Back on track

As we all know I hate Wednesdays because of the cleaning lady and the Little Gym. Having to be out all day with four kids, under three by myself is not an easy task, especially when one of my two and a half year olds has a major attitude. Lior has decided that she can yell at me whenever she does not like what I have to say. She also does not like when she gets put in time out for not listening or hitting Sydney. We wound up leaving the playground because Lior threw her sippy cup in the dirt and refused to pick it up. She was really surprised when I told her we were leaving and stood up to walk away. It was time to leave anyway, everyone needed a nap and I needed air conditioning.

The day actually went really well, even with Lior's melt down at the end. Jordan continues to amaze me with her gross motor skills. She tries her hardest to keep up with the big girls and tries everything they do. There was a sixteen month old on the playground with her mother and she was following the little girl around ready to catch her at a moments notice. She asked me how old Jordan was and was shocked when I told her that she was only a month older or maybe she was shocked because I was not following Jordan around and allowing her to hang from bars well above her head. She even went down the "bumpy slide" without any help.


Sydney had a great time at the park and at the gym but fell apart the second we hit the car to go home. She told me that her belly hurt and she pretty much cried the entire way home. She continued to cry after she slept for twenty minutes and while she ate her Oreos. She cried when she did not get to pick the movie we watched and she cried when she got to watch something she liked. She cried whenever I looked at her funny or said two words to her. She cried every time Jordan touched a toy or her. Sydney cried and wound up not eating her dinner because she did not feel well. She looked like she did not feel well and I hope that she feels better tomorrow because when Sydney does not feel well the people around her know about it.

Akiva made his first appearance at the playground today. He really just lounged in the stroller while the girls played. He was even great in the gym where he hung out in the B'jorn while I chased the girls around the gym. The poor kid had some really bad gas today and after dinner he was arching his back so badly I thought he was going to touch the back of his head with his heels. Every time I moved him he cried, I felt so bad I wanted to cry. His little body was so rigid I could not bend him so I put him on his belly and gave him some gas medicine and tried to help him let some of it out. Hopefully, he feels better because he is far too little to be so pitiful!
Now that we are back on our schedule and the girls are getting to sleep at a reasonable hour, maybe I will have more time to blog and post pictures...

Back to normal

Things are getting back to normal here. Yesterday was Julie's last day and Matt was so sorry to see her go, he loved having her here in the mornings, in the afternoon and in the evenings. I loved having her here also, having an extra set of hands was a tremendous help and the girls just adore her. I am glad that they will be spending the summer with her at camp.
Now that Julie is gone I am getting back into the swing of things and we are getting back on our schedule. Today was a school day and Matt had the girls dressed and ready by eight thirty, all by himself! I was very impressed with him this morning, I just know that by the end of the week I will have to start picking out the clothes or the girls will look like rag dolls every day. The first day back to school was interesting, Lior got bitten by one of her classmates. Matt was less than thrilled and had me call school to find out what the policy was about biting and what type of consequence the other child received. My husband has a wonderful way with words and after calling the other child several colorful names I managed to calm him down by reminding him that the kids are two and have limited language skills and biting happens, the trick is to make sure it does not happen again. Lior does not seem at all upset by it, she told me as if it was a normal occurrence "so and so bit me today" and then Sydney piped in "that was not nice, we do not bite, Lior cried."
How is that for an exciting day?
On another note, Akiva lost his belly button yesterday so I was able to give him a real bath tonight. This child needed a bath desperately, the girls are constantly touching him and rubbing his hair with their dirty little hands. He was one dirty kid! He is also one cute-cute kid! I am totally in love with this little boy, he is just delightful. I can just sit and stare at him for hours which I would do if I had the time, which I don't.

Monday update, again!

I thought I was done with Monday updates but since I have not posted in over a week there is a lot to catch up on. Our newest family member has had a lot happen to him in the first twelve days of his life. He went to the doctor last Wednesday and we discovered that he gained one ounce since he came home from the hospital and since that day I have been trying very hard to get him to eat without sleeping through the feedings. It appears that all of my hard work and lack of sleep has paid off and Akiva gained eight ounces in the last five days which means he is almost back at his birth weight.
On Thursday we had Akiva's bris which was more stressful than you can imagine. Akiva was a real trooper and really did not cry, maybe that is because they gave him enough wine to numb any pain...I think Matt could have used some of the wine I drank because he almost passed out during the "procedure". Even the girls seemed bothered by it because they wanted their daddy and daddy was too busy to hold them but because they were so high maintenance it distracted me and allowed me to stay in the room during the entire bris. Changing his diaper became an adventure, who ever said that boys were easier to change than girls? They lied!
Jordan is amazing and using longer utterances every day. I am constantly amazed by her expressive vocabulary which seems to be growing everyday. She started to name colors (pink and green) and was able to point to and name circles in a book. We have had a friend come every day since I have come home from the hospital to help me take care of the girls and Jordan is in love with her. I think she has enjoyed the time she spends with Julie when she wakes up from her nap early. Julie puts a pony tail in her hair and Jordan is just thrilled to have it. She still loves the baby and stops playing to run and kiss her baby. She has taken to calling her baby "Ice cream" which she thinks is a riot because she knows that the babies name is Akiva.
Sydney and Lior are also in love with Julie and do not seem to mind when I have to leave the house for a doctors appointment. When Julie puts their hair in a pony tail they manage to leave it in for more than thirty seconds, especially when she puts fresh flowers in their hair.

