eat.

Recently we were watching one of the games of the World Series. But let me back-track by explaining that over the summer he went to see another Astros game with his day camp where he received a paper schedule of the season's games. That ragged piece of paper was like his bible. And he got upset when it got torn on the seams from overuse (I dilligently taped it back together for him like a good mama). He checked it daily, numerous times a day to see when his beloved Astros were playing and where. And our lives were scheduled around when he could be home to see the opening pitch (even though he was aware that there are at least 9 innings to watch) And one day I made the mistake (maybe?) of showing him how to access the Astros website on the computer from a search engine (I can explain it as a learning experinece since he had to know how to spell and to type the letters) so that occasionally he would want to use the computer to see the previous game's score or the see when they were scheduled if the paper scehdule had gotten misplaced.

So back to the original story at hand...
We were at home one evening recently and about to watch one of the final games of the World Series. Well we were absently (so I thought) watching the pre-game activities around dinner time and somehow at the appropriate appointed time the national anthem came on. I have to say that it was a priceless moment to watch my son stand solemnly at attention at his little table in front of the TV and sing HaTikva with all his heart while the Star Spangled Banner was emitting from the television. Eran and I exchanged glances and tried to conceal our kvelling and our mirth and merriment. Jonathan was the recipient of some extra hugs and hair ruffling that day :)

Thank you for your attention. Now you may return to your regularly scheduled activities.

MESS

Sick babies can still make their notable milestones.
Took off on Wed to take Baby Benjamin to the dr since his cough made him sound so miserable. Poor thing has a conformed virus combined with ear infection needing antibiotics. And apparently lots of antibotics. 3.5 ml twice a day for such a small thing (he's 12 lbs 7.5 oz as of his weigh in) And last night he did it - he deliberately turned over to reach for his sister's toy that she had placed within his reach, Of course his arm got stuck underneath him and he got frustrated and cried, but he did it! And he has been stretching in his bouncy chair to the right side for a few days now so much so that I am now FORCED to strap him in so I don't have to worry that he will fall out from straining to get out on that side.
I dressed them alike on purpose for the first time this AM. It was Halloween celebration at their day care and I had already bought the cute little pirate sleeper pajamas with matching hats for them. So I put them in it. And did they look cute or what. Pics to come.

I probably should mention my recent health scares just to document it for my future self. The day we went to pick up our lulav and etrog (the Sunday after Yom Kippur) I was boouncing around and playing with the kids and the next thing I know the room tilted and I got even dizzier and I knew that I was about to pass out. So I promptly sat down on the floor so I wouldn't FALL down and really cause some injury.  Then I soemhow found a nearby chair and pulled that over.
I checked my BP at work the following day and it was high (155/105) I was in to see the doctor later that week. HE put me back on BP meds and did the requisite bloodwork that would confirm what we both already knew - that I needed to be back on cholesterol medication as well.
Well fine and good. I  went back on the BP meds and he called me back to the office for test results. Not good. Cholestorol meds stat and also more BP med since it was still higher than he wanted and there was more than a trace of protein in my urine. I survived the pregnancy but my body is still paying the price apparently.
Well somehow, I took the meds as I should for a week or two and then managed to lose one of the prescription bottles in my house. The kids didn't find it, I just can't remember which of my hiding places I put it. This because I thought I had SWITCHED BP medication, not added to it.
Then last week, my body rebelled and good. Don't forget we had thrown a shower at my house Oct 2, we went out of town to a wedding in Shreveport and I had traded in my new-to-me car for a new one since they couldn't accommodate the 8 seats we had insisted upon but it was still a hassle and an unexpected expense (never putting cash money down on a new car again!) And of course the deal we got was really a take it or leave it, one time, one of a kind, situation where they "tried" to bend over backwards for us since it wasn't our fault, but somehow my payments still went up and I feel like I got screwed out of my extras....
So we were slated to be on the road again to Austin - half the amount of time as the previous weekend trip, but yet again a weekend on the road - when my body rebelled. I had the worst headache combined with nausea that I have ever had. So much so that it literally had me in tears. And I was stuck at my office. Literally. Because I was NOT about to get on the road in that condition and put myself and all the other drivers out there in danger that I would pass out and kill someone (or myself). Somehow I remembered to check my BP and the numbers were off the charts. Like astronomically. ie nearing stroke levels and higher than some of the numbers my mother was posting when she was hospitalized earlier this year for the very same thing.  180/130 was about the highest. And I couldn't get it to go down cause I felt like shit and couldn't calm myself down. This was on a Thursday I believe. Supposed to go to the party in Austin on Sunday. Didn't go on Friday as planned. Took some time to rest and relax in my own bed.

