November 2008 Photos

Peek-a-boo



Adel, 12 days old


Zusha just arrived home from cheider




Funny-face Adel, 15 days old


Gedalya crawled inside the computer closet and is peeking out at me from between the desk and keyboard drawer.


Oh! Look! A mud puddle!


SPLAT


Playing in the park



My mother with Birdie girl.


Stretchy wakey Adel at 3 1/2 weeks



Someone got his little hands on my camera again. :)

MatchyMatchyMatchy

Well, whaddyaknow? Adel has a cardigan that matches the boys, and she also has black velvet pants (with ruffles of course.) This was an opportunity NOT to be missed! :D

Oh boy, do these kids love their girl!

A "First" for my Maidele

Adel wearing her first dress! Notice her matching shirt and tights? It's actually a stretchie underneath that jumper! Haha.

This is another piece from my friend Hila. She has 2 girls and just had a boy. Her first girl is 2 1/2 months younger than Zusha, her second girl is one week older than Gedalya, and her boy is three days younger than Adel. So we exchanged the boyish and girlish clothes. Cleaned out our closets and gained something new. :)

Uh, Oh...

One time last week, Adel was sleeping peacefully on my bed. I was in another room. Zusha walked into my room and exclaimed, "Mama! Gedalya is holding baby!"

I ran in, and there sat Gedalya, with Adel sleeping on his lap. o_O

Cookie WHAT?

This morning, through my sleep, I heard Zusha calling to Gedalya, "Gedalya, you want cookie cutter?" HUH?
Then he came closer and I heard that he was really saying, "Cookie cumber." And I saw what he was holding- a pickle!
I guess he picked up the word cucumber in cheider. He gets all his English words there and then uses them so proudly!

Toddler the Photographer

Gedalya snapped some photos of me and Adel'eh. I cropped them to get rid of the messy background, but otherwise it's his original work! Pretty good for a 2 1/2 year old!

My Big Girl

She's one month old! :0

These are the clothes she has outgrown in her first month!

Notice how girly they all are. ;)

Gedalya Remembers His Childhood

Is That a Smile?

I keep trying to catch Adel's smile, but I haven't been successful. This fraction of a smile is the best I have on record.
She's exactly 4 weeks old here.

The Best Decision

Whoaaa, just got back from the new pediatrician. This switch is the best decision I ever made. Wow, she actually talks to you. She actually coos to the baby. I heard her with the other kids- she was talking with them with such delight! There was a toddler there and I heard the Dr say to the nurse, "Ohhh, listen to how well she's talking!" She really likes kids. She didn't yank Adel's clothes off like the other pediatrician- she actually did it gentler than I do!

She didn't bat an eyelash when I told her I had a homebirth, whereas the other doctor couldn't get her eyes back in her sockets and grilled me about it, saying how brave I am (meaning in a negative way, that I am "brave" to risk something so dangerous) and how lucky I am everything worked out OK and she hopes that lady knew what she was doing.

She talked to me about nursing, suggested I use chamomile in Adel's bath for the small rash/pimples (which I do already, but I loved her natural approach!)
The waiting room is smallish with not much room for kids to play (the other office had a million toys) but WOW have I lucked out! She also asked me what my plan regarding vaccinations is, and I told her I will delay and space them, and she was fine with it- just told me to come for well visits anyway. :) She also splits the MMR! Too bad I gave it to the boys already.

The car ride is a bit long (20 minutes, around) and the money adds up. But my kids' health is worth it. For the times when the kids aren't sick we can take a bus.

Time for a Change

When I took Adel to the doctor, she dismissed my concerns about thrush without even looking. And we had another nutty experience with her almost a year ago.

In any case, I have been wiping her neck folds from what I thought was dirt on the non-bath days. Turns out it's yeast, not dirt. :( Yesterday during her bath I found actual white clumps under her arms. And today her little neck is bleeding.

