First Day ~ at SDSU. . .

Well, not really college yet, but if she keeps learning so fast, she'll be ready in no time at all!

Hadarya started daycare at the Children's Center at SDSU today. She is going M-W-F from 8 AM - Noon for the month of July. Then she'll go until 4 PM when I return to work in August. Grandma plays with her Tuesday and Thursday.

I started summer school the same day and was so busy as the site lead (acting Principal) that I did not have time to worry about my daughter. Which would have been wasted energy anyway!

Hadarya was amazing. Yiftach took her at 8 AM and stayed with her playing for about 20 minutes and said good-bye. She hardly noticed. According to Miss Alissa, she ate breakfast with gusto sitting at the table on a chair and then got a little whiny about 9. (She got up at 6 AM, so naptime was just around the corner!).

Sure enough, into the nap room, onto her cot with her lovey and pacifier, and she rolled over and slept for two hours! She woke up without a fuss and was so intrigued by her surroundings she didn't want a bottle.

Yiftach went over about 11:45 and I arrived at 12:02 and she was happy as could be, busy as could be, and having a ton of fun.

Most of the other kids were napping so there were only about 4 awake at this time. Lots of one on one attention, which is lovely. She was ready for other people and stimulation and she is going to have so much fun.


The quality in this program is bar none and worth every penny we are going to spend for her care. She has access to toys that are different, books that are different, and a huge outside play area where the kids spend time every day. The best part is the care given to her by the loving teachers who are all child development majors and who know so much about kids.

So far so good...we can't wait for her friend Davia to come back from vacation and be there to play with!

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.

Marvelous Mother's Day!

For 37 years, Mother's Day has been about my Mom and Grandma Helen when she was alive. It has become a day to make sure that we all get together and do something (well, whatever my mom wants to do!) and as our lives continue to get busier, this day has been fun. We've been to lunch and the movies, shoppping, hanging out at our house after brunch, and just being together.

This year, my first Mother's Day, I decided to be selfish and I told my mom. I would have breakfast with her in the morning but I wanted to have a day without making decisions, without cooking, without hassle. Oh yeah... and I wanted my husband to step up and plan it so I wouldn't have to think about anything! She was actually ok with that and so our day began.

It was a lovely day full of wonderful moments and special memories. My family surprised me with gifts- a lovely card from my husband, gorgeous sunflowers and a to my sister card from my sister, and to my daughter card with a gift card for Glen Ivy from my parents. Breakfast was Yiftach's specialty: chocolate chip pancakes and then we ventured off as a new family of 3 for the remainder of our day.

We took Mother's Day photos at a photo place and headed to...... THE BALLPARK! Yiftach had purchased seats behind home plate with the cushions for us. We had a ball! Hadarya slept for just over an hour of the 2 hour game and it was great to be so close.



We ended our day with dinner with my mother-in-law at CPK (terrible service so we won't mention anymore about dinner) and dessert at HEAVEN SENT. Ya gotta go check this place out on University and 30th street. The food is divine, the tea superb, the cappuchino scrumptious, and the owner personable. Lachlan was working the cash register and then came to see how everything was and ended up sitting with us at the table and sharing his amazing story of how Heaven Sent came to be. A place to go to hang out. Take out of town friends. Catch up with your husband. Watch Charlie Chaplin movies. You don't need a reason to go. JUST GO!

I had a lovely first mother's day and know that there will be many more lovely days as a mommy!

Baby Bliss

As each day passes I fall more in love with my daughter. The change that took place last week has completely let my heart fall to pieces whenever I am around her and it's all I can do to tear myself away and hold a conversation with another human being when Hadarya's there.

I leave work as soon as possible to be with her and revel in her and play with her. No matter what I do, she loves it! Tonight it was while I was changing out of work clothes into a tank and shorts. She was laying on our bed looking at me and she began to giggle. I had on the tank top and turned towards her and said "whoa, whoa." and she busted up. I did this for 10 mintues with a sway of my hip and sassy look over my shoulder at my beauty staring into my eyes.

