Jtown Underground

Countdown to Mother's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:34:00 +0000

Thank G-d, this Sunday, I will be celebrating my very first Mother's Day. It just makes me so happy thinking about it! I've been waiting for this day to come for a very, very long time. When I was single and living on the UWS, I would send my Mom, Grandmother, and two sisters cards for Mother's Day and live vicariously through my sisters when they told me how they spent the day. I told myself that, P"G, one day I would have my own children and we would celebrate Mother's Day with a nice family brunch, maybe a family movie (when they're older) and lots of thoughtful presents.

Pidgeon asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day this year as Baby Juju, who turned 5 months today, is too little to do anything herself. I told him I wanted a framed picture of either me and Baby Juju, or the three of us. That would be a lovely gift for me and, as she grows older and goes to Gan, I hope she makes something crafty at school to bring home. My Father still has the picture frame I "sewed" with my photo in it that was my Kindergarten Father's Day present to him, hanging in his office. That was taken more than 25 years ago!! It's those thoughtful gifts that really make a difference.

Unfortunately, living in Israel, they don't celebrate Mother's Day in May. In fact, I honestly don't know when or if they even have a Mother's Day. I'd like to try to celebrate the American holiday though, especially since my American family does and I still have to get them presents/cards :)

Since Pidgeon works on Sunday, we might have to make my Mother's Day brunch a Mother's Day dinner. Either way, I'm just looking forward to spending the special day with Baby Juju and Pidgeon.

I sent my Mom a mug with Baby Juju's picture on it for Mother's Day and was thinking about my Mother-in-law. We have a pretty strained relationship, for various reasons that I might not have mentioned on the blog since they took place after Baby Juju was born. I was going to frame a picture of her son and Baby Juju as a gift, but then decided not to do anything. She's English/Israeli and it probably wouldn't even register with her. I don't think she would care either way, so I'm not going to bother.

Well, my 20 minutes are up and Baby Juju is stirring.

Yom Tov from Baka!

Emek Refaim Eatery

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:05:00 +0000

Last week, I decided to recommit myself to my blog. In all honesty, I missed spending time writing. Besides, its been hard since JuJu was born to find anytime to myself and blogging was certainly one of my guilty pleasures to go. Now that JuJu is almost 5 months old, I think I've gotten the basic hang of things. Now I have her basically on a schedule. I know that an hour and a half after she eats, she needs to nap. This one is a little snoozer - I get 20-30 minute naps multiple times a day. So, I decided to spend one of her nap times doing something that makes me happy. And, if that means the laundry doesn't get folded, dinner is late to the table or I missed a meal (story of my life), then so be it.

Welcome back Jtownunderground!

I decided the perfect way to get back into the blogging swing of things was to write a review about the new restaurant on Emek Refaim: RYU (pronounced Ree-you). So, on Erev Yom Haatzmaut, I took my husband and JuJu and we went for a walk to the eatery.

The place can't be missed, with the obnoxiously large dragon draping the old entrance to Yo Ja and the words that scream at you that the entrance is in back. I had read a review about the place on eLuna and was eager to check it out. Especially since I'm a chinese food fanatic! And, Jerusalem is really lacking when it comes to good Chinese food. So, when I heard this place was Chinese and Japanese, I was excited. I'm not that interested in the Japanese part since I'm very, very happy with my take out from Sushi Bar Rechavia and, when I really need a good sushi fix, Yoko Ono Sushi in Tel Aviv.

No, I was looking to satisfy my desire for good sweet and sour chicken, a nicely flavored egg roll and some sesame chicken with a side of beef and broccoli.

So, there we were, hungry for Chinese food and standing in the doorway of the restaurant. The place was empty and it was only 4:30 p.m. Now, eLuna's review said they were open from 12-11, and never mentioned a siesta in the afternoon. But, apparently, the restaurant was not able to seat us until 6:00 p.m.

Well, that was a bit of a bummer, but we decided not to let this opportunity pass us by. We asked if they would be willing to give us take out. The waitress checked with the powers that be and said of course. I poured over the menu - as did the Pidgeon - and we came up with an order that cost 350 shekel! Now, we don't have that kind of money to spend on one dinner, but we decided to splurge a bit since it was Erev Yom Haatzmaut and we really wanted to taste a wide array of menu offerings.

The waitress went in to the Chef to give our order, and then returned to tell us that the Chef didn't recommend the Entrecote as take away. He felt that it would get dried out by the time we got home, even though Pidgeon ordered it rare. So, we said we appreciated his warning but we would like to order it anyway. The waitress disappeared and then returned again, with a very sheepish smile on her, to tell us that Chef Eran Gefen refused to make the dish for us.

I was shocked. Now, I am a self proclaimed foodie. I watch Iron Chef, Iron Chef America, Top Chef and Rosemary Shrager's reality cooking show. The first thing we did when we got Hot Cable was order me the Food Network, and I spent many a sleepless night watching Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay and even Rachael Ray whip up some fabulous feast in 30 minutes or less when I lived in Manhattan.

I also used to represent a Chef (as his Publicist) who did his studying under Chef Tom Valenti and Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten at 'Cesca and Jean Georges respectively. Eran, meanwhile, did his apprenticeship in Michelin-rated restaurants (which ones, I'm dying to know, and at what capacity???) and worked at Arcadia for 5 years (again, was he head Chef? What did he do at that restaurant?). I called my Chef and told him the story and he said the following:

"What happened to you isn’t that crazy for a chef who really cares. A lot of places suck and don’t give a crap about quality. This guy obviously cares and wouldn’t want you to try anything he made that wouldn’t be perfect (according to his standards) when you ate it. I would go back and try his food.

The same thing happens a lot when people order meat cooked to medium, medium-well or well done in a restaurant. It’s going to suck, and many chefs don’t want to serve food that is not going to have any flavor.

When the customer doesn’t know what’s good, he can’t be right!"

Now I remember why I stopped working with him. I personally like my meat cooked medium-well. I know how it tastes and to me, it tastes good. I personally don't like meat rare, it just doesn't appeal to me. His last statement was extremely condescending and rude. People know what they like, period. And, if they can't get it in one place, they'll just go somewhere else to find it. In todays economy, who can afford to insult a paying customer?

Thank goodness there's Chef Tom Colicchio, who during the very FIRST season as judge on Top Chef, admonished one of the contestants for not wanting to do something a customer asked her to do. Again, it's always what the customer wants, even if the Chef disagrees. (Tom Colicchio, meanwhile, is a legend in the food world - creator and Chef behind Craft, and numerous other eateries in multiple cities in the United States)

So, back to the moment when Chef Eran Gefen refused to make us a rare entrecote steak with chi-chicki sauce (not sure what that was, but would have loved to find out) for take out. Now, again, we would have loved to have him serve it to us right then and there. But, they weren't serving diners until 6:00 p.m., so what were we to do.

I took my credit card back from the waitress and cancelled our order. I then instructed the waitress to tell the manager that we were willing to spend 350 shekel on a NEW restaurant but the Chef refused to serve us. We walked out of RYU, went down a few blocks, and picked up sandwiches at Aroma cafe. The waitress there was more than happy to make us Chai Lattes with Soy Milk and leave off the onion and mayo in our sandwiches - as requested. Our dinner was also a third of the price.

But, man, I was steamed! I had such high hopes for this place! I mean, it could be our new Chinese restaurant! The one I've been dreaming about since I moved from New York to Tel Aviv and then to Jerusalem. But, with the Chef refusing to serve us part of our order, how would I ever know if it's good or not?

So, I decided to call the manager myself. I got him on the phone and calmly explained the situation. And, after asking me a couple of questions, he said he stood behind his Chef 100%.

I respect that he stood behind his Chef's decision not to serve us. The manager should stand behind his Chef, at least at this stage of the game. Should Chef Gefen continue to refuse to serve customers based on their personal taste, and more and more people walk out of the restaurant unhappy, I wonder if the manager would continue his steadfast alliance with his Chef. If not the manager, CERTAINLY, the owner of this establishment would have something to say?

Back to the conversation. The manager went on to explain that they would never put an entrecote on their take out menu, but there was no take out menu when we went to the restaurant (since they're new and all). I suggested, in the future, that they make sure when someone orders take out that the items not recommended for take out be told to the customer by the waitress, so that this situation is not repeated and no one gets disappointed.

He asked that we try them again and come into the restaurant, as opposed to ordering take out.

Lord, that's what we were TRYING to do the first time.

I politely said I would consider it and we hung up.

So, it was all I guess a series of bad luck for us and RYU:

1) The restaurant wasn't open for customers at 4:30 p.m. on Erev Yom Haatzmaut

2) My husband wanted a rare entrecote steak as his main

3) There was no take out menu to choose from, so we chose an item on the menu that wouldn't have been on the take out menu

I'm hoping other Jerusalem foodies and bloggers will try out RYU and then write about it, so I'll see what we're missing. Provided, of course, that there is something to be missed.

Well, my 30 minutes are up and so is little JUJU

Yom Tov from Baka!

Routine

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:09:00 +0000

As my little JuJu sleeps off her cold next to me (poor thing), I decided to let the laundry sit in the basket and just update my blog. I really thought that I would be blogging again - regularly - as soon as my C-Section scar healed. But, I had no idea just how hard it is to find a minute for myself. I haven't allowed myself time to just take care of me. Its been 4+ months and JuJu is such a joy. I absolutely adore her. I honestly haven't cut the umbilical cord yet and well, that works for me. Not really sure if that works for my husband, but that's a whole nother topic.

Yesterday was a real wake up call that I am as important as my husband and child. I thought I was pregnant again because I got sick after dinner Friday night, have been exhausted constantly and I have this new metallic taste in my mouth. I took a pregnancy test and well, it was negative, which meant I was able to order sushi for dinner but I was a bit disappointed. Not like I'm trying or anything, but I really thought it was a possibility and that got me excited. Anyway, turns out that I just have poor oral hygiene these days. And, I realized, that there are days when I just don't have time to brush my teeth. Sometimes, I don't even wash my face, get out of my PJ's or put on deoderant. I completely let myself go - although I am being careful about weight loss.

JuJu doesn't care if I've got stanky breath - as look as I'm here to smile at her, make her giggle, give her the boob when she's hungry and clean her dirty diapers - she's happy. I guess my husband doesn't care either cause he hasn't complained about my state.

I'm just miserable about it! I mean, just because I spend my days with an infant, doesn't mean I should completely disregard taking care of myself. I laugh that all my clothing is stained with spit up. I even have it in my hair! When JuJu spits up she's a little guyser and she gets me good! In truth, it bothers me that I look like garbage. I hoped to be one of those chic Mom's who is all put together, doesn't have any spit up on their clothing, has glowing skin and beautiful teeth, whose child is on a great eating/sleeping/playing schedule.

Boy, is that vision far from the truth.

How does anyone else out there do it? How do you find the time for yourself???

OK - I'm off to tackle that mound of laundry. Its great to be back!

She's here!

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:45:00 +0000

Our baby was B"H born almost 7 weeks ago and I've been so knee deep in breast milk and poopy diapers that I haven't had a chance to write.

She's absolutely a gift from G-d. We adore her, she has already brought so much to our lives. Every day is a new adventure with our baby and we're madly in love.

Here's hoping she'll start sleeping through the night soon so that I can get a moment to get back to the blog.

Shabbat Shalom till then!

Week 40+2 - Champagne

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:02:00 +0000

To celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday, and the fact that we are B"H now in Week 40, I had a glass of champagne at dinner last night. And it was good. Unfortunately, kosher Champagne pales in comparison to some of the non-kosher kinds I used to drink while a working gal in the Big Apple, but the texture and sweetness really satisfied that craving. I figured I need to get in a glass before the breast feeding P"G begins and I really won't be able to have any alcohol.

So, I've T"G made it to week 40. Sometimes, I really can't believe the end (or should I say the beginning) is almost near! There were moments last week when I thought this was it, with cramps and contractions, but since Thursday night I've felt practically nothing. Last night, we had a great dinner at River on Rabbi Akiva street in town. I ordered the spiciest thing on the menu and tried to eat as much of it as possible until the flames really just got to me. I downed at least 2 bottles of water plus the champage. I was rewarded with literally 1 contraction. And then, we got home, and I enjoyed my buzz and watched some TV with Pidgeon and then passed out. That was the end of the contractions.

We decided to spend Shabbos with Pidgeon's parents because I just didn't want to cook anymore. And, since Pidgeon's Father decided to spend Shabbat Parshat Chayei Sarah in Chevron, it was a very different vibe in the house. I enjoy spending Shabbos when both parents are around, but it was nice to walk around the house in my PJ pants and not have to worry about wearing a skirt in front of my father-in-law.

I woke up on Friday flush with energy and thrilled that I didn't have to cook for Shabbos, that freed me up to do other important things. While Pidgeon was moving the suitcases into his parents storage room, I made up the bed in the baby's (P"G) room. Since the decor is black and white, I used black silk sheets and a lush brown comforter on top. The bed looks so inviting now and I just can't wait until the rest of the furniture is in the apartment! That will have to be delayed until P"G after the baby comes.

Once the room was complete, I tackled the refrigerator. Normally, I clean the fridge for Pesach. But, since this year we flew to the States to spend the holiday with my folks, I did minimal cleaning and literally just locked the doors and left town. The filthiness of the interior of the fridge was really getting to me, but I just kept putting it off. And then, Friday, I couldn't take it anymore. The ratatouille stains on the wall, the chocolate bits that were stuck to the sides, and the swath of cardboard from the bottom of a milk carton that somehow got stuck on some nastiness on the top shelf was just too much. I spent 3 hours cleaning out the fridge, washing down shelves and doors, and tossing anything that was past its expiration date or just didn't look good anymore.

I was exhausted by the time I was done but boy does it look great inside! So much so, that I no longer want to put anything in it because it's so clean. The vegetable bin is my particular pride and joy. There were grapes in there that were so old that they had become raisins (I wish I was kidding). Well, I'm still very proud of my handiwork, although Pidgeon did beg me to put a fruit and vegetable order in because we literally have 3 eggs and some cheese in the house. That's pretty much it, so I acquiesced to do it today but I'm not placing an order on more stuff that will last past the week.

Anyway, after cleaning the fridge, we realized that we had 2 hours left to Shabbos so we got things moving. We rushed through showers and getting dressed, packed up but decided to leave all our hospital bags here (we figured if we needed to get them we would just drive back to pick it up) and went to Pidgeon's parents. We parked as the siren sounded and I was able to light and put on some make up with just enough time. I decided to go to shul on Shabbos since I don't know the next time I'll be able to do that. I'm glad I did, it felt nice to daven Kabbalat Shabbat with everyone. Dinner was also very, very pleasant and I was starving from all the physical excersion so I ate very well.

However, about a few minutes after dinner when we were able to relax, I realized that that baby didn't move that much on Friday. I decided to try to wake the baby up. Nothing doing. I did all the tests they say to do, and about an hour of trying, I didn't feel the baby. Well, that landed us back at Shaarei Zedek on the monitor.

It was an awful, awful experience that I will only share if someone e-mails me offline. I don't want to write any more here since I plan on logging an official complaint with the hospital. All I know is that I'm now absolutely petrified of going into labor on a Friday night. I also learned a big big lesson. From now on, if I have any problems at all or any concerns at all, the first thing I do is call Dr. Yanai. I didn't want to call her on Shabbos to make her be Mechalel Shabbat if it turned out to be nothing, but at the end of the day she is my Dr. and I shouldn't be doing anything at this point without consulting with her.

Lesson learned unfortunately the hard way.

By the time we got back to Pidgeon's parents house on Friday night, I was a complete and total wreck. B"H, all was fine with the baby, but what happened there just took a huge toll. I didn't sleep well at night, and Pidgeon later told me that when I did sleep I was moaning in pain. Not good.

Anyway, since I was pretty much awake, I got up in time to wake Pidgeon for shul. His cousin was naming their baby girl at a minyan in Rechavia, so I decided to go to shul. I haven't been to shul on Shabbos day in a while, and we took the walk slowly and still got there at the beginning of Shacharit. I was exhausted but the davening made me feel a bit better. After shul, we went to Pidgeon's Aunt and Uncle's house and had a quick kiddush and a fun discussion over baby names.