Back on all the meds now and daily I feel the effects. When I do measure my BP it is in the reasonable range. However, I have all kinds of side effects that may or may not go away, I am flushed regularly, I can feel tingling in my feet. Sometimes it feels like my ears are bleeding (or at least that something is dripping from the ear canal) and most recently, I have a tinny sensation on the tip of my tounge and the sneaking suspicion that I will be having the notable cough that is one of the familiar side effects of one of the medications. My question is when do I know if the medicine is working as it should and if the side effects are the trade off I need to have or if they are an impediment?

And there was other news at the dr that we didn't want to hear, but since it is not just my story, I will save it for another time.
Meanwhile, Jonathan and Yael have been challenging to raise lately, too. Jonathan's reading struggles are still a problem and require extra effort on his part and mine, but the glasses are definitely helping. Yael increasingly wants to be the center of everyone's attention. When I get home, Jonathan still has some homework to do and I want to nurse the babies to relieve the tension from me but also so they still get the benefit of being nursed from me, since the pumping is much messier, harder and much less efficient.

I really need to figure out a way to take down my stress levels so that I don't have a stroke or a heart attack, but I really just want my kids to be happy with me and each other. I'm lucky if I remember to put on deodorant and clean clothes everyday.

maternal overdrive

Can I tell you, dear readers that I am more in love with my babies every day. I love to kiss their little noggins every time I pick them up (from the floor, from the car seat, from their bed, from day care) And it doesn't usually bother me to have baby spit up all over my shirt (however for some odd reason I don't like to sit on it or wear bottoms that have been spit up upon)

It also helps that they are at the smiley stage when they recognize certain familiar faces with smiles, coos and gurgles. G-d knew what he was doing when he made babies especially cute because after hours of contending with a colicy, gassy baby (and in my case, it is usually one at a time) there is always the reward of a cooing smiling helpless little being who you know will never remember any of this down the line.

Recently, one of my co-workers was telling me how his wife would frequently remind their children of the timeless hours she spent rocking the night away with them, To me that seems like part and parcel of the job of being a parent and not something that you should have to remind your children of the time that you sacrificed for them (or anything else you sacrificed for them-can anyone remind me what a vacation is?), Could it be a different cultural point of view or is it just my maternal hormones on overdrive that are talking?

Middle Names

Dear reader:
THIS POST IS STILL IN PROCESS, NEEDS TO BE FLUSHED OUT BETTER

Middle Names
(article)

Name Songs:
Battle Hymn of the Republic - Jonathan/Yoni
La-la-la-la-la-la - Yael
"Nickname" [La Cucaracha] - Yaeli-La-La
Row, row, row your boat - Daniel (or Ben)
Three Blind Mice - Benjamin (or Daniel)

This way they know their names and it is a fun way to sing even more songs with them and to have something special that is all their own.

Heigh ho

Dear reader:
THIS POST IS STILL IN PROCESS, NEEDS TO BE FLUSHED OUT BETTER

So its's back to work for me today. I got to see the kids settled in at their respective schools and then I don't get to do carpool anymore.
Yael is a mess and clingy and cranky and hungry and shreik-y all the time.
Change is hard on her and there have been a lot of changes: Day camp ended and she moved to camp mommy. school started and then mommy went back to work.
That's four separate changes to her schedule in the past month - plus she desperately wants to give up her nap, but she is not ready to do so!

kids independence

Read today about a celeb who was afraid to let her 16 yr old daughter go off on a plane to visit a friend for two weeks. Something aboutworrying over her and not being able to have her be gone for that long. I am SO not that kind of mother. I CHOSE to send my six year old to an out and about day camp where I willingly put him in the care of other teenagers (the counselors for the most part are pretty young), put him on a bus and send him out into the world to do fun things. My rationale is partly that this summer is already so crazy with the birth and the newborns and the exhaustion of the parents and the integration of the grand-parent carpool train that he might as well have FUN. And the places he is going are things I could never do on my own with him to such a degree and he is having a blast. I could have chosen to send him to arts and craft camp all day or gymnastics or something indoors at the center (like his little sister), but in this case, I feel like I am giving him the opportunity to be an adventurer (in a somewhat controlled environment) and explore what it is to do these things that he would not otherwise have the opportunity to do (movies, ball parks, fun kid places that I've never even heard of before). I actually did choose to send him to gymnastics camp for the middle part of the summer, but he got carried away in the spirit of the specialties camp where he spent the first part of the summer and instead, he chose to stay there with one of his friends and do a bunch of different activities that he got to choose on his own (lots of sports instead of art or music which I would have picked).
This independence is something that I am actually trying to cultivate in him, and reminds me of some of the choices that I have made for myself...(Israel, train station TA to Jerusalem, leaving Kenes) My choices may not have been the best ones at the time, or may have had been hard, but they were ALL mine and they all had actions and reactions that came from making those choices. It's taken me an adulthood to be this innocently independent. Yoni can do it with innocence in his youth with only his own results.