After bathtime, we read books and she loved that I used her hand to go over the words and point out the pictures. At 6:50 PM she was ready for 1/2 a bottle and then she refused it... she wanted her pacifier and to go to sleep! She cuddled with me and then sacked in her crib. She is a vision of beauty laying on her side, snuggled with her taggie close to her face and her blanket over her. It's all I can do to not pick her up out of the crib to snuggle bunny with her!

Oh, does it get any better than this? I can't wait for each day and each new thing she learns and does. Summer is going to be a blast!

Legally and Officially Ours

Yesterday, Thursday, May 3, 2007 was our day in court... well, really our MOMENT in court. We have waited for and anticipated and been anxious for the signed documents that would give us final legality for this precious baby girl whom we met the second she was born into this world.

With each step along the way we moved closer to this day: We filed the required paperwork within 10 days to adopt this baby girl, STEP 1. 30 days passed without hearing from the birth mom, STEP 2. We met with the Independent Social Worker who filed papers to locate the alleged birth father, STEP 3. We sought a birth certificate to prove to the court that a baby girl without a given name was actually born on 10-08-06; which took several attempts! STEP 4. We filed paperwork to terminate the alleged father's rights, STEP 5. We waited to hear from the social worker that her searching was done and she filed her paperwork, STEP 6. We received documents in March that the alleged father's rights were terminated, STEP 7. We finally got a date in court to sign the documents, STEP 8. All of this took us 5 days shy of Hadarya's 7 month birthday.

We dressed up in matching color clothes. We went out to lunch. We invited friends and family. We put a bow in our daughter's hair. We drove around and around looking for parking at the court. We waited 20 minutes to be called in to the court through a lovely courtyard where we took photos. We were invited to sit down and our friends tubmbled in behind us.

I think we'd signed our names in two places on two pieces of paper before anyone else got the chance to sit down. And that was our moment in court. It was over before it really started. We were handed our copies and told we could take a photo with the judge.

It was our moment in court and while incredibly significant, this was about the change not the ritual (as put by our dear friend Scott!) and that made all the difference.

Rolls-Royce of Strollers

We purchased a new stroller. Actually, our it's our first stroller purchase as the other 5 we have are all loaners or hand me downs. Now there is nothing wrong with a hand-me down or loaner. But they all serve different stages and different purposes and none of them were working for us at this time.

1. 2 Snap-N-Go's -- both on loan and both are fabulous. The Grandma's use them regularly and as long as Hadarya is asleep or realtively happy to be laying backwards, they are superb. HIGHLY recommended.

2. 1 Peg big stroller -- from great friends from their son who is now over 3 years old. Super for laying her down and letting her sleep. The bar is too far for her to reach with toys as she is still too little and short, so she gets frustrated. The straps are also too big for her tiny size still. She's just not quite ready... more toddlerish.

3. Umbrella ---ditto above. Later on we'll love it, I'm sure!

4. Lightweight 14 lb sit up stroller -- shower gift. This is a great stroller and if she is awake she does well in it. The bar with toys is way too high for her to enjoy and she has to sit very straight, but it's easy and light and works pretty well.

So we've been carrying #1 and #4 in our car everywhere we go to accommodate a sleeping in the carseat child or a need to sit up big girl child. It's getting difficult to manage two in one car at one time!

It turns out that Graco now makes a stroller that matches our car seat in single and double and that means that the car seat would fit right in! Thereby eliminating the need for 2 strollers. We test drove them both at Babies R Us. We listened to advice from our friend (thanks Shauna!) about the hopes that we have to add to our family in the next year and a half and looked at the double stroller. She suggested not buying a single now and then a double in a year.

So that's what we did... we purchased a double stroller in chocolate brown and green that matches our car seat and is beyond any good description. Our daughter is riding in style and comfort beyond what we realized we needed!