We walked slowly back to Pidgeon's parents and, after another quick Kiddush, we both fell asleep and basically slept well past lunch time. Originally, we had plans to go out to a movie on Saturday night, but I was so emotionally wrecked from Friday night's experience that we decided to just stay in. I made Pidgeon some whole wheat pancakes to take to work on Sunday and then we watched TV and relaxed.

The phone rang at exactly 12:17 p.m. Israel time and it was my folks. When I picked up the phone to say hello, there was silence on the other end. And then, my Mom said, "you're still round?!!!" She had had a dream on Friday night that I had given birth to a "fat" baby with loads of dark hair. I told her we're going to have to wait a bit longer to see if that dream comes true, but there is a probability that the baby is gonna be chubby since the baby already weighs in a almost 8 pounds! As far as dark hair is concerned, I have no idea. Pidgeon has dark, dark hair but I was a blonde baby. So, it's up in the air.

I just can't wait to see what our baby P"G looks like already! I've been imagining for so long and wondering that I'm getting so excited just thinking about it. I think the Pidgeon is too, and I know he can't wait to P"G hold his child in his arms.

Well, Thanksgiving is practically upon us, and I am really hoping I don't need to break those turkey legs out of the freezer for dinner. That being said, I do plan on ordering some sweet potatoes and will make us a nice sweet potato and/or pumpkin pie is the baby decides to stay in Hotel Uterus for the holiday. Only time will tell!

I'm off to call a reflexologist for an appointment. I've been doing anything I can to help jump start these contractions. But, spicy food for dinner last night, loads of fresh pineapple for dessert on Friday night, lots of walking and resting haven't helped. I'm hoping this reflexologist will be able to do something to get things moving!

Yom Tov from Baka!

Week 39+2 Days - Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cord Blood Banking

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:09:00 +0000

Well, it's getting down to the wire now. I am - please g-d - 8 days away from my due date. How insane is that? I try not to think about it too much but it's impossible. Every second I'm not working, I'm thinking about the baby. And not just labor, but breastfeeding and baby clothing and baby gear, etc.

I was watching an episode of Alias yesterday and Marshall, the quirky little computer geek, saves the World and then comes home to a wife and baby waiting for him by the living room window. It brought me to tears, literally. Just thinking that, P"G, that could be me in a few days! I told Pidgeon about the episode and he got excited too when I told him that I can't wait until P"G "we" will be waiting for him to come home from work.

Yesterday was extremely busy. Between work and some car drama, I was literally on and off my feet nonstop. By the time the 11:00 p.m. shot rolled around, tears of exhaustion were rolling down my face and I just wanted to get under the covers and go to sleep. I don't remember the last time I passed out before 11:30 p.m. but we both really, really needed the sleep.

This morning, I got up with Pidgeon and packed his lunch and breakfast. After he left the house, I did the dishes that had accumulated overnight and tidied up a bit in the apartment. Afterwards, I decided to try to get some sleep. Unfortunately, my friend had other plans for me and she called about 45 minutes after I went to bed. That got be up and moving, as I had to cook dinner for Pidgeon's cousins. They just had their baby and I promised I would cook for them. So, I made all the fresh stuff this afternoon - spaghetti with olive oil and salt and fresh corn with olive oil margarine and salt. The joins the chicken fingers I fried last week and the batch of sweet and sour meatballs I made a few weeks ago. Since I spent the afternoon yesterday baking my Aunt Irene's (Z"L) chocolate chip cookies, I put the batch into a tin and sealed it up for them.

Feeling very accomplished, I decided to step into the shower before the folks in the States wake up and I have to get to work. As soon as I stepped out, I hear the doorbell ringing. I thought it was a mistake but I made my way to the intercom. Sure enough, it was a package for us and that's when I remembered that the stem cell company was sending us all the stuff we needed.

So, I was really on the fence about cord blood banking for stem cells. It is EXTREMELY expensive to do in Israel. And, our insurance only gives us a 700 shekel discount. Well, we discuss it at length and we fielded phone call after phone call from cord blood banks and then we sat down to talk money. In terms of shekel, we just didn't have it. We didn't have that kind of money in our checking account. We also didn't want to ask our parents, as mine as paying for Dr. Yanai and Pidgeon's parents are basically paying for all the nursery furniture and a night nurse. We felt that they are tapped out and didn't want to ask them for any more since they're already being generous.

And then we decided to invest some of our wedding money. We got a few dollars as wedding presents and, since a lot of our Israeli guests were so generous, we didn't have to invest any of it on things for the apartment. We were able to B"H bank the money in savings and had earmarked it to help us buy a home one day. But then we got to thinking that, if G-d forbid Hot Dog got ill and the cord blood could save the baby's life, we would kick ourselves for not investing the money. So, two days ago, we agreed to do it and today the kit arrived.

I didn't open the box, as I have no idea if it's sterile or what, and would prefer just handing everything over to the Dr. when I'm in labor. I'm sure the staff at Hadassah Ein Karem are familiar with this and will know what to do. Besides, I didn't want Pidgeon to cut the cord anyway, so it's good to let the Dr. take care of it.

My Mom called this morning all excited. She feels like now everything is really "happening" and she wanted to know how I'm feeling. Well, if you would have called me at 2:30 this morning I would have told you I was in labor. But then, I went back to sleep, and haven't had a contraction since.

Honestly, I don't know how I'm feeling. Physically, I feel okay. I have constant heartburn that's annoying and when I walk, the baby is really pressing down on my bladder so I feel like I'm going to make all over the floor. But, other than that, I feel just like I felt 2 weeks ago.

I'm trying very hard not to fear the unknown - or the pain. Yesterday, I burnt myself when I took a batch of cookies out of the oven. I decided to sit with the pain to see how bad it was and whether or not I could withstand it. It wasn't easy but it was a mind game and - after a few minutes of blowing on it and watching the red streak get redder and redder - I decided to just go about my day. Unfortunately, I now have a mark but I was able to handle the pain.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to use whatever will power or mind games I have at my disposal to withstand the pain of childbirth. Ideally, I'd like to try to avoid any medications they want to try to give me to dull the pain. Unless g-d forbid an emergency C-section needs to be performed, I want to try to do this the natural way.

May the Lord have mercy on me and let me have an easy delivery!

Well, I'm off to blow dry my hair and then get back to work.

Erev Tov from Baka!

Week 39

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:43:00 +0000

Its been a few days since my last post and my only excuse is a good one. It seems like every time I sit down to the computer, I'm working. I've got two big projects I'm focused on right now, one pays by the hour and the other promises to pay in the long run. With baby clock ticking down, I'm trying to get as much done as I possibly can beforehand. I'd like to think that I'm succeeding!

It's a beautiful Sunday morning and, since Pidgeon's alarm went off at 7:00 a.m., I've already put up a load of laundry, washed all the dishes I had waiting for me in the sink in the kitchen, let in the cleaning lady (who is hard at work in my bathroom!), eaten a quick breakfast, entertained my mother-in-law during a surprise pit stop after she dropped my niece off at Gan in the neighborhood, made Pidgeon his lunch and caught up on overnight e-mails. I'm pretty exhausted and am in the need of a good nap, but since I'm washing all the linens in our bedroom, that ain't gonna happen. Hopefully when our cleaning lady leaves I'll have some time to take a quick cat nap.

So far, week 39 is not all that different from week 38. I was very disheartened after our last Dr. Yanai appointment because, after an internal examination, she told us that I wasn't even 1 centimeter dilated! And here I thought our baby would come early. But, it looks like the baby is really enjoying Hotel Uterus and no matter how many segulot or self-labor stimulation I try, the baby will come out when the baby is good and ready.

That being said, I still broke out the bottle of Etrog liquor for Shabbos kiddush. I figured now was as good a time as any to get my etrog in in my ninth month. The liquor is very, very strong and, since I put in so much sugar, I was surprised that it wasn't sweet. That being said, I did break into the bottle 4 weeks before the fermentation process was complete, so who knows what the end result will look like!

I've been having some on and off contractions, mostly during the days when I'm on my feet a lot.

Like Wednesday, when we spent 2 hours food shopping at SuperSol in Talpiot. I persuaded Pidgeon to let me purchase 20 chicken bottoms, which I plan P"G on cooking and refreezing in packages of two. This way, after the baby comes, all I have to do is take a package of chicken out of the freezer and cook up a side or make a salad, and voila instant dinner! Pidgeon thinks I'm crazy since we spent over 1300 shekel on provisions, but I'd much rather have him around to enjoy and spend time with his child then to be running around Jerusalem on errands to pick up food or diapers or other stuff. I decided over Shabbos to make 15 of the chicken bottoms and save 5 so I can make chicken salt. We're a big soup family and I'd like to be able to just whip something up on Erev Shabbos without being frustrated that we don't have the right ingredients.

I was bored with my cooking this week, so I decided to try to experiment for Shabbos. I made a french onion soup in the crock pot that was delicious, especially once Pidgeon taste tested it and told me that it needed a lot more salt. I also made a new chicken, which really wasn't so difficult it was just roasted with Montreal chicken spice. And then I decided to make cauliflower mash, as opposed to roast cauliflower or cauliflower kugel. I found a recipe online and sorta followed the directions.

It was disgusting! I rarely turn down food - most of the time I turn away meat if it's not cooked well enough for my taste - but that's usually the extent of it all. This was just vile. Pidgeon couldn't eat it and, even though I tried to force myself, I realized that I couldn't do it either. When I consulted the recipe after Shabbos I realized my big mistake - mustard - and even though Pidgeon would like me to try again, I'm going to hold off a bit. I hate wasting food - especially since it's so expensive - so I'm going to stick to the tried and true for a while. I'll save food experimentation for when the economy P"G gets better.

We had a very quiet and relaxing Shabbos, which was nice. We slept a lot, which is why we both had a hard time falling asleep last night. Right after Shabbos, we got an SMS from Pidgeon's Aunt letting us know that his cousin had a baby girl on Shabbos morning. She weighed in at 3.7 kilo and she was birthed at home (on purpose). B"H, everyone is doing well! I was thrilled for many reasons. One, because Pidgeon's cousin was over a week late and I know she was ready to have the baby about a month ago. Two, because I am cooking dinner for them and I already pre-made the sweet and sour meatballs and the chicken fingers for the kids, and I could really use the freezer space! And three, because I was so nervous I would have the baby first and not be able to cook for them and I promised I would cook for them so I'm happy that I won't have to break that promise.

Pidgeon went over to wish his Aunt and Uncle a Mazal Tov while I stayed home and cleaned up after Shabbos and put up a wash. When he got back, we decided to go to the Mamilla Mall to walk around. It was such a great idea and a beautiful night too! As usual, the Mall restaurants were very crowded but since we weren't that hungry, we just walked past. We went window shopping, which is always a fun activity for me, and just walked up and down for about an hour. It was exactly what I needed to feel good, and I was hoping the gravity would just continue to move the baby down into the "starting" position. I woke up very sore this morning, so I'm hoping that the gravity helped. But, who the heck knows!

Well, I'm off to see how my chickens are defrosting. I want to cook at least 5 more chicken bottoms tonight to add to the freezer, and we have a family dinner at Pidgeon's parents house later so the more I get done early this morning the better.

Yom Tov from Baka!

Week 38: Segulah Time

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 07:32:00 +0000

Well, I'm thank g-d in my 38th week and it's getting down to the wire. The Dr.'s say that I can have the baby any day now, but only the Lord knows when the baby is going to decide to come. As for me, well, let's just say I'm doing my best to hurry the process along.

Last week was all about the Segulah's for an easy birth combined with "natural" ways to bring about labor. On Thursday, I decided to bake Challot as the Hafrashah on the Challah is a segulah for an easy birth. Now, I had heard that unless you're baking Challah with about 14 cups of flour, you don't make a bracha. And, since the recipe I used called for only 2 cups more than a kilo, I did the hafrashah, burnt it in the oven and didn't say a bracha. I hope that still counted as a segulah for an easy birth. On Wednesday, I finished phase two of the Esrog liquor. I have no idea how my Grandfather Z"L used to make it, but it was a very messy process with the powdered sugar and pouring the liquor out of the bottle with the esrog rind and into two whiskey bottles. It now needs 6 weeks to ferment but I'm thinking, as soon as I get any twinge of real contractions, I'm taking a shot. Figure the alcohol will help relax me while the esrog will hopefully act as a segulah for an easy birth. On Friday, before I lit candles, Pidgeon gave some Tzedakah and then last night, after we had date night and picked up some dinner at Waffle Bar, we came home and ate with Melavah Malka in mind.

Aside from going to the Mikvah, that's pretty much all the Segulot for an easy labor that I know of. As far as natural ways to get things moving, I ate fresh pineapple for dessert on Friday night, I did a lot of walking/standing on my feet and we also made sure to have at least 2 meals last week that had plenty of spice to it.

Nada is going on, I hate to admit. I honestly thought, as soon as I finished Melavah Malka last night, that I would go into labor and the baby would be here. My Dad said that I made such a nice home for the baby, that it's just not ready to interested in coming out.

I don't know about that theory. I mean, when I feel the hiccups that the baby has inside of me at like 3:00 a.m., I'm wondering if the baby really wants to be in there any longer. I mean, doesn't the baby want to be here so that Pidgeon and I can help with those hiccups?

Well, I'm just going to continue to do what I can do to help move things along. In the meantime, it's now once a week appointments with Dr. Yanai to make sure that the uterus is still a good home for the baby and that the baby is still thriving.

I can't help but wonder when it's all going to begin. I spent last night, when I couldn't fall asleep, reading the community boards on the What to Expect When You're Expecting website. I kept reading all these women's personal birth stories and they were fascinating. I realized that every single story was unique and so I have to remind myself that there is just no way to prepare for this. Elizabeth, a friend from high school, is an OBGYN resident in New York and yesterday we e-mailed back and forth on Facebook. I asked her for some advice and she basically said not to come with a birth plan because she sees all these women show up with plans and then end up with C-sections and they get very upset and disappointed.

The only "plan" I have right now is to try to go as long as I possibly can without an epidural. I am thrilled to know that the option to have one is available to me, and I'm praying that my contractions won't be so difficult as to need drugs right away, but I'd ideally like to try to go without it. It's funny, but I'm really not a martyr. I'm the first person to down 6 Advil's a day when I have very bad cramps, and I loved the laughing gas when I got all four wisdom teeth pulled, but when you experience 2 painful and complicated LP's you just don't want to run and have a big needle jabbed into your back.

So, aside from an extremely relaxing Shabbos with Pidgeon, and a really fun date night that included a movie at Rav Chen and take out from Waffle Bar, today is all about the new cleaning lady. I am not going to say anything more because it looks like I keep jinxing myself with cleaning people. Today's will be my 5th cleaning person in 2 years, and that's just really not a normal turn over rate. I have no idea why they all keep leaving me! I pay well, I'm really nice to them, and I make sure the apartment isn't too much of a wreck. Well, I told my baby bump not to make an appearance until after the apartment is clean. I want to make sure this place is in tip top condition before we bring a baby home! Here's hoping today's cleaning person will take care of all that for me.

I'm hoping that she's so good that, when she P"G comes back next week, I can have her spend time cleaning out the fridge and the stove. I'd really like to do both of those appliances before the baby comes. That being said, if they're not done before baby, it's not as bad as all the copulating dust bunnies I've got in the apartment.

I was just so excited about the new cleaning person, that I slept fitfully last night. Fortunately, it's Sunday, which means that I can just sit back and relax today. I'm actually hoping to work on one of the thesis stories as I still have 4 more to write and not much time to write them in! I'm ready for this Masters to be over and done with, and since I think Bar Ilan is a backwards and low tech institution, it's time for me to be finished with everything and just move on to the next phase of our lives.

Well, I'm off to go do some writing - or snoozing on the couch - whichever comes first.

Yom Tov from Baka!

Raspberry Leaf Tea and Vitamin D

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:13:00 +0000

I'm tired. It's my own fault though. When I woke up at 5:15 a.m. for my usual bathroom run, I decided to log onto the computer to see how the elections in the States were going. And, of course, with all the speculation about Ohio going to or not going to Obama, it kept me awake and reading the news until 6:00 a.m. I ended up in a very restless sleep, dreaming about ants and the baby.

