Water Water Everywhere

Thursday morning after Josh got the kids out I got Nadav in the stroller to take him to the Dr.'s office for the nurse to give him 2 vaccines. Of course when we got there it was the wrong nurse and I have to go back next week. We hung out at home and went for a walk before picking up Jordy. After Danya's swimming I took Nadav and Danya and we went to Danya's eye doctor appointment. She had told me that since the teacher switched her seat she couldn't see the board. Of course she needed glasses. She picked out a cute pair with flowers and they should be ready next week.
Thursday night I didn't get much sleep. I went to bed late, Nadav woke up to eat and Danya woke me 2 times to tell me that she couldn't sleep. Friday morning my Dad came over at 11 and he held Nadav while I cleaned the kitchen and did some cooking for Shabbat. Danya came home with Meira and then Saba picked up Jordy. Jordy was Abba shel Shabbat this week and I forgot to write about on Wednesday but Jordy was telling my Dad that he was excited because he was going to be the Abba shel Shabbat and my Dad hadn't heard him so my Dad asked him to repeat himself. Jordy then translated for him "I am going to be the Dad of Shabbos". I thought it was hysterical that he translated the word Shabbat to Shabbos. We then said goodbye to Saba. The kids played while I finished cooking and cleaning. Melissa and Jonny joined us for Shabbat. The kids were so happy to see them and read comic books with them and we had a nice time catching up as we haven't seen them in a while. On Friday night it rained a lot. Which we recognize is a big blessing as we have had a very dry winter here and we need the water. However, and I can see Pops rolling his eyes and yelling at Josh as he reads this, we still have a issue with our marpecet leaking water into our bedroom. When we went to sleep the room was dry however when I went to get Nadav, who was crying, at 2:30 I put my foot on the floor into a cold, wet puddle. The whole room was soaked. So while I fed Nadav Josh found every towel in the house and cleared up the floor. We then spent the remainder of the night partially asleep but checking the water from time to time. I think I finally fell asleep at 6am and then Danya came in at 7 and when she opened the door said "why is the floor wet?". So we cleaned again. After that the floor stayed pretty dry but we were exhausted. Nadav had woken up to eat around 8 and then I put him back to bed but Danya and Jordy were yelling at each other and woke him up. So I cuddled up in bed with him and the 2 of us took a nap while Melissa played probably about 100 games of BINGO with the kids-thanks Melissa! We ate lunch and then we all tried to nap but Danya and Jordy were bored and annoyed that they couldn't go anywhere since it was raining. Josh napped a bit while Nadav and I hung out downstairs and Danya and Jordy played in the attic. After Shabbat we were in the kitchen and Josh mentioned that we had to turn on the dud(the water heater) and we realized very quickly that when you say "dude" Nadav laughs hysterically. So here is a video of all of us saying dude to him and making him laugh.

I find it funnier that Jordy cracks up whenever Nadav laughs and babbles.
Then Jordy and Danya were dancing to the dude song they made up so I took a video of that too.


We were all settled in for a quiet Saturday night when I got a call from Sharon asking if we wanted to go out with them. I told her I wasn't sure I could get a sitter but she said their neighbors daughter was available. We didn't have any excuse so we figured we would go. We were the only ones in the restaurant as people don't like to venture out in the rain if they don't have to. We had a nice time hanging out and we stayed out too late!

Order of Born

2 days in a row! Look at me!! Don't get used to it!
This morning I brought Nadav to book club. Yes, I finished the book last night and highly recommend it. I better get working on the next couple books! After that I tried to get Nadav to nap but he wouldn't hear of it. I tried to clean the kitchen a little and succeeded a little. Then I put Nadav in the Baby Bjorn and we headed to gan to pick up Jordy and Ariella. They were dressed in vests and top hats that they decorated for Adar with smiley face stickers and pins. They looked so cute and then took 2 cute pictures. I couldn't decide which picture was cuter so I posted both.


