Day 4 - Staycation 2009

There are no photos of our day today but lots of fun times and memories! We hopped into bathing suits as soon as our sleeping beauty woke up at 8 AM. We love that she is a sleeper and life would be grand if her brother had gotten the message. He is partial to the 5 AM hour though. We are hoping an earlier bedtime will get him to sleep longer...weird I know, but I've heard it works.

So we packed up our pool stuff and headed the YMCA in Santee for fun in the sun. We had a great time even though Hadarya shivered and chattered for the first hour! She was so cold but wanted to stay and play. Her very good friend from school, Tay, came to play with her and they had fun chasing each other and being in the water. Hadarya practiced her scoops and kicks. We did twirls and motorboats. She hopped like a kangaroo and walked like an alligator.

Yonatan loved the water and splashed around on my lap and sitting between my legs in the beach entrance area for about a 1/2 hour. Then he'd had it. I stripped him of his wet things and warmed him up and dried him off. He was asleep in the stroller in about 30 seconds and didn't move for the next 1 1/2 hours.

After the session ended and we'd showered and shampooed, we headed home, sure we'd have a napper on our hands. BUT no such luck for our 4th day of staycation. She wanted to play when we got home and spent much of the time doing so by herself yet having tired, cranky spats if something didn't go her way right away.

We ended up making a Costco run for toilet paper and ended up getting some yummy berries to eat all week. Sometimes we just need to get her out of the house and she is ok! We went to my parents for a yummy BBQ steak dinner and everyone was happy and smiley. The baby sat at the table and gobbled up green beans and rice and pears and mangoes. Hadarya devoured her dinner too and left the plate almost empty.

Grandma had a surprise for the big girl and she readily put on her jammies and sat in front of the tele to see. Grandma had tivo'd the 4th of July special at the White House that featured the Sesame Street gang singing with live music. She was in HEAVEN! She watched it twice and the baby got in his jams at 6:40 PM, drained a bottle and fell fast asleep. We put the kids in the car and drove home where both were fast asleep and in bed by 7:25 PM. I wouldn't mind that early time every night!

Tomorrow is our last staycation day. We start with swim lessons and end up at the Happiest Place on Earth. It's going to be great!

Day 3 - Staycation 2009

Tired but what a fun day we had! It's certainly a good thing that any type of break in routine is just a break! I am going to be exhausted after day 5!!

Today we started out our Independence Day Celebration with a trolley ride to Seaport Village. Hadarya's BF at school, Gabriella, rides the trolley to SDSU every day with her daddy. Hadarya has been talking non-stop about trolleys and gets very very excited when we see them. She has begun asking to ride one "one day." So, today was the one day.

We drove to a safe part of the outskirts of downtown to catch the trolley and took it about 5 stops to our destination. Just enough to be exciting but not get bored! She was very concerned because "the birdie needs to move out of the way, Ima" before the trolley got onto that part of the pavement. They did indeed fly away at the last second and she thought that was hysterical to see them flapping about out of the way.

At Seaport Village we were on a mission to find a balloon person and get her a balloon. We found someone (not the usual good one...but one nonetheless) who made a good enough Zoe (pink not orange) with a tutu to satsify our daughter. She had talked non-stop about a balloon since seeing someone with one the day before. We rode the carousel... all of us. Yonatan did his part and spit up at the end. We picnicked on the grass amongst the hundreds already camped out for the fireworks and then took a return trip on the trolley to our car. Yonatan sacked out in the carrier on the way to the car and Hadarya sacked out as we drove home.

After a 2 hour nap for her, lunch for him, and getting bags ready for us, we were off to Elijah's hosue to swim and eat and hang out. Despite the freezing cold water, we played and splashed and enjoyed ourselves. Yonatan loved hanging out on the grass chillin under the rainforest mat of his friend. After some fresh berries, chips, and brownies, we were off to Hank's house for the remainder of the afternoon/evening.

Hank's house has a very warm pool and we all got in; along with the other 7 kids there! It was crowded but fun for everyone. His playroom is always a big hit and Yonatan LOVED a new toy of David's that his does not have. He sat for over 30 minutes playing in the room by himself while I dried off and packed up some stuff! The kids had a blast and we ate too much food and laughed a lot and realized it was a fabulous way to end our day. The company was what made it so much fun and all the way home Hadarya asked when was Hank going to get to come to her house and play. She actually said, "I have a question" and then asked about him coming over. It was very cute!

The highlight of our entire day was Hadarya reading us her favorite book Little Quack before it got too dark in the car. She was so cute reading all the words and using tones and getting through the whole thing so nicely. We were very proud and wished we'd had a video camera!