Well, now we're both sick. Except, Pidgeon has the first stage of the cold and I'm at the stage where it's a cold mixed in with a secondary infection. I dragged myself to the Medical Center yesterday to see our Dr., who told me that I now have an upper respiratory infection on top of the cold. Yuck! She prescribed amoxycillan but then we discussed whether or not I should even start taking it. I have an appointment today with Dr. Yanai, so I'm going to ask her what she thinks I should do. Either way, I do not want either myself or Pidgeon to be sick when the baby decides to make its debut into this wonderful world!

I've been trying to follow my Dad's cold advice. I've kept my toothbrush next to my side of the bed, so it wouldn't infect Pidgeon's (lot of good that did, ey?), I've been drinking lots and lots of liquids. I've even had a glass of orange juice a day, and have been eating Vitamin C enriched fruits like oranges and mangos. I've been drinking the raspberry leaf tea with some honey, as opposed to sugar, to help sooth the itchy and achy throat and today, I opened up the trissim and the curtains and let the sun just flood the apartment. My Dad's answer to all illness is to sit in and soak up the Vitamin D from the sun.

Well, I'm kinda hot, so I'm not sitting directly in the sun's rays, but the brightness is really nice and I'm hoping I'm getting the benefits of the sunlight even if I'm sitting away from the mirpeset.

Pidgeon is home today and, instead of doing the work he should be doing on his project, he's running errands. First, he went to the garage to assess the damage that the Egged bus #417 did to our car on Saturday night. It's going to cost 1500 shekel for them to fix everything, and now our insurance agency needs to deal with the Egged insurance agency. Regardless, I'm going to take pictures of the damages when Pidgeon gets back home, so we have proof (with the green paint and all) that the bus hit us.

After he got the assessment, Pidgeon went to Bug to buy a birthday present for his younger brother. He's a tech guy, so we decided to get him an 8 GB disk on key. We figured it was a practical gift for him, so he doesn't always have to tot his computer around when he needs files and stuff. I think it's a good gift and I know I, personally, would like another disk on key. Both of mine are full to capacity these days.

One he finishes with Bug, he's going to be off to SuperSol to do some Shabbos food shopping. I'd like to bake Challah for Shabbos tomorrow, and also get a head start on the rest of my weekend cooking. I'm going simple though, because the thought of being in the kitchen for hours just doesn't appeal to me. Besides, I have a ton of work to do for both school and work, and so I just don't have the luxury to fuss. The chicken soup for Friday night is B"H already made and in the freezer, which is one thing off my list. Now, all I have to do is figure out the rest.

So, I've been having contractions lately, and they've varied in terms of intensity and frequency so I've basically just been ignoring them. Last night, I decided since I've been having some contractions, that it was time to pack the hospital bag. We're taking Pidgeon's rolling suitcase, so I had him unpack it and I moved it onto the chair in our Mamad. I was able to put in his shower shoes, my shower shoes, my slippers, a pair of swim trucks for him, two towels, a hot water bottle, a spray bottle, a fan, a sweatshirt, 2 pairs of sweat socks, disposable underwear, feminine hygiene products, 2 toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, eye drops, moisturizer, lip balm, mouthwash, almond oil, an outfit for the baby, a onesie for the baby, a hat for the baby, hand sanitizer, batteries and the camera, a pair of glasses, hairbands, 2 shmatas with bobby pins to cover my hair after delivery and deoderant. What I didn't pack yet is the binder with all my medical information, my cellphone and charger, my iPod and charger, a swaddling blanket, my pillow, the food (that's in a separate bag), a hair brush, an outfit for me to wear from hospital to hotel and my tehillim. It took me 2 hours to pack and, I was so preoccupied, that I forgot about my shot. Fortunately, Pidgeon remembered and I wasn't too late with the injection.

Next up, I have to pack my bag for Hotel Baby. That bag will mostly have PJ's and toiletries and some of the stuff that I packed in my hospital bag. I also want to pack some stuff for Pidgeon too, so he doesn't have to worry about going back and forth to the apartment to get things he might need during our stay.

I wonder what I'm missing though. I have this nagging feeling that I'm just not ready yet, but I don't quite know what I still need to get done. I have lists and lists and lists all over the apartment, and yet, I feel like I'm just not checking anything off. In fact, I think I just keep adding to the list.

The next big thing is to find a cleaning person STAT. I just have no energy to really clean anymore, and I'm so exhausted these days that all I want to do is curl up in bed and take lots of long naps.

In fact, I think that's just what I'm going to go do.

Yom Tov from Baka!

Ashkelon and Egged

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:27:00 +0000

What I wouldn't give for a capful of cherry flavored Nyquil right about now. I am finished up the third day of an absolutely miserable cold and, aside from my nose being all chapped (Pidgeon over Shabbos declared that I looked like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer) and I'm dry as a bone, I haven't slept well at all! I hate breathing through my mouth and so, for the past two nights, I kept dozing off only to wake up because I felt like I was suffocating.

I had planned on cooking for Shabbos Thursday afternoon but, while we were picking up some baby scissors and other toiletries at Mozezim in Talpiot, my mother-in-law called and invited us to Ashkelon for Shabbos. I jumped at the invitation and, Friday afternoon after a short morning interview for work, we were on the road.

I love going to Ashkelon in the fall/winter. It's just beautiful to be on the beach with the balmy weather and the low-humidity. The summer is just too hot to for us in Ashkelon and, while I enjoy the pool, it's much more pleasant for me to be there when it's cooler. Unfortunately, I was pretty miserable with my cold, so I couldn't really take advantage of the scenery. Had I been feeling better, I would have gone with Pidgeon for a nice, long walk on the boardwalk. I was surprised to see some people actually taking a dip in the Ocean over Shabbos, but with the sun out the weather was really nice and warm.

Since I was feeling so gross, Pidgeon hurried us up after Shabbos so we could hit the road back to Jerusalem early. While we were near Shaar Hagay, there was an accident with two buses and the police blocked one of the three lanes. We were already in the left lane, and Pidgeon was courteous to let cars in the right lane merge into ours so that traffic could flow nicely.

Suddenly, Egged bus #417 decided to speed up and merge into our lane. Pidgeon put on the brakes to let the huge bus go through but the driver wasn't paying attention to his spacing and all of a sudden we hear this huge CRUNCH and the car starts to rock. The freaking BUS hit us! Pidgeon sat on the horn but the bus just kept going and when we drove up to the driver's side window, the driver just put the pedal to the metal and kept going. He didn't even pull over to assess the damage!

Well, I always carry a pad and pen in my purse so I wrote down the time, bus number, license plate number and we called Egged. The woman told us what numbers to call to report damages and I was just seething.

People, this was my side of the car. This was right outside of my door. This stupid driver was in such a rush to go from Ramat Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem? Seriously, what was the big emergency that he should be so reckless with his driving? Pidgeon was furious and it wasn't until we got home that we could assess the damage. The entire paint on the right side of car, right above the tires, is scatched and almost gone. There is even green paint from the Egged bus now on our car - so calling all CSI's to come by and scrape off proof of the accident.

We are now dealing with our insurance agency and on Wednesday, Pidgeon has to take the car into the garage to see how much damage we have on the car. I am not paying one red cent. And, what's worse, is that I want the driver of bus #417 to be reprimanded and to take responsibility for what he did to our car!

I guess I should look on the bright side. B"H, neither one of us was hurt. But still, how many times do I need to write on this blog how reckless drivers in this country are? And people wonder why I haven't jumped behind the wheel of our car. It's not because I doubt my driving abilities, it's because I don't have faith in anyone elses in this Country.

We could avoid so many accidents and deaths if Israelis would just be more careful with their driving.

Come on people, so many other factors against our survival exists. Why should we do this to ourselves?

Be careful on the roads everyone!

Layla Tov from Baka!

Things To Do in Your Ninth Month

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:46:00 +0000

As if being nine months pregnant isn't hard enough, there is a ton of things that need to get done in the last few weeks before baby. At least, that's what I'm currently facing! This morning, I woke up and decided that today is the day I start doing the things I've been putting off for a while.

That meant that I responded to business e-mails I've put off for a few days, I had to stop ignoring our ant problem, and I put the baby clothing I already have into the wash and made my esrog liquor.

I had read in one of these Jewish women in pregnancy and spirituality books, that if you eat an etrog in your 9th month it's a Segulah for an easy labor. And, since Hot Dog is currently out of breech position and it looks like the baby will be making a natural entrance P"G into this world, I'm doing whatever I can to make it an easy birth. That means drinking my raspberry leaf tea every day, steaming with rosemary, massaging with almond oil and making esrog liquor.

Since Pidgeon is home today working on his final project, I decided it would be a good time for me to do some of the household errands I need to get done. First, when Pidgeon left the apartment to run some errands and meet with a Professor at school, I washed the dishes and got ready for breakfast. When he returned, I made him a healthy breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheese and some cucumber and tomato. After breakfast, I spent about 20 minutes cutting all the tags and labels off of the baby clothing and loading them into the wash. We purchased Tinok Clean powder and Baby liquid fabric softener and I put up the wash. I didn't separate the whites from the colors though, and I'm wondering if all my white onesies and crib sheets will now be tinged pink. Hopefully not!

After the wash was up and I got a quick phone call from Mom, I decided it was time to make the esrog liquor. Since making esrog jam or jelly is too much of a pain in the neck, and I already have 3 bottles of good vodka in my freezer, I went with the liquor route.

Here's how you make esrog liquor.

First (see photo above) assemble all of your necessary ingredients. Take an empty bottle of alcohol and wash it out good, especially if it's a bottle of whiskey or something other than vodka. After that's washed and dried, prepare the etrogim. Since I'm only using the peel for the liquor, I washed each etrog well (people have been manhandling these fruits for an entire 7 days, it's wise to at least rinse them). Then, being careful not to get too much of the white part, peel each etrog. I doubled the recipe and so I used 6 etrogim for 4 cups of vodka.

I cut the etrogim on my cutting board and then dropped them - piece by piece - into the empty bottle. I tried to avoid the white parts but it wasn't that easy. Hopefully, it won't turn the vodka too bitter.

Because of Kedushat Shviit (etrogim are especially holy since they were grown during a shmita year and therefore, nothing can be thrown out.) I put all the fruit, the top and bottoms of the etrogim and any scraps that didn't go into the whiskey bottle, into a bag. I'm going to leave the bag on the windowsill until is rots enough to be thrown away. Hopefully it will rot quickly, I'd prefer not having them hang out too long in the kitchen!

After I peeled all 6 etrogim and dropped the peel into the whiskey bottle, I measured out 4 cups of good vodka and poured it into the bottle. I'm going to store it in a cool, dark place for about a week. At which point, I'm going to drain the peel from the vodka, add 3 cups of confectioners sugar and another 2 cups of vodka, and put it away to "ferment" for 6 more weeks!

Hopefully, we'll be able to toast a lechayim during Chanukah this year! I'm excited!!

Well, I'm off to enjoy the rain by baking some blondies for Pidgeon's cousin, whose wife is due P"G next week. I already offered to cook dinner for them and, with meatballs cooked and hanging out in the freezer, I'm hoping to take dessert off of my list. This way, when the baby does come, all I'll have to make will be some chicken, pasta and a vegetable.

Yom Tov from Baka!

Engaged and out of Breech

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:29:00 +0000

Looking back on yesterday's blog entry, I can honestly admit that I was in a funk all morning. I was just so down for the better part of the day, and even the usual "suck it up" speech I got from my Mom didn't really pull me out of it. I ended up cleaning the apartment all freaking day long. Literally, it took me 6+ hours to sponga the floors, clean the bathrooms, tidy all the rooms, do two loads of laundry and leave stuff outside the door for Pidgeon to toss in the garbage. All the while, I tried to cheer myself up so that Pidgeon wouldn't come home to a sullen wife. I was definitely much better by the time he walked through the door, although I wasn't Stepford so he knew something was wrong.

I asked him what he thought of the apartment, and he walked around the place and said what a great job Miriam did. At that point, I was beeched like a whale on the couch, looking and feeling like garbage, and smiling because he thought I'd done a great job. I then told him that I saved us 160 shekel and that I'm the new Miriam. He wasn't happy that I spongaed the floors and cleaned all day, but I think he was happy to see the apartment in nice shape. I know I'm happy when I'm in a clean environment.

So, loads of GREAT things happened last night that completely made up for such a lousy morning!

First - and most importantly - my favorite Cousin Neil is engaged!!! It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. I've been waiting for this day about as long as he has, and just knowing how happy he is makes me so thrilled for him and his fiance. I just hope I get to meet her soon! But, depending on when they're getting married, I might not even get to meet her before she becomes Mrs. Cousin Neil! If they get married before the baby is 3 months old, I won't be able to fly in for the wedding. They don't recommend that babies fly before they're 3 months so we'll just have to wait and see. As much as I would LOVE to dance at Cousin Neil's wedding, I'd much rather he get married when it's good for him than wait until I can fly into the States. I don't want him to be single any minute longer than he has to be - he's waited long enough to be with his soulmate. Of course, the selfish part of me will be very sad if I have to miss it. I only have 5 first cousins and, I'm closest to Cousin Neil, so it would be great if I can be there for it. That being said, I do get to B"H share a lifetime with them so I'm trying to look on the bright side.

And, if Cousin Neil getting engaged last night wasn't enough to pull me out of my funk and onto this high, the news that our baby is out of breech position just sent me soaring! Well, and into a panic too. We waited to see Dr. Yanai for a while and - as always - it was well worth it. When we got into the room, I told her about the hospital visit and showed her the information. Then, I mentioned that the baby was still in breech last week when they did the ultrasound, but that I felt different. I told her that I feel like something has dropped and there is this tremendous pressure on my bladder. It's getting harder to walk too since it feels like I've got something very heavy stuck between my legs. So, she told me to hop up on the table and we'll see where the baby's at. And, when she announced that the baby turned and is no longer in breech and is "head down" Pidgeon and I whooped so loud that we swear the people in the waiting room heard us. We were just so elated that I didn't have to go into the hospital for them to attempt to turn the baby. Of course, that's when I realized HOW the baby is going to be getting out of me. So, I turned to Dr. Yanai and said "wait, I need to actually deliver this baby now?" She was surprised and asked me if I wanted a C-section. I said, not really, I just didn't think about the alternative.

The baby is also right now 6 pounds and with 4 weeks left to go - could grow about 1-2 more pounds! That's a BIG baby pushing its way through my delicate area. I was so small, I was only 5-11 when my Mom had me. I was kinda hoping this baby would be on the leaner side so that it won't hurt as much. But, what the heck do I know? I've never done this before - but now I'm going to find out!

The Dr. then did my test for GSB (step test) and sealed the tube and handed it to me to bring today to Maccabi. We were just so happy with the news, we practically skipped out of the room. Plus, my blood pressure was looking really great, so all three of us were thrilled. We made an appointment for 10 days from yesterday and then went to celebrate.

I spent the night on the phone, Skyping with my sister in Cleveland (my 4 year old niece got her ears pierced!) and IMing with my brother in Miami Beach. I could barely contain my excitement and it was hard getting to sleep, but with another 6:45 a.m. wake up call I knew I had to get some shut eye.

My body woke me up this morning about 4 minutes before Pidgeon's alarm went off. He dropped me off at the Maccabi in town and then continued on his way to work. It was almost 8:00 a.m. and I was thinking I would be in and out of there in no time. Unfortunately, when I got upstairs to the blood clinic, they told me that they don't draw blood for my type of tests until 9:30 a.m. I literally had to sit there for an hour and a half with nothing to do. I hadn't anticipated that long of a wait so I didn't have a book or magazine to keep me company. Instead, I watched the people and watched the clock and waited. At 9:25 a.m., I walked into the area and immediately got processed. 7 huge vials of blood later, I went in search of the nurses station for my flu vaccine. They recommend pregnant women get a flu shot and, since I really don't want to get the flu this year NOR do I want the baby to get the flu, I thought it was a good idea. I waited for another 30 minutes before they could administer the shot, and then I was on my way.

I had the cab driver drop me off at the Supermarket near the apartment and picked up some food for tonight's class. I got a big bag of potato chips and some sandwich cookies, and a couple of other odds and ends for the house, and then hauled my three shopping bags back home. It was not easy and not because the bags were particularly heavy but because each step cause the baby to press down on my bladder even more! I was very happy when I got home, collapsed onto the couch and just relaxed.