Graco has created a stroller by combining the best of all the others! The stroller has the ability to snap in 2 car seats at the same time. OR you can take of the front bar and add snack/drink cups for a toddler. The bottom basket collapses so you can reach it when a sleeping child is in the back. The back and front seats have 3 positions and both have huge canopy covers. The front wheels spin all the way around or lock into place if you prefer. The brake is one bar that controls the whole back. There is a removeable soft sided holder for cell phone, keys, glasses, etc... (pretty large) plus 2 removeable cup holders (so you can wash them). It has regular handles to pushwith your palms down and upright handles to hold on to like a bike (good place to hang shopping bags too!).

While a double stroller might seems sort of extravagant and could not end up being what we need in the future, it really gives us the option to allow Hadarya to stay asleep in her carseat attached and then if she wakes up, to sit up in the front and see what is going on. We can also take along a friend wherever we go and that means one less hassle with another stroller in crowded places.

The best part is how much Hadarya loves it! She sat in the front in our house for 40 minutes playing with the stroller toy that she could reach. She took a 2 hour nap at a noisy outdoor festival and didn't want to wake up because she was so comfortable stretched out in the back. AND... it is a one handed fold that locks immediately. EASY to do while holding a child. I was impressed with the ease in which I could do this with Hadarya in my arms.

So our baby girl gets an amazing new mode of transportation and one that we hope will inspire our minds with positive focus on bringing another child into our family in the near future.

The Burning Bush

Passover is my favorite holiday. I love the idea of cleaning the house and setting out special dishes and doing a lot of baking and cooking. I love having family around and telling the story of our ancestors. I love the time we all spend together and the yummy foods.

Hadarya's first Passover was spent at "Uncle" Eli's and "Aunt" Susie's house. We had made arrangements to be guests this year since we were going to be on vacation until the day before and all of our immediate families has plans to be other places! It turns out (due to the health issues mentioned in previous post) that my immediate family was in town and joined us too. It was a night to remember and we have photos to prove it!

Hadarya has been laughing out loud for some time. She has a great laugh, a funny giggle, and infectious belly laugh. It's easy to get her to laugh and you can do lots of things to illicit any of the above responses. Tickle her under the arms, play peek-a-boo, get items out of the basket from her stroller (over and over and over again) and she thinks it's a game; hide behind the wall and come out into the doorway;jump on the couch cushions or blow raspberries on her belly with a rough beard.

The creative minds of the Meltzer clan decided to do a shortened children's Passover seder that included props, scripts, and music. The big kids sat around the dining room table and the adults stood on the outside. I was at the far end of the room holding Hadarya while the play was being performed at the other end. She sat her in pretty dress and watched what was going on. At the point in which the burning bush showed up, Hadarya broke into spontaneous hysterical laughter. Jennifer held the bush up but had not started moving it or shaking it and huge giggles erupted from our side of the room. She laughed so hard and for so long, that everyone else was laughing with her. The photos on flicker show her big giggles and the responses of everyone else.

I feel safe to say that my daughter loves Passover as much as I do. I hope that continues as she gets bigger and gets to help clean the house!

Vacation Interrupted

On Saturday, March 25th, we took off for a long anticipated trip to Yosemite for a week. We planned this vacation 13 months ago and without a baby in our thoughts. We were eager to travel with her and explore this park for the first time.

We stopped in Los Angeles for a baby shower of some dear friends and had a ball being with them. On our way out, my sister called to tell me that my father had been hospitalized with chest pains. We turned around and returned to San Diego.

My father, who plays golf once a week and visits the gym 5 times a week, had been experiencing chest pains when he exercised over the last week. He kept it to himself until that morning when he and my sister did a 5K walk. It was determined that he DID NOT have a heart attack but there was obviously something wrong.

