Here Comes Summer

It is the first full day of the summer season and my last teaching 4th grade. I spent the day inside a classroom with 26 kids, 30+ boxes all labeled for the move that will take place at some time before the next school year begins but with no guarantees that I'll have any time to unpack and set up, and thoughts of my daughter in my head.

I made it to Grandma's and Grandpa's by 3:55 PM to pick up my darling. She was having a ball playing on their bed and rolling over and they kept screaming with joy at something she'd accomplish. I am sure most of you heard their shrieks of delight!

Then in walks Eema (that's me, the mommy!)and she turns on the whine. The sort of cry and jumps into my arms. She is ready for her bottle and she willingly gulps it down. She no longer wants the bottle from me. She does not want to sit and play. She does not want any of the other adults in the room. It's time to go home.

We arrive home and Eema is SOOO hot and sweaty that she wants to tear off all her clothes. But the beautiful baby is still clingy (that does not help the hot sweaty situation) and all the phones are ringing. So we head to our bed and turn on the ceiling fan and the now almost naked baby laughs and coos in the coolness.

As has become my habit, I run my finger over her gums on top and bottom because she's drooling a ton and is 8.3 months old and has no teeth. Until today... that's right, I ran my finger over her bottom gum and she bit down and OH MY GOSH DID THAT HURT! Lo and behold there is a sharp edge that got me. Hadarya Tali has her first tooth broken through the gum. I was so excited and yelled and whooped it up. You cannot see it, but it is clearly there. What a great start to summer AND I GOT TO BE THE FIRST ONE TO EXPERIENCE IT!

Then Aba (her daddy) came home and I told him that Tamar and Aidin had invited us over for a swim. Hadarya has never been but loves her bath and we were all hot, so we changed lickity split into suits and drove to their house. No words can describe the first flirtation with a pool. See for yourself and know that she went under twice and plopped her face into the water willingly while sitting in her ladybug. She loved every minute of the 40 we were in the water. Swim lessons here we come!

Fabulous Fathers

We spent a wonderful day with the fathers in our family in San Diego and Yiftach had his first celebration. We started off with a yummy breakfast at Megan's in San Carlos and stuffed ourselves on chocolate chip pancakes made special for us.

Then we were off for fun at the San Diego Fair (thanks Jeanne for the tickets!) and my dad had a ball seeing the animals and wood exhibit. He loves the same things every year and we always trapse around the exhibits. We spent time wandering through the vendors and having fun looking for nothing but finding everything. The best buy of the day was a cell phone clip hanger. Amazing technology to hold your phone but link it on to anything and strong strong strong! It's kind of like Hadarya's links but on a cell!

We spent the afternoon hanging out at our house playing with the baby and watching The Pursuit of Happyness. It was a fantastic movie! Then off to takes the first Father's day photos of my girl and her daddy who is smitten to pieces.



Dinner at Sipz rounded off a very nice relaxing Sunday. Happy Father's Day Yiftach; my darling husband and amazing father whom I love very very much. xo

The Smell of Summer

The sweet smell of summer is here and it's on my baby girl! Sunscreen mixed with heat and sweat on a lazy day in the park. We had a picnic in the park and swung on the swings. Hadarya smelled like sand and sweat and heat and sun, and in desperate need of a bath. Absolutely Delightful!

Learning Something New

Every day you should learn something. I have loved keeping a blog and am not nearly fluent enough to make my posts very exciting nor do I keep up to date enough. I know there are a lot of you out there regularly checking and so I wanted to make it more enjoyable for you to read about our excitement with each day that our daughter grows and learns. Since we expect her to learn everyday, we should also be learning right along with her!

Thanks to Aaryn I can now add links to cool things and I learned how to add links to my actual blog. Check out her amazing daughter, brilliant photos, and superb writing that will make you laugh out loud at www.rubysohoadventures.com

AND I figured out how to add photos. I do not have any recent photos on my computer so this adorable one of my baby girl at birth will have to do. Please enjoy the photo and check out my other posts for added photos after this weekend!

Thanks for reading!

Just Tired

I am just tired. Not because my sweet baby isn't sleeping. Oh she is! It's that I am not getting to bed when she does and what a happy person I'd be if I went to sleep at 7:00 PM!

There is just too much to do at this time of year and I can't fit it all in. I am overwhelmed.

1. I am changing grade levels next year and have my head in two places. Wrapping up 4th grade and thinking about 1st grade.
2. I am in charge of the yearbook and am way late on getting it together. (Thank goodness for a dedicated parent willing to help out!)
3. I may have to pack up my classroom and move...but not until the summer on my own time the week before school starts.
4. I have report cards to do.
5. I have end of the year placement to do.
6. I have papers to grade and record.
7. I have assessment sheets to bubble in for scanning.
8. I am trying to run a home business (and doing a very poor job of it at the moment!)
9. I have to go to the bank.
10. I have to mail birthday presents to my cousins from two months ago.
11. I have to get a graduation present for Thursday.
12. I am beginning the procedures for an IUI with drugs and am very nervous.
13. I need more time in the day and less responsibility.
14. I wish I could go to sleep at 7:30 and not worry about anything else.
15. I am tired and it's only Monday.

Signs of High Intellect

Like many of our friends, and current trends, we have decided to use simple Baby Signs with Hadarya so that she can communicate with us before she has the language. While she makes many noises, talks all day long, and had some clear indicators of wanting specific things, she needs other ways to let us know what she wants.

She now has a sound like a high pitched "eeeeeee" when she is hungry. We have been very consistent with the sign for more and all done. We added in food a little bit and milk/bottle more regularly.

Well, tonight, at 7 months 3 weeks old, it paid off! Our highly intelligent daughter CLEARLY signed "more" when I was done giving her dinner. She made the sign a few times before we realized what she was doing. When I got her more food, she happily ate 1/3 more of the spinach and potatoes and the rest of the carrots. After another bite of squash she clamped her mouth tight and turned away to indicate she was done.

She can also clap, but that is very different that more. She did clap. . . after I gave her more food!

It was so cool. I can't wait for "more!"

Beautiful Body

Last night, Saturday, June 2nd, we stayed out way past Hadarya's bedtime. We were having a carb loading dinner with our friends from LA running in the Rock and Roll Marathon today.

Being the trooper that she is, Hadarya fell asleep in the car, woke while we waited in an enormously long long long line at Fillipi's in Little Italy, finished her bottle and snoozed through the rest of the line and dinner.

She had decided not to take much of an afternoon nap, so she was pretty zonked.

Zonked enough, that when we got home and changed her diaper and took off her dirty clothes AND put her in her pajamas, she NEVER WOKE UP! The newest photo on flickr is testament to my daughter's gorgeous body, long legs, and sacked out sleepiness during this entire endeavor.

She then treated us to sleeping in until just after 7 AM.

Lovely. In all senses of the word.