Well, I'm off to finish my work for the morning. With another Dr.'s appointment slated before our 8:00 p.m. class, I really need to be as efficient as possible!

Yom Tov from Baka!

Pathetic Fallacy

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 08:47:00 +0000

Where the hell is Mr. Clean when you need him?

When I studied Wuthering Heights back in college, my Professor used the literary term Pathetic Fallacy to describe how the weather mimicked the characters mood. Heathcliff is referred to as a very stormy character and, coincidentally, the weather outside the Castle is usually pretty lousy. I've since looked up the term and while it doesn't 100% mean what my Professor said, I'm going to use it today as it's the only way to describe how I'm feeling.

The storm clouds are rolling in outside my window and it's 100% reflective of my current mood. I B"H just started my 9th month and my anxiety levels continue to heighten with every passing moment.

First up:

1) Pidgeon's sister and brother-in-law - this is not a new theme in our lives but I'm finally at my breaking point. Just when I think they're coming towards us, they do something so fundamentally obnoxious and rude that I'm left feeling disappointed and upset. I'm on this constant roller coaster of emotions with them and boy do I want to just get off that ride. After the latest incident involving them, which took place on Thursday night, I decided to just stop caring. So, Friday night when we were at Pidgeon's parents for dinner, I didn't talk to them. Not one word. I wasn't hostile or obviously upset with them, and I acted pleasantly and respectfully to everyone in the room, I just didn't address them. No hello when they arrived, no goodbye when we left. And I think that's just the way I'm going to have to deal with them moving forward. The less I interact with them, the better off I'll be. I'm just so damn tired of having them stress out my marriage, be a constant source of fighting between me and Pidgeon, and be a primary reason why I'm upset in my life. I want to just focus on myself, my husband and P"G our baby and just be happy with what's to come. Now all I need is for my emotions to follow my intellectual reasonings and maybe I'll be able to get out of bed today.

2) The state of our apartment - it's a mess. There are blotches of Lord knows what on our kitchen floor and a layer of dust on every surface of the apartment that needs to be wiped clean. I had waited all morning for our cleaning lady to call and let me know what time she was coming, and she called alright, to tell me that she's no longer cleaning and is accepting another job offer. Now, she is Anglo with 4 children and lives in Maale Adumim. She has a US college degree and was working for a company in the Technology Park that was paying her less than minimum wage, so she started cleaning houses to help make more money. She was a great cleaner, very trustworthy and nice. I was finally getting comfortable with her and then she ups and quits on me with no notice at all. Just a call today to say she was not coming and that the 40 shekel I overpaid her last time will somehow make it back to me. I was pleasant on the phone, wished her well, and then hung up and stewed. While I 100% understand her situation and would myself probably make the same decision if in her shoes, she royally screwed me. She never gave me any indication that she was looking to find a new job, and she gave me no notice. I'm in my 9th month of pregnancy and would get on my hands and knees and scrub my own floors if I could, but I physically cannot. Rather than just sit here and cry, I started making some calls to people I turned down when Miriam told me she could come work with us. They are no longer available. So, I called Miriam back and basically told her how upset I was with her. I said that, while I am thrilled she secured a good job in this economic environment, I am left with no one to clean my apartment in my 9th month. She apologized and said she didn't know this job offer was coming, that she didn't think it would be a big deal because people post ads all the time on JANGLO looking for cleaners and that she had tried to call me last night but I never picked up my phone. I basically left it at that if she knew someone who could help me out, I would really appreciate it. I hope never to hear from her again. I wish her well, but I certainly don't need her in my face when I have less than 4 weeks to find a replacement before the baby.

3) The state of the economy - it just plain sucks. I have one amazing client and was hoping to at least take 3 weeks off after the baby before I started working with them again. They don't want that. In fact, they really want someone who can continue through March which is their busy season. We need the money, so I need to figure something out. I'm resentful because all other new Mothers get to take at least 3 months off on maternity leave before going back to work, and I don't have that option. Who knows if the client will still be around after 3 months? Chances are, they will move on and hire someone else in the interim. And, what if I can't find a job in 3 months? Then what? My parents aren't helping matters at all. My Mother told me that I need to find a way to work things out, instead of telling me that I should just take the 3 months off and figure things out when I'm ready to get back to work. She keeps saying how lousy the economy is, how terrible the job market is out there, etc. I know everything she says is true, but how the hell am I supposed to juggle a new baby (my first mind you), a household, and a client? Should I just say goodbye to sleep right now? I don't want to be a bad Mother, I don't want my baby or my husband to suffer, and ethically I don't want my client to pay the price either. I'm in a pretty lousy predicament and just pray that I figure something out ASAP.

Well, with all this stress and everything just running through my head, it's no wonder that I didn't sleep last night. I ended up doing work for 2 hours until 4:00 a.m., before I was exhausted enough to get some sleep. I was up with Pidgeon when his alarm went off at 6:45 a.m. and have been awake ever since. The HOT cable guy came at 8:45 a.m. to fix out cable, and then replaced our Magic box with a new one. We had a ton of things taped - never watched - that are now gone. I just shrugged and said Gam Zu Letovah - it's for the best - we will just make do with what we have. I then set to record as many Stargate's as possible since I know how much Pidgeon likes them. Hopefully when he gets home from work today, there will be a number of episodes he can watch.

I tried to get back to sleep after the cable guy left but to no avail. I just have so much on my mind that, every time I close my eyes, something else crowds in. I have to figure out how the hell I'm going to get everything done before the baby and it's not looking too promising.

Is having a new baby always this stressful? If so, then what will life be like AFTER the baby?

Pidgeon and Ants

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:52:00 +0000

Ugh, I hate that I can no longer ignore this problem. But, we have an ant situation in our apartment and it's getting worse the colder the weather gets! At first, we found 1-2 ants in our bathroom. No biggie, right? I mean, we're not afraid of the ants. But then, this morning, Pidgeon woke up and went to wash up and found a swarm of ants all over our toothbrushes. He said he felt like he was in some terrible horror movie about hallucinating but - alas - he wasn't hallucinating.

A few weeks back, I asked my neighbor if she had an ant problem, and she said she does and that I should avoid calling the exterminator. Now, I was all set to just give them a call and have them come in and take care of the problem. I mean, back in the States, my folks have an exterminator come to the house every month. I know because I usually had to wake up early and open the door for the guy, and then follow him around the house to tell him where to spray.

But, she recommended that in my current "condition" I should try the more organic route. She said that tea tree oil is a natural insecticide and that I should sprinkle that around the bathroom. I was lazy and didn't do it when we hung up the phone and after this morning's situation, I really wish I had! Pidgeon was not pleased as he tossed our toothbrushes and washed out our washing cup. I directed him towards the tea tree oil I have in the apartment - a very expensive bottle I bought from my facialist in the States since I use tea tree oil after a facial - and he started swinging the bottle at the ants like it was holy water. Fortunately, it worked very well, and the ants all started dying. Unfortunately, there is tea tree oil all over the mirror in the bathroom and the floors and the smell is not my favorite. But, if this is a natural remedy that will deal with our ant problem and not hurt both me and the baby, I'm all for it. Now all I need to do is buy us a bigger bottle!

Yesterday, I spent 5 hours working and the rest of the time basically just sitting on my big ass. I caught up on all my back episodes of Alias, which made me very happy. Then, when Pidgeon came home, I helped him take down the Succah. In the morning, I had already removed all the decorations and put them away, so all Pidgeon had to do was -well -the rest! While we were taking the Succah down, we saw and hear a huge noise from the Matnas. Turns out, that's where the Nir Barkat rally for Jerusalem mayor was being held. Coincidentally, we both received our ballots to vote in the election on November 11th. Since the polling "booths" will be set up a few blocks away, we're planning to P"G go and vote for Mayor. It's cool that I'm voting in two different elections in two separate Countries this year. Which reminds me, I really do need to send in my overseas ballot ASAP!

We were supposed to have our final child birth education class yesterday. And, since Pidgeon and I are responsible for bringing half of the food, I put in an order at SuperSol and got a box of cookies, 2 bags of Bisli, 3 chocolate bars, 2 packages of crackers, 2 packages of cheese and 3 bottles of drinks. We split the food with another couple, who were responsible for bringing 3 bottles of drinks, hummus and salatim, cut up vegetables and also a box of cookies. I put all the food on the dining room table for Pidgeon to pack when he got back from work. Our class was called for 8:00 p.m. and I was just really excited for it all to finally be finished! I mean, some people in the class are due this week and next week already! If anyone goes into on time or early labor, they're pretty much finished with the course.

Well, sure enough, my cell phone rings and it's a woman from the class to say that class is cancelled. No date for rescheduling has been set and that we would probably hear from Joanie eventually. I was not surprised by the call - but the caller herself was due 2 days ago! Pidgeon spoke to her and we both wished her well and said that we hoped NOT to see her in the next class. She heartily agreed.

I'm not sure what's going on with Joanie, class has been cancelled and rescheduled so many times that at this point I honestly don't think we'll have another one before the babies P"G start coming. Either way, I told Pidgeon we'll just pack the food into the hospital bag and take it with us. Although, I already started ordering and preparing food for the hospital, and Pidgeon put that away in the Mamad so I can pack my bag.

The hospital bag is the next big item on my to do list. I have a huge SuperPharm list ready and waiting but haven't had the opportunity to go pick up what I really need. Since we have our first 9th month appointment P"G on Sunday, we're going to get a better sense of what's going to be with the baby. If the baby is still in breech, I'm going to have to be admitted into the hospital where my Dr. will attempt to turn it. I need to have everything ready in case, while the Dr. is trying to turn the baby, something happens and I go into labor or they have to deliver the baby. Which means, I could have the baby within the next 2 weeks!

So, rather than freak out and go crazy with things, I'm going to wait to see what the Dr. says on Sunday night. After that, I'll freak out and go crazy with things, and hopefully prepare as best I can for what's P"G to come!

Well, it's already 10:00 a.m. and I haven't cooked a thing for Shabbos! Fortunately, the meatloaf and chicken shouldn't take that long to prepare. I just hope Pidgeon returns soon with the new toothbrushes, it would be great if I could freshen up even a little bit!

Shabbat Shalom from Baka!

Moonshining

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:37:00 +0000

They say that if a pregnant woman, in her 9th month, eats an etrog it's a segulah for an easy birth. So, my dining room table is now littered with etrogim from the holiday and I'm getting ready to go out and pick up a couple of bottles of vodka. With plenty of sugar and at least 6 week fermentation, I should have some good etrog liquor. Granted, I'm due well before 6 weeks time, but I can always sneak a few sips here and there in the middle of the fermentation process.

I am so happy that the Chagim are over and, as enjoyable as most of it was, I'm looking forward to moving on with the year. I should be taking down the decorations today but I'm fighting to stay awake to update the blog before I plan on trying to take a quick nap. The second part of Yom Tov was definitely not as fun as the first part.

Shabbat Chol Hamoed started out really, really great. Pidgeon and I had a lot of fun just being the two of us, and I love eating in the Succah over the Chag. It was very, very hot though on Shabbos day and I was sweating a ton in the Succah. We also didn't have the AC on so it was pretty hot in the apartment too. I managed to take a nap though and when I woke up, was feeling anything but refreshed.

The baby suddenly felt very heavy in my stomach. I tried to wake it up by jiggling but nothing. So, I got out of bed and went into the kitchen to cut up some fruit. I made a plate for Pidgeon and together we ate some fruit. I thought the sugar would wake the baby but again, I felt nothing. Concerned, I decided to dig into a huge piece of chocolate tart that I had left over from the first days of Yom Tov. At this point, normally, the baby would be going wild inside of me. And still, nothing. Not even a movement.

That's when I started really freaking out. Shabbos was over in 10 minutes so I put my feet up and waited for Pidgeon to daven before we called his Mom. She told us to go to Shaarei Zedek immediately. So, we got dressed, grabbed all my medical paperwork, and drove to Shaarei Zedek. Pidgeon's Mom met us there and we went to the 9th floor where a midwife took my vitals and told me to try to relax. I was in the middle of a panic attack so relaxing wasn't really going to happy. My blood pressure was very, very high, so she immediately put me in an area and hooked me up to the baby monitor.

I was relieved when we heard the baby heartbeat and the midwife, concerned about my blood pressure, told Pidgeon and his Mom that they had to sit outside so I could have some "Mommy and baby time". She thought that would relax me - it did the complete opposite. I still could NOT feel the baby moving, even though I could hear the heart beat, and my panic attack worsened. I started sweating through everything and I felt like I was going to throw up, but they had closed the curtain and the garbage pail was out of my reach. I started crying, I hated being alone, hated not being able to feel the baby, and all I wanted was Pidgeon to come and help me. About 30 minutes passed and the nausea was getting much worse, until finally a Dr. came in to do an ultrasound. It was amazing to see the baby moving on the ultrasound but still I couldn't feel a thing.

The Dr. said it was a number of reasons, one being that she moved (although not, unfortunately, out of breech position) and between lack of space, all that amniotic fluid, an anterior placenta and ALL MY FAT (I swear she said that), it was no surprise that I couldn't feel the baby as strongly as I had.

Bullshit.

This baby is super active and I have felt it moving and punching and swimming very, very clearly. But, in this new position, there wasn't as much room to manuever so I need now to learn what's normal movement for the baby.

Anyway, they wouldn't let me leave until I was confident that I felt the baby. But, I wanted out of that room, away from all the women in labor and with Pidgeon and his Mom. So, they let me sit outside with them both until I was confident that I felt the baby. We were there for over an hour before I felt 3 swift kicks. At which point, I got my discharge papers and was out the door as fast as I could! I was wiped and emotionally drained. I thought I could just come home, relax and calm down.

Unfortunately, Pidgeon had other plans for me. About an hour after we got home, Pidgeon got sick. I mean, really, really sick. It turns out, he somehow caught a stomach virus, and we were up all night together. At 6:00 a.m., he finally felt well enough to try to get some sleep, and I passed out next to him. I couldn't believe we had all this drama - back to back - in one night.

Sunday, we were supposed to go to a Pideon HaBen in the morning and a family Succah party in Beit Shemesh at night. But, we were at the Dr's office first thing and she diagnosed Pidgeon with a highly contagious stomach virus and made sure that everything was okay with me (i.e. my blood pressure had returned to normal). By the time we finished with the Dr.'s, we were both so exhausted that we just got back home and crashed. But, Pidgeon was finally really hungry and we had an errand to run in town. So, we made the HUGE mistake of going to Cafe Rimon Dairy for something to eat. We had no problem getting a seat and the service was fine, but towards the end of our meal an American family with 2 teenage sons and 3 year old twin daughters sat down at the table next to us. The father decided to park the double stroller right next to my seat, thus blocking the pathway for the waitresss and anyone else that needed to pass. We finished our meal, paid the check, and then got up to leave. I couldn't get out as the stroller was in my path. The man saw me struggling and, rather than just get up and move the stroller out of the way, he said "it's better for you to go around" and pointed around the restaurant.

Now people, had he moved his stroller, it would have been a straight shot out of the restaurant since we were sitting on the periphery. But, he was indicating that we basically weave our way in the opposite direction until we can get out. Well, I was PISSED off. But, I have a problem with being assertive and, I tend to end up aggressive and since I didn't want to start a fight, I decided to be passive aggressive.

I started bitching and moaning and saying to Pidgeon "Oh, it's BETTER for me that I should shove my way through these table." Whack, my stomach hits some poor lady in the head. "Oh yeah, it's BETTER for me to hit this nice lady in the head with my stomach". I continued as I tried to squeeze my way between tables. At this point, the guy decides now's a good time to stop being a lazy ass and move the stroller (granted, we're at the other side of the table now). And his WIFE, who has been pregnant at least 3 times, says to him "don't worry, sit down, she'll be fine."

The insensitivity of people! I left feeling very frustrated and pissed off that they had the nerve to be so rude. I vowed to learn the proper way of being assertive without being aggressive so that I'm never in this situation again. As you can imagine, by the time we got home on Sunday, we needed to spend the rest of the day just taking it easy.