Over the weekend we took the girls to Gumbo Limbo and one of the nature walks we always go to. The girls loved seeing the sea turtles at Gumbo Limbo and having a picnic in a nearby park where they got to feed the fish the food they did not eat. Akiva did very well experiencing the Florida heat and our weekend excursions.
Matt and I are completely exhausted chasing after three big kids and keeping up with one very mellow newborn. At least I am getting a much needed nap every afternoon which makes me love Julie too and she does not even put my hair in a pony tail! I wish Matt could get a nap every day but now that we do not need to put antibiotic cream on Akiva every time we change his diaper maybe Matt can get a full nights sleep.

Akiva Jeremy

He has a name. It only took us two full days in the hospital to name our newest family member. I think we had the name the entire time we were batting names around but neither of us wanted to make the final decision. It is a good thing they encourage you to name your child prior to leaving the hospital or he would still be nameless.
Akiva is LOVED by his sisters. Jordan walks around and points to him "bruda, bruda hold, hold Keeva." She really loves her new baby and is constantly kissing him and rubbing his head.
Sydney is very helpful and is always trying to help me with the baby. She changes diapers and sits with me while I feed him. Since I have been home she runs into my bedroom when she wakes up and looks for "the new baby" and then covers him with kisses and tries to get him to come sit with her while she eats breakfast.
Lior loves being a big sister as well. She is easily motivated to do things she does not want to do if she knows that Akiva is the reward. She hugs and kisses him and thinks everything about him is "cute".
This poor baby has four mothers at least they all love him very much.
I think Matt is still in a complete state of shock and can not believe that this baby has a penis. We just did not think that we would ever have a boy and we are still completely blown away. I think having the bris on Thursday will help us come to terms with the fact that it is a boy, because we will not have a choice.
Akiva had his first doctors appointment today and he has to go back again on Wednesday. When we left the hospital the doctor was concerned because he lost ten ounces and she wanted to make sure that he started gaining weight once he was home so she had us come in today. When they weighed him he had lost two more ounces so we must go back to make sure he has started to gain weight. I am going to have to start being more insistent that he stay awake when he is nursing. Since we have been home from the doctors I have started to strip him down and make him miserable prior to feeding him so he will stay awake! Now all I have to do is stay awake while he is nursing tonight so I can keep him awake, both of us would rather be sleeping!

The waiting is over!

Our newest family arrived this morning at eight twenty one this morning screaming and yelling and making a ruckus and just absolutely gorgeous! You can not imagine our surprise when they told us that the baby was a BOY!! Our very beautiful baby boy weighed in at a whopping seven pounds seven ounces (not fourteen, as reported earlier) and nineteen and a half inches long. Our biggest baby yet! We have yet to discuss a name but we are going to talk about it soon....


He did enjoy meeting his big sisters and they loved seeing their new baby. When I reminded Sydney that her new baby was a boy, not a girl she told me "but I made a girl baby!" Wait until she changes his diaper tomorrow and she sees that the plumbing is completely different! I can not wait.

One day

Tomorrow is my last full day of this pregnancy. It is hard to believe that I have been pregnant for thirty nine weeks and it will be over in less than forty-eight hours. We are ready, at least we are trying to get ready. The cleaning lady is coming tomorrow so the house will be clean when I leave and by the time I get home it should be a complete wreck. The girls got to play with Julie, the woman who will be playing with them while they are on break from school. Lior spent a good amount of time sitting on her lap with Jordan. Sydney played shy but warmed up by the end of her visit. After Julie left Sydney wanted to know to make sure that Julie was coming during the day time, not night time and then wanted her to go to school with her. It helps that they see Julie every time they go to school and know her. I am excited that that the girls will be in very capable hands and they will be busy.
Tomorrow I need to pack a bag and make sure that the baby name book is in there or this baby will come home from the hospital without a name. I also have to make sure that I am pre-registered at the hospital because so far I have been completely unsuccessful at my attempts to register on-line and by phone. Wouldn't it be terrible if I got to the hospital and they turned me away. I would have to rush to the emergency room with Matt because I think he would stroke out!
The girls are all set and know that Mommy is going to the hospital and they will visit me on Thursday. They know that Grandma and Grandpa will be taking them to school and picking them up and taking them to see the new baby. We are all set and ready to go. We just have to make it through one more day and Matt has to try NOT to break any more toes this week, one is more than enough.