I'm going to go to a doctor that someone recommended (I know her from 2 forums and she has a similar natural approach to parenting as I do.) This doctor splits MMR vaccines and doesn't give Rubella to boys if the mothers doesn't want. She also is against medicating babies, so sounds much better than the one I have now.

I am so, so mad that this stupid pediatrician of mine didn't even check out my concern, which caused unnecessary pain to the baby and is making me shlep the baby to a germ infested office an extra time, and making my mother take a day off work (which she will need to make up on her own time) to watch Gedalya. >:(

Swimmy Girl

She's finally gotten to love her baths! :D
My little fishele.


Drying off...


WAAAH!


Sosa to the rescue!


All fresh and clean, in a girly stretchie from my friend Hila. :)

Adel's New Trick

I thought I was imagining things, but I tried it out several times... and it seems that when I play and talk funny to Adel.... her mouth turns up a drop at the corners!! This is so cute. My boys all started to fully smile at 4 weeks, and Adel will be 4 weeks after tomorrow.
Too bad that as soon as I got the camera out to record this for any skeptics {LOL} Gedalya started whining that he wants to take pictures... crying, screaming, freaking Adel out of any smiles she might have made. Oh well.

Adel's Schedule

She's all nice during the day. Napping for nice stretches, nursing well, barely crying at all.

Until 4 PM comes. Then she wakes up, and alternates nursing, burping, crying, catnapping on my lap (and waking up if I dare put her down), and just hanging out in the swing, my lap, or the soft gym.
Until. Midnight.
4PM. Until midnight. You do the math.

Surviving... Getting the Hang of Things

Sometimes I put Adel in the swing to get her to sleep, once she's fed, burped and sleepy.
Other times I put her in the pouch with a paci (yeah, yeah, I resorted to it. This kid's need to suck can rival a vacuum cleaner) and walk around till she falls asleep. The reason I think a paci is best for now is because she needs to make a few good burps after every feeding, and if she doesn't, the next night she will be in shrieking agony. But she loves to nurse to sleep. And if she falls asleep, I can't burp her...
My kids call me a kangaroo when I'm wearing Adel in the pouch

We're surviving, B"H
I'm so excited that I feel almost back to normal and have no problem going out with the kids 2 or 3 times a week.

End of the Rope

a> I don't go to sleep before 12 or 1 AM
b> I get woken by the kids at 6 AM
c> I have to get up for the baby two or three times within those precious 5-6 hours of sleep.

and now also
d> Zusha woke up a few times at night to use the bathroom and I'm afraid he has diarrhea so I didn't send him to cheider
e> They are both home, fighting (verbally and physically)
f> They pull out all their toys and refuse to clean them up no matter what. So I clean them up and take them away.
e> They ask for computer games, or certain toys, and I tell them they can have it if they put away *ONE* game or toy. And they screeeeeeam and tantrum and cry and say bad words (from cheider, I'm thrilled to say )

3 hours till bedtime. I hate that I'm thinking like that.

A Nice Day

Adel's cranky time is in the evening. I don't really mind it, though. I'm enjoying taking care of her, and surprisingly seem to have unlimited patience and stamina for her late-night concerts. I think I enjoy holding her so much during her needy time only because she allows me to put her down the rest of the time.

Today was nice. Zusha woke up very early for the 2nd day in a row, and since he came home zonked yesterday, I didn't want to send him so tired to cheider.

So he finally got to bond with Adel'eh. I put her in the soft gym and both boys lied down on either side of her and smothered her with love and kisses and loving words I took a bunch of adorable pics of the brothers all over their baby sis.

The cleaning lady came, and since she was here last week, she had much less to clean and finished the whole house instead of just the kitchen and bathroom.

Now Hillel is bathing the boys and I'm about to take Adel out for a walk while he watches them. Very productive and pleasant day, B"H!!

Some Cute Kids :)

Today I took a bunch of cute shots of Gedalya and Adel. :)

Adel is almost 3 weeks old.