Monday was a short whirlwind of a day. Pidgeon went to shul with his Dad for Hoshana Rabah and then we joined his family for a big breakfast in the Succah. Afterward, we ran some errands for them before Simchat Torah and Pidgeon went to Orange to deal with his cell phone problems. I spent an hour waiting for him in the car while he dealt with Orange. It wasn't fun. We got home with barely enough time for me to do some work, shower, pack and get dressed before we moved in with his folks for the Chag.

The second day of Yom Tov was a lot of fun and FULL of family and friends. I made it to shul Simchat Torah night and watched as Pidgeon got his Hakafah. We were in the downstairs Minyan at Chovevei and my Father-in-law brought my nieces and nephews some candy bags. My nephew ripped into his and ate all the stuff he liked right away, and then left us holding the bag so he could run around and dance with the men. There were a lot of Americans at the minyan and pretty soon, some women came into the women's section and moved chairs around so they could dance. I'm not one for dancing on Simchat Torah - and especially not 9 months pregnant - so I stayed in my seat and kept watching. Suddenly, an older Anglo gentleman approached the Mechizah and said "I can't take this anymore" and took my nephew's candy bag. I was pretty shocked and didn't know what to say, until I saw him trying to divy out the candy amongst his grandchildren. This was where my new assertiveness comes in, but I was at a loss for words!

Fortunately, his daughter/daughter-in-law saw my face (she was in the woman's section) and told him that it wasn't his to take and he had to give it back. He threw is back at me and I told him that I didn't think my nephew would appreciate him stealing his candy. He made a face and then walked away.

Chutzpah!

I couldn't wait for the Chag to be over, so I could just get back to some sort of routine. We spent the day with family and friends and then, once it was all over, Pidgeon and I decided not to go home. They have Hakafot Shniyot with LOUD music by our apartment, so we decided to stay at his folks another night. We did go to Aldo on Emek Refaim and picked up 2 movies from Videon. We were planning a quiet night watching movies and relaxing at home.

Well, I have NO idea what was in that ice cream, but by the second movie I wasn't feeling so great. Pidgeon was also feeling nasty and we couldn't believe we were sick again. At Midnight, I started throwing up again and it wouldn't stop. Fortunately, Pidgeon's Mom knew what to do and sent him back to our apartment to pick up my Pramin. I was a dishrag by the time he got back with the medication but at least it stopped my throwing up. Then, Pidgeon felt terrible that he ended up in another toilet in the house. We both dragged ourselves to bed at 2:30 a.m. and I said I was done with food.

We spent the day yesterday trying to figure out what the heck happened the night before. Because we were both so weak and exhausted, we left the Succah up and went about our day. We both had appointments out of the area and I practically fell asleep waiting for my hematologist to show up. Fortunately, the meeting was quick, and we were back home and relaxing in no time. I have a ton of backlogged work to catch up on and managed to do some of it while Pidgeon was out. I made us a quick salmon and salad dinner and we were asleep 2 hours earlier than normal.

Today, I'm hoping to still take it a bit easy but don't know how that will pan out. I have a SuperSol delivery coming in the afternoon and the Kablan coming to look at the leak in our bathtub. We also have our last childbirth education class tonight and supposedly it's some birth video. Just what Pidgeon is looking forward to doing tonight!

Well, I'm off to try to take a quick nap before I really have to get my day going. Hope everyone had a wonderful Chag!

Yom Tov from Baka!

Sound the Alarm

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:54:00 +0000

Good Moed! I'm exhausted but elated with how Yom Tov is going so far. Here's a picture of the new Succah decoration from our Succah this year. (It's hard to see because of the stuff on the Succah walls, but it's really pretty and has pink and lilac doves with little bells hanging from the top).

It's a Jtownunderground family tradition to purchase a new decoration each year for the Succah. I don't really know when that tradition began, but after 30+ years of building the same Succah back home in Queens, my Mom realized that the decorations weren't as durable as the metal frame. So, a few years back, she decided to start the tradition of buying a new decoration each year. Granted, some of the same decorations will always be put up in their Succah. Namely, the glittered egg carton my brother made when he was in Nursery, the apple windchime and the Ushpezin charts we pin to the Succah walls.

I'm a bit of a minimalist when it comes to decorations, so we have only about a handful hanging up. I think it's nicer to start small and to build up your decoration arsenal, and since these things tend to break in bad weather or if I pack them incorrectly, it's better to see what wehave each year and then go out and buy new ones if needed. We went to the Mall on Erev Chag to see Pidgeon's exhibition and we passed the table with Succah decoration lights. I ALWAYS wanted to hang Christmas lights in the Succah and so it made me want to buy a whole bunch of lights for our Succah. But, I decided to hold off since we are running low on electrical outlets and they have been predicting a rainy Succot season.

Erev Yom Tov was very busy in the house, I still can't believe I managed to accomplish all that I did from Sunday - Monday. I decided to designate Sunday as my cooking day, and I made lemon garlic chicken (fantastic new recipe that came out really well!), brown rice, string beans and onion stir fry, cauliflower kugel, a brownie tart and carrot kugel muffins. Monday, I had an early morning Dr.'s appointment and then Pidgeon picked me up and we ran all our errands. We went to Pe'er to pick up Challot for our meal, then we went to Malha mall to check out his exhibit and get breakfast to go from Aroma, we stopped off at Falcon so I could get the ingredients for the sweet and sour meatballs, and finally we headed home so I could finish cooking, do some work and clean a bit. I made the sweet and sour meatballs, grilled the steaks for the steak salad and made the topping for the brownie tart. I spent a lot of time on my feet and was wiped out and afraid I wouldn't make the walk back to our apartment after dinner by Pidgeon's Aunt. We decided to drive them before Yom Tov so that I could rest up before dinner.

Succot night was really nice, and their Succah was bursting with capacity! There were 26 people in all, and with 10+ kids running around all night, I could barely concentrate. I'm also experiencing the inability to eat as much as I'm used to. My mother-in-law the Doula said that it's because I'm towards the end of the pregnancy and my uterus is so big that it's not allowing my stomach to expand as it used to. That sounds good, I just hope it will be accompanied by some weight loss before the birth. I was feeling pretty lousy during dinner and I started getting some braxton hicks contractions, so I had Pidgeon pour me a glass of white wine and started to count the minutes. The wine, combine with my exhaustion, really did a number on me so I ended up on the couch just trying to relax. Pidgeon's nieces and nephews were whirling all around me, his cousins stopping by to chat and keep me company while Pidgeon's oldest niece decided to have a heart-to-heart with me about her little brothers. I managed to gather my strength for the walk home and we headed out by 10:00 p.m. Since my friends Jen and Zvi are in town for the Chag, and staying only 2 blocks away from his Aunt's house, we stopped by to say hello. We ended up standing outside, chatting and catching up for almost an hour, when I realized that I had 15 minutes until my shot and a 45 minute walk home. We said our goodbyes and headed home.

At this point, my feet look like loafs of bread baking out of my Rockport sandals and it's painful to take a step. Since most of the walk was downhill though, I was able to get into Baka without much of an incident. But, at the bottom of Reuven street, I was really starting to feel tired. It was a tremendous effort to just put one foot in front of the other, and I had to hold onto Pidgeon for support. Fortunately, I made it inside the house and literally stripped, had Pidgeon take off my sandals, and began icing in no time. I wasn't too late with the shot, which was good, and as soon as it was over we went to bed.

Pidgeon's alarm went off at 8:00 a.m. yesterday morning and I decided to be a good wife and made sure he was awake so he could go to shul. I didn't join him and instead, spent the morning getting ready for our guests. I put everything for the Succah on the dining room table, made the salad, washed the fruit and cut everything up for dessert, and just generally swept and tidied up for our guests. Pidgeon got home from shul about two hours before lunch and helped me set everything else up. By the time Mandy and Ivan got here, Pidgeon was sacked out on the couch and I was reading the September issue of O magazine with my feet up on the coffee table.

Lunch was really, really nice and a lot of fun. Mandy is due in 2 weeks and we had a great time comparing bellies! She has the cutest little outies and my belly button is still ambivalent, with a piece of the bottom trying hard to jut out while the top just remains inside. Pidgeon thinks I'm gonna pop up like a turkey timer but I think this is going to be the extent of my belly button changing. I'm no longer surprised by what's going on with my body, although my former generous love handles are disappearing rather quickly and that's not good for me. If they recede any further, I'm going to have to find another place to do my shot. And, to be honest, injecting myself in my thigh just isn't something I want to do. I'm going to try my best to work with whatever stomach fat I can still find and, hopefully, that will be okay for the next six weeks!

I never thought I would wish for stomach fat in my entire life, my how things change!

Last night, Pidgeon and I spent the evening cleaning up after our meal. I had a ton of washing to do as I used a lot of serving pieces and, since I was so tired from the past two days, we decided to stay in and just watch TV. Pidgeon had to be up early today for work, so we went to bed fairly early.

At 3:00 a.m., I was awoken by a house alarm blaring nearby. I counted the minutes, waiting for someone to close it off, but nothing happened. I made a quick trip to the bathroom and tried to sleep through the noise. I was able to do that until 5:30 a.m., when the alarm woke me one more time. I couldn't figure out if the house alarm was coming from closer to Emek Refaim or behind us closer to Derech Beit Lechem. Either way, it was very disruptive and extremely annoying. I couldn't believe the alarm had been ringing for at least 2 1/2 hours! Well, was I in for a rude awakening! Would you believe that the alarm rang and rang until 10:00 a.m. this morning! I was so pissed since it kept me up for most of the night, and can't even express how thankful I was when silence finally fell onto this stretch of Baka. Now, you'd think I would have just gone back to sleep at that point, but I was so up and agitated that rest was far from the plan.

I got up with Pidgeon, finished washing any leftover dishes in the sink, put away all the dry dishes and serving pieces and then packed his lunch. Since he works only half days during Chol Hamoed, I didn't pack him a big lunch. Especially since there is no Succah at work, I had to make sure that I didn't send him with anything that was a Mezonot. So, he got a quarter of leftover garlic lemon chicken and a big bottle of lemonade crystal light.

It was pitch black outside when Pidgeon left and the rain was starting to come down in little drops. The sky was super threatening and I was expecting the heavens to open up and really give us a good dousing. Well, the drenching rain held back and we only got a few drops. Fortunately, Pidgeon brought in our Succah table and chairs last night so that it wouldn't get ruined. And, I'm thrilled that the rain swept in because it brought much cooler temperature. When I finally get up and dressed today, I'm looking forward to putting on a long-sleeve t-shirt and maybe a pair of maternity jeans.

Well, Pidgeon should be home soon and I could use a shower. Wishing everyone who is keeping second day of Yom Tov (and therefore, NOT reading this right now) a Chag Sameach and everyone else a Moed Tov from Baka!

Attention Online Shoppers

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:45:00 +0000

I am feeling pretty accomplished right now, and it's only 8:45 a.m.! Believe me, it's a much better feeling than I had late last night, when I was overwhelmed and had no idea how I was going to get everything done in such a short time frame.

Since we woke up at 6:45 a.m. this morning, I've helped get Pidgeon out the door to work, put in my fruit and vegetable order for Yom Tov at Gil's on Derech Beit Lechem, confirmed my online Supermarket order and paid, put in a call to my Dr. at the Medical Center, ordered Pidgeon some stuff off of Amazon and shipped it to my Grandmother in the States, responded to a work e-mail that required a lot of detail and responded to some personal e-mails that were just languishing in my inbox.

Now I'm ready for my nap :)

Pidgeon spent the better part of last night working on his final project, which will also be on display at the Malha Mall in Jerusalem throughout Succot. I'm very excited about that, the project is extremely impressive and Pidgeon is very talented (I am NOT biased!) We were hoping to go tonight for the opening of the project, but with company coming to us for Yom Tov lunch, a Succah I still need to decorate, a TON of cooking to do, cleaning the apartment, and another load of laundry that needs to get done on top of Dr. appointments Pidgeon and I both have today and tomorrow, it just didn't seem possible. Initially, I needed tonight to go to the Supermarket to buy all the ingredients I need to cook for Chag. We're only two couples, but since it's Yom Tov, I want to do something special.

On the menu for Tuesday lunch is as follows:

First Course

Grilled steak salad with warm shallot dressing

Main Course

Lemon and Garlic chicken (not sure how I'm making this yet but will find a recipe somewhere)

cauliflower kugel

carrot kugel muffins

sweet and sour meatballs with brown rice

sauteed string beans and onions

Dessert

Brownie tart

kiwi and grapes

Pidgeon thinks I'm going overboard, but my philosophy is that if I'm going to cook I'd like to do it once. Make plenty. Have enough leftovers to eat during the week. With the way the holiday falls this year, I feel like I'm constantly in the kitchen cooking! It's getting to be a bit much for me, so I'd rather go overboard now and have plenty to eat during Chol Hamoed.

So, Pidgeon suggested I do online shopping, but I had a very bad experience with the City Direct folks and decided not to use them anymore. I think they need some more experience - and to grow more -before I'm ready to try them again. Last time we ordered, they sent us the wrong things, forgot to send us other things, and then never returned our calls when we tried to touch base about the mix ups. At the end of the month, though, they had no problem charging my credit card for the full amount. I ended up eating the cost and paying the bill - eventhough I still have a huge bottle of Sucrazit I'll never use sitting in my cabinet - and just decided to move on.

Someone on Janglo sent me the online site for SuperSol in Jerusalem, and since I am so pressed for time during the next two days, we decided to try it. Unfortunately, the site is 100% in Hebrew and can only be viewed with Internet Explorer. My Hebrew is not so great and my Mac doesn't have Internet Explorer, so I had to wait for Pidgeon to come home. Fortunately, I was all prepared with my list so it didn't take that long to pull together. Unfortunately, the prices were pretty steep and my chicken and meat order was about 1/3 of the entire bill. And, I didn't even order that much of each! But, since I can't easily walk to the Supermarket and card home all my shopping, and Pidgeon is working a 9 hour day today, this was a good option. They have already called twice to confirm delivery time, so I'm hoping there will be no snafus and everything will work out great.

Weekend Update

We had a very enjoyable Shabbos. We went to Pidgeon's parents for dinner Friday night since his brother and family is in for the Chag from London. We were 14 adults and 7 children. It was a madhouse, but it was really a lot of fun. Now, Pidgeon's sister-in-law's parents and brother, sister-in-law and niece were also at the meal. They are really nice people but speak only Hebrew or French, so my conversations with them are very limited. The niece is about 1 1/2 old and she's already walking around, crawling and speaking halting words here and there. Pidgeon's nephew is about the same age and doing the same thing, although he's not walking as well as his cousin.

My mother-in-law's apartment has 2 sets of stone steps. 6 steps upstairs, 7 stairs downstairs.

Stone. Steps.

And, with all the adults eating at the table, and all the children running around and playing, the two children under the age of 2 were unsupervised on the steps. And, would you believe that I was lucky enough to get seated in the chair that has direct line of sight to the steps?

Well, I watched as the niece walked up the steps and, as she's really unsteady on her feet, teeter precariously numerous times. Now, I am a VERY nervous person to begin with. I know, recipe for disaster for my own child who will have to learn that getting hurt is part of life, blah, blah, blah.

However, I am a BIG fan of putting a gate in front of steps until I know my child is steady enough on their feet to be able to walk up and down without taking a dangerous tumble.

Did I mention that these are STONE STEPS????!!

Well, I gasped a few times as I watch her almost fall, and Pidgeon's sister and brother looked at me like I was crazy. Pidgeon's brother, who is Dad to 4 + 1 on the way, told me that I need to relax. That it's not healthy for me to be so jumpy. Pidgeon's sister, whose heart was racing with my gasping, glared at me like I was some lunatic who was overreacting.

And, the parents of this little girl, just continued to sip their wine and enjoy their meal.

So, I turned to Pidgeon and said, I'm just not going to look anymore. Because, if the parents don't care, then why should I?

I went back to my meal, went back to my conversations, but couldn't pull my eyes away from the scene.

Five minutes later, the little girl tumbled down the entire flight of stone steps. Of course, I gasped and screamed that she was falling, and this time her Mother got up off her chair and ran to help her. At that point, she was already on the floor, screaming and crying her head off, a red, nasty bump starting to form over her eye.

