Yeah, I'm tired.

Things you learn in a Supermarket:
1. Do NOT hold a tray of 30 eggs with one hand.....
2. MAKE SURE that you have enough money to pay for the food that you'd like to buy........

Its been a looooong couple of weeks. Jason went for more x-rays today and will see the orthopedist again tomorrow. Sigh.

In other news.......
Jason might not be going places but YM sure is! He's not officially crawling- more like swimming. Either way, he definitely gets where he needs to go......sometimes even in the middle of the night (yawn).

I need a vacation!

Well today was.......different.

Its not every day that you get to hang out in a hospital for 3 hours. Jason (finally!) obtained an appointment with an orthopedist in Hadassah hospital- the head of the department no less! Yep, we spent almost an hour and a half waiting for the good professor (and shame on you if you have the chutzpah to call him "Doctor"!) and another hour and a half waiting for the casting technician to finish his lunch. After a sum total of 2 and a half hours of waiting and a half our of actual care, we ventured (or should I say hobbled?) homeward- cast and crutches included. (Actually, nothing was included. We had to pay for everything.) I thought to mention that I am a life member of Hadassah* as is my mother before me and her mother before her and her mother before her! Maybe that would help expedite the process! But then I figured that unless the casting technician also happened to be the director of the hospital, he probably wouldn't fancy setting aside his falafel and pita just because Grandma Goldie has a plaque in the west wing of the fifth floor.

We finally got home at about 4. After candle lighting I left Jason with the big boys while the baby and I went food shopping. This is what happened while I was gone.............

HELP!!!!!!

So, its 9 PM on Thursday night. My boys are finally sleeping (I had to rebathe them since they were covered in ice-pops, chocolate pudding, marker, and glue when I returned......) and I haven't done a blessed thing in preparation for shabbos!!!!!
Who wants to host a really nice family of 5 with 3 delicious boys this shabbos?
Better yet, you can take the boys. I'll make deli sandwiches for myself, buy some challah and grape juice, and get a little sleep!

Any takers?


*"Hadassah" is a woman's organization that raises money for Hadassah hospital.

Chanukhah Stationary

Be careful what you wish for. Just last week I was kvetching to Jason about how we don't spend enough time together. The next day Jason called from Yeshiva to report that he'd done something funky to his ankle (my words, not his) and needed a doctor. He hobbled home, x-rays in one hand, air cast in the other. He's been in the house ever since. You know its serious if the husband won't even leave the house to go to minyan...... Quality time? We've had it in droves this week. Poor guy- and all he was trying to do was save a little old savta from a burning building. Alright, that's not exactly what happened but y'all will never find out because I've been forbidden from blogging about it (Argh!)...........suffice it to say that you have to be super careful in that Bais Medrish- those sefarim can be ruthless.
Our chanukah has been pretty eventful (or should I say uneventful?).
He's in a LOT of pain- enough that he even agreed to see a doctor again. Ironically, there was not an orthopedist to be found in all of Jerusalem. They were ALL-every last one of them- at an orthopedist's conference (which for sure is held like once in 5 years) in Tel Aviv. Sorry folks, no on is allowed to break or injure any bones this week- we are busy conferencing.
Thank G-d my in-laws are friends with lots of doctors! I don't know what we would have done without my FIL's good friend, Mark Berger. Even without seeing Jason in person he was able to give us a pretty good sense of what we were dealing with. Now all we need is a doctor in the family..........

Thank you to Abubby for the generous chanukah gift. We used it to buy.......toy appliances. I tried SO HARD to convince them to get a tool set. But, no, we wanted the iron and the immersion blender (known in our house as the "zhuzher"). We'll display them in our toy room next to our doll strollers. (I'm sorry, G-d, maybe I didn't make myself clear. I said I wanted GIRLS, not BOYS who play like girls.)

Hoping all is well with the lot of ya and wishing everyone a happy Chanukah!

Baruch Rofai Cholim (I feel good da na na na na na na)

We are feeling MUCH better- Boruch Hashem. I'm noticing vestiges of my old baby. Even on a good day he's a kvetch ball but at least when he's healthy, his smiley moments are very smiley. When he was sick, we had to kvetch (pardon the pun) a smile out of him.

And we are sitting up AND getting onto all fours! Not only that but since I've been milk free (2 days and counting) YM - my spit up KING- hasn't spit (or is it spat?) up once!!!!! Coincidence? I think not.

We are NOT enjoying our antibiotics. It's kind of handy that Mommy is stronger than YM.

YM and I continue to have our nightly pow-wows (tikun chatzos) in the rocker so I'm still a zombie but that ( I hope) will change soon enough. I'm just so thankful that he seems to be feeling better.

A happy (belated) birthday to Tanta Feigy. We wish you could come visit!! (OR maybe we'll visit you this summer...............)

Quickly updating- one handed

So tired. No time to blog.......too busy keeping our heads above water.

