Sweet Potato and Apples

Sick Of Being Sick

2013-01-14T15:16:00.002-05:00

I have been sick since the start of 2013.

For the past two weeks, I’ve had a rotating set of symptoms: sore throat, scratchy throat, headaches, stuffed nose, exhaustion, chills, fever, sinus infection, loss of taste, and severe congestion. I swear, if any medicine would work I’ll volunteer for their commercials (“Actual person. Not an actor.”) This all started New Year’s Eve, and I’ve gone on a business trip to Cincinnati and spent my wedding anniversary sick. This is supposed to be one of the worst flu seasons on record, and I honestly can’t remember ever being this sick for so long with the flu. Aiven caught it first, then me, then my husband. But because I’m pregnant and have a suppressed immune system, they’re already feeling better while I’m still in the doldrums. I called my OBGYN a week ago to ask what medicines I could take while pregnant, and they suggested Tylenol, Sudafed, and Robitussin. They hardly helped. When I went in for an appointment on Friday, they prescribed me a Z pack, and I’m finally starting to feel better. I was even able to taste my food today! Unfortunately, Aiven’s nose has been running all day, and I fear he may be getting sick again. I knew 2013 would be a challenging year with the twins arriving, but I didn’t anticipate this at all!

Happy New Year!

2012-12-31T17:25:00.000-05:00

Newtown Is My Town

2012-12-18T09:41:00.000-05:00

I am scared that if I start to cry, I simply will not be able to stop. There is so much to cry for right now: the lives lost, the family and friends who must carry on, the horror, the fear I have for my own child's safety. I cannot cry. I may not stop if I do.

When the media describes Newtown with its beauty, charm, and good schools, they are describing my town. When I see the pictures of the children and the teachers, I see the faces of the children and teachers at my son's school. When they talk about the residents who left New York for a simpler life, they're talking about me. Only a few degrees of separation and 47 miles stand between them and me. The world seems so bewildering and scary because of this. Newtown is my town in almost every way.
Read more »

Miscarriage In Ireland

2012-12-18T09:30:00.002-05:00

I recently came across the story of a young woman in Ireland who died after being refused an abortion during a life-threatening miscarriage.

(http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/14/15164593-tragic-savita-case-reignites-abortion-debate-in-ireland?lite).

Savita Halappanavar suffered from sepsis (blood poisoning) that could possibly have been treated if she had been allowed to terminate her already-doomed pregnancy. Instead, she suffered for three days vomiting in pain, and not one life was lost but two.

This story touched a nerve in Ireland, which might finally do something about its abortion policies. The senseless part of this senseless tragedy is that Ireland's Supreme Court recommended 20 years ago that abortions be legalized in life-threatening situations, but politicians have dragged their feet ever since. Though I may not agree with them, I think there are some valid ethical arguments against abortion. Nevertheless, this particular situation was clearly one in which an abortion would not have changed the unborn child's fate, but could have changed that of the mother.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2012-11-22T06:45:00.001-05:00

What I am thankful for:

The wonderful home we have in Connecticut. It is filled with love, laughter, friends, food and toys strewn about.
My wonderful husband. For making the move back east and being open to falling in love with our new home.
My wonderful husband again. I couldn't do anything without him by my side.
My smart, adorable, funny, silly boy. He makes me smile everyday and my heart swells with love for him.
The 2 new babies growing in my belly. They truly are a blessing.

My Nanny Post From July 6, 2011

2012-10-26T11:21:00.003-04:00

Thinking of my time on the UWS and my former nanny today.

I am Not Jealous of my Nanny

MIA

2012-09-27T17:54:00.000-04:00

So sorry I haven't posted here in such a long time. It has been an incredibly wonderful and busy time for me. In case you hadn't heard, I am blogging for CTWorkingMoms.com now. They are a wonderful group of women and I am enjoying being a part of the group. You can find my posts with them here:

CTWorkingMoms

I will have lots of new things to share soon. I promise.

Love,
C.

Back to School: They Know I’m a Blogger

2012-08-27T13:27:00.003-04:00

I took my son to his first day of “school” today. Actually, it was half of a half-day, more of a parent-teacher meet n’ greet and let-the-kids-touch-everything to get everyone familiar sort of deal. I didn’t feel worried at all about sending Aiven to school because he adapts well to new situations and I know he needs to spend time around other kids. Besides, my husband and I work from home and I fear our son is getting sick of us.