Danya returned from school with a friend. They were working on a project for school. Once Adar starts the kids get a theme and are encouraged to dress up according to the theme....EVERYDAY UNTIL PURIM! Yeah, if you thought it was bad having your kids dress up for Purim imagine how bad this is! The theme this year is Ivirit(hebrew) and I don't remember the shoresh or the word but today Danya needed to dress up as someone who delivers something. Luckily Josh had a shirt that he bought at some thrift store a long time ago that is a Lays Potato Chip delivery guy shirt. So even though nobody in Israel knows what Lays is Danya wore it. Tomorrow is compound word day so Danya and her friend are doing Olah Chadasha(new citizen). She and the friend are going to wear our Nefesh BNefesh hats, Walk with Israel T shirts and bring maps and a dictionary. Saba came over around 5 as did Lisa and kids. Saba had the kids line up in order of born aka by age from oldest to youngest to distribute presents. Notice Nadav in his little chair at the end of the line! Then we had the favorite Saba take out of Burgers Bar. Jordy's hot dog arrived on a hamburger bun that was larger than his head:

After dinner Lisa and I went to a clothing sale at the Kaplansky house and bought the girls a few skirts. Saba said goodbye and headed back to his hotel. We got Danya and Jordy to bed and then I dealt with Mr. Crabby Pants. Nadav hadn't napped more than 10 minutes at a time today so he was going nuts and screaming. He finally cried himself to sleep at 10:30....and I am still writing the blog! Goodnight!

Saba's Back

This morning after getting the kids off to school and getting Nadav fed Josh and I headed to Shilat. We went to the grocery store which was a mad house. Much worse than usual for a Tuesday morning. Then we stopped to pick up our challah board which had been broken. We had to have the glass repaired. After getting home and eating lunch I packed up the stroller and Nadav and I headed to Jordy's gan to pick him up. Then we went to Lisa's as my Dad was going to be arriving soon. We were all excited to see Saba. When my Dad mentioned that he had his bags in his car Jordy yelled out "What is in your bags Saba?" because he knows Saba always brings presents. Jordy and Moshe went to swimming and Saba and I headed to Danya's school to surprise her(Meira had already returned but Danya has a longer day today). Then we all hung out and ate the Mike and Ikes that Saba brought. After Saba headed out and Danya went to her English class we were invited(well Lisa was invited, I tagged along) to a neighbors house who has a ton of purim costumes. She had offered to lend some to Lisa and I got in on the deal and left with 3 costumes! So happy I don't have to go to the toy store, battle the people and spend a ton of money. Yahoo! We came home and I threw together dinner while Danya and Jordy did their chores....yes, they are still doing them. After dinner Josh took Danya and Jordy to the attic to clean up as it was a disaster as usual. Danya and Jordy went to sleep and I have to finish my book, The Birth House by Ami McKay, before book club tomorrow morning. Only 40 pages to go!

Here is a cute picture of Michali for all those of you who miss Lisa's blog:

Raise your hand if you think it is time Lisa updates her blog!

Chores

Ok, before I go on to tell about the past week I have to let you all know a funny story. I wont tell you who, but someone called me after midnight on my American line the day after I posted about the butt dialer, because their phone was in their purse and it bumped into my number! How ironic that it would happen the day after I posted about it? Especially since it was the first time that had ever happened with this person!
I am going to share the highlights of the week. On Friday Josh stopped at the art store and bought 2 small dry erase boards, one each for Danya and Jordy. He then wrote a list of chores on each one including making beds, cleaning up their stuff from the living room, dishes in the sink, shoes by the door etc. They were both really excited to get the boards and that they could do their chores. Danya was particularly excited because she wants to get an allowance. Apparently Jordy doesn't really get the whole allowance thing because I overheard him telling Danya "Come get your toy out of my room so you can get your molloance." Josh and I discussed how great it was that they were so enthusiastic and were betting on how fast they would be sick of it. Josh thought Tuesday, I said Sunday. On Shabbat day, after they had done chores for 1 day, Danya wanted to know if she still had to do chores! So yes....not even 12 hours!
On Friday night we had a huge thunderstorm. We woke up at 5am listening to the thunder, rain and hail. The power went out for a second with a giant crash of thunder. Then the marpecet started leaking into our room, so we had to deal with that. Luckily Nadav didn't wake up for any of that. Danya and Jordy did but went right back to sleep.
It rained on and off on Saturday. We went to our neighbors, the Blocks, for a beautiful kiddush. There was so much food that we hardly ate any lunch when we got home. Danya and Jordy headed to the Balsams after lunch and stayed the rest of Shabbat. Josh and I napped a bit on the couch while Nadav slept a little in his stroller.
On Saturday night I went out with my friend Sharon. While I was waiting for her Nadav was "talking" to the light on our dud shemesh(solar panel-hot water) timer. I took this video when he had already been "talking" for a good 5-10 minutes.