A quick update:

• Motzei Shabbos, YM woke up with 102.8. I administered alternating doses of Tylenol and Advil throughout the night to get- and keep- his fever down.
• Sunday 9AM found us in (Good 'ol) Dr. Cohen's office. This time it was the left ear! We both agreed that the best course of action at this point was antibiotics. (Grrrrrr! we lost the battle- but we haven't lost the war!!!!!)
• 10AM, after expending great efforts to OBTAIN the antibiotics (Meuchedet: Sorry, none left till 5 this evening. Me: What should I do about my sick baby? Meuchedet: You could try a g'mach Me: Thanks (Thinking to myself: I'm switching to leumit!)*) I administered 2.5cc to YM only to have it administered back at me - all over my skirt. Frustrated, I gave Dr. Heimlich's office a call to find that there was an available appointment that afternoon!!!!!
• 3pm, the 4 of us boarded the J-m bound bus. The boys were previously bathed and dinner was brought along so that I could deposit them right into bed when we returned from our tiyul

(I'll have to tell y'all about our visit to Dr. Heimlich another time but in a nut shell, his methods are a combination of reflexology, iridology, and very expensive equipment. What I learned was that YM is allergic to milk products. Thats what's exacerbating the ear infections. To clarify- He doesn't eat milk products, he nurses. But, when I eat milk products, he gets an ear infection......got it?)

• 5:30PM we boarded a bus back to Beitar. (Try saying that 5 times fast.) The bus broke down just before (Thank G-d) the kvish haminharot**. After a 15 minute delay, we boarded a new bus and continued on our journey. We arrived home at around 7.

(time out- baby is awake...........again)

• Today the baby definitely felt better. Actually- that's not a fair assessment. He didn't tell me that he felt better but he did seem that way, at least.

The problem is that he's still a bit congested and is now well broken in to very bad sleeping behavior. There's nothing you can do about a sick baby- they just need to be held. I haven't slept in my bed in 3 nights. I've just held him in the rocker recliner (thanks, Mom) all night long. Every time I tried to put him back into his crib, he woke up. Now that he's feeling a bit better, I would like to reestablish good sleeping behavior but I'm hesitant since, again, he hasn't told me that he's better- so I can't know for sure. So, I'll wait until I'm positive that he is 100%. Until then, he'll probably continue his recent minhag of waking every 1.5 hours or so........

(By the way, its 11pm and he's now sitting in my arms.........)

All of this has put a serious damper on accomplishing anything functional like cooking and laundry- not to mention my job!!!! So, I apologize, dear readers for the sparse nature of my blog quantities of late. We hope that will change very soon. (Amen!)

I hate the winter.

His hair is totally brown.

*Our Health system here in Israel is socialized. You choose one of four or five kupot (loosely defined as a health care organization) and go to that organization's local clinic with all of your ailments. We belong to "Meuchedet" which generally we've been very pleased with except that in our area, which is still very much under construction, Meuchedet is housed in a small apartment and lacking certain necessities like a pharmacy!!! "Leumit", on the other hand has already built a huge complex across the street from Meuchedet........

**Bubby-don't read this part.......kvish haminharot is peppered with a number of Arab villages......some more volatile than others. Don't worry, our bus was bullet proof.

Pre Chanukah Fun

Thank you to all of our supporters. We were truly touched (sniff, sniff) by your responses. In gratitude, we present to you our latest rendition of "Yivanim Nikbitzu Alai". We're thinking of starting our own group. "Boyz in de Bed". Good thing we already have daytime occupations.........



Also, I'm taking a poll.
Red or Brown????? (Whatever color it is, Thank G-d its finally existent!)

We're on STRIKE!

We're on Strike. We work so hard to be the cute, zany, precocious munchkins that you've grown to know and love. Our Mommy is perpetually shoving us into poses so that she can get 'just the right shot'. "Just one more picture, Boys," She says. We really believe you, Ma. More like TEN more pictures....... But we sit and we smile because we know how much you, our readers, enjoy seeing our Yummy faces. You open our blog and chuckle as you read our latest antics and then you go on with your day, a bit cheerier than you were before. But what about us? We don't even know who is reading about us because we get virtually no feedback! Our Mommy blogged twice last week and nary a comment was posted. Let us know that you are there! Don't make us feel like we are floating aimlessly in the dark abyss of the blogosphere! Post a comment once in a while so that we can smile knowing that we've made you smile! No more blogs till we get feedback!

Typing one handed

Goodness I'm confused. I thought we'd conquered the evil ear infection monster but as I sit here at 2am- unhappy baby in my arms- I begin to wonder who has the upper hand- I mean ear- I mean I'm sooooooooo sleepy. Ive administered the sacred oil concoction and hope that sleep will come soon- for both of us. Me thinks were going to pay Dr Cohen yet another visit tomorrow. Who knows? Maybe his ears are fine and he's starting to teethe. It stinks that the little booger won't just tell me whats bothering him. I'm thinking about taking Yisroel Meir to an alternative doctor that many people recommend. His name is Dr. Heimlich. He does some kind of funky maneuver with super expensive equipment that determines what foods/substances cause adverse reaction in a particular person. I'm convinced that I'm eating something that doesn't agree with YM. Between the ear infections and the endless spit-up, there must be something that I should be avoiding. The honest truth is that this alternative medicine thing intrigues me. Kinda makes me feel like I'm cheating on a test. Anyway, I'll keep y'all posted.

A wonderful Shabbos to all!