About a week ago, we started getting inundated with emails from his school: class schedules, after-school programs, PTO meetings, holiday calendars, orientations, donation requests… I’m surprised there wasn’t a parent-teacher conference in there. Or maybe there was. I just had to tune it all out to stay sane (also known as denial). People: the kid’s not even 2! Is this normal or overkill? I have no idea because I am new to this whole school thing.

Food Challenges: My Husband’s a Vegan & My Son’s Hooked on Pouches

2012-08-13T07:47:00.000-04:00

There’s an old saying that you can put three Jews together and get four opinions. Well, that’s the way it is with diets in my family. My husband is a vegan, my son is a vegetarian, and I am an omnivore who is abstaining from meat and poultry for the summer. I am going crazy trying to figure out how to feed everyone.

My husband has never tried to veganize me. He has encouraged me to be more informed about my food choices, but until recently I resisted. I was so overwhelmed with learning a new way to cook for him that I couldn’t stomach any more education. Tempeh? Soy? Seitan? I can make chicken soup so good you can taste it in your soul and roast chicken, briskets, and noodle kugels that practically forced me to start a waiting list for Shabbos dinners at my place. I used to pride myself on being a fabulous Jewish cook. Now it feels like I have to start all over and it is very, very hard at times.

I Found My Promised Land, Except for One Thing…

2012-07-27T08:48:00.002-04:00

Ten years ago I left West Hartford, CT as a single woman with a dream: to return one day to raise a family. One month ago, my dream came true.

After 40 weeks of wandering the desert–OK, living in Austin–we have returned to a hamish Jewish community that reminds me of when I lived on the Upper West Side. As we drive around exploring the area, we are amazed that we keep driving by synagogues–10 or so at the last count (and this is a relatively small town). Aiven is enrolled for the early childhood program at a great Jewish day school for the fall (hurray for avoiding the train wreck of NYC preschool applications!) and he is finally enjoying the outdoors (it was much too hot and sunny in Texas for my fair-skinned redheaded munchkin).

I Never Graduated From College

2012-07-19T12:21:00.001-04:00

I have a confession. I am so embarrassed about it that I feel compelled to defend myself before I even share what it is.

I have had a very successful career in Corporate America. I was never promoted to VP (nor did I aspire to be) but I made a very good living working at Fortune 500 companies negotiating complex contracts. I have always said it was the perfect job for a nice Jewish girl: I got to spend millions of dollars of someone else’s money while shopping around for the best price.

I watched my friends work 80 hour weeks for a salary less than mine. They often wrestled with paying off enormous student loans. However, they all had something I was missing… and here is my confession: I never completed my college degree.

It wasn’t for lack of trying.

Hello East Coast!

2012-06-30T21:37:00.000-04:00

We arrived here about 10 days ago and are thrilled to be back. We dropped into NYC on our way to our new home and it felt so good to see, smell, and hear the familiar sounds of the city. We ate our way through the city like Very Hungry Caterpillars and vow to return once a month for feedings.

We arrived in Connecticut and started to set up house even though our belongings arrived a few days after us. Lo and behold, we bought bikes! As well as a trailer for Aiven to ride along with us. Although I am terribly out of shape I hope by the end of the summer I will be able to go further than a few blocks.

A quick story: While unpacking I came across several bottles of balsamic vinegar wrapped in bubble wrap, yet packed on their side and leaking. As I was cleaning up the mess I commented, "Those movers were idiots. They packed the bottles horizontally." My husband was silent. After a moment I looked up to see him staring at me with a goofy grin. "What?" Alex: You just called me an idiot.

I am SO glad he could laugh about this. I would never, ever call my husband an idiot. He is the smartest person I know. Hands down. Packing may not be a strong point for him, but he gave me history lessons our entire ride across the country. With dates! Yes, the man knows dates of events that I could not even place in the correct decade.

So, we are here. We are having a great time exploring the area, enjoying the lush, green foliage, finding parks, and staring at beautiful homes. So many things I have missed are here. Food delivery, cool mornings, sidewalks, blueberry picking, the best pizza ever, and having my BFF around the corner from me.

Aiven was amazing the entire trip. He had his own personal movie theater in the car and watched a constant loop of Dora. He is loving his new home. He loves to stomp on the wood floors, make a mess with sidewalk chalk, and having open space to run around in the yard and at parks. He loves, loves, loves being outdoors and we adore watching him as he explores his new surroundings.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks:

I can't believe it is July 1 tomorrow! Happy July 4th to everyone!

Weekend Picture Update

2012-06-04T10:04:00.006-04:00

I bought a new camera for work a couple of weeks ago. Aiven is making a great test subject! We are 8 days out from leaving Austin and embarking on a cross country adventure to our new home on the east coast. It's a little stressful, but exciting too! Enjoy the latest pics!