We have noticed lately that he likes looking at electrical items. He often chats with the alarm panel, the dud shemesh, the remotes to the heat etc. Interesting.
Last night we went to Beit Shemesh for Shani Knapel's Bat Mitzvah. In the car on the way there I played music that I had put on my new phone. At one point the song The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson was playing and suddenly Danya was singing along. Apparently at some point I put that on her MP3 and she knows it by heart. Josh and I were laughing because we had no idea she knew it. Anyhow, we had a great time at the Bat Mitzvah and the kids had a blast. Aside from the whole Aronson family, we got to see Thea-who provided us with free babysitting:

Danya and Jordy were so excited to attend their first Bat Mitzvah and they partook in everything. They spent quite some time drawing pictures in the memory book there.
They ate a lot. They danced. When it was time for the slide show and speeches they sat on the floor with all the 12 year old girls so they could see. All in all it was a fun night for everyone. The only downside was we didn't get home until 10:30pm on a school night.
The kids were a little slow moving this morning but all in all it was ok. Tonight Jordy's gan had a Yom Mishpacha(family day) party. They had asked us a few weeks back to give them the address of Jordy's grandparents so they could send out a nice little invitation. Of course I had to respond that Jordy's grandparents live in America and probably wouldn't make it. We were told to then send another family member, sibling, or worst case scenario, a parent. Luckily Lisa was willing to go in exchange for watching her kids. She said it was really cute and Jordy did a great job. Here are a couple pictures she took of him:


Here is another random Nadav shot:

Ha Ha Ha Can I Please Have Some Wine?

Of course I can't remember the details of the past week because my brain just doesn't work that well. I know we did our usual stuff...school, swimming, karate, English etc. I am pretty sure I went to the grocery store. At some point during the week Danya added a new line to her arsenal. She always rolls her eyes or says something like "good one" when Josh and I make dumb jokes-which we do a lot. The other day, after I made a dumb comment she responded "Ha Ha Ha, Can I please have some wine?". I asked her to explain and it had something to do with if you drink wine then things are funny so if she drinks wine she would think my joke was funny. While it is a weird comment and I am not sure where she came up with it-I know Meira was in on it too-I thought it made a little sense-just sounds strange. The problem is that she says it to everything we say. So now Josh and I have started saying it for her after we make dumb jokes.
Jordy also had a funny comment the other morning(was it this morning? who can remember?). He didn't want to finish getting dressed to go to school. I asked him why and he said he doesn't like it that all the kids in his class all want to sit next to him. It's not fair that everyone likes him "the best". Poor kid! It is hard being the popular kids!
I wanted to have guests on Shabbat but was hesitant to as our power issues hadn't been worked out yet. A friend of ours had a baby boy this week, so Mazel Tov to the Gellers, specifically to "the shlishiyah"(triplets) who are good friends with Jordy. I cooked them dinner for Friday night along with another woman in the community. Friday was such a beautiful day that I enlisted Josh and Jordy and we carried the food over on Friday to enjoy the fresh air. Friday night we had Josh's cousin, Yoni Teren, over for dinner. He wanted to stay over but as I wasn't sure we would have power we suggested he sleep elsewhere but could join us for dinner. After we ate dinner we headed to the Gellers for the Shalom Zocher. Danya was kind of tired and crabby and was upset that none of the girls were playing with her. Jordy was also a bit on the tired side so I took the kids and left after a short while. Josh stayed a little while longer as he was having a nice time. I got the kids home and right to bed(Nadav fell asleep on the way home in the stroller).
Shabbat morning the kids played and were outside so Nadav and I got to sleep a bit. After lunch Jordy's friend Amitai showed up to ask Jordy to come to his house. Josh, Danya, Nadav and I went for a walk to Lori's. It was another gorgeous day outside. Sometimes it is hard to know that it is warm as our house is so cold inside. I was dressed a little warm, but Danya insisted on wearing her heavy winter coat along with the heavy matching hat. I was sweating looking at her. Josh and I decided that Bubs would have been proud! We got to Lori's but apparently everyone was asleep, so we headed home. Josh took a nap and Meira showed up to play with Danya. Nadav was kind of cranky after I fed him so I put him back in the stroller and walked around some more. I did end up back at Lori's where I saw Myrna, Jeff Stein, Nava Hyman and Yocheved. It was a fluke that all those people were there but it was a fun Chicago gathering. We headed home as Shabbat was ending.
Sunday morning I fought the urge to go back to sleep after feeding Nadav and headed over to Nicky Halpert who was having a "meet the new olim" coffee. She requested that new olim, older olim and even older olim come to get to know one another. I thought this would be a good opportunity to meet some of the olim who arrived while I was at home on bed rest but the only "new" oleh was Tammy Mandel who I already know(and told to come). It was very nice none the less, getting out and chatting with friends.
Last night Danya and Jordy had a "sleepover"-they do this often, where one of them sleeps in the others room. They are usually very good about going to sleep and then when they wake up they don't bother us right away. However this morning for some reason they woke up around 5am and after a while Jordy came to get us as he was starving. Nadav woke up soon after and there went the morning. After Josh got the kids to school we headed to the Geller Bris. We had a nice time and sat around a little bit talking. We then headed to the cell phone store. We have had our cell phones since we made Aliyah 2 1/2 years ago and the batteries needed to be replaced as the phones were dying after 1 call. We also wanted to see if we could get a better plan as we figured things changed in the past few years. We of course had to wait for over an hour there. Once they called us Nadav woke up and was hungry. So I fed him while Josh got us a whole new plan and new phones. Our new phones have a jillion features, most of which we will probably never use. I was a little disappointed that they weren't flip phones as I am not a fan of butt dialing(if you don't know what I am talking about then watch this video...I thought this commercial was hysterical).

