Tis the Season!

Happy Holidays = Happy Children! We found a Christmas tree!!

Of course, we decorated one as well.

Yes it's that time of the year again. A time of giving and sharing. A time of home and family. You can feel it in the air -- and you'll catch it if you aren't careful. It's a time when not one, not two but three children give and share the gift of a virus. And they stay home. As one big happy family.

Yes, winter is here.

Albeit with the temperature at 60+ degrees Fahrenheit, it begs the question, what winter? Aside from the snow machine at the YMCA Christmas Festival, we barely need jackets.

So why are we all sick? The timing is uncanny and actually even a medical doctor would vacillate between calling this a biological bug vs. an emotional ailment. Because after six weeks of bliss, Mimi and GongGong have left us to return to New York. Lucas already had a fever, perhaps in anticipation of their departure. But both Raia and I came down with our own just as their plane touched down in New York City. Literally, within the same hour.

Raia and I were quite cognizant of the
devastating circumstances about to befall us...

...While Lucas was delirious with fever. 

Raia made it tough on the grandparents

Very

Tough

We have been diagnosed with a grave auto-immune malady - GDS: Grandparent Deprivation Syndrome.

According to WebMD for Babies:

Symptoms include: Fever. Moaning and whining. Sugar addiction. Bad Glorious habits including falling asleep only if an adult strokes your back and snacking all day long... on sugar-related products and white bread!  

Prognosis: Weeks of forlorn and cranky children. Sugar withdrawal. Some All may develop a fever. If fever persists for several months or exceeds 120 degrees Fahrenheit, see a medical professional or run to the nearest hospital. Or buy five plane tickets.

Cure: None ... until the next grandparent visit.

After six weeks of daily grandparent love and spoiling and a splendid "Fake Christmas" day with them last week, replete with gifts, tea biscuits, an Italian Pandora and hot spiced cider, we are back to our regimen of reality.

And so we crashed. Our spirits sank while our temperatures soared. We cried and moaned. We sulked. We extended our current school break from Hanukkah, endeavoring to carry it on to Christmas and perhaps the New Year as well.

In other words, Christmas is canceled this year. AGAIN!! Recall this incident??

And we miss you desperately, Mimi and GongGong! But, no guilt. No, not from us.

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Silent Nights? Not Quite

Two beds! Anywhere you want them!

As if we were known for our peaceful nights, our parents just made our night times even more celebratory and raucous and theirs ever more busy and much less peaceful. We now have not one but two beds with which we can hold our nightly gatherings. Two mattresses to remove and disrobe! Multiple bed slats to wrest from the bed frame and wave around like wooden swords! Two beds to move around the room to use to scale the other remaining furniture in the room!

This is false

This is true

Our new sleeping arrangements are due in part to an urgency to get (poor) Raia out of a pack and play (finally) and into a real crib before she turns 1. Three weeks and counting! So Lucas got a new bed and the crib will be passed down to Raia.

As you can see, Raia can sleep anywhere

Who needs a crib? Like Moses,
she is happy in a basket!

These last few weeks have been busy. To say the least.

First of all, I started a new school this year. I am an official Pre-Ker. The first two weeks were wrought with screams, tears, hunger strikes, and finally pneumonia thereby causing my parents to flog themselves with self doubt and loads of guilt for daring to mainstream me into the jungle of Israeli public education. But the pneumonia was short lived as were the tears and, suddenly, I adjusted to my new school! I made friends, I gave hugs, I blew kisses and I got my own personal assistant and was even invited to a birthday party!

Then just as soon as I adjusted, the holidays rolled in.
All
28
Days
of holidays.

Days on, days off. Until finally 12 days in a row and I was at home as were Lucas and Raia.

Mommy swears that our apartment turned into a frat house. Discipline of time or behavior evaporated into thin air. Nobody ate on time or ate well. By the end of these two weeks, we could've had ice cream for breakfast and no one would've cared.

But as a bonus this was the same time that (drumroll) Mimi and GongGong came here to visit! Here's how it went:

1. ARRIVAL
Reunited and it feels so good!

Yes, we are doing the twist.

2. JERUSALEM MARCH

Always exciting and very colorful!

3. RANDOMNESS

Getting Raia accustomed to a crib

Waking up GG from his nap!

4. JUMPING CASTLE

A good way to spend some energy

A little bit of Mozart at the train station

5. THE ZOO

And now that the holidays are over, so is the fun. And the frat house. And Mimi and GongGong, who headed back to NY. We go to bed pass out at respectable hours. We eat at set times for the most part. And we head out the door every day for bootcamp, I mean school.

On a positive note, however, maybe this means I will have more time to write! 

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The Sea of Swirly Twirly Gum Drops

It looks like my little sister has a mission in life: to wrest all sorts of attention from yours truly. Even down to my trademark swirl!

It is vague at the moment, but if you stare long enough you will
detect the beginnings of a swirl on Raia's forehead

My own swirl was quite pronounced at birth
and has been with me ever since

Living with a little sister hasn't really affected our lives too much yet except for the new characters in our play: Fatigued Mommy and Tuckered Abba. But otherwise, Raia seems to emerge only to eat and then she quietly tucks away for another winter's nap all swaddled and meek.

Except at night.

But still, the night part doesn't affect Lucas and I. While Raia still has yet to join in our baby games Mimi and GongGong have! They just arrived this week - in time for Raia's birth, which was scheduled for some time next week. Apparently she didn't get the memo.

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The Return of Mimi and GongGong - and Larry and Bob!

They're baaaack!

And I was there to greet them!

Lucas was in shock as MM&GG emerged from the iPad!
(Skype)

And with the return of Mimi and GongGong came many other fun items. For example, the best bedsheets EVER!! 

A life-size Larry!

I will sleep in peace - and joy!

Sheer ecstacy

We couldn't contain ourselves

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