On Monday AM, they did an angiogram and discovered two blocked arteries. The doctors at Scripps inserted 3 stents into the arteries and yesterday he got a clearance to resume all normal activities. It was a scary time in our family. We also were dealing with health issues of my mom (bone spur, unable to walk without wrenching pain!) and my aunt (bladder cancer, 90% coverage, surgery April 13th) and my uncle (tumor on bladder probably cancer). It was a tough week.

We ended up leaving Monday night to still be away for the rest of the week, which ended up being enough time away. It was a delightful time spent as a family, relaxing, hiking, napping, reading, and just being together. It was hard because our hearts were at home with our families and worrying about how everyone was.

We took a day long tour of Yosemite that ended up being a private tour and was just amazing. We had a great tour guide, who "babysat" our sleeping beauty when she was napping during an opportunity to hike. She actually awoke when we were at the falls taking pictures and she just smiled away at Gordon... whom she had not met until the moment she opened her eyes! She continues to amaze us with her flexibility and friendliness.

It was nice to be home and be WITH our family and experience Passover and still be off of work for an entire week!

Where does the time go???

I cannot believe it's been 3 weeks since I've written about my darling daughter.... there is so much to tell and so much has happened in the last few weeks. I will do separate short posts on the highlights. Suffice it to say that we have been without Internet (can you believe that?) while we were on vacation and off of teaching. That was almost 2 weeks of the time.

Sunday was the 6 month birthday of Hadarya. It is almost incomprehensible that we've been blessed with this beauty in our lives for a 1/2 of a year. She is such a big girl now compared to then... we remembered her BIRTH day all day long and silently prayed for her birth mom's health, happiness, and strength. She gave us an amazing gift that we will forever be grateful for.

Hadarya Tali weighed 17 lbs. 12 oz on Monday at her appointment. She was 25 1/2 inches tall. She has the rolls on her legs and arms to prove that she loves to eat and does not miss a meal! She enjoys green beans, peas, peas with brown rice are a favorite, winter squash, and carrots. We are going to venture into sweet potatoes and butternut squash later this week and next. She does not refuse the rice cereal but loves the oatmeal more for breakfast.

Her favorite toys are her fingers that feel so yummy on her two teeth just bursting to break through her upper gums on the side. She is going to be a fang girl! She also LOVES her jumperoo (thank you JEFF!) and can bounce bounce bounce for a long long long time. If she is on your lap, she likes to pretend that you are the jumperoo and she jumps expecting you to lift her like the toy. She also loves anything that fits into her mouth...Mr. Giraffe (thank you Tamar, Joel, and Aidin!) has been a long time favorite that she can hug and chew. She also has begun to love Eli the Elephant because its trunk fits nicely into her mouth. Her other favorite toy are some soft, edible like keys on rings (Yeah, Eddie, Jeanne and Jacob!).

She has rolled over from her back to her tummy 4 times and that is enough for her. She showed us she can do it and she is done. She does play on her tummy and has begun scooting backwards. She sits unassisted but will fall backwards if she looks up at you too high! She loves her "older" toys from this new perspective. She is also able to sit in a "big"girl stroller and loves looking out at the world.

Hadarya is curious, interested in people, and very social. She has begun to exhibit a little bit of being left behind anxiety when she is separated from Ema and Aba. We are hoping that she will be able to deal with that better and better!

She continues to sleep through the night, but has begun to wake up around 4 AM and would prefer to snuggle with us instead of staying her own bed! But it's hard to complain when she goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 every night. Nine uninterrupted hours of sleep is pretty good! The napping patterns are not so consistent between all the different people who take care of her during the week. We hope that things will settle in more this week with us back at work.

No matter what...our lives are forever touched by this darling who has settled deep in our hearts.

Food. Glorious Food!

Tonight was the night. We gave in. We tried to hold out until 6 months was upon us. But alas we couldn't wait. SHE couldn't wait. It was time.

Hadarya had rice cereal at dinner time. She began to show interest in our food, eating utensils, cups, and began losing interest in her bottles about 10 days ago. BUT we wanted her to be 6 months old. We wanted to travel without the hassle. We wanted to avoid as many food allergies as possible. Plus our friends all said that rice cereal was blah and that their kids did not like it.