Her Father, however, kept saying over and over in Hebrew: Zeh Klum. Lo Karah Klum (translation - it's nothing, nothing happened).

The kid was hysterical for a bit and the bump over her eye will definitely be there for a few days, but she avoided the steps for the rest of the evening.

I felt terrible for this kid, and for her parents for being so lax about her safety. I understand teaching children the right way to navigate steps, but don't we have a responsibility to do it in the right manner? Someone should have been at the bottom of the steps to make sure, if she fell, that she would be caught.

Am I just being over cautious? Will I mess up our kids because I don't want them tumble down stone steps? I mean, she is LUCKY she didn't crack her head open on my mother-in-law's stone floor.

Well, at least my mother-in-law agreed with me at the end of the evening. So did Pidgeon. I'm just going to have to figure out that middle ground where I allow my children to discover life on their own without doing anything too dangerous.

Anyway, I'm off to get something to eat. My body is still trying to regulate after Yom Kippur and I get starving at random hours of the day and I also experience lack of appetite during other times. Weird.

Yom Tov from Baka!

The Gates are Closed

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:06:00 +0000

It's 10:00 a.m. the morning after Yom Kippur and, as my chicken defrosts in the sink so that I can cook for Shabbos, I figured I'd update the blog about my Yom Kippur experience.

According to the Jerusalem Post, 120 women went into labor yesterday and B"H I was not one of them. Erev Yom Kippur, Pidgeon and I had a whirlwind of a day getting ready. He woke up at 6:30 a.m. and I didn't see him again until 2:30 p.m.! In between, Pidgeon went to minyan, the mikvah, the cemetary, the makolet and then to micha. Meanwhile, I waited at home with breakfast on the table until he called to say he wasn't going to make breakfast. Then, I made him lunch, but by the time he came home there wasn't time to eat lunch. So, that was wrapped and put back into the fridge. We had an hour to get dressed, showered, packed and ready to go to his parents for Seudat Hamafseket.

His parents house was a zoo, as his brother is in town from London with the very pregnant wife and 4 children! There were 6 kids practically running, crying and screaming all over the house from the moment we arrived until the time we left for Kol Nidrei. I managed to quickly scarf down my meal and then went downstairs to brush my teeth, drink another bottle of water and try to get into the right frame of mind for the Yom Tov.

It's so different being married then it was when I was single and living at home with my parents. My parents run their lives practically on military time, there would never be an instance before Yom Kippur where we would be hectic. Everything was planned precisely, between what time we ate the last meal, how long that meal lasted, and getting dressed and ready to get to shul. I've never, in my entire life, missed any parts of Kol Nidrei.

Until this year. Fortunately, I didn't miss that much, so I wasn't too upset. But, I did get there in the middle of the first recitation of Kol Nidrei and I was so hot and sweaty from the long sleeve sweater I was wearing and the hike up the stairs to the top floor of the minyan. It was very uncomfortable for me in shul, as it was very crowded and the AC just wasn't working well. That, and with a full bladder and the baby resting on the bladder, I was running to the bathroom every few minutes. Of course, during one of my bathroom runs, I got caught in the back by everyone davening shmonei esrei, so I just took a seat and waited for the crowd to thin so I could get back to my seat.

The minyan ended fairly early and I was looking at about 5 hours until shot time. Everyone in the house was exhausted and that included Pidgeon. So, I shipped him down to bed and told him I would wake him for the shot, and I fought the exhaustion and stayed up as long as I could. By 10:00 p.m. I couldn't take it anymore, so I woke Pidgeon up and did the shot as quickly as I could! I was asleep by 11:00 p.m., which was really great since the AC was on a shabbos clock and it went off at 12:30 p.m. and that's when I got all hot again.

Unlike Tisha B'av, where I was besieged with thirst all through the night, I didn't feel parched at all. I did make the decision not to go to shul during the day though, especially since I was so uncomfortable during Kol Nidrei, I knew had I gone to shul during the day I wouldn't make it through the fast.

I slept in and then got dressed and davened in the living room. It only took about 2 hours to daven everything, and that included reading through the Torah readings, and still no one returned from shul. So, I went downstairs, changed back into PJ's, and just laid down. I was already getting anxious about not making it through the fast, so I kept repeating to myself that I was a strong woman who could make it through the fast!

Pidgeon got home around 12:20 and we napped until it was time for mincha. I decided to daven mincha at home and then walked to shul for neilah. I couldn't manage the steps back to the upstairs minyan, and so I found a seat in the main shul and just stood during neilah when I could and sat when I couldn't. By the time we got to avenu malkainu, I was an emotional wreck. That's what Yom Kippur does to me, it's just 24 hours of tension.

Wondering if my sins are forgiving, wondering what Hashem has in store for me for this year, praying that the baby will be healthy, that Pidgeon and I will be able to support ourselves and the baby during this coming year, that our families will be healthy and be able to support themselves this year too, that our single family and friends will find their basherts and get married this year, etc.

As soon as the shofar blew, I was a crying mess. Fortunately, the women's section cleared out for maariv and since I couldn't compose myself, I decided to stay and daven with the men. I sat in the corner and just tried to contain the tears but it was very difficult to do. Suddenly, I felt an arm around my shoulder and looked up to see this woman trying to comfort me. She asked me if I was okay, if I was alone and needed some help. I just smiled through the tears and said I was there with my family and was okay.

Crying after Yom Kippur is a family tradition for me. I don't know why, but my Grandmother, mother and sisters all cry after the shofar is blown. It's just this tremendous relief that it's over and we made it. For me this year, it was a combination of many things.

First, I miss my family terribly especially during the holidays. And, Yom Kippur now is just so different. Gone are the days when the 6 of us would return home from shul in Kew Gardens Hills for the mussaf break, take off our Keds and pull out the cookbooks to plan our Succot menu. It was the best thing we could do so we would avoid speaking Lashon Harah and we were very productive! I miss my Mom's shul bag, the one with the box of tissues and the clear plastic bag for the dirty ones. The room for our glasses cases, and the folded shawls and sweaters for when shul gets cold. I miss the comfortable seats!! It sure beats sitting for hours on wooden folded chairs that just hurts each time you shift. I miss being able to look over the Mechizah and watch my Dad help my Grandfather with his tallit, or observe Daneel and Uncle Seymour leaning up against the pole, and of course my brother towering over all the other men in one of his many designer suits. I don't think that feeling of nostalgia will ever go away - I hope it never does - I just hope as the years go by it will hurt a bit less.

Second, I was so relieved that I didn't have to break my fast. B"H, I actually fasted pretty well. After Neilah, I was very dizzy and needed to get some drink and food into me ASAP, but I made it. And, it was such a source of tension for me the entire day, that the relief was tangible to the point that I needed to just cry to let it all out.

Third, I spent most of the day thinking about the baby. We have such hopes for this little one. Our prayer that the baby is P"G healthy is first and foremost. That we are good parents is second. That we can support the baby, and care for the baby and do what's right. That the birth should be an easy one without danger for both myself and the baby. That we'll be able to make the baby a very happy home.

With all this on my head, you can imagine the emotions! Plus, the hormones are still raging, which makes me a very emotional preggo indeed!

We had a great break fast, I think I ate like 3 pieces of cake, some eggs, some pasta with marinara sauce, some pita with cottage cheese and drank an entire bottle of apple juice myself. I had just barely enough energy to pack and get us out of the apartment. By the time we got home, I was so tired I couldn't think about anything. My eyes were closing from all the sugar coursing through my veins and every single muscle in my body hurt.

I actually do worse after a fast than I do during a fast, and this time was no different. Fortunately, Pidgeon has been through this with me before, and he made sure I was drinking water and relaxing. We went to sleep at Midnight and, with the lovely Jerusalem breeze cooling off the entire apartment, I was able to sleep. I woke up like a million times during the night to use the bathroom, but always managed to fall back to sleep fairly quickly.

Fortunately for me, we are eating out tonight, so I only have to cook lunch. I'm going very, very simple. Some chicken, a vegetable stir fry, a salad and green beans and onions saute. We're trying to stay off of carbs since I weighed myself the other day and I was NOT happy! Although, I did manage to lose 4 pounds over Yom Kippur, so maybe I can contain the weight gain for the rest of the pregnancy. I did however eat a piece of tofu cheesecake this morning, so maybe now's not a good day to start the new "diet".

We'll see.

I'm off to do some research of etrog preparation. I read that a woman in her 9th month of pregnancy should eat an etrog as a segulah for an easy birth. I'm going to either make etrog jam or etrog liquor, I just haven't decided which one yet. I think whatever is easiest is going to be what I end up doing!

Wishing everyone a Shabbat Shalom from Baka!

Gossip Girl Preps for Yom Kippur

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:13:00 +0000

I was complaining last night to Pidgeon that I didn't feel in the right frame of mind for Yom Kippur this year. That the holiday just crept up on me. That Aseret Yemei Teshuvah was wasted on me, as I didn't get to the Kotel like I had wanted and I certainly didn't spend the time repenting, giving Tzdakah or even asking people for Mechilah. Instead, I did more of the things I've been doing all year. I gossiped (a lot), I spoke badly about people (especially members of Pidgeon's family as I've been wont to do over the past 2 years) and I took my husband for granted (which was something I really, really try not to do since I'm so blessed to have found him in the first place).

So, it was no surprise that when we woke up at 6:30 a.m. this morning so Pidgeon could make Minyan and then the mikvah, that I was finally able to be a bit reflective. Perhaps it's because I was ashamed that last night I through a fit because I discovered our bathtub is clogged. I haven't taken a bath in months and, feeling really lousy yesterday with lack of sleep and overall pregnancy hugeness, all I wanted was to take a nice warm bubble bath. When I ran the water, and put in the bubbles for the bath, the bubbles started coming out of the drain in the bathroom floor! Pidgeon told me that I had to drain the tub and couldn't take a bath because I could flood the whole house, and I just lost it.

Just when I opened my big, fat mouth and said that all the repairs had been done in the house, this had to go and happen. I should look on the bright side - that I don't need to take a bath for at least another 10 weeks, that the baby will P"G have its own bathtub, and that at least this happened now before the baby so that we can take care of it. But, there was no rational thought going on in my mind, and I crumpled on the bed like a whiny, spoiled little brat and mewed at my misfortune for not being able to take a bath.

And then I started complaining that all I wanted was a big glass of apple juice with ice cubes in it. Don't know where that even came from, since I don't drink apple juice normally and have no idea why I suddenly needed to have a glass with ice no less - right then and there.

And that's when my darling husband looked at me, as he was trying to comfort me from the no-bath disappointment, and said that he had spent 9 hours in the office and the entire time he was just thinking about coming home to me, because seeing me and being with me makes him so happy.

I could have cried, I just felt so terrible. I was being so selfish and not even thinking of his needs at all! He works hard all day long, then he comes home only for me to ship him out again to change some money before the rates get even lower, comes home again for a bought dinner (I had no strength whatsoever to try to cook for him) and then when all he wants to do is cuddle a little in front of his favorite TV program, I go and have a childish meltdown over not being able to take a bath.

Well, that certainly did it for me. All I needed was him to put the mirror up against my face so I could really look at myself. I see that I've been using this pregnancy as an excuse to act badly sometimes, and that's just not okay. Especially since it hurts my husband and my family. Besides all of my transgressions against G-d this year, I've done some serious man-to-man harm and for that I am very sorry.

Having a nice breakfast ready for Pidgeon when he gets home from shul this morning might not doing anything to make up for how I might have treated him badly this year, but I hope it's the step in the right direction.

And, for all of my family, friends and acquaintances out there who read this blog. I know I haven't had a chance to call and ask for forgiveness in person, and that a status update on Facebook probably doesn't count. So, with a few hours left before Judgement Day, I ask that you all forgive me for anything I could have done to hurt, anger, or upset you this year. I can't make any promises that next year will be any better, all I can do is say that I will try.

I will try not to be so self centered

I will try not to be so hurtful and thoughtless

I will try not to be disrespectful of your feelings and emotions

I will try to be a better friend

I will try to be better

Wishing you and your entire family a Gmar Chatimah Tovah. May you have a very easy and meaningful fast, and may all of your Tefillot be answered L'Tovah.

Pumpkin Season

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:37:00 +0000

It's pumpkin season in our house, which means that I've been baking up a storm with the canned pumpkin I still have left over from last Thanksgiving. This morning, I whipped up a batch of pumpkin white chocolate chip muffins. They smell pretty great and they look even better! I think this is part of the whole "nesting" thing - I've been desperately working on cleaning out the pantry. I'm dying to do the fridge next, but I'm waiting until after the Chagim are over before I really tackle that space.

Shabbat was very, very nice. We ate Friday night dinner by friends from our childbirth education class and it went so well, that time flew and before we knew it, it was shot time! I invited them back for Succot lunch as I felt there was still so much to talk about, and they are just a really nice couple, so I'm looking forward to them coming. Granted, now I have to plan my menu, but I'm hoping it won't take too much out of me.

Sadly, Pidgeon caught the bad cold that is going around Jerusalem. I thought he might have picked it up at the Medical Center last Thursday, during my blood test, but then his Mom called to tell us both her and Pidgeon's Father are ill with bad colds. I spent Shabbos day nursing him, or at least trying to nurse him back to health. Fortunately, he is really a good patient. He's content just being miserable in his bed with either a comic book or his laptop for company. I made sure he ate well, and that he was staying hydrated. After Shabbos, I took his temperature and he had a fever, so there was just no way he could go to work. He called his boss and offered to go into the office to pick up his laptop so he could catch up on work at home. She was more than willing to take him up on the offer and so, Saturday night, we drove to his office to collect the laptop. It was pretty deserted at the office and there are a lot of stairs in the mountain, I literally said a perek of Tehillim as I walked down to his office because I thought I would g-d forbid fall. Fortunately, I made it without incident and about 20 minutes after we got there, we headed home.

We turned back the clocks at Midnight and Pidgeon crashed while I waited up until after Shabbos in the States to check in with the family. It was nice catching up, and letting them know that we're now only 6 hours a part, and then I too crashed.

Yesterday was very busy, with Pidgeon not feeling any better and I had a few work deadlines. So, I spent the morning making sure he ate and kept his strength up, and then I spent three hours researching and writing a press release for my client. Because Pidgeon wasn't feeling any better, we called the Medical Center and got him an appointment with the on-call physician. Since I also had my 33rd week appointment with Dr. Yanai at the Medical Center, it worked out very nicely.

The on call Dr. at the Medical Center examined Pidgeon and basically told him that he has a bad cold and the only thing he can prescribe for that is his sympathies. He did write a few scrips for some anti-congestions and cough medicine, but Pidgeon decided not to fill them. Since Dr. Yanai was running an hour late, we decided to drive over to Pidgeon's Aunt and Uncles house and relax there until our appointment.

Baby Update

I was so excited to see the baby on the ultrasound, I can't even tell you! Its been an entire month since our last appointment and the baby grew so nicely! Right now, the baby is T"G 4.5 pounds and everything that was supposed to grow and develop has been on track with the way the baby has been developing thus far. The only glitch is that this baby is still in breech position and, since I'm in my 33rd week, now is the time to try to turn the baby before I go into labor. Dr. Yanai tried to turn the baby right then and there, which was pretty painful with the pressing down on my very hard and taut tummy, and since I take the Clexane she had to be careful with how much she tried to do on the table. It's funny, but this baby is so stubborn! The baby had been kicking me and moving ALL day long and, as soon as I hopped up on the table for the ultrasound, would you believe the babes was fast asleep. Right now, the baby's position is both transverse (head is on the left side of my stomach instead of down towards my crotch) and "sandwiched" which means that the legs are over the head. But, there's PLENTY of room to move in there - the baby just doesn't want to.

We made another appointment for after the Chagim and Dr. Yanai says that, if the baby doesn't turn by then, we have to go to the hospital to have them do it. I would have to stop taking the Clexane shot for 24 hours in advance and then be admitted.

Did I ever mention my absolutely fear of hospitals? I'm petrified. I hate everything about the hospital except for the comfortable scrubs I wear to sleep at night. I really don't want to have to go to the hospital to have them try to turn the baby, so I've been doing research on exercises I can do at home to try to turn the baby in the next 3 weeks. Pidgeon got a big laugh last night as I laid on the bed, my feet against the wall, with my hips off the bed (was hard to do, I am so out of shape and heavy) while singing Turn, turn, turn.