leftovers

Here's another recipe I just tried because it is what I had in my refrigerator. Can you tell I haven't darkened the door of a grocery store in awhile?

Chicken Salad
1 leftover cooked chicken breast diced into small cubes
1 Tbsp light mayo (I used a big soup spoon to scoop it out)
almost that much Fat Free Italian salad dressing
1 mini cucumber diced into oblivion (I didn't have celery)
pepper to taste

I served it on a bagel thin open faced (thanks mom for providing me some sort of sandwhich bread) with a side of raw baby carrots and cold sweetened iced tea. Was gonna add the raw carrots to the salad and decided that it wouldn't go together so well. And I also wanted to put it on a bed of lettuce which I am also lacking at the moment. While eating it, I decided that it might also go well with some sweet peas, but not a lot of them. [Interesting, that's also pretty much how I like my homemade potato salad.]

Necessity is the mother of invention and right now I am totally winging it.
I am a little tired of breakfast foods and snacks for all my meals....

cooking tips

who knew I'd ever be giving cooking tips...

A lady I know was clamoring on at a birthday party about how she had made a toddler banana birthday cake for her son's birthday and because it was "the cake" and she therefore didn't taste it, she was unpleasantly surprised when it was pretty unappetizing to the adult palate.
So I suggested that whenever I am making a new recipe for a big cake for an event or whatever, I just reserve some of the batter and make a cupcake to bake and try to ensure I know what I am serving. This idea actually came from when I was baking challah regularly on my Fridays off, I would make some lachmaniot to give the kids and Eran before dinner. It made lots of sense to me - I had a little serving to try first of what was to be the star of the show...who doesn't taste their food before they serve it. How else would you know if it was acceptable? On the food shows Eran watches, they are always berating the chefs for not tasting the food when it comes out unappetizing!

Also, on a whim, I was cleaning out the refrigerator of dairy products that were reaching their expiration date. So I made a quiche with no milk (using egg beaters, sour cream and cottage cheese). I went for spinach as the veggie of choice since I hadn't had that in awhile [and I had 3 boxes of chopped spinach staring at me from the freezer, and I couldn't find the portabello mushrooms I wanted to use up.]
Since I like the lemon juice Eran adds to one of the spinach dishes that he makes, I added some fresh lemon juice to the quiche - I figured that without the milk, any extra liquid would be appropriate. It was an extra yummy flavorful surprise. Despite the runniness of the original quiche (I could've baked it longer I suppose, but the edges were burning) the flavors were spectacular. And I think it would have benefitted from having a crust to tie it all together. I'll try it that way next time.

adorable...

Originally posted 7/31/10 19:56 hrs
I know you think life is all about the twins and all their cuteness, and truth be told they are filling out and starting to look like infants and not alien old men.

However, today's post is all about the adorableness of first crushes. Eran's boss's family came to visit from Israel and made it over this afternoon to see the twins for the first time. Now what is interesting is that they have 4 girls of various ages from 12 to 3. The oldest was here for a few minutes before she went to see a movie with some friends and the younger two stayed for several hours. The 6 year old went to school with my older ones and I am pretty sure she was my Yoni's first little crush since one day she went home crying that he threw her shoes over the fence or into the bushes or something. She also wormed her way into spending the night one night [my kids' first and so far only sleepover that lasted the whole night]...I put her off the first time she wanted to stay by telling her she didn't have a toothbrush, so the next time she made sure she had packed a bag to come to our house. She played well with Yael so it wasn't a problem.

