Feb 2, 2010

Wow, I haven't posted in a while, but i've been keeping some notes so I will try and catch up what's been going on the past few weeks...

Firstly, to all those concerned I finally did get the swine flu vaccine. I also gave it to YB since they were giving it at the vaccination place ("tipat chalav" - here they don't give vaccinations at the dr., you have to go to a special place just for vaccines. its pretty efficient). don't think i'm giving to the other boys though. they need 2 doses and by then flu season will be over.
We've had pretty quiet shabbosim, although we did have a highlight about 2 weeks ago when the Vogels walked in from Ramat Shlomo to join us for Shabbos lunch. Well, they actually walked in for a bris in Ramat Eshkol, but then they came over for lunch afterward and stayed till after shabbos. The kids had a great time and so did the adults.

In other news, both the boys had their first dentist appts in a very long time. Shaya needed two fillings (not surprising considering that his diet staple is taffy). BH his dentist was excellent, and gave him laughing gas the whole time he filled the cavaties and they went very smoothly. MM also seemed to be developing some cavaties as well, so both boys are on a very strict twice a day tooth-brushing regiment and even floss at night!

We were pretty busy with YB for a while, since he had some sort of mystery illness for about 3 weeks. we thought it was just an ear infection, but when he was still running fever after 3 days on antibiotics, they decided something else was going on. After testing for mono and CMV (type of mono) was negative, they decided just a virus. BH he is basically back to himself now, although still sometimes a bit more fatigued than usual. YB has also been doing some more talking/immitating lately and is generally sooo cute.

Weather wise, winter has finally arrived, and BH it has been raining. The boys got cute new rainboots and they daven for rain every day so they can wear them. The day we bought them they wore them to sleep! There is talk of snow for tommorow, and the boys are davening for it but i am really hoping not, since they will be home from school (and the cleaning lady may not come).

I also finally got back my advisors corrections to my dissertation (and there are many) so I have to work on editing it and hopefully will be able to come in some time after Pesach to defend. So this is my main project for the next few weeks - if you don't hear from me, this is why. i'm not joking.

Cute kid stories:
one day it was raining and hailed for a few minutes. Shaya came to tell me : "Mommy, little pieces of ice came down from the shamayim"
me: "you know what that's called?"
Shaya- "what?"
me - "hail"
Shaya - (wide-eyed look of incredulosity) "Its Barad??!" (think 10 plagues!)

Shaya tagged along to MM's weekly accupuncture to ward off strep throat (yes, we are that desperate). Afterward, MM got two small sheets of stickers and the woman asked if she could give one to Shaya as well. I emphatically did not allow this, being as MM earned his and Shaya did nothing and how would it look to MM if he had to endure accupunture while Shaya gets for doing nothing. I said definitely not. Oblivious to all this, MM takes his stickers, turns to Shaya and says : "Here Shaya, you want one?" And happily gave him a sheet!
While this doesn't contradict my parenting decision, it was still pretty funny (and very sweet:)

After an ambulance drove by with blaring siren:
Shaya (solemn look): "mommy i saw an ambulance"
Me: "its okay"
Shaya: (annoyed) "its not okay"
Me: "why not?"
Shaya: "because someone is in there" (aww....if only he would have such compassion for his siblings!)

Weekly Preview: we are so excited for next week's visit from the Pudells (steven/naftali) as well as all the Sharon Beisers! highlights to include Sam's hanachas tefillin as well as shabbos with all beiser brothers and their families (don't think this has ever happened )

Weekend Update 1/8/10

Wow, our first post of 2010. hard to believe.

This week was quite exhausting and I'm trying hard to remember all of it.
What stands out most to me is my broken washing machine. It stops mid-cycle and then i have to run a seperate drain and spin. They came to fix it, since its under warranty. They left. It worked two times. Now its broken again. They're coming tommorow.

They also pointed out that the pipe that the water drains into was backed up and water was spilling all over the floor.

Cue the plumber who had to come unclog the drain. He came. It was fun.
Also last week I took Shaya and MM to the.....dentist. That's right folks. it was long overdue and it was not good. We kind of expected this given that our children's main diet staple is taffy. The dentist was very good with the kids, patient, etc and let them press the button to move the chair and gave prizes (no treats!) at the end. Shaya has to go back for a filling next week and also has cavaties in his front teeth that we're not going to do anything about and hope that they fall out before the decay hits a nerve. MM is starting to have cavaties in his front teeth but doesn't actually yet so now both boys are on a very strict regimen of brushing x2 a day plus...flossing! its very cute actually.

The dentist also told them in no uncertain terms that they must stop having pacifiers because it is very bad for their teeth. They agreed wholeheartedly. Until they came home. Now they think the dentist is just "stupid"and "ichy".

Also last week was Shaya's hebrew birthday! This was very exciting. Also kind of ironic, as the day after we went to the dentist, we went to the supermarket to buy the nosh to put in shaya's "pekelach" - but hey, that's life in cheder. We kept it pretty simple - bissli and taffy for everyone (36 pekelach to be exact). He wore Shabbos clothes to school, gave out his pekelach, and came home with a very cute birthday crown and was thrilled. In honor of his turning 5 we are allowing him to go to shul with Bin on Friday nights, providing that he behaves appropriately on Friday -bath, etc.

I also am going to two mini-series of lectures at night - one about the halachos of children (eg, at what age you have to care about what, muktzah, kashrus, etc.) and also one about "floortime" which is a new speech therapy kind of a thing which is supposed to encourage verbal communication. we are tryingto use it to help shaya w/ his tantrums. Each was a 4- week series and I'm looking forward to the end of them since it has been a bit too much doing both.

Luckily the craziness of the week was offset by not having to prepare for shabbos since we went to Reuben and Tehila's. We had a very nice time and the kids got to bond. Adva and MM are a cute 3-year old team and get into trouble together (eg. Reuben found MM covered in fish food as adva had decided to show him how to feed the fish). Yeshaya and Yaara are buddies as well, as they always have been and got into various troublemaking escapades. Sadly, YB and Shaya both woke up at 5:45 am for the day, (the shabbos clock hadn't even turned the lights on yet!) making it a very long day for me, but luckily Ben and Reuben davened at the early minyan and came back at 8:30 and took the kids to the park so I went back to sleep.

Cute kid stuff:

Shaya: you and Abba make coffee differently. Abba puts coffee in first and then sugar and you put sugar in first and then coffee! (he's a little on the perceptive side)

that's about all i remember, although i know that MM said something so funny so when i remember what it was, i will post it!

Hope you're all doing well...

Have a great week!