The playground series...

The tomato series...

The food series...

Moving Once Again Amidst Madness & Excitement

2012-05-30T09:22:00.002-04:00

My husband asked me the other day if our lives would ever be sane. I reminded him of a promise I made when we married: marriage would never make our lives boring. What an understatement! Not all of our adventures have been fun, but you could never accuse our married life of being dull or uneventful.

We are about to embark on our fourth move in three years and our second across the country. Things in Texas never jelled. It never felt like home and our attempt to move closer to family ended horribly. So we circled our wagons and are heading back East. A wonderful house rental fell into our laps, and for the first time since we moved out of our parents’ houses we will have a backyard.

Read more »

Weekend Picture Update

2012-05-20T11:41:00.001-04:00

We are busy packing for our move back to the east coast and launching our NuttyCow NutCheese (nuttycow.com). I anticipate my posts will be a bit infrequent over the next few weeks while we move and get re-settled.

Enjoy the pics!

Weekend Picture Update

2012-05-06T08:58:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't updated the last couple of weeks. As usual, it has been busy. We were in Dallas for a food show, my Mom was here to help with Aiven that week and we also had visits from other out of town family.

My Mom's visit was great. She is finally changing diapers and doing an awesome job at it. Also, Aiven was very quick (well, quicker than my blink reflex) and his finger made it into my eye. He managed to scoop a few layers of my cornea out. Having my Mom here was REALLY helpful when this happened as I was in bed for a day with a headache and pain from my scratched cornea.

Thanks, Mom!

Aiven is really talking now. We love it when he surprises us with a new word. Favorite words this week: Dora, Ice, Please (yay!) and Papas.

It is really hot and humid here so we have been playing with the hose and water table quite a bit. Aiven has no fear - especially at the pool, so we cannot take our eyes off of him for a second. His smiles though are priceless and it is amazing to watch him try new things and see how much he loves most of them.

We are leaving Texas in about a month to return to the east coast. I am hoping this will be our last move for the next few years. We have moved 5 times in 4 years or so. I am exhausted from moving so I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will stay put for awhile now.

Go Jets!

Water Table Fun

Aiven's 1st Train Set

One of my favorites

Can you tell I am having some fun with Instagram?

Let’s Talk About “Selective Reduction”

2012-05-04T09:13:00.000-04:00

I think that we women support each other in so many ways by sharing our experiences, yet we have done a disservice by not talking honestly about fertility treatments.

I know that I’m not a worst-case scenario. I already have a child. The extent of my problem is that I’m over 40 and I don’t have a lot of time. My tubes are clear, my egg reserve looks good, I ovulate regularly, and my hormone levels are peachy. Plus, my husband’s sperm count is equivalent to 10 non-vegan men (my doctor described his semen as “dynamite”, leaving me to deal with my husband’s hugely inflated ego for days). And yet, we have been trying to get pregnant for almost a year and a half to no avail (five chemical pregnancies and one miscarriage).

Read more »

Nipple Confusion Part 2

2012-04-30T09:24:00.002-04:00

MSNBC just posted an article about pacifiers and nipple confusion.

You can read the article here:

No More Nipple Confusion

Seems I wasn't off base in my past post.

Nipple Confusion, I Don't Think So

Your thoughts?

Why I Don't Have A Will. Yet.

2012-04-26T09:29:00.000-04:00

My husband and I talk a lot about doing a will. A lot. Yes, we have not actually followed through and completed one. You would think since both of us lost a parent at a young age we would be hyper-aware of planning for the contingency of an untimely death. I mean, we are those nutty people who truly try to live every day to the fullest because we know firsthand that it could be our last. We have nightmares about these things. When I get on a plane, I am practically paralyzed by the “what-ifs” of what would happen if I don’t make it out alive. So why this ridiculous delay in writing down our last wishes?

It’s not for lack of pondering. Our hangup comes down to selecting our replacements. Who can afford more mouths to feed? Who would provide a stable and loving environment? Who would share and instill our values? Who would provide our children an education that we would have chosen ourselves? Who would raise them in a Jewish home where the level of observance lies somewhere between Reform and Orthodox? Who would tell stories about us so we are never forgotten? And most importantly, who would love them like one of their own?

I assume that most people designate a sibling or grandparents to become their children’s legal guardians. In our case, neither of those is an option. Our parents are not young enough for parenthood 2.0, I am an only child, and my husband’s brother’s parenting style is too different from our own.