So they turned up at the house and Eran knew they were coming but didn't mention it to Yoni and Yael on the off chance that they didn't show up. So it was a bit of a surprise for them. Yael was excited as she always is to have friends come and play. Yoni reacted quite differently. First of all, I like to hide presents and things in my walk in closet in my bedroom. So the kids know that the closet is off limits to them. And lately with so many people stopping by to see the twins, I have shoved even more stuff in bags in the closet so it is now impassable. In any case, the visitors arrived with the little girls and Yoni ran for my closet claiming that he was looking for something-sometimes I put the toys in toy-time-out in there as well, so I thought he might be looking for something specific. Then I realized he was hiding when he crawled up under his dad's clothes and sat on all the shoes (that could not be comfortable). It was the cutest case of shyness around a girl I had ever seen. If he knew how to blush he would have been red from the tip of his head to his toes! Somehow we finally coaxed him out and after the first few minutes of him still being akward, he finally relaxed and they played together (the 3 of them-Yoni, Yael and T... and they tolerated the littlest one who was so excited to finally play with dolls and toys that she entertained herself for the most part)

Eran's my hero.
He took care of the turtle cage with minimal disruption and did not make me deal with it.
Kids still haven't noticed and I'm not telling.

milestones

Tandem nursing a success - like 5 minutes ago for a full 10 minutes or more. They were both tired and not really hungry just needed a top-off and a reason to get sleepy. Then the best part was the gush of happy mommy hormones that were released either from the nursing itself or just the realization that it was actually possible to nurse both children at the same time. Gonna go try and catch some zzz while they are actually sleeping, (but of course mid-writeup I had to go tend to a screaming unhappy baby who had flipped over onto his back and had arms flailing.

Also, had lots of visitors today and a shower and an outing-so maybe it was because I was really relaxed anyway.

Yael went on her play-date with her school friend [which included me trying to make calls to camp this morning in my not-quite-awake fog, then an email to the director, and then a followup call to make sure she had actually been picked up and I didn't have to get her at the regular time.] And then they came to our house for the first time ever to drop her off - and that was stressful, but Eran had straightened up a lot before he left for the day and then mom and her entourage of understanding friends were over so they both helped make the bed and tend to the babies and let me be neurotic, cause they understood that this was the first time this classy lady had been to my house. [One of her questions while she was here was if I had enough help - she has a nanny/housekeeper daily] Then of course I remembered out of the blue that I had kid friendly snacks and all mom's friends got was a mushy scoop of ice cream, after they had been at my house for hours.

Really gonna try to get some sleep now, though I need to remember in the future that black currant iced tea has loads of caffeine in it and not to drink it anytime after dark or any time I would like to get some sleep. Have mostly laid off the sodas and coffees lately (not entirely of course, but to a good degree, so said caffeine has a profound effect when it is imbibed.

Nervous/Anxiety much???

I am clearly dragging my feet on this having these babies issue.
On the one hand I clearly don't want to have a C-section at any cost, but on the other hand I am not sure I want to go through all the potentially painful process of labor and delivery twice (and then of course all the after birth as well - eeewww)
Then late night drama tv has all these discovery health channel programming gems that have you watching people having babies that didn't know they were pregnant and all kinds of other pregnancy/delivery related dramatic horror stories that make for awesome TV except when I know I shouldnt be watching them so as not to add to my anxiety.
Since I was already at the hopsital once during this pregnancy and ran through a battery of questions, I know that the epidural is encouraged in twin pregnancies in the likelyhood that there may be the eventual need to extract the baby via surgery. Not sure how I feel about the epidural at this point. I didn't have time for one with Yael and with Jonathan once I finally gave in and got one I don't know why I didn't do it sooner since I was dealing with unnatural doses of the devil drug pitocin. At this point, I was already scheduled to have a bed at the hospital on my birthday and somehow my silver-tongued husband talked his way into making them move the date-which I loved!!! (likely including an induction with the breaking of the waters and the dreaded pitocin encouragement, but I don't have to like it.) If I can I will see if they will let me walk around a little before they strap me to all the machines and the IV so as to get the juices flowing naturally as much as possible, and since the last few days walking around much at all has been kind difficult anyway, I'm not sure that it would take long at all.
In fact last night at one point I woke up extremely hot and caught a wave of nausea (I slept in the recliner sitting up on a towel just in case last night, but I don't have that feeling for tonight-at least not right now) and thought that maybe it was time, but then I somehow convinced myself that it wasn't. Maybe I am shutting down my own labor as a mind over matter thing??? Doubtful, but just maybe???
Getting into and outta bed has been challenging. My pelvic joint where the inner thigh is connected has been extremely painful on the left side (Baby B must be standing on my hip bone) and right before I had all the loosening of the joints with the pre-term labor scare 6 weeks ago, I was having serious issues with the joints of my right foot cracking and generally hurting.
And right now over the last few days because of some of my food choices, the heat, and lack of sufficient hydration (I can only stand to go to the water cooler and bathroom a certain number of times in one day) no matter how many bottles of water I chug...I still feel more swollen in my feet and hands.