Well, my friends, our daughter LOVED it. I think she's going to like pretty much anything that can go in her mouth. She ate the entire serving and probably would have had more if we'd let her.

We made 1 tbls of rice cereal with 1 oz of formula. It was on the runny side so she could suck on the spoon like she does her bottle. It took about 6 sucking motions and she figured it out! She got how to eat off a spoon. It was so cool to watch her figure it out and see the connections made. She didn't even make much of a mess and the little that got on her face, she licked off with her tongue!

We are going to try it a little thicker tomorrow and give her only rice cereal through Saturday. Then we are going to start on the green veggies... mmm, that should make changing diapers fun!

Taking the Red-Eye

Two weeks ago tomorrow (can I actually use past tense with future tense and write it in the present tense???) Hadarya and I flew to Philadelphia on the red-eye. Yiftach was attending a two-day conference and we decided to join him for an extended weekend to visit with our dear friends (who introduced us and married us) we had not seen since they'd moved to Voorhees, New Jersey, 2 1/2 years ago.

I was pretty nervous taking such a long flight, with a change of planes, by myself and my daughter. Fortunately, for me, I had a first class ticket all the way there and my daughter is amazing, so I needn't have worried. She slept like a champ through security, into the bjorn, and into the first class seat. She settled in nicely on my chest and snoozed the entire way. She awoke in Atlanta and stayed up for the hour layover, but fell asleep as soon as we got back on the plane!

Our time was great in New Jersey. Hadarya stayed on California time, so she slept until 9:30 AM every day! She had so much fun playing with Rebecca, 11, and Josh, 5. They were so loving and kind and helpful. Josh loved feeding, changing her diaper, and putting on powder. They both rushed downstairs to see her first thing each morning and fought over who got to push her stroller!

We spent the day (the three of us) touring Independance Hall in Philly while they all worked and went to school. We had breakfast at Cereality (a cereal bar) which was so yummy and then walked around the historical monuments in 30 degree weather. Hadarya loved the cold air and being out and about. She took her nap just before we got to the Betsey Ross House, so we only saw the gift shop.

We tried to go to the mint, where the coins were misprinted, but cameras are not allowed inside at all...and we were told to take turns or not go at all. It was quite stupid, actually, that none of the brochures had mentioned this and didn't they think that tourists would always have a camera??? Since it was visible, we couldn't really say we didn't have one. We even offered to leave it at a desk and check it... but that is not an option. So we left in a huff and ended up seeing an amazing interactive exhibit at the Federal Reserve Bank,

We spent Shabbat with Alyssa, Stephen, Rebecca, and Joshua. We had a lovely and yummy Shabbat dinner and stayed up late talking and reminiscing. Shabbat morning we went to see her new shul, meet some of their fabulous friends, and just take in an East Coast Synagogue. You don't have to work so hard at being Jewish on the East Coast. Their synagogue has 1100 families and 600 kids who attend Sunday School. It's unbelievable. They are getting ready to break ground for an amazing new building and we look forward to being at Rebecca's Bat Mitzvah to see it and celebrate.

Hadarya flew better than many adults and had a wonderful time wherever we went. Her only freak out moment, was on the way home on the crowded plane. She was fast asleep before we ever took off and another child, about 14 months old was screaming his head off two rows in front of us. He stopped and then started again at some point when it was ok to take off your seatbelt. I know this beacause Hadarya suddenly awoke screaming and would not calm down with a bottle or cuddling. I got up and climbed over two seats and moved towards the back of the plane, away from the screaming child and his mother, who remained seated in an aisle seat. As soon as I got far enough away that you could not hear the screaming, Hadarya calmed down. I felt so bad for her to awaken that way. We stayed standing in the aisle until the boy calmed down and fell asleep and Hadarya was back asleep too.

Our next stop: Yosemite. Next week.