I don't think it helped, almost immediately after I was done with those exercises, I was rewarded with a swift kick in the same place I've been kicked for the past few weeks. I'm thinking about trying swimming next, apparently the gravity shift while swimming is supposed to help to. I wonder if taking a bath would be just as good?

Poor Pidgeon, he woke this morning feeling even lousier than yesterday but he had to go to the office. I hadn't heard from him all morning and, just as I was about to call him, the phone rang from a number I didn't recognize. It was Pidgeon. Calling from the office. To let me know that he dropped his cell in the toilet and that he was miserable.

Oy.

I think I'll make him a treat for dinner so that he'll feel a bit better when he comes home. If not, we're going to the book store tonight to pick up something I have on hold, and I'll just buy him a comic book.

Well, I'm off to try to get some writing done. I have three stories left to go on my thesis and boy so I want to get one of them started before this month is over!

Yom Tov from Baka!

High Holiday Season

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:40:00 +0000

Shanah Tovah, Gmar Chatimah Tovah and Happy New Year! It's, one again, the High Holiday season and I'm already exhausted and stressed. Fortunately, my cooking and entertaining this year will be at a minimal, so at least that's a blessing.

Rosh Hashanah Rundown:

We moved in with Pidgeon's parents for the holidays. Since we still don't have one Shul in the neighborhood that we're affiliated with, it made sense for us to just join Pidgeon's parents. My in-laws bought me a seat in the express Minyan at Chovevei and Pidgeon went with his Father and brother to a Shul that's closer to his 94 year old Grandfather.

First night of Chag was really, really nice. In the grand tradition of last year, erev Yom Tov included the ceremonial breaking of a bottle. Last year, Pidgeon broke a bottle of Merlot in his parents dining room 15 minutes before Yom Tov. I broke a bottle of Tabasco sauce in our kitchen about 30 minutes before I had to finish packing and get into the shower. Fortunately, we weren't staying for the holiday so I didn't mind that the kitchen stunk of Tabasco sauce. We made it to his folks without incedent and, fortunately for us, kept the bottle breaking to just the Tabasco sauce.

Pidgeon's folks entertained 23 people for dinner and it was loud, boisterous, hot and a lot of fun. I actually forgot to make a Shehecheyanu on my candles and so I was happy that I got the opportunity for redemption over the pomegranate seeds. I love how everyone says that pomegranates are in season around Rosh Hashanah, I really don't think it's true. The seeds were definitely better than last year but not nearly as sweet as they'll be in a few more weeks. Pidgeon and I were so tired after dinner that we were grateful for my 11:00 p.m. shot. We went to sleep pretty quickly after the shot.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the second day of Rosh Hashanah was my 32nd birthday. And, since people couldn't give me presents on the Yom Tov, I got some good stuff before hand. Pidgeon bought me the best present ever! A 6 month subscription to People magazine. A woman from Joe's World of Magazines physically walked over the gift, with a couple of back issues and a note describing the present, before Yom Tov. I was so happy with the gift! And then, when we got to Pidgeon's parents house, there was a beautiful bouquet of red and white roses from Pidgeon. He didn't send the flowers to our house since we weren't going to be here for 2 days and I wouldn't have enjoyed them. This way, they were in our bedroom at his folks house and until my allergies flared up on my birthday, they were beautiful to look at. My in-laws bought be a shmata for my head, some stretch mark and perenium oil from Avishag's maternity store, and the newest coffee table book of photographs by Annie Leibovitz with writings by Susan Sontag. Great gift for me as I think Annie Leibovitz photos are amazing. I would have been happy with a Wolf Kahn coffee table book too, but I'm holding out and saving up my dough to by an actual Wolf Kahn painting. Hmmm, maybe that can be my 40th birthday present to myself (P"G)

First day of Yom Tov, Pidgeon walked me to Chovevei around 7:30 a.m. and I hiked all the way up the fire escape to the express minyan. I found our seats in the front row and was happy that I made it in time for Torah reading. Unfortunately, I also discovered that I'm one of those pregnant claustrophobic ladies. You see, two seminary girls decided to make their own row right in front of my seat. So, I now had a row of seminary girls behind me and two in front of me. With a hat on my head and the AC barely working, I was getting more claustrophobic by the minute. I just wanted to ask the girls in front to move closer to the mechizah so I could have some room to breath! Fortunately, we had an extra seat for us, and when my mother-in-law came she left the one between us empty. Bless her! We were finished by 11:00 p.m. and that made me even happier.

Lunch was just Pidgeon and me, at Pidgeon's parents house. I couldn't have been happier. I was so tired at that point from all the standing and sitting and shuckling and swaying that I was thankful for the meal without anyone around. We had leftovers from dinner the previous night and we both ate in our PJ's and then went for a nap. It was a good thing I took that nap because we had quite a walk to and from dinner the second night.

Pidgeon's Aunt and Uncle live in Katamon, and from Pidgeon's parents house, it's basically an extremely hilly walk down HaPalmach street. Well, getting there was okay since I had about a 3 hour nap under my belt. It was a very cool night, so I was wearing a long-sleeve t-shirt but I brought a short sleeve t-shirt because I knew I would get warm in the house. With 26 people at this meal, I was glad I had!

By the time we left to walk back to Pidgeon's parents house, I was exhausted and facing a number of tremendously steep hills. Oh, and did I mention the bats on HaPalmach street? There were a ton just flying back and forth overhead and I'm just not a big fan at all! So, I tried to walk very fast to get away and that's when I literally just petered out. Imagine, if you will, a man pushing a large car up a hill. That's exactly what Pidgeon had to resort to to get me back to his parents house. He pushed me up the hill and it was the only way I could have made it back.

When he finished pushing me up the last hill, I was panting and exhausted and needed some water. I took a swig and then said well, at least it's not raining. And, wouldn't you know it, but that's when the first drops started to fall. We were still 3 large blocks away from his parents and I just couldn't believe my luck. That, just when I said that about the rain, the rain started.

Think the Lord is sending me a message? Nah. I just think the Lord has a great sense of humor.

I was very thankful when we got home and just passed out.

Second day of Yom Tov was my birthday and the Minyan ended 30 minutes earlier than the first day! It was great. We then went to Pidgeon's sister's house for a BBQ lunch with the family and they all sang happy birthday and we had some yummy Aldo pareve ice cream cake. Pidgeon and I went back to the house after lunch and just relaxed and slept until Yom Tov was over.

Yesterday was very tiring and, even though I wasn't fasting, I somehow forgot to eat that much. I had a blood test early in the morning at the Medical Center, which was a zoo post holidays. Fortunately, the woman was able to draw blood without too much of a bruise, and they were efficient so we didn't wait long. We got back to the apartment and Pidgeon went back to sleep while I did some work. I have a lot of work on my plate right now and my writing is definitely taking a back seat. With Yom Tov crowding in, I'm starting to get anxious that I won't get all my work done in time. Fortunately, we only celebrate 1 day of Chag in this Country, so I get 2 extra days to do work at least over Succot!

We went food shopping yesterday and the Supermarket was a zoo! Fortunately, we had a short list and we really kept to it. We ended up spending almost 1,000 shekel though since we needed to stock up on food for the week and food for Shabbos. I was a bit surprised that our bill was so high though, especially since our cart was practically empty. Again, I have no idea how people can afford food in this Country!

Pidgeon broke his fast while I did some work and I was so tired that we ended up watching some new episodes of Heroes in bed. I passed out in the middle of the second episode though, I was that tired!

This morning, we were both up early again because Amos came to build our Succah. I am so happy to have the Succah out of the apartment! I kept tripping over the beams in the Mamad and I was really not happy about it. Fortunately, we're going to just cover it and tie is all up about Yom Tov is over and leave it on the Mirpeset all year long. My parents did that at home, although they did keep the poles in the garage, but with no garage or Machsan, we have no choice. Hopefully, we'll keep the elements out this winter and will be able to use the Succah again next year.

I have minimal decorations to do and I'm not doing anything until after Yom Kippur. There's no reason to decorate the Succah now, especially since it could rain between now and Succot and why should the decorations get ruined?

Well, Pidgeon just got back and I am off to finish my Shabbos cooking!

Gmar Chatimah Tovah from Baka!

Hazy Shade of Winter

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:50:00 +0000

The summer is officially over in Jerusalem as it rained numerous times over the weekend. I was awoken at 4:30 a.m. on Shabbos morning to the first significant rainstorm of the season and I just breathed in the scent and enjoyed the sounds. After lunch, while Pidgeon and I relaxed on the couch in the living room, it started to pour again. Our neighbors were outside and their kids started screaming about the rain and we just sat back and watched it come down outside. Rain is definitely something I no longer take for granted living in this Country. I absolutely adore when it rains, even if it soaks me to the bone, because we go so many months without even a drop. Plus, when we were up North last week, everything was scorched and yellow from lack of moisture. I'm hoping the rain up there will help turn the beautiful scenery green.

We had a wonderfully relaxed vacation. With no internet access for 5 days, I went through a bit of withdrawal but all in all it was nice. Our hotel was not the nicest I've ever stayed at; in fact, I had to complain about the initial room they gave us and insist they upgrade us to a nicer room. The first room was a complete dump and there was just no way I could have used such a crappy bathroom. The upgrade was much nicer, and I was happy that this was one vacation where we didn't spent much time at the hotel.

I'm not a big fan of Tiberias, especially not the area where all the hotels are around the Kinneret. I was more than happy to spend all day out on trips and just crash at night in the hotel. We went to Ein Gev, a Kibbutz across the Kinneret from our hotel, for a wonderful fish lunch on the first day we arrived. The view was picturesque and the food was fresh and good. We got back to the hotel and just crashed. It was a long drive up and we were tired.

The second day, we went to the Marizpan museum and shop. It was in this booklet of coupons we got, and since it was in a Yishuv up North, we figured it was a good activity for a pregnant woman. I hadn't realized how much great activities one can do up North. Unfortunately, they aren't safe for anyone whose pregnant. That meant no rafting, no kayaking, no ATVing, etc. We were limited in what we could do, but we adapted very nicely. The Marzipan museum was a lot of fun. Check out the picture above of marzipan vegetables. After watching a movie and viewing the museum, we decided to make our own marzipan. It was a lot of fun, and even Pidgeon who hates getting his hands dirty, joined in. We put marzipan in molds and walked away with a lot of good stuff. We even got his parents a nice gift box of marzipan and date jam and honey from the Yishuv as a Rosh Hashana gift. I hope they enjoy it. We were exhausted by the time we got back from the hotel, even though we didn't do much in terms of physical activity, so we spent the rest of the day just relaxing, walking around by the Kinneret.

The third day of the trip was a lot more physical and intense. We woke up early, had a gross breakfast and then drove to Katzrin. First, we went to the museum to learn about Gamla. It was very interesting, and I loved the little crop circle conspiracy up near Katzrin that has archeologist baffled. I told Pidgeon it's because the ancient people who lived in Katzrin were waiting for the aliens to come down. At least he found me funny. After watching a movie about Gamla, we were off to Ancient Katzrin and ruins of an old synagogue. I don't know what sorts of trees or bushes they were growing in the area, but it was a heavenly scent. We walked around, saw a movie about the Talmud, and then went to the synagogue. It was pretty incredible to see how much was still in tact.

After the synagogue, we decided to go to Mount Bental and this famous "coffee shop" called Koffee Anan. It's on a really high mountain that affords picturesque views of the Golan Heights, Syria and Israel. For some reason, Pidgeon's GPS decided to take us on an unpaved route up another mountain and I swear I was holding on tight and praying that our car would make it up this dirt road. Fortunately, we got to the top and parked without incident. Since there were signs that said we couldn't take any pictures, here's a shot of the Hermon mountain from the drive towards Mount Bental. The walk up from the parking lot to the top of the mountain was not very easy for me, but I made it to the summit. It was as beautiful as Pidgeon described and I have some great mental pictures.

After such a busy day, we drove back to the hotel and since we missed the crappy lunch we decided to go to Decks. This restaurant has a tremendous reputation as THE best meat place to eat at while in Tiberias. It didn't live up to its hype, although my butcher's cut piece of meat was very juicy and well done. Pidgeon wasn't a bit fan of his fillet though, and we felt for the steep prices the portions could have been a bit more generous. But, it was certainly better than the hotel food, and the view of the Kinneret was gorgeous.

I was so tired that night that I apparently passed out in the middle of a conversation with Pidgeon. Oh well, that's what happens when I shlep my preggo self up a freaking mountain for the view.

Our last full day in Tiberia was a lot of fun. This time, we decided to go check out the Hula Valley nature preserve. I had expected it to be much smaller and thought we would walk around. Little did I know that there was scant shade and that it was a 10 km walk. I asked Pidgeon if he thought I could do a 10 km walk and he laughed at me. So, we decided to spend some money and rent a golf cart. For the first time all trip, Pidgeon let me drive him around, and it was a lot of fun. My belly barely fit behind the steering wheel and it was stinking hot outside, but we were able to see some Cranes, Pelicans, pomegranate trees, beavers, buffalos and lots of bees. I was dehydrated by the time we got back to the car, but it was a good time.

Since we were pretty far North, we decided to go even farther and went to Pidgeon's family's favorite fish restaurant in the entire country. Dag Al HaDan has a great reputation and for good reason. It's a quaint fish restaurant literally on the Dan river, in the woods, where they fish in the morning and then serve it up fresh when they open. We picked a shady table next to the river and the ducks kept coming out of the river to quack and beg for food around our table. I had some whole wheat bagel that I wanted to throw their way but Pidgeon said it wasn't a good idea. So, I just took pictures and enjoyed the rustic nature of the place. We both ordered the fresh fish; Pidgeon got drum and I got the denise. The waitress brought the whole fish, cooked, to our table and then filleted it in front of us. It was fascinating to watch and I now know how to properly fillet a fish. Fortunately, my denise wasn't that boney and with the garlic butter sauce it was delicious. I could have sat there forever, in the woods, surrounded by nature, eating fresh fish and watching the river flow. But, it was getting late and we had a long drive back to the hotel. We passed by Pidgeon's old army base on the way back and we stopped to take a look. Obviously, we couldn't get too close, but it was interesting to see where he spent so many years in the army.

I was happy to get back to the hotel and I spent a few hours just packing us up, showering, and relaxing before a crappy dinner. I was really happy when we woke up Thursday and headed back to Jerusalem. As much as I enjoyed the vacation, I yearned for the comforts of our own apartment. My bed, my pillows, the internet, my VOIP phone. The drive back was nice and uneventful, with only one pit stop on Kvish 6, and we got home with plenty of time for me to do some Shabbos cooking.

This weekend was very relaxing. We did a lot of sleeping, which was good since we're both really tired from the trip. We're looking forward to a short week, with Rosh Hashana around the corner. I have some baking to do for my in-laws for a meal we are going to on the second day of Rosh Hashana. Since it's also my English birthday, I am trying to figure out something special to bake so I feel like we're celebrating. It won't be my annual G&I birthday cake from Queens, which I've shared with my younger sister ever since she was born (we have the same Hebrew birthday although our English birthdays are 2 days a part) but it will at least be something to mark the occasion.

Well, it's already 1:30 a.m. and I should probably try to get some sleep. The alarm is going off at 6:45 a.m. tomorrow morning since the IKEA guys are coming over to assemble all the furniture we bought. I'm looking forward to the new closet and dresser in our bedroom, although both are pretty much reserved for Pidgeon's stuff. I'm hoping with these new additions to the room that we'll be able to be less cluttered. We'll see.

Shavuah Tov from Baka!

On Holiday

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 05:48:00 +0000

Let's go away for a while, you and I, to a strange and distant land.......Holiday, far away, to stay on a holiday, far away, let's go today in a heartbeat!

I'm so excited that we're going on honeymoon #2 today! When we planned this trip months ago, I told Pidgeon I didn't think I was going to have the strength at the end of my seventh month to get on a plane. Good call on my part. I'm pretty tired these days and my energy is waning daily, so I'm excited that we're going on vacation in Israel. I haven't been up North since 1995 (although, my trip in 2006 with my folks to Amuka and other grave sites to pray for a mate doesn't really count since it was all in one day!) and I'm hoping to see some turtles this time!