Traded in the car seats that were gifted to me since they were not what I was looking for. They were convertible to use both as infant seats and for larger toddlers. They were perfectly practical, (working with engineers, what do you expect?) but not what I need at this stage for a double infant stroller where I can keep the kids in the infant seat and snap it into the stroller or car as needed with a minimum of juggling actual infants around. So, still need to get the car seat issue ironed out before we can even take them home from the hospital and now the dilemma is whether to go for the more expensive Graco where I have a plethora of extra bases for all the extra drivers in my life? or to go with the slightly less expensive Evenflo where the Z formation design of the handle leads me to belive it would be more easily maneuverable - more steady and less likely for me to bump the kiddos around too much.

Then of course I expect a litany of visitors, more likely at my tornado-struck, clutterfied home than at the hospital. Can't tell when I'll have to plan a party (bris) cause I don't know how healthy they will be...Might have them over a holiday weekend which could be good because I could get visitors to the hospital too, but then again, it may not be so good cause the hospital might be understaffed.

Plus, all the usual anxiety stuff with how the older kids will react to all this chaos.
As it is, my carefully though out plan to have them taken care of from morning to night at summer camp has resulted in a cranky Yoni almost every night, despite the fact that I know he is having a blast at camp!
And I hope that I will be able to balance caring for the newborns, myself and the older kids all at the same time after having been sat on my butt for over a month and not even bothering to get in the kitchen to make all the yummy things I wanted to (quiches and casseroles and smoothies and desserts and doughs for the freezer, so all I would have to do would be to pull something out) or do all the other litany of house projects that I should have been doing in the meantime while waiting (like cleaning out the drawers of things that are too small for Yael)

Yaelisms #35482

Been awhile since we visited some of Yael's cutest sayings. don't know if I have a whole post worth's but here are some recent ones:

Family - is a variation - falimy
Forever: foreber and eber and eber
If you ask her name she may be inclined to tell you that it is : Yael NetanelNamer which is pretty close. She runs her middle name into her last name and leaves out a syllable [Yael Netanella Namer], but it is oh so cute!
She is very verbal and loves girly things like nail polish and "lips" [chapstick or sparkly gloss] and "pretty hair" [pony tails], and her big brother has an amazing thing with numbers and puzzles...

At the present moment she is doing her version of what she calls lego: matching clear lids to the small pencil sharpeners I bought in bulk thinking I'd use them in favor bags and then they got lost in the playroom, which is where she found the lot of them.

She has STILL never met a stranger as she followed the leader of the sibling class and sat next to her during demonstration time (swaddling the baby) and then had lots to babble about as she stayed near her throughout the hospital tour while I hung toward the back in my wheelie-chair.

Should kids have best friends?

Here is yet another article that I have an opinion that I want to share. Don't really care if it fits the article or not, but it draws from my personal experiences as of now.

My 6 year old has a best friend and some stand-in best friends, and then some kids that he knows but doesn't really have a strong opinion about. And I'm sure there are also some kids he just flat-out doesn't like, but I have yet to hear about those and unfortunately, I don't have time to hover around the playground and intensely scrutinize his interactions with the other kids. Some of that attitude is my generally hands-off approach and some of that is the fact that he is his own person and I need to let him learn to deal with people in his own way.
And he is a boy. Boys generally don't have such cliqueish issues as girls, and especially at this young age, although it is easy to see the beginnings of the social climate being formed.
Along this regard, I have been struggling with the camp placement in groups for this summer. One reason I choose to send him to the camp I do is that he has an opportunity to break free a little bit from his religiously structured private-schoool existence and to intercact with some friends that he knew before we forced him down that track. Somehow, even despite my request to the contrary, and that he be placed with those kids that are not part of his everyday life at the moment, he was placed with the private school kids. It hurts my heart becuase I wanted him to be with some old friends from preschool that wouldn't let him onto the baseball team I wanted [because it was already full] and it caused this season to be pretty awful, whereas they had a fun time all season.

However, the playing field with my 3 year old is even more pronounced. She has her friends that she likes and they like her [thank goodness for that] Then there are the friends that she likes that don't particularly care for her [ouch] And of course there are those kids that she just doesn't like [also ouch] She is on the small side in stature but a force to be reckoned with in her personality. She is already getting her feelings hurt when some of the larger kids refer to her as "baby" This week I taught her to parrot that most all important phrase of small kids everywhere "Good things come in small packages" Of course, she doesn't comprehend what the words mean yet and half the time she can't quite get out the whole phrase, but the foundation is being poured. At least she will have something to say that won't exacerbate the situation when she gets a little older.