Day 2 - Staycation 2009

After a lovely breakfast of homemade chocolate chip pancakes eaten picnic style in the family room, we loaded up in the car and headed to the beach. The car had been packed the night before and so the load up was much easier! We detoured at Walgreens for new sand toys and lucked out with a 4.99 bucket set with 8 pieces inside. That made all the difference in our day, seriously.



We got a great parking space at La Jolla Shores and unloaded 2 bags, 1 cooler, 3 chairs, 2 umbrellas, 2 kids, and started walking towards a spot. There were already many people at the beach despite the coldness and overcast sky. Yet, we found a prime area not to far from the car nor the water. While it was quite cold for most of our stay, Yonatan fell fast asleep at his nap time and cozied up on a lounge chair. BUT not until he'd played on the blanket with some toys and managed to get sand in his hair, diaper, and every possible orifice his body owns in under 15 minutes!

Hadarya had a blast making sand castles with our new toys and going to the ocean to get wet and bring back water for her moat. We had a little girl just under 2 named Charlotte who wandered over and sat down to play. Her dad is a teacher at a high school not far from our house and he got his stuff and joined us. Then Tanner from Arizona wandered over and played with the truck and shovel (he's 14 months old) and we totally had the party pad going on with our kids and the twins and these new friends. It was so much fun!

We ate and snuggled and dried off and got sandy and warmed up as the sun tried to break through the clouds. As soon as she said she had to go potty, we were ready to pack it up. Off we went to the lovely beach potties and she peed while I held her up! Changed quickly into undies and her new pink beach dress and then we were off to the car for her to fall asleep on the way home. Do note the cute hairdo she wore. It's one of my best and favorites so far!

After a nice nap and showers for all... well the baby got a bath in his new bath seat which he LOVED, we had a lovely visit with Grandma and Auntie Kimber. Then packed up again and headed to Balboa Park for a shabbat dinner picnic with Savta.



Savta loves to cook and she outdid herself tonight! It was quite a spread but Yonatan had the best time sucking on the cucumber sticks and nectarine pieces. We clearly are into food and are not holding him back too much. The jars of food I bought are just props that I'll use here and there...this boy is serious about getting to the good stuff!

It was a fabulous day that ended with fro yo in Hillcrest, a bottle for Yonatan, and a potty run to Starbucks for Hadarya. All asleep by 8:45 PM and our 2nd day is a hit!

Just in...

We interrupt the staycation updates for this important photo sharing opportunity! On an impulse we took the kids over to our neighbors who are photographers and asked them to take some shots (they love the practice and our kids). I had just bought them matching Elmo paraphernalia and their hair was fabulous (well Yonatan's always is!)
Here are our favorite 3 out of the 47 amazing photos. ENJOY.

Day 1 - Staycation 2009

We canceled a short trip to Palm Springs in favor of creating a staycation for the next five days. We kinda thought 105 degree weather with an infant and toddler was not going to be the vacation we wanted. We're making our own fun at home.

Today Hadarya had her 4th day of swim lessons and the best so far! She stayed in the water the whole time, did all the activities, and did not cry. It was so much better than yesterday. There was also a sub teacher who was female and I think that made a bit of a difference. I am so proud of her for trying and keeping up with kids almost a year and a year and half older than her! She then went to "school" and was happy with her friends (all boys today in her group; who could complain?).

Yiftach was off today on his 2nd to last day of paternity leave and the baby was playing with my parents while Hadarya swam. We convinced them to keep him all day and we had a DATE. Yep... a date with no kids, in the middle of the day on a Thursday. We went to a movie, held hands, and at popcorn. Lovely to not have little hands pawing at our faces and bodies! UP was so wonderfully done and such a feel good movie with great themes for these tough times. We lunched at Rubio's (mmm... fish tacos) and then headed home to pack up the beach stuff for tomorrow.

The baby got picked up first and then the big girl and we were off to a park to meet a friend who was in town visiting for the weekend. It was so fun to see Jean again and catch up! We then rushed off to dinner with the grandparents and everyone had fun eating together and behaving and playing. It was a delightful dinner and fabulous ending to our first day of staycation.

Total staycation cost for the day: lunch $12.53, popcorn $7.00, candy $3.10. Staying home is cheaper than going out when you use your movie passes and grandparent daycare, and restaurant gift cards! I like this so far!

Six months old

Our beautiful baby boy is 6 months old already! How did that happen? He weighs 17 lbs 14 oz and is 26 3/4 inches long. He is round and chubby and has lots and lots of tire rolls. He is too cute for words!