We were very lax in our planning of this trip and, aside from two restaurants we want to eat at, we have zero plans. Unlike last year, when we spent 5 days languishing by the pool at the Dead Sea, there is so much more to do up North. I told Pidgeon I wouldn't mind taking the wooden Christian boat across the Kinneret. There are a lot of Christian sites up North and it might be a good thing for me to experience if my friends Jules and Julie ever make it to Israel to visit us.

Shabbos was very relaxing, which was nice. I ended up not sleeping well Friday night and somehow, fell asleep in between courses at lunch. Pidgeon ended up finishing lunch without me and, when I woke up at 3:30, I was happily surprised to see that all the dishes we done, the food was put away in the fridge, and the table was clean. What an amazing guy I have, no?

Our plans for last night were supposed to just be getting ready for the trip. I had a huge load of laundry to do and, since there were some items there that I wanted to pack for the trip, I loaded up as soon as Havdala was over. We relaxed a bit on the couch when all the commotion took place outside.

Basically, the neighbors directly across the street from us have not one but two 30+ children with a mental illness. Unfortunately, they don't always take their medication as prescribed, and when that happens they both tend to get violent. They've both attacked women in the neighborhood in the past, which is one of the reasons I'm very cautious about how I walk in the neighborhood. Anyway, as we were sitting on the couches and relaxing, we heard one of them attack a woman near the house. The Father came outside to try and diffuse the situation and, since I definitely don't understand Hebrew when it's screaming, I called Pidgeon over to watch and translate. The women were yelling that he attacked and hit them, while the Father claimed nothing happened. Since I only heard and didn't see what happened, we stayed inside and kept out of it. The police showed up a few minutes later and went from house to house asking about the incident - although they didn't come to ours. I made sure to SMS our neighbor, who had a baby last month, to be careful going out tonight since the neighbors weren't on their meds. She got back to me right away and reminded me that he had attacked one of her friends not once - but twice! Usually, when this happens, they arrest him and put him in an institution. Since the two women who were attacked left (I heard them get into their car and leave), the police didn't take the boys away. I'm just really hoping that both of them get back on their medication and soon! It's not a fun situation to have directly across the street from the apartment.

Anyway, I guess all the excitement got me in the mood for some comfort food, and all I wanted was ice cream. I literally called around to see if ANYONE would deliver ice cream. Aldo on Emek Refaim said they weren't delivering on Saturday night, and Fro Yo on Ben Yehuda doesn't deliver period. I even called Babette to see if they would deliver, and they said no. Same with Waffle Bar on Derech Beit Lechem.

Pidgeon offered to go out and pick me up some ice cream, but I didn't want him to leave the house. But, the craving got so bad, that I was able to be convinced (it wasn't hard) to get dressed and go to Waffle Bar.

It was good to get a small walk in and the ice cream was yummy! I'm actually not such a fan of waffles, but it was pretty decent, and Pidgeon watched me practically lick my entire plate clean!

Satisfied and full of sugar, I skipped home and then tackled 2 hours worth of packing and organizing. I was so wound up on a sugar high though that I couldn't fall asleep before 2:30 a.m. You can imagine how wiped I am now that I've been up since 8, but we're hoping to hit the road fairly early so we can get in some time up North today too.

Well, I'm off to get ready to go! Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Yom Tov from Baka!

The Rhythm of the Night

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:53:00 +0000

I would have updated the blog yesterday but I was a complete dishrag from our Wednesday at Ikea in Netanya. My Mother-in-law picked us up at 11:00 and we were off. We got there in decent time and we immediately went to work. I had the catalogue in advance, so I already knew what we needed, and we were very methodical in our shopping. No dilly-dallying around the room displays, just straight to what we were looking for. There were so many people around that I was in a bit of a daze, but between Pidgeon and my MIL, I thought I had everything under control.

And then, we got to the area with all the dressers, and my MIL saw the dresser her client wanted (she's an interior designer). After reading the label, she discovered there was only 1 left! So, she left her cart and raced downstairs to get it before anyone else claimed it. Meanwhile, I spied the dresser I had picked out for our bedroom. I sent Pidgeon over to write down the number and it turns out, there were only 3 left! So, he too, raced after his Mum to try to get us one of the remaining pieces.

Thus leaving me, stranded, with the carts and a lot of shopping left to do on that floor. I also had to special order the closet. We picked out a really nice closet, but I wanted different things inside. So, I found the man wearing the Ikea t-shirt who worked in that area, and we ordered the closet. He then printed out the receipt and told me that I needed to pay for it on that floor so they could pull all the pieces together by the time I was ready to leave. I had an hour before that closet could be ready.

With the under my belt, I continued shopping, and it was on to the computer desks. We were looking for this white, narrow cabinet with a pull down door that could hold the computer screen, large modem, printer and other items. Since the computer room is really cluttered, this was the perfect solution to our spacial issues. Yet, for some reason, I could not find it anywhere. Finally, after looking at every single piece of furniture in that section, I found it! I immediately called Pidgeon, who was with his Mum and and had gotten her the last dresser and discovered they only had our dresser left in black. So, I told him to get it since it would at least match the bed end tables, and they were going to come upstairs to meet me again.

So, I joined the line waiting to pay for the pre-ordered closet and this woman literally comes up behind me and cuts right in front of me. I looked right at her and she says, faux surprise, something like "oh, are you on line?" Ummm, yeah? Do you not see my big ass place holder belly jutting out in front of you? Well, I nodded and smiled, and she backed up just a little bit. Enough for me to make sure I didn't lose my place. Anyway, I ordered and paid for the closet and then went to the food court to wait for Pidgeon and my MIL.

They arrived shortly thereafter, Pidgeon pushing the huge cart with 8 big boxes on it. I had my MIL's other shopping cart and we still had to wait an hour for the closet to be ready. So, we sat down with some Ikea cuisine and indulged in salmon and string beans and I literally drank four cups of Pepsi Max. After we were a bit satisfied, we went downstairs where the real shopping began.

I picked up another cart, and the three of us just filled it in. I picked up some napkins for Yom Tov (3 packages), an egg frying pan since the one I bought in August 2006 has seen much better days, 3 black decorative pillows (25 shekel each!) for the new beds that were delivered this week, four mattress pads for the beds in the apartment, this laptop pillow so that Pidgeon can comfortably use his laptop without me yelling at him to "protect the boys!", a toilet bowl brush, this great big shaggy black rug, a garbage bag for the kitchen (which was completely broken when we tried to assemble so they're sending us a new one), a box of straws for the hospital, a pretty desk lamp, and a new laundry hamper. At this point, the carts are really packed and it's getting hard to push it through towards check out. Pidgeon is at his breaking point as we now realize we've been shopping for 5 hours! My MIL had plenty of energy though and she was just chugging along.

Finally, we get through check out and we head over to pick up our closet and arrange for both delivery and assembly. This was the most stressful part of the entire shopping experience! I had to shuttle between both stations to set up everything up and at that point my ankles were swollen to mythical proportions and killing me! Well, after an hour dealing with those stations, I finally had it and went to sit down and relax. After six hours, we finally loaded up my MIL's tiny car and were off.

Somehow, we missed the turn onto Kvish 6 and ended up in Chadera and then, continued further North, until we were at Zichron Yaakov. If we had continued, we would have ended up in Haifa! My MIL was not pleased, but we called Pidgeon's Uncle and got on the right path back to Jerusalem. We arrived home an hour and a half after we should have and Pidgeon and I were both tired and starving. So, we quickly pulled together dinner and I spent two hours trying to rub the life back into my swollen ankles.

Needless to say, when I woke up early yesterday to deal with deliveries and workers, I was a mess! I ended up staying in bed as long as possible because I just felt so worn out. It was a good thing I did, because we went to a wedding last night that was unlike any I've ever been to in my life. I certainly needed every ounce of energy in my being to make it without passing out from exhaustion.

So, this was what Pidgeon called a Chiloni wedding. The Rabbi was Yemenite and he did the entire ceremony. There was no badeken, the bride and groom entered the Chupah area together, they walked down an aisle laced with pyrotechnics, and then stood underneath the Chupah with all of their family present. The Rabbi was a bit insulting when he said he had to say everything in case the Chattan didn't know the prayer. Also, he was the only one to do all 7 Brachot, which was very foreign. And, it wouldn't be an Israeli wedding without some politics involved and the Rabbi waxed poetic about his views on Jerusalem as the Capitol of Israel. Throughout the ceremony, 90% of the guests milled around, smoking, drinking and chatting. You could barely hear that there was a religious ceremony taking place. Plus, you could count the Kippot on one hand, and those who didn't normally put one on didn't for the ceremony. I thought that was very weird, as even our non-Jewish relatives put on a Kippah during the ceremony.

And then, the groom smashed the glass, the pyrotechnics went off again and the DJ played "This is the Rhythm of the Night." That's when I started laughing my ass off because, of all music to select after such a momentus life event such as marriage, they chose this song? The guests didn't even hang around to greet the Chattan and Kallah -everyone made a bee line for the exist to get downstairs to the dinner you would have thought the place was on fire. Well, we joined the herd and of course, didn't see a table for us. So, I let the Israelis in our party wrangle and we managed to secure the table right next to the kitchen door. It wasn't the best location on earth, but it was good for my needs as I couldn't really do much dancing anyway. We were joined by a set of Grandparents babysitting for one of the "bridesmaids" and her little sister. They were all pretty miserable about the situation, and I was lucky enough that the bridesmaid sat next to me. I was ok until she started waving around both sets of knifes.

Since the wedding started pretty late, we had to leave before the main was served in order for me to do my shot. The dancing looked like a lot of fun though, not your usual "simcha" dancing but a lot of mixed, heavy on the drum and bass, dancing. The bass was so loud that the baby was freaking out inside of me. I don't think the baby liked it too much so I spent a lot of time trying to rub my belly to try to give the baby some comfort. It didn't really work.

Right before we were getting ready to leave, they called the Chatan and Kallah to the dance floor for their romantic dance. Oh, and did I mention that they had a camera on a crane over the dance floor that was both recording for the video and projecting what was going on onto 8 TV sets behind the DJ's? That was fascinating to me, it was like being in some 80's music video.

So, they play some cheesy Canadian pop song that the bride and groom dance to and then the fireworks again. Now, I was ok with the pyrotechnics when we were outside, but the indoor ones made me VERY nervous. And, sitting at a table full of architectural engineers and builders who are well aware of building violation codes, it was no surprise to me that what was going on was illegal. Anyway, just as I stood to leave, the confetti shot out of canisters around the bride and groom and covered the dance floor. Everyone "oohed" and "aahed" - I thought it was the end of some pagent.

But, I was so enthralled by the entire experience, I got home in such a great mood. I had a really fun time and am looking forward to our next "Israeli" wedding. Since it's 2 days before my due date - P"G - I'm hoping I hold out. Fortunately, my MIL is my doula and will also be at the wedding, so if I go into labor or my water breaks, I'll have plenty of people there to help me through it!

Well, today is going to be a pretty relaxing day. We have a birthday BBQ for my MIL this afternoon and then I have to come home and finish cooking for Shabbos. Fortunately, I made the chicken and kugel yesterday, so all I have to do is grill the steaks, make the brisket and some ratatouille.

Shabbat Shalom from Baka!

The Epi-No

noreply@blogger.com (Thanks for reading) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:21:00 +0000

This is called the Epi-No. We learned all about it in our childbirth education class last night and, my lord, but the things women will do to try to control their own labor and delivery! Let me rewind.

(Cousin Neil, please stop reading this post right now. It will be graphic and uncomfortable for you and so I'm giving you the heads up. Come back tomorrow)

I actually enjoyed class last night, which was a first, because I felt like it was productive and I learned new things. That, and the list of items to take to the hospital was pretty interesting and somewhat creative. In the middle of going through the list, and as all the pregnant women are feverishly jotting down every single word, Joani asked us about almond oil.

We stared at her blankly. What's the story with almond oil? She was surprised we hadn't covered it last class, so she stopped the laundry list of hospital items and went back to the delicate area of the perenium (I spelled it wrong but it's the area between the anus and vagina - the thing that stretches to let the baby come out).

Apparently, there are things women can do in advance of the labor and delivery to actually make this area more pliable. First, at 36 weeks, we should fill a plastic washing cup with 2 cups of boiling water and 1 tsp of rosemary. Then, we should insert the cup into the toilet (don't spill out the contents) and sit on it for about 5 - 10 minutes. This should be repeated for 5 days and the steam should help loosen up the area.

My sweet, sweet, adorable husband thought that I was supposed to use this to steam my face (or to drink, like a tea). Isn't he just so cute? I smiled at him as Joani was explaining what to do and lovingly patted his cheek. He got it once she spelled it out for him, but it was just so adorable that he thought it was for a different body part.

Then, Joani told us about rubbing almond oil into the area. This she said is actually difficult to do while pregnant, and one can ask ones partner to do it, but she wasn't a big fan of that either (it turns the area into a mechanical part as opposed to sexual).

So, the option is to buy The Epi-No. It's called that because it's supposed to help a laboring woman avoid an episiotomy (when the Dr.'s snip the area between vagina and anus to help the baby's head poke through). This is very painful for the woman, and then there is lots of stitches and it's not a pleasant part of the childbirth experience (unlike contractions right?)

Here's how it works. See the light blue dildo shaped balloon thing at the end? Well, you're supposed to insert it into the vagina hole, pump it up like the Dr. does when taking your blood pressure, make sure it doesn't burn or hurt but just that the area feels "stretch", leave it in for a bit and then use your pelvic muscles to push it out.

And, if you want to purchase this fantastic piece of pre-labor equipment, it's about 480 shekel (roughly $137 when the exchange rate is 3.5%). Fortunately, Joani sells them herself so no need to go into every SuperPharm in Israel asking for it. Something that might be a bit embarressing to ask for over the counter (and you though condom shopping was bad!)

Well, I told Pidgeon that I'm just going to take my chances and just say no to the Epi-No. I think he was a bit relieved.

And then, this woman in our class, asked if it was okay to borrow her friend's Epi-No.

No, no, no, no, no!

Joani was pretty disgusted by the question and kindly, but firmly, said that she wouldn't recommend it. It was gross and, in her mind, felt like sharing a used tampon.

I think, at this point, all the men wanted to jump out the windows of the room. But, in their defense, they all held it together beautifully while the women in the class were horrified.

This pregnant woman persisted and asked if it was okay to use if she just put on a condom.

OK, seriously now? There are certain things in life we just don't cheap out on people. And, The Epi-No is definitely one of them. If you want it, and you think it will come in handy, scrape together the cash and get one. I was going to hand her 100 shekel right then and there because I was just so surprised she was willing to consider sharing.

Would ya share a friend's dildo? Honestly, unless you're in porn, those types of "toys" and "things" should be for one woman only.

Fortunately, class ended shortly after the Epi-No demonstration. Pidgeon was absolutely wiped and was happy we only have a couple more classes left. I got home and called my little sister to tell her about the class and to try to cheer her up. She works for Lehman Brothers - enough said.

So, I got her rolling on the floor with the Epi-No story and then the creative items we needed to pack and she nicely added an essential item that should come in handy. (E-mail me offline if you want to know what it was, I think the Epi-No is enough graphic for today).

And, of course, I was unable to sleep last night. I literally roamed the house from 2:00 - 4:30 a.m. I called some friends in the States, but Pidgeon heard me and woke up and I didn't want him to be awake since he has a busy day today, so I hung up, crawled into bed and stared into space while he slept. I finally passed out around 5ish and then our alarm went off at 6:45 and I was up.

I packed Pidgeon his lunch, got dressed, logged on and waited for the Mei Eden guys to deliver 2 more big bottles of water. I'm hoping it will be enough to get us through the Chagim since they don't deliver again until the middle of Succot. As soon as he left, I crawled back into bed and napped for 2 hours. Fortunately, Mom was in the office early and woke me up so I didn't completely sleep through the entire day.

Well, since I napped for longer than I should have today, I have to double time it to do my work before the day starts in the States.

Wishing you all Yom Tov from Baka!