More strange pregnancy dreams

So a few days ago I had one of those weird symbolic pregnancy dreams everyone talks about.
It was after a particularly hard night where I didn't get any sleep but then slept like the dead for several hours the following day.
It was also right around the time I took possession of my certified used car, which is brand new to me and loaded with more features than I have ever seen in one vehicle.

The dream goes like this:
Italicized text: dream world
Standard text: real world
I have 6-8 kids loaded into my old CR-V [The new car has room for 8 passengers]
They are mostly my son's best friends and their siblings: Elie, Eyal, Leeor, Ido, Yoni, Yael and maybe even a few more...
All the kids are doubled up on booster seats - 2 per seat, one in front of the other, attached to the back seat of the car by one seat belt.

Meanwhile, in the real world it has been a struggle for me to help make sure my kids are secure cause I can't lean over them to help buckle and tighten the seat belt properly. Good thing for the most part they can do it themselves.

The next thing I know, I am riding a 10-speed bicycle [lately my friend has been on a health kick and turning up periodically at my house for a schmooze on her bicycle - It's only 2 neighborhoods over, likely a 15 minute cycle ride] and all the kids are behind me on those booster chairs, strapped in 2 deep.

Then the next thing I know, I am riding past one Elie's mother [who is the Rabbi's wife] who is wearing a purple scarf head covering. And as I speed past her she is jogging in a long denim skirt and 3/4 length T-shirt, but she doesn't see me and that is good because Elie is no longer with me. I know that she knows I have him, and normally I am a responsible person and would not abandon anyone's kids, but I have most definitely lost this kid and all the others. The only ones I have with me are Eyal and Leeor [who are brothers] and they are now both strapped in the old-school style baby seat that is mounted on the back of the bicycle.

As I quickly cycle past the Rabbi's wife [Gabi] whose back is always to me, I find myself in a limestone, ivy-lined courtyard with a beautiful fountain [a very calming location and out of place in the suburban Houston we inhabit, much more reminiscent of some tranquil garden in England or a ritzy neighborhood in Israel] and I get the feeling that I have just passed Gabi's house at one end of the neighborhood on the way to Dana's apartment at the other end. The proximity of their houses in my dream may represent the fact that in my mind they are more involved in the day to day lives of the kids at school because they are in closer proximity to what is happening [Dana is PTO co-president and Gabi's husband is the Rabbi of the shul where the pre-school is housed] [Dana is also Eyal/Leeor's mother, who lives in a 2-story house that they recently refurbished in an older neighborhood near the school the older boys will be going to next year. She had a baby girl in March and planned the kids' graduation bowling party recently. After she gave birth, I offered to take her boys for a sleep over so she could get some time with the baby. That never actually materialized, but it still might.] So I am returning her boys after the playdate on the back of the bicycle, which in and of itself is rather strange, but my children are not with me nor are the other kids who were on the playdate.

Normally, Israelis are very hospitable and almost insist you stay for coffee and a cookie or something, but she is sitting at a computer desk in a small outer-office-like room off the courtyard [I don't know what her occupation is] but for whatever reason, whether she is just busy or she can tell I am stressed about something, or maybe she had to feed the baby, she just pretty much lets me drop off the boys and leave in a hurry.

At some point before I drop off Eyal and Leeor I realize I have lost my car with no idea of where it could even be and that seems to register almost more than the fact that the kids were still in it. But somehow I also know that the kids are ok and not inside the lost car. I kinda get the feeling that they are on a grassy patch somewhere, either a park or a back yard, kicking around a ball. Elie and Yoni are the best of friends and generally good boys and I know that between the two of them, they won't be getting in any real trouble or hurting themselves. I also know that they are "kinda" watching over their younger siblings [Yael and Ami] without letting them bother them too much.
Guess I expect and attribute lots of real responsibility to and from my kids.

It may or may not be of interest that most of the friends in the dream are Yoni's [and the ones that I know and like the most] and that he claimed loudly and on several occasions to not like our old car. Now, he and his little sister LOVE the new car because it has a TV and sliding electric doors and a sunroof like grandpa's, etc, etc, etc...
So what if it is not brand new, it is new to us and we are loving it...all 3 times that I've driven it so far.