Marveling at my Daughter

So for no apparent reason, today, March 14, 2007, I suddenly noticed things about my daughter that I had not noticed before. Things she can do, easily, readily, and excitedly.

I wonder, "When did she learn that?" "Have I been missing it for a long time?"

Here is what I noticed:

1. She pulls hair. Lots of it. (note to self: cut it off next week)
2. She had developed a keen interest in what we are eating (grabs for the plate), how we are eating, (watching us use utensils is a big eye opener) and no longer so thrilled with her liquid only diet!
3. She has discovered her toes, but isn't so sure exactly what they are all about.
4. She laughs deeply and often at the slightest hint of our funny voices or giggles.
5. She is almost sitting up on her own (10 second rule and then boom!)
6. She looks all over for us when we leave the room.
7. She wears a size 3 diaper.
8. She has at least six delicious rolls per thigh.
9. She holds my face with her hands if I get close to her face on the changing table.
10. She can definately see much clearer and that keeps her curiousity peaked when we are out and the napping to a minimum if she has too much to see and learn.

I marvel every day at her existence in my life and all the amazing things she does.

Gotta Brag

Tonight I took Hadarya to the monthly Board of Directors meeting for our synagogue. She normally falls asleep about 7 PM or just shortly after, but with the time change she feels it is her right to stay up until at least 8 PM. So she dozed in the car until we arrived and then happily hung out, listened to the conversation, had a bottle, and watched people.

We didn't leave until 9:01 PM at which time my happy, smiling baby (who distracted everyone with her cuteness during my report) promptly and silently fell asleep.

When we arrived home she needed a diaper change badly and she opened her eyes wide at the ability to stretch out and nicely lifted her legs for me to remove the extra 5 pounds on her tush. I laid her down in her crib and she rolled over onto her back and stared straight into my eyes while we sang the S'hma and V'Ahavta.

She rolled onto her favorite side, clutched her handmade taggie, and was fast asleep.

I know that this is not typical. I know that we are getting spoiled. I know that it could end. But while this sweetness and ease of bedtimes lasts... we are loving every last second.

I have to go stare at my beauty sleeping for a while!!!

Extraordinary

Our daughter is EXTRAORDINARY. There is no question about it. She is remarkable and amazing. While we might be biased as her parents, there is way too much evidence to prove these statements.

Hadarya has had a runny nose since Sunday but we think it's related to teething issues not a cold. She has had less of an appetite and is sleeping more, but no fever, no crankiness, and no sick issues. She has also had a lingering red diaper rash that rears its ugly head more during the day. We cannot seem to rid her of it yet she never complains, whines, fusses, or cries about it.

We've been waking her up the last few nights to change her diaper (allowing us to sleep through the night knowing we've added more cream upon layer of cream to protect her private areas) and give her a bottle to in order to make sure that she is getting enough food.

You would think she would cry to be woken up from sleeping to get her diaper changed. Maybe she would fuss to be pulled up from her warm bed and cozy blankets. Possibly she would just sleep through it all and let us finish quickly. BUT no, not our EXTRAORDINARY daughter.

Our EXTRAORDINARY daughter opens her beautiful eyes and looks at me with a huge smile on her face. She giggles and waves her arms and kicks her legs a hundred miles a minute. ALL of this in the middle of the night. She let's me change her wet diaper, talk sweetness to her lovely face, and cuddly her delicious body against mine as she willingly gulps a few more ounces of her bottle.

Tonight our EXTRAORDINARY daughter went out to dinner with friends right at the time she usually falls sound asleep. She was napping and we picked her up to take her in the car. She had a ball at dinner, ate her dinner, and hung out with all of us way past her bed time. She then went out for dessert and laughed and smiled at everyone. She actually laughed out loud as I changed her diaper and put on her jammies and then snuggled with Aba and fell fast asleep.

Yes, our daughter is EXTRAORDINARY, REMARKABLE, and AMAZING. We are blessed to have this beautiful being in our lives.