He loves to blow raspberries and drools all the time. One of his favorite things to do is grab your face and hold it in his hands. He is very alert, very curious, and always looking around at things.
He has been sitting up solidly for over a month and his doctor says he sits like a 9 month old. He has begun pulling himself up to standing when we hold his hands and delights in music and his big sister.

Summer is finally here and I am looking forward to quality mommy time and lots of blogging time of my children doing remarkable things.

No More Diapers

May 14th, 2009 our daughter decided she no longer wanted to wear diapers and insisted on underwear to school. She had just peed on the potty and we decided to let her go but were definitely wary as to how the day would go. Her regular and favorite teacher was not going to be at school that day, Thursday or Friday or Monday or Tuesday. But off she went.
AND she held it all day and went in her diaper at naptime and then used the potty at home. We were on our way!!!

Within a week she was a champ and we traveled to New Jersey for a bat mitzvah. We made her wear diapers on the airplane but they were wasted. I had bought her a special new folding potty seat that goes on top of the big adult seat with Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie, and Abby. She used that at the airport bathroom in between flights. She used it on the airplane... ON THE AIRPLANE! She used it in the hotel. She used it everywhere and never had an accident. By the time we were home, she didn't really need the little potty seat anymore and did not need a diaper at nap. 2 weeks and no accidents and no diaper. Way to go baby girl!

Now, 6 weeks later, she is a champ and tells us when she has to go. She holds it all night too and we are only steps away from no diaper at all. She is still comfy in her crib so, I don't want her to have the inability to go in the middle of the night if she really has to. But so far this potty training has been amazing and easy and fun. Everyone says that boys are different and we won't get it so easy again. But then again we were told that we'd never get such a great baby twice and we did...so we think we'll get the potty training so easy twice too.

No self esteem issues in our household

Ok... it's been 2 months since I wrote about my beautiful family and life with 2 children. Hence... the reason I haven't been able to blog is because I have 2 children. I don't know what's going to happen when more join us (no, there's nothing brewing right now, people.. relax)!

ANYWAY back to the topic at hand. We are now able to actually have back and forth conversations with our funny 2 1/2 year old who has a creative, humorous side and lots to say.

Yesterday at Target in the scrapbooking aisle:

Hadarya(pointing to purple sparkly scrapbook paper): Sparkly!
Yiftach: That is sparkly. I didn't even know you knew the word sparkly. It's beautiful.
H: That's beautiful.
Y: Do you know what's more beautiful?
H: Yeah.
Y: What?
H: HADARYA!!

She's so right and so not full of her beautiful self.

You Had to Be There...

but I'll try to make you feel like you didn't miss an incredibly proud moment (I am sure there will be many more) in our daughter's life.

Brief background: From the day we brought our daughter home (at 10 days old) we put her to bed singing the Sh'ma. It's the prayer that translates into "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One" and then the V'ahavta that talks about loving God and performing mitzvot. These are the core prayers of Jewish Tradition.

We send her to a "public" daycare where her 3 best buddies are all of different races and backgrounds giving her a daily look at the world in mini size. We attend Shabbat services almost every Saturday morning and celebrate Shabbat at home (albeit irregularly over the last 2 years until our son arrived in December!)

Hadarya LOVES going to services and being at the synagogue. This past Friday morning we asked her "What is tonight?" and her answer was "it's Shabbat!" When we picked her up at daycare her first words were "Go to synagogue tonight, Ima? Wanna where dress, tights, and underwear, k?" How can you say no to that?

This morning we also went to services as usual and arrived a little later than normal. I was asked to lead the torah service and took H with me to the bimah. She wanted down out of my arms fairly quickly to only reach up to try to see at the douchan. The Rabbi quickly knew that she wanted to stand next to me on her own and brought her a chair. She wanted her own book to lead the service with me and insisted on the big chumash that contains the torah and haftorah portions.

After the ark was opened, the torahs were taken out, and I told her that it was almost time to say the Sh'ma. She started to sing it right away and I told her to wait. The torah scroll holders turned around and the ark was closed. The leader then recites the Sh'ma and the congregation repeats it. I said to H that it was time for the Sh'ma and with all the poise and charm and sweetness she possess, she chanted the Sh'ma (Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad) into the microphone for the entire congregation to hear!!! It was amazing! Then the congregation repeated it. I was so amazed and in awe of my little love and her abilities.

This evening she sang it again and again, but this time she added the 2nd line for the torah service: Echad Elohenu Gadol Adoinanu, Kadosh Shmo. Obviously being in the environment on a consistent basis makes a huge difference. We are doing something right!

Maybe the Rabbi will give her a spot next week too!