We have extended family, and although we love them dearly, they all live far away and we don’t really know the intimate details of their lives. So, after many discussions, we have chosen one of my BFFs to be our fairy godmother. She actually doesn’t know this yet. My husband requested we postpone the final decision until after we spend Pesach with them. It will be an opportunity for Alex to meet her husband, observe how they’ve raised their kids, and see the home and community that, with all due respect to my BFF, our children will hopefully never have to live in.

So, besides the question of how to ask my friend for her permission/approval/blessing, I have to ask: Are we going about this the right way?

This post originally appeared on Kveller.com. Kveller.com offers a Jewish twist on parenting, everything a Jewish family could need for raising Jewish children--including crafts, recipes, activities, Hebrew and Jewish names for babies...and advice from Mayim Bialik.

Settling Down in Texas

2012-04-16T09:35:00.000-04:00

As I am fast approaching my six-month anniversary on arriving in Austin, Texas, I thought it would be a good time to stop and take account of everything.

The last time I wrote about arriving in Texas, it was pretty much a pity party and everyone was invited. Many of you responded to my RSVP request with emails of support, friendly suggestions, and even a few shidduchs for my husband with his job search.

So here I am, almost six months later. I do not cry myself to sleep, nor do I think of New York every second of every day (although, I still do think of it often, very often). I mourned the loss of the only place I ever felt at home, slogged through the grief, and am proud to say emerged on the other side just fine.

There Are No Attachment Parenting Police

2012-04-16T09:34:00.000-04:00

Mayim Bialik wrote a great piece in response to my article "What if You Want to Attach, But Can’t?"
She clarifies that AP is more of a parenting philosophy rather than just a checklist.

Here is the link to the article: There Are No Attachment Parenting Police

Austin Heat & Other Things

2012-03-23T18:04:00.001-04:00

There have been some days where the weather is beautiful here. It's finally green! But if the prolonged, intense heat of the summer returns like a horro movie sequel, it won't last long. There are lifeless trees interspersed with the flourishing ones, and it is those that catch my eye, make me sad, and remind me that the green will likely soon fade to brown and grey. However, at the moment, the flowers have bloomed and the green is refreshing and uplifting.

My husband keeps pointing out the bluebonnets. Honestly, I don't give a crap about the bluebonnets. The other wildflowers on the side of the highways are much prettier and vibrant. Yet, he will always point out a patch of the short blue shrubs, and I will always make some nasty comment about them. It's a running joke now.

On a completely different note, Aiven did not want to eat for three entire days. Our massive little eater just. stopped. eating. I thought it might be because he was cutting a tooth and sure enough, a new tooth popped out yesterday -- along with his appetite. It's nice to see him stuffing his face again.

Alex and I are very busy getting our company off the ground. Feel free to check out our website: www.nuttycow.com. It is keeping us busy and we hope to be in production in a few weeks! We are so excited and hope we will be travelling to a store near you to introduce our product, meet customers and hand out some samples.

Of course, starting a business is not without it's challenges. Luckily, my husband and I have complimentary skill sets and so far, we have not had any major disagreements. I am really enjoying working with him on this.

Since Aiven is taking a nap right now, I think I will too.

Buenos Noches.

Weekend Update

2012-03-17T21:44:00.000-04:00

Love this pic!

Things have been so hectic the last couple of weeks.

Last week I was in New York for a brief visit. It was a wonderful couple of days! Amazing weather, visiting with dear friends and meeting my editor and fellow writers from Kveller. Mayim Bialik is a contributor at Kveller and just released a book, "Beyond The Sling". There was a talk with her and moderated by my editor and it was a great night. You can read about it here...
and here...
and here...

Read more »

What if You Want to Attach, But Can’t?

2012-03-08T07:34:00.002-05:00

With Mayim’s book about attachment parenting coming out soon, I have been reflecting on my own mother’s experience. She has kindly agreed to let me write about her ordeal and I want to thank her for allowing me to share her story. (Please note that my interpretation of the events and the conclusions I have drawn are entirely my own).

It was another time, another generation, and things were different. My mother didn’t ask the questions we ask now, as most people blindly followed doctors’ orders. The trust in the white coat was immeasurable. My mother’s recollection of my birth story has some holes in it from the fog of memory, but it is an extraordinary story nonetheless.

Weekend Picture Update

2012-03-04T19:13:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy week. We have started going to the gym and Aiven has started going to the babysitting they offer when we are working out. By the fourth day he was fine with us dropping him off. Next week he starts his own toddler tumbling class!

He was so tired the babysitting and checking out the gym equipment, he fell asleep on his change table.

Here are a couple more pictures from our week.

More pics next week of his tumbling class.