Where have you been?

No the baby did not arrive early, it looks like it will arrive as scheduled on Thursday. Matt is thrilled that this little guy already follows directions and comes when its called! We have been so very busy with the auction at the girls school that I have had little time for anything else. The good news is that the auction is over and I had a very good time working on the event and to top it off the school raised a good amount of money!
The doctor offered to let me go another week because I told him I was feeling great. I declined his generous offer, not because I am not enjoying this pregnancy but because I thought Matt would have a heart attack. I think he wants to meet this baby and get his wife back into the swing of things. I hate to tell him it will take me about a month or longer to get back into the swing of things.
We have yet to come up with a name we can agree on and I have had no time to read the baby name book I borrowed so perhaps an extra week would be a blessing. I am looking forward to meeting this baby on Thursday and finally finding out the sex. Most people I talk to think that this baby is a boy and I would like to see if they are right! It would be much easier to name a boy because we have picked boys names for every pregnancy and never had the opportunity to use them. We can not wait until Thursday!
The girls are doing well, Jordan is talking up a storm and starting to combine two words, sometimes more! The other day Lior was getting out of the shower and I was trying to get her to put on her panties when Jordan walked over and tried to dress Lior saying "Your, panties- panties Your put on!" I was completely blown away. She is following directions and helping me as much as she can. She is getting completely frustrated by the slightest things and she has a very bad temper. She just wants to be able to do and say as much as the big girls. I am sure that in time she will be going toe to toe with them.
Lior is still fighting Matt every morning about every little thing. The good news is that Matt is letting a lot of her moodiness roll off his back and ignoring her temper tantrums which is not easy but makes the morning move along better. We have been letting the girls come into bed with me in the morning instead of straight to breakfast which has helped as well. They missed me in the morning and since there is very little chance that I can make it out of bed in a timely fashion letting them in for hugs and kisses seemed our best option. Lior has been chatting up a storm and has informed me that one of the teachers at the school has a pouch in her belly for her baby "just like a kangaroo Mommy!" When I asked her about my belly she informed me I had one too, for all the babies.
Sydney has been moody and overly sensitive the last week. Lior and Jordan have been both using her as a punching bag, which could be part of it. I think she senses that something is about to happen and has needed a lot of extra attention from her mother. I have been trying to spend extra time with her which has not been easy because I have been consumed with the auction. Today I even arranged for Matt to come home early to spend time with Lior and Jordan so I could take Sydney out alone. When I told her she said "I don wanna go wit you, I wanna ride my bike wit Daddy!" and she meant it! I invited Lior and she wanted to ride her scooter with Daddy. The girls let me down and I was forced to go shopping all by myself for an hour!
I think the girls are getting excited about the baby and have promised to come visit me in the hospital and bring me presents. When I ask them what they are bringing me Sydney tells me she is bringing me herself (a great present!) and Lior says "I don't know!" I have lots of presents for them while I am in the hospital because they obviously do not have enough junk at home!

Salad

I had a craving tonight for salad. This is not a surprise because I often crave salad when I am pregnant, what is a surprise is where I was craving the salad from. Sweet Tomatoes. I have been there once in my life and I woke up from my nap thinking about it, so we went. For those of you who are familiar with my husband and his general dislike of buffet type restaurants know that this would have been his last choice of a place to eat but he went because he is a good sport. It did not dawn on me that Matt would be as miserable as he was because I just thought about the salad. Matt was miserable but the rest of us were extremely happy. Even my dad was happy but I think he was happy because he got to give the girls an amazing amount of dessert. They ate pudding, Jello, brownies, ice cream and chocolate chip cookies and their Grandpa got to give it to them. He was never happier.
In the car on the way home Sydney and Lior had the cutest conversation:
Lior: "Can we go back there again?"
Sydney: "Don worry Your we go back t'morrow"
Lior: "Tidney, you like that restaurant?"
Sydney "No, I like sushi better!"
I think Matt would agree with Sydney and he does not eat seafood!

Time line

Bim goes back to school in less than nine hours. We have not written one thing in his journal because I procrastinate and I thought it would take a few minutes to print out a few pictures. I was wrong.
9:30 picked out the pictures we wanted to use.
10:30 Finally printing and realize the yellow ink is out and the pictures are no good.
11:10 Matt leaving Walgreens because he can not get the pictures off the card
11:45 Matt is waiting for the pictures to print out in his office, he says it is taking forever!
12:12 Matt is finally home and I can start the journal for the girls. Matt is a great dad who will do anything to make sure his princesses are ready for school! Now he is off to do the dishes and let the dogs out. Our girls are very lucky and so am I!