Anyhow, the kids went to their assorted activities this afternoon and Nadav and I delivered some over due Bar Mitzvah presents. After the kids came home we ate dinner and then Danya and Jordy went right to bed as they were exhausted.

I am sorry I have no pictures of Danya and Jordy but here are a few of Nadav. I will try to take more in the next few days.

Power Problems-Again!

Friday was pretty quiet. We were eating supposed to be eating home and I cooked a couple things and Josh picked up the rest. About 2 minutes before candle lighting our power went out. Ugh! So I tried doing what the electrician told us to do since he insisted that it was a fluke when it happened last time(also 5 minutes before Shabbat) but alas it wasn't working. I quickly called Lisa and was happy when she answered the phone. I told her we were trying to get the power back up but we may show up on her doorstep, so please leave lights on in the guest bathroom. We got the power back for about 5 minutes and I lit candles. Josh walked across the street to shul but noticed the lights going out. I quickly got the kids to pack up the things they would need and loaded up our food and headed to the Balsams. The dinner actually worked out well and if I am not mistaken they were happy to welcome our pan of brownies to the table. The kids were all excited to be having an impromptu sleepover as well. The kids all went to sleep very late and the adults even later.
Shabbat morning we went to the Furmanskys for lunch-which also worked out well as Lisa and Nafi were having a house full of guests. We had a nice time and the kids played and had fun. We headed back to the Balsams and hung out until after Shabbat. Of course, as it happened last time, the power went on without a problem after Shabbat.
After school today Jordy went to a friends house and Danya returned with a friend. Later I put Nadav in the stroller and we walked to meet Jordy as he was entering his English class with his folder. Then we walked around for a while and stopped in to say hi to Lori for a couple minutes. Then we picked up Jordy and headed home. After we ate dinner and Jordy went to sleep we did a video call to David and Jodi(or more particularly to Atara, Moshe and Talya). Danya and Talya were having the best time and we realize we need to do this more often. It is crazy how big those kids got in a couple years! After we said goodbye Danya headed to bed happy.

No Crying

This morning I dragged myself out of bed and Nadav and I headed to tipat chalav, the pediatric office. The nurse informed me that I didn't have an appointment. I showed her the sheet they gave me last appointment that showed that I did in fact have an appointment. Apparently the person who scheduled the appointment forgot to put it in the computer. Nadav weighs 5 kilo 950 grams(or 13 pounds 1 oz) and is 62 cm(24.4 inches) tall. Then the nurse laid him on his back and held a toy for him to reach for. She was wearing a very bright colored shirt and he was not interested in the toy, only the shirt. Then she shook the toy and rather than reach for it he started laughing. It was cute! Then she gave him a shot and I couldn't believe it but he didn't cry-not one drop! After that we stopped at the bagel store and the butcher. The afternoon was pretty typical. We had dinner and then the kids headed to bed.

2 Things For Free

This morning I was all ready to spend the morning sleeping since Nadav had another fun night but Josh suggested that we go to Yerushaliam since Jordy was going to a friends house after school and Danya wouldn't be home until at least 3. I agreed and we headed out. We went to the mall first since Josh needed a new pair of Naot. Unfortunately I don't think there is anywhere near here that sell them. The other unfortunately is that they didn't have the pair he wanted in stock so they ordered them but we will need to go back in a few days. Josh also found a new pair of Shabbat pants and I was shocked to find that the Mashpir employs a tailor and they shortened the pants while we waited! Talk about service! After the mall we headed to the shook. I was a little upset that I hadn't brought the baby carrier as I know the shook is generally a little crowded and I was worried about navigating it with the stroller, but I figured if all the old ladies can get through with their carts I can handle it. It was fine. We bought a bunch of fruit and a few vegies. Funny story from the shook-we went to one stall and asked for a red onion, which wasn't out on the table but behind the counter. The man told Josh how much it was and put it in the bag quickly. I noticed as he was doing so that it was moldy. Josh took it out and told the guy that we wanted a different one. The guy was rude and gave us our money back and said he wouldn't sell us any! So we went to the next stall and handed the guy a small red onion to pay for it. The guy asked if that was it. When we said yes the guy told us it was on the house! You do get some things free in life. Glad we didn't keep the moldy onion! Then we located the stall that sells some Post cereal for about 5 shekel cheaper than the store. So we loaded up on Cocoa Pebbles and Fruity Pebbles. Josh stopped for a boreka and while we were waiting a motorcycle revved it's engine and Nadav started screaming. It took him a minute to calm down and while he was a old lady who was walking by nudged me and told me that my baby was crying and I should take care of him! Thanks for the advice...was that free too??? Do people think I don't notice the screaming baby??? After that we headed home. Of course Danya called my cell phone as we were about to drive into the Yishuv and said she was at a friends house. Jordy came home later and was excited to see we had bought him a kippah while we were at the shook. I picked up Danya before dinner. We ate dinner-Jordy wasn't so brave tonight-he wouldn't try the sweet potatoes and when I put an edamame bean on his plate he demanded I remove it and then he wiped the spot off with his napkin to prevent getting edamame germs. Danya was happy because she loves edamame and requested the leftovers in her lunch....do you think a lot of girls get that in their lunch? After dinner Danya and Jordy did a little painting and then the kids headed to bed after a little TV.

High Maintenance Baby

Well here we are again, another week gone by and I haven't blogged. I have to say that Nadav is proving to be a very high maintenance baby. If he isn't wrapped properly in his blanket he doesn't get a good night sleep. If he doesn't get a good night sleep he is crabby all day. If he is crabby all day then he wants to be held all the time. If he is held all the time I have no time or energy to write on the blog.
He has recently outgrown his magic blanket which means he isn't sleeping so well since Josh and I aren't so good at the swaddling(in his defense, Josh is actually better at it than I am). I have an order in for a new blanket in a larger size but we are awaiting a courier to bring it from the States(if you know someone coming before Feb. 10th let us know!). So....we have had a crabby baby.
Not much else has happened recently. Danya is still busy with school and her chuggim. She was upset that school is having Hebrew week. Yes, we live in Israel and yes, she learns in Hebrew. However, since there are a lot of Americans the school is trying out not allowing the English speakers to speak English to each other, including during lunch and recess.
Jordy is still busy reading his English books and still very proud.
In other news, I stopped being a short order cook. I now make one dinner and if they don't like it too bad. Also, I try to get Danya and Jordy to try everything at least once. I knew Danya would be more willing to try things however I was surprised to find that not only is Jordy willing to try things, but he likes a lot of things I never would have thought he would. He was asking me to send the leftover turkey meatloaf, or turkey loaf, to school for lunch because he liked it so much! I can't believe it took me so long to just make them eat what I make rather than give them options.
Here are some pictures I took of Nadav last week: