Dovi's Life

For Brie, the Story of My Cell Phone

2011-12-15T09:51:00.003-06:00

So...it was rather hysterical when it happened, I hope it's as funny when I recount it 4 months later.

One lovely summer day, a mommy took her fearsome threesome to the library. They looked at books, chose books (the longer the better for Jakie, the shorter the better for Elisha, and all Nancy Drew for Shana), begged to use the computer (no, you can play computer at home, we are checking out books, not playing games), fought over who could use the scanner at the self checkout (yes, my library has self checkout. I feel like I'm at the grocery store), and we were on our way.

When we got to the car, I wanted to plug my phone in to charge it.

I looked around, checked my purse, etc. No phone.

We retraced our steps into the library. No phone.

We asked the librarians. No phone.

We searched the stacks. No phone.

We ~~harrassed~~ asked the librarians to check again. No phone.

We called the phone. Went to voicemail.

It was incredibly bizarre, because the phone had been gone all of 5 minutes when I noticed it, so where on earth did my cell phone go from a nice suburban library? I figured some teenager must have found my phone and pocketed it.

I went home, called Benjie, and he told me that since I had insurance it wasn't a big deal, I'd just get a new one. So I called my phone company, and told them that it seemed that my phone was stolen from me and I needed to get a new one. They told me that since it was stolen and I didn't have a phone to trade in, I would have to pay the $50 deductible on it. But if I had dunked it in a pool of water and could GIVE them the broken phone, there would be no deductible. Well, anyone who knows me know that ~~I am incredibly cheap~~ don't like to spend money needlessly. I was not pleased. My phone was STOLEN. It was not my fault, and they wanted to make me PAY! Largefightensued,endingwithmechangingphonecompanies

The whole time this went on, I was calling my phone periodically hoping that the person who >del> stole borrowed it would pick up. The calls kept getting sent to voicemail after a ring or two-obviously by someone.

So...I went to the new phone company to get my new FREE phone. Benjie met me there, because in my tizzy to the old company, heck, I switched both of us. So we went to get both our new phones (yes, I'm a spaz, but anyways, the new plan was $50 a month cheaper!). As we were signing up for the new phones, Benjie's cell rang.

My caller ID came up on the display...

I answered it.

A gruff voiced man informed me that he had my phone and I could come get it.

He gave an address not far from where we were.

I decided to go get it.

My very wise husband told me that no way was I going with 3 little children to a strange man's house to get my phone.

So he left me at the cell phone store.

It was a verrrrrrry good choice that he went.

My phone was in the possession of a very huge, very bearded, very tattooed, very smokey scented, very scary biker dude.

My little purple phone.

Benjie was parking his car and saw said gentleman.

He then saw him withdraw my innocent little phone from his biker vest and scroll about on it.

Benjie parked his car and went over to said man.

He requested said phone.

Scary man told him "it will cost you"

Benjie (I can't believe he was so chutzpadik to a man who could eat him for dinner) offered him $1.

Yes, ONE DOLLAR.

The man accepted said dollar and returned said innocent purple phone.

It STANK like smoke.

But no worries, I still switched cell phone providers.

Heck, I'm saving $50 a month!

So...still funny?

A Year in a Post

2011-12-10T19:22:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone!!

So....let's do a year in a post, shall we?

Since I posted last...in no specific order...

Dovi went to Camp Simcha Special with a new counselor (hi Dovid!)
Dovi went on Kids of Courage (hi Mickey, we missed you Raphi!)
Dovi started 8th grade (such a big boy...sniff sniff sniff)
Dovi had an impaction of food in his esophagus which resulted in a three day stay in the Children's Hospital PICU (that was fun, nothing like watching your son who is not supposed to be able to throw up, puke up french toast. Sorry, a little overshare here)
Dovi had fun at his friend Ben's Bar Mitzvah (another Camp/KOC friend)
Dovi's counselor Raphi got engaged (hi Adina, sorry we were so insane when we met you the first time, the kids can't wait for the big bash!)
Dovi's counselor Joe got engaged (Hi Rina, so lovely to meet you, sorry I will miss the wedding but Dovi and Benjie can't wait for their "man's weekend" as Dovi is calling it)
Dovi got even more cute. It's truly ridiculous how adorable he is. I will attach new videos of him. Some of his new lines include "BUSTED" and "What's upppppppp"

and in the non-Dovi related world...

I just finished my first semester of nursing school (who got an A? Mmhmmm)
My house has imploded due to said nursing school
No crafts have been made
Much laundry has been ignored
Much organization needs to be done
Many children need to be re-whipped (not literally of course) into shape
Benjie's car got hit twice, including this past week in the parking lot of work, when a woman hit the gas instead of the brake and hit not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, but 6 parked cars, including Benjie's innocent little truck
Elisha, Shana, and Jakie started fourth grade. I give up. They are too old. I want to cry.
I went over a month this summer not seeing King Dovi :) while he was at Camp Simcha and KOC. It was insanely long. Too long. Cannot ever happen again.
My cell phone got stolen out of the library by a smelly enormous smoking harley riding biker dude. Benjie paid him $1 (yes, $1) to get it back.
Shana learned how to bake. I never will again. We had chocolate peanut butter cup amazingness this Shabbos that all I had to do for was turn on the stove. Divine.

My, I just reread this. Quite a stream of consciousness.

So....I have 5 weeks off before semester two. I will try to say hi to y'all more often then, hey, once every 10 months. Let me know which of the above events need further clarification.

Missed you guys!

Anyone out there?

2011-12-06T22:07:00.002-06:00

I could be back.

I finished my first semester of nursing school...

Anyone?

Anyone?

Dovi's New Wheels!

2011-02-01T14:09:00.003-06:00

Well, it hasn't arrived yet.

But in about weeks, Dovi should be the proud owner of this!

It's a Quickie 2 wheelchair...

I'm so excited! I must say it's a little sad what excites us special needs mommas.

Dovi currently has a Maclaren Major

and a Convaid Safari

Neither one is really meeting our needs-the Convaid is 6 years old and doesn't fit him so well (and frankly a royal PITB to fold) and the Macalaren is too small and...ahem....a little squeaky. You can hear Dovi coming from a block away in the Maclaren.

So.

Our great hope is that he will be able to wheel himself in this snazzy new chair. He chose copper color.

Hooray!

Thank you!!!

2011-01-31T09:41:00.006-06:00

To our Dearest Friends,

So, here we go again.

As we have done for the past five years, we are again taking to the streets and running with Team Lifeline to raise money for Camp Simcha and Camp Simcha Special. The experiences we have had being a part of Team Lifeline in Miami have been beyond compare and this year will be no exception. Running with Team Lifeline in Miami has become our way of giving back to Chai Lifeline for all that they have done and continue to do for our Dovi.

This year however is a little different. Living in Chicago you would think that there would be no place we would rather be during the long cold winter than South Florida. To be honest we assumed all along that that is where we would go.

Then Team Lifeline announced that this year they would be participating in the first ever Jerusalem Marathon.

That’s right, JERUSALEM MARATHON.

With that announcement our decision was made. On March 25th 2011 we will be joining Team Lifeline in Israel in support of all of the special children of Chai Lifeline.

In order to make this possible we are turning to you, our nearest and dearest friends and family. Words alone do no tell the story of just how important Chai Lifeline and Camp Simcha special are to Dovi. Camp has enabled Dovi to put aside all of his daily challenges and just be a kid. At Camp he is no longer the only kid with a G-Tube who can’t put his face in the water.

In addition to running for Dovi, we are dedicating this year’s marathon to the amazing counselors and kids of Bunk 17.

Yakov, Raphi, Yoeli, Nachman, and Shimon are the best counselors an FD kid could hope for!

This year, we are running for them as well as Dovi and his wonderful friends Ezra, Ben, and Eli.

The incredible experience that is Camp Simcha and Camp Simcha Special are a result of the tireless love and devotion of the counselors and staff. Please join us in making sure that Dovi, along with all of his friends will always have Camp Simcha and Camp Simcha Special to look forward to.

Our goal this year is to raise $10,000.

To learn more about all the amazing things that go on at Camp Simcha Special please click here.

To see a little more of Camp Simcha Special, watch these videos!

To see more about Team Lifeline, watch this video! Ooh look! My brother, Dovi, and I are at 0:27!

To sponsor us please click here

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Love, Benjie and Sara

Dovi's Bar Mitzvah Video!

2011-01-28T09:00:00.001-06:00

Team Lifeline ISRAEL!!!!!

2011-01-26T14:00:00.003-06:00

I cannot speak.

I am so excited.

I am so terrified.

I cannot believe what I am about to tell you.

If all goes well, Benjie and I will be going to ISRAEL!

I haven't been in 11 years.

I'm one of those people who wants to lay down and kiss the earth when they arrive.

I haven't been since Dovi was 2.

How/Why are we going?

Well look at my title for this post!

Yes, Team Lifeline will be participating in the First Annual Jerusalem Marathon.

Faint.

Obviously, we did not run Miami this year (it's this coming Sunday...sniff sniff). We didn't run because there was no way to train what with Dovi's Bar Mitzvah occupying every moment of our lives.

But now I am free! Free!

So I am training.

And training.

I am watching shows on Dovi's iPad as I run (Modern Family? OMG hysterical, thanks Shosh) and trying to envision the amazingness of running for Dovi. In Israel.

Excuse me while I go weep now.

So. Hey? Anyone want to sponsor me?

Click here and enter my name.

I'm going to go faint now.

In Which Sara Gets Deep

2011-01-24T09:48:00.004-06:00

Even though I feel like I've been talking to myself recently, I've been thinking about this and want to write it down before I forget it.

I heard a shiur recently where the Rav was speaking about when Yosef HaTzaddik was sold to by his brothers and was taken down to Mitzrayim.

I'm sure most people know the story, but to sum up, in Bereishis, Genesis, Yosef, Joseph, was sold by his brothers as a slave down to Mitzrayim, Egypt. He was sold to a caravan of Yishmaelim who then sold him again and again, until he ended up in Mitzrayim and the whole story of how he rose in power began.

Yosef was sold to Yishmaelim, and it says in the Chumash that they were "bearing spices and balsam" (N'chos, Tzri, and Lot). Now we all know that the Torah does not use any superfluous words. So why on earth are three words "wasted" on telling us what the caravan carried? Who cares?

Rashi says that the Yishamaelim generally carried petroleum and resin, foul smelling items, in their caravans. But since Yosef was a Tzaddik, a righteous man, HaShem made the Yishmaelim carry sweet smelling spices "so that he should not be harmed by the foul odor".

When you read this Rashi, it seems kind of odd. Yosef was just sold by his brothers into slavery, and the miracle that HaShem chose to do was for him to not smell foul odors on his way down to Mitzrayim? How about a miracle that he not be sold? Or that he escape somehow? Why on earth was THIS the miracle?

So the answer, said the Rav that I heard speak, was this. It was predestined that Yosef should go down to Mitzrayim to set into motion the years of slavery and redemption, culminating in the Jewish people receiving the Torah. Yosef's years of servitude and anguish in Mitzrayim, for reasons that we do not understand, had to occur. But G-d gave him a blessing, a sign on his way down to those years of darkness. Yes, you will experience pain and servitude. You will not be with your family. But I will send you down to this experience with a sweet smelling accompaniment. I, G-d, will be with you all the time. Look how I made you comfortable for this hard, hard journey.

This got me thinking about the journey that I have been on with my Dovi. Yes, it is often a journey of darkness. Of pain. Of anguish, watching Dovi struggle to do all that his peers do effortlessly. To run down the street. To climb the stairs. FD is not all bad, but it IS a kind of servitude, servitude to Dovi's body that does not do what it is supposed to do.

But look!

Look at the beautiful b'sammim, spices that we have been given. Dovi has the most wonderful, beautiful personality. I often say that Dovi lacks a Yetzer HaRah, an evil inclination. Everyone who meets Dovi loves him. He is beautiful, both inside and out.

His demeanor is so amazing and enjoyable-how can you not just marvel at the beautiful N'chos, Tzri, and Lot that we have been blessed with along the journey.

HaShem has given us such a blessing. We truly have a sweet accompaniment. We have been made comfortable for this long, hard journey.

and He is with us every step of the way.

Finally, at long last

2011-01-20T10:45:00.003-06:00

I was able to upload the videos of Dovi skiing.

I tip my hat to Raphi for being able to both ski down a mountain and video Dovi at the same time. If I did that I would have two broken legs.

Enjoy!

This is what it's all about.

2011-01-18T11:54:00.004-06:00

If you had ever told me that my profoundly disabled son would have been able to do this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

I would never have believed you.

Dovi's ski trip with Kids of Courage last weekend was truly a dream come true.

Dovi conquered his illness with adventure.

Thank you!

Oops. Forgot to Warn You.

2011-01-13T13:36:00.002-06:00

It's a little dirty. Like bad words. But we're all adults here, right?

Never In My Life

2011-01-13T12:49:00.001-06:00

Have I laughed this hard.

I'm sure I'm majorly late on the bandwagon here, but if you need a laugh, click here.

I am crying.

From Laughter.

Oh and if I could figure out why my videos keep erroring I would be able to share video of Dovi skiing this past weekend.

He is awesome.

An open letter to "the counselors"

2011-01-05T08:16:00.003-06:00

Hi guys. How are you all doing? I know. It's been a terrible three weeks for you guys. It's madness-four campers lost in under three weeks? If I, as a parent, who didn't even know them, is reeling, I cannot imagine what you guys are going through.

I know that there was another letter like this written to you guys, but I think the more you hear it, the better.

Do you have any idea? Any at all? How you have changed not only Dovi's life, but our entire family's? FD is a terrible, fatal, insidious disease. FD takes over not only the body of the affected child, but the heart and soul of the parents. I would literally do anything, anything at all in the entire world to take a small amount of Dovi's daily suffering. But Dovi always has a smile on his face. He has joy and simchas hachaim. And I truly, in my heart of hearts, believe that a large amount of that joy comes directly from you.

You have given Dovi back his childhood and us back our lives. We have amazing help and support from our family and friends, but this is just different. When Dovi goes away with you, whether to camp or on a trip, we know that not only is Dovi safe, he will have an amazing time and most probably not want to come home. You've taught him to scream "FD Drools" and to respond "I have F......D!" like it's the best thing in the world. You've given him pride in who he is and helped him cultivate his most meaningful relationships.

You come and visit us in far away Chicago and are infinitely patient with our other kids. You make them feel like a million bucks and like they are special-look at all these guys who love them! Who play with them! They are special because of Dovi's FD.

I said at Dovi's Bar Mitzvah that because of Dovi having FD we have met people that we would have never met. I was talking mostly about you guys and the life and joy that you have brought into our lives.

You have changed our lives. You have brought joy and brightness where there is darkness. You cannot imagine the impact that each and every one of you have on us.

I know it's hard. I cannot wait to hand Dovi off tomorrow and get a break from the endless meds, treatments, and feedings. I do it with love because Dovi is my son. You do it with love by choice. This is how you choose to spend your vacations, your free time, and your days. It truly boggles my mind. When I was you age, well when I was all your age Dovi was 3, so let's backtrack to when I was in high school, I was spending my days at the mall and chatting on the phone. What you do by choice has changed our lives.

I know that sometimes it becomes unbearable, when a child is lost. And you guys have been hit four times now in three weeks. It's hard, so hard. I cannot imagine dealing with this at your age. It must be tempting sometimes to walk away, to protect yourselves from the pain. I would. It's unfathomable. But know, please, in your heart of hearts know, that what you have done for Dovi, for our family, for all the kids and their families is the most wonderful gift you can give a suffering family.

Our appreciation and respect for all of you is boundless. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Because I know you all love it

2011-01-03T09:00:00.000-06:00

here is a fun couponing post.

Yesterday, Shosh and I got in the saddle again. She had a better excuse than me-she had her cutie patootie baby. I have just been lazy recently (OMG I spent $83 at Jewel on Friday. Excuse me while I go faint and vomit simultaneously)

There are some nice deal this week (hello Chobani for $1!) at Dominicks so we got ourselves organized, clipped our coupons, and headed out together. We looked like lunatics in the aisle-we literally had our coupons spread out over some shelves getting organized before checkout.

Yes. We've seen the Extreme Couponing show on TLC. That lady with the wall of toilet paper that makes her feel joy? A whole lotta crazy. The lady in the dumpster with her son? A whole lotta irresponsible. No. I've never gone into a dumpster. I will pay the $1 for the coupons on eBay.

OK so back to our grand re-entry to the coupon universe.

I spent:

$34.63 of my own money
and $17.78 on a prepaid debit card that I got for a rebate so I'm not sure I'm counting that.

I got:

10 boxes of Natures Valley Granola Bars
12 boxes of Morningstar Farms veggie products
2 bags of pretzels
1 bottle diet Dr. Pepper
2 bottles Cascade rinse aid
18 eggs
1/2 gallon chocolate milk
1 huge bottle coffeemate (Peppermint Mocha, only the most divine flavor ever created)
2 gallons milk
1 box yogurt tubes
2 chobani yogurts
1 kids' body wash
30 boxes of fruit snacks (Gushers, fruit rolls, etc) - hey all my Dominicks friends. Go to Dominicks. Buy 5 boxes of fruit snacks for $4.95. You will get back a $3 Catalina coupon at checkout, so it will be like you paid $1.95 for 5 boxes of fruit snacks. And yes, there are printable coupons out there for said fruit snacks. But even without coupons? Awesome deal.

So that is 66 items for around $50, or $34 if you don't count my pretend money. And I still have a $3 Catalina in my wallet for a future purchase

I'm contemplating taking everything out again and taking pictures of the haul. But then again, I'm kinda lazy that way.

So I'm thinking not.

But it's good to be back!

One of these things is not like the other

2010-12-29T08:00:00.000-06:00

One of these things just doesn't belong...

Who remembers that song from your childhood? Yes, it's from Sesame Street...

Well on a daily basis in my lovely abode, there is something that does not belong on my front hallway console.

Look carefully.

See it?

Yes, it's a pair of socks. On my entry hall console.

Why are there socks there? Every. Freaking. Day?

Because Dovi seems to think that the front console is the appropriate place to put his socks every time he comes home. Because Dovi is like me and prefers to be barefoot at all times (well except for this winter. It's been so cold that I actually purchased, and wear, fuzzy slippers. No worries, I had a coupon for them and they were on clearance)

But back to the socks.

Every day, Dovi comes home and removes his boots or shoes.

And takes off his socks.

And puts them on the console.

And I mean every, single, solitary day.

I have begged.

I have pleaded.

But for some bizarre reason, that is where Dovi believes his socks belong.

I have actually considered putting a basket there for him to put them in

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em?

And on a separate note, I would like to thank the wonderful soul who allowed his dog to make on our snow in front of our house and not clean it up. That little pile of poop has provided my little lovelies with many, many hours of entertainment.

This is all

2010-12-22T08:12:00.001-06:00

Shabbos!

2010-12-20T08:00:00.001-06:00

I swear, I will be done with this eventually.

So now we are up to Shabbos.

First of all, it was cold. Very cold. The Monday before Dovi's Bar Mitzvah it was 60 degrees. By Shabbos it was about 25.

So back to Friday night...Benjie's brother David and his wife Rochie, along with my in-laws, hosted an absolutely gorgeous Friday night dinner. It was so nice to not have to worry about Friday night dinner...thank you! The food was gorgeous...and I wish I could say more...but...ahem...the wine was excellent :) There were some lovely speeches. I seem to recall my brother in law ~~mocking us mercilessly~~ doing a very funny Balderdash shtick, and Raphi, ~~Dovi's third parent~~ Dovi's beloved counselor spoke as well. I also recall laughing hysterically about something, but don't really recall what it was. After dinner, most people went back to their houses, but we had some people come back to our house for cholent and birthday cake (not for Dovi. It was someone else's birthday).

Shabbos morning was quite hectic, at least for me! One of my oldest and closest friends was making her son's Bar Mitzvah. A mile and half from my house. I had no plans on going...we talked about it, and I assumed that I would have a house full of people. What ended up happening was that my mom and I were sitting and drinking coffee and reading the paper at 9:15 in a completely silent house. At which point I decided that I was running to Keren's Bar Mitzvah. So I got dressed, put on my gym shoes, and power walked to the Bar Mitzvah. From leaving my house to getting to her to coming back home...45 minutes! I have really not a clue how I walked that quickly, but I am really glad that I did. She is one of my closest friends and it would have been very sad if I hadn't made it there to say mazal tov.

So after my mad dash, we made our way to the shul for lunch. Lunch was very generously hosted by my mom and her husband. It was lovely! We had food dropped off from one of the restaurant caterers, and I coordinated most of it. It turned out really nice-we had some lovely speeches. My brothers Aaron and David, my brother in law Nahum, my sister in law Yehudit, and another counselor, Ari, all spoke. It was lovely. Then back to our house for more food! It was seriously never ending.

Saturday night was an awesome Melaveh Malka for Dovi, hosted by Kids of Courage. Guys, thank you for an awesome time!!! I'd also like to thank the Carlebach Trio for supplying the music and Young Israel of West Rogers Park for donating their space...so let's have some pictures, because I know you all (even my noncommentors) only come here for the pictures.

I must say...I was very impressed! This was set up by a bunch of guys-not bad! Look at those artfully arranged paper plates! And the scattered candy!

Anything for a t-shirt

Great picture of Hudis (married to Ari who spoke on Shabbos day) and awkward angle of me.

I love this picture.

Eliyahu and Elisha

Thank you Carlebach Trio!

Check out the adorable cookies!
My brother in law David

Tzipporah...luckily before she puked but after she ate a slice of pizza. She then went on Charles's shoulders and bounced around like a little top. Then she puked.

Awesome KOC banner!

There were a lot of kids!

It's all about the shoulders.

Shana is too cute for me.

Really too cute.

Dovi did a dance solo. I wanted to bite him.

Then Miri and Shana danced too. They are really good! I guess that the ~~$1,000 year~~ never ending Sunday mornings at ballet have really paid off!

Dovi and Aharon...Mazal Tov Aharon on your engagement! We can't wait!

It was so much fun!!

After the Melaveh Malka, all my siblings and their kids rolled on out (actually, David and Debby and their kids left before the party...it's a long drive back, folks!!). So after the party, we were down to my mom and Hershel and all the guys.

And no party is complete without the after party. In our case, the after party was a midnight barbecue and movie watching. Until 4 am. At which point Benjie left for Midway Airport and another car left for Ohare Airport...I went to sleep at 4:30 am! I am wayyyyy to old for this, let me tell you.

Sunday morning brought the blessed arrival of coffee and donuts (thanks, Shosh and Dovid!) and the departure of all the rest of the guys. So my mother and I spent Sunday digging out from the disaster of my house (which I must say really wasn't that terrible-everyone was so excellent about helping to clean up, but still....we had 40 people in our house for 5 days!).

I will end this final Bar Mitzvah post with the list of casualties of the weekend:

Benjie's 180s
Benjie's Bluetooth (hey does anyone have that??)
My favorite fleishig knife (seems to have been thrown out with the barbecue garbage)
4 bottles of booze from my brother in law's house (he was amazed at everyone's abilities...)
about $30 of change at the laundromat to wash everything...

And thus ends the huge, epic, Dovi's Bar Mitzvah weekend.

No worries, we headed out 4 days later to Ezra's Bar Mitzvah in New Jersey!

Friday...the fun didn't end!

2010-12-16T10:50:00.003-06:00

Seriously. Did. Not. End.

Friday morning, bright and early, my immediate family plus a few nice guys (seriously, thanks guys for coming at that unG-dly hour in the freezing cold) went to the cemetery for my dad's unveiling. It was the most logical time to do it since we were all in town. Kinda weird to do it the day after Dovi's Bar Mitzvah, but heck, we did my grandma's unveiling the day after my wedding (but my mom did not tell me. She didn't want Benjie and I to feel like we had to come the morning after our wedding. OK I totally get it but still....)

So we went. It was freaking freezing. We unveiled. My father in law ran the show. My brothers both spoke beautifully. We ran back to our warm cars.

Wait. Hang on a second. We got a few more guests on Friday morning! Eli, Hudis, Ari and Ari also arrived, ready to continue the Dovi party.

And drove home, and then we headed out for our activity for the day (I felt like we were a shabbaton)...Jump Zone! It was perfect...entertained everyone! We had pizza there and headed on home to get ready for Shabbos.

We had a lovely, gorgeous Friday night dinner at Benjie's brother's house. But brrrr.....was it cold outside!

And because you all are all about the pictures, I hereby give you...fun at JumpZone!

Do you see Dovi crying next to the machine? All he wanted was a ball. So he cried. Until people gave him money.

Yay! Suckers!

But then. He noticed....there was a Cubs ball. He had another team. So more crying. More suckers.

The Rest of Thursday

2010-12-15T09:07:00.000-06:00

So the fun didn't end after the big bash was over...

First, Dovi received possibly the most clever gift ever. He loves it. Nice job, Nachman!

After that, some people hung out at my house, some people went visiting, and others played in the first annual Thanksgiving Day football bash.

Then everyone came back for....waddaya know....more food!

And my house looked like this again...

I think this might be my favorite picture from the entire weekend. Just sums it up!

Then my lucky children were serenaded on their way up to bed. Shana did NOT go for it...hence the lack of pictures of her. I believe at this point she was sitting in her bed screaming "GO AWAY JOE" at the top of her lungs. Silly girl.

Jakie and Elisha, though? Big fans of the serenade. This might be my favorite picture of Jakie ever taken. Ever.

As became usual that weekend, my house did not go to sleep until abut 1:30 in the morning.

BTW I don't want you all to think that our families weren't present for everything...but I didn't take many pictures and Benji (counselor Benji, not to be confused with hubby Benjie) did...so that's what I got.

Next up, Friday!

A little more of the actual Bar MItzvah

2010-12-14T08:43:00.002-06:00

In pictures. Because while it seems that it's highly convenient for me to blog from Dovi's iPad, it's highly irritating to my readers due to:
1. the extreme amount of spelling errors (note to self: go back and spell check that post)
and
2. my inability to post pictures.

So here you go. The Bar Mitzvah, in the pictures that I currently have (thanks, Benji!) . We had a professional photographer, and once I get those pictures I'll try and share some.

And we backtrack. To Wednesday.

2010-12-12T16:22:00.006-06:00

So....the great influx began truthfully, on Tuesday night, when my Mom and Hershel arrived. They kept me company while I hot glued just a few more napkin rings and then we all went to bed.

My brother Aaron, his wife Tamar, and their gaggle of little girls (Shoshie, Esti, Shaindy, and Tzipporah, possibly the funniest three year old known to man) arrived at their hosts sometime during the Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, and strolled on over to us after breakfast. I went to pick up my shaitel, and when I returned to my house, I found a collection of Dovi's guys-Yakov, Moishe, Yoeli, and Abie had arrived. They got a preview of my shaitel. Entering your house carrying your shaitel in front of a bunch of 20-somethings? A tad awkward...but hey, at least my beret didn't fall of my head...

We all hung out for a bit until I left with my mom, Tamar, Shana, and my nieces to get our nails done.

Time out here to discuss no-chip manicures. As I type, I STILL have my manicure from the Bar Mitzvah. Yes, almost three weeks later. And it's still perfect. Well except for that it's growing up so you see my new nail growth. But the tips? Perfect. It's shocking to me. Totally, 100% worth the extra money. Three weeks for a manicure? So what that when they take it off my nails are going to be soft and unhealthy? I've had pretty nails for 3 weeks. And I'm happy :)

OK back to the day. Sometime during the afternoon my brother David, his wife Debby, and kids Yaffa, Meira, Adira, and Noam arrived. Around dinner time we had the arrival of my sister Rebecca, her husband Nahum, and their kids Eliyahu, Akiva, Simcha, Nissy, and baby Yitzy...for whom I will go out of date order to stick in this gorgeous picture of him that was taken.

could he be any more gorgeous?

We also got Raphi, Joe, and Benji right before dinner, and later that night Charles and Nachman arrived.

And we cannot forget Benjie's sister Yehudit who came from Israel also, as well as his Bubbie (Dovi's great grandmother) who was in America for almost a month to enjoy two great grandson's Bar Mitzvahs.

So Whew! We were about 40 people for dinner.

So my house looked like this:

Dovi's beloved Ezra and his family also came in for the big day..and they joined us for dinner. It was truly amazing to me that they made this big trip for Dovi the week before Ezra's bar mitzvah. It meant so, so much to us.

Yay! It was awesome. There is nothing more that I love than a house full of people. And that is most definately what we had for the big weekend.

My speech!

2010-12-12T16:17:00.003-06:00

Here we go....my speech at the Big Man's Big Day!

I wrote this speech last week, and I’m still not 100% sure I’m going to give it…but here goes.

There is a story told, a story which I think is very overtold, of the trip to Holland. Every parent of a special needs child knows it, and I’m sure many of you do. But to paraphrase – you were planning, and left, on a trip to Venice, but you got diverted to Holland. You were upset because you didn’t plan on going to Holland-you planned on Venice. But in the end, you see that not only is Holland not too bad, but it’s a beautiful alternative, full of people and experiences you would have never had in Venice.

This is truly our life. When Dovi was born, Benjie and I were innocent, bright eyed 20 year olds. Never did we imagine how our lives were going to change, were going to turn upside down, when Dovi was born on November 13, 1997 at 7:31 am. He looked…perfect. 10 fingers, 10 toes. A perfect little fluffy head of hair. But soon after he came home, it became apparent that things were not as they normally are. Thus began our journey with Dovi. At times, it has been easy. At times, difficult. There have been times of excruciating pain and sadness and times of uninmaginable joy and elation. But through it all, Dovi has simply been our sweet, happy, joyful boy, our Dovi.

It says in Tehillim:

(I said the Hebrew here)

“Serve Hashem with gladness, come before him with joyous song. Know that Hashem, He is G-d, it is He who made us and we are His”

There is in that passage, a Kri-UK’Siv – you read the word one way, but it is written another. You read the word Lo as Lo with a Vav- His – we are His-we are HaShem’s. But Dovid HaMelech wrote the possuk as Lo with an Aleph – which translates to Not. If you translate that part of the posuk that way, using the Lo as Lo with an Aleph, it could be translated as follows:

“Serve HaShem with gladness, come before Him with joyous song. Know that HaShem, He is G-d, it is He who made us and not us.” We, people, did not choose how we were to made. HaShem did. He knew, and planned how each and every one of us were to be created. He created us perfect and Btzalmo, in His image. This is Dovi. He serves HaShem with joy. There is no one that I know of who loves life and is more joyful than Dovi. And he is made exactly the way HaShem wanted him, in His image.

They say that it takes a village to raise a child. I think that in the case of Dovi, it’s more like a small city. I can honestly say that each and every person here has had an important role in Dovi’s life. From Dovi’s pediatrician and nurses to Chai Lifeline, Kids of Courage, Keshet, therapists, and all of our friends, each and every one of you has profoundly impacted not just Dovi’s life, but our entire family’s as well.

From meals and childcare when things are crazy, ski trips and trips to Disney. From Camp Simcha Special, to helping Dovi grow and learn at school to his highest potential. From faxing just one more prescription to giving Dovi the gift of speech. From supporting us through the hard times and celebrating with us in the good times. Every one of you is important. To Benjie and I and to Dovi as well.

But now I do need to thank some people individually. It’s a dangerous endeavor because someone is inevitably forgotten, but I’ll give it a try.

To my mother in law and father in law, Mom and Abba. Thank you for always being there for us, as emergency – or just because – babysitters. We love having you near us and seeing you on an almost daily basis. Abba, thank you for teaching Dovi his laining with such patience and love.

To my mother and step father, Mommy and Hershel. Words cannot do justice for all that you are to us. Mommy, I am the person that I am today because of you. You set a shining example for what it is to love your family with all your heart.

To all my brothers, sisters, sisters in law, and brother in law. David and Debby, Aaron and Tamar, and Rebecca and Nahum, and my nieces and nephews, Yaffa, Meira, Adira, Noam, Shoshie, Estie, Shaindy, Tzipporah, Eliyahu, Akiva, Simcha, Nissy, and Yitzie. Thank you for making the long trip from NY and NJ to be here today. They say you can’t choose your family, but given a choice, I would choose you guys. I love you all so much.

David and Rochie. You two do so much for us, I’m not sure I could even start. Your love and ongoing presence, both by being physically nearby (even though we are north of Touhy), and emotionally, in our lives, means so much to us. Gavi, Miri, Tari, Nava, and Naftali-you guys are amazing.

Aunt Yehudit, or should I say Auntie Leedle – it means so much to us that you came all the way from Israel to celebrate with us. Although you are physically far away, you and your family are always close in our hearts.

The same could be said for Benjie’s Bubbie, Bubbie Rose. Thank you so much for coming so far from Israel for us. It means the world to us that you are with us today.

To all of Dovi’s teachers, doctors, and therapists. It is because of all of you that Dovi is the boy-I mean man-that he is today. A special thank you to Gail Scher for giving Dovi the gift of speech.

A huge thank you to Aharon Gutstein for learning with Dovi on an almost daily basis. It blows me away how you teach Dovi mishnayos with such enthusiasm and simchas hachaim. Thank you!

To all of Dovi’s counselors – especially Raphi and Yakov. You guys are amazing! What you do for Dovi, and all the campers, is beyond comprehension. And yes, when Dovi says potato you are supposed to give him whatever he wants. And if he says avocado? You’d better give in right away!

Elisha, Shana, and Jakie. You are the most wonderful, caring, loving brothers and sister Dovi could ever wish for. The patience and love you show Dovi every day amazes me. I love you all so much and am so proud to be your mom.

Now Benjie. What a strange, wonderful journey this has been. There is no one else I would want to share this with. Yes, I might make everything look pretty on the outside, but without a strong foundation, pretty means nothing. It is your patience, love, and caring that provides that strong foundation for our entire family. Thank you for everything you do for us each and every day. I love you very much.

And now my Dovi, my Bar Mitzvah MAN. I love you so much. You are my bechor. You have taught me so much. About patience (which I’m still working on!) About love. About appreciating the journey, and enjoying the little things in life. You have enriched my life beyond all my wildest expectations. I love you so much and wish you many years of arichas yamim, health and happiness.

I was rather proud of it :)

The big day...

2010-12-09T20:54:00.004-06:00

Ok I have reached a new low...I am laying on my couch blogging on Dovi's new iPad...clearly the best way to blog. Ever. I'm only slightly missing the real keyboard. And the ability to upload pictures. But I'm horizontal so I'm happy.

I think that I can easily say that after my wedding and the birth of my children that Dovi's bar mitzvah was the most glorious day of my entire life. It was truly the culmination of 13 years of hopes, dreams, tears, sweat, and love. With a kid with FD, you honestly do not know what the next day will bring. You don't always know if you are going to get that next day. So Dovi's day was one that we looked forward to with anticipation and frankly a few tears. But we made it and I really believe that the bar mitzvah was a celebration of Dovi and everything that is amazing about him.

Now, on to the day! I had a makeup artist scheduled for 6:45 am. Why, you ask? Well ravening was 8:30 and she said she needed about 45 minutes...well...she didn't show up until 7:30!! It made for some stressed out early morning hours, but all's well that ends well and she did my makeup in 25 minutes!

I should backtrack to Wednesday when all of our guests arrived....but hmmm...let's do the bar mitzvah today and I will backtrack? tomorrow? Good?

OK back to Thursday...makeup got done, kids got dressed, minimum of hysteria. It was shocking. Maybe it was also because there was to be no clothing discussions...off we went to the shul.

As I was sitting in davening, it all felt very unreal-like I was an actor playing a role in some elaborate play. It was truly out of body. It also didn't help that I am really, what? 22? So it's not really possible that I was making a bar mitzvah...

My brother in law David davened shacharis beautifully and then my nephew Gavi lained the first two aliyahs of Torah reading. He did a beautiful job. And then it was time for the third Aliyah for the Bar Mitzvah MAN (as he likes to call himself). I didn't talk about it at all because I wasn't sure if everything was going to work out, but my father in law worked with Dovi for almost one year to teach him is laining. Yes, Dovi lained his bar mitzvah aliyah! No, he did not do it with the trop. But he recited each word of his Aliyah (all 68 of them) clearly and loudly. You could have heard a pin drop in the shul. Often times at a bar mitzvah, there is chatting as people are listening. Not so this time. The room was silent. It was as if each person was holding their breath (along with me!) as Dovi labored his way through each and every word. Each and every word which had labored over and taught with patience and love. At the end of his aliyah, as he finished his brachos, you could hear it-the sound of a room about to burst into tears. And then Dovi did it. He ended his bracha with a bang...big arm flourish and style...and the entire room burst out in a laughter of joy and happiness. Dovi saved us all-he reminded us that we needed to e celebrating. So celebrate we did.

There's not much to say about the meal. I showed you all the pretty things already...it was yummy (or so I hear...I didn't eat a thing!...but thank you Michelle for bringing me that cup of coffee!)

We showed a montage. I'm going to try and figure out how to share it. But I am afraid it might be too big of a file. I spoke, Benjie spoke, my mom spoke, my father in law spoke, Dovi made a siyyum on Meseches Sukkah, and then he gave a speech. I'm going to do a separate post with my speech. And there you have it.

Dovi's bar mitzvah.

Well maybe I should blog

2010-12-01T18:06:00.006-06:00

about Dovi's Bar Mitzvah...

It was amazing. Unforgettable. Completely surpassed my wildest dreams.

Let's start with Tuesday night, when my lovely friends Estie and Becca (with a visit by Rebecca) helped me set up all my pretties. By the time we left the shul, it looked like this

I did most of the craftiness myself...I covered all the glassware with pretty brown papers until they looked like this

I made the table numbers-I stamped the table number on 1 piece of paper, and put a picture of Dovi on the other side. I found amazing frames at Ikea which I sprayed to match the Bar Mitzvah (brown of course)
I also made the placecards myself (well with a little help from a friend...) and made 3 photoboards to hold the placecards. I clipped the placecards to the large frames that were filled with pictures of Dovi. When it was done they looked like this:

As cards were removed, you could see all the gorgeous pictures of Dovi that Amy had taken. Sorry the picture is blurry-I took it with my cell phone.

The benchers looked like this:

I also made napkin rings for each napkin, and folded each napkin to fit. Look back at the set tables and you can see them.

So I was ready to roll...the room looked pretty and we were ready for the guests!

Wednesday to come....

It was awesome.

2010-11-25T21:50:00.002-06:00

More to come.

A Giggle for the Day

2010-11-23T23:00:00.000-06:00

Yes, it is less than 36 hours before Dovi's Bar Mitzvah. Yes, I have much to do (well, not really that much)

But I must tell you this story.

So as many of you know, berets are very in the the frum fashion world. I have fallen head over heels for this new trend-I can buy berets anywhere, and heck! they are like trendy snoods. I'm in.

I've been buying most of my snoods at my favorite accessory store, Forever 21. And while much of the clothing there looks like it's made for size 0 streetwalkers, the accessories are fabulous. No offense to the people who shop at Forever 21. I'm sure there is clothing there that is very appropriate. It just takes a bit of effort to find said clothing. But I love, and I mean LOVE, the accessories. Headbands for Shana (her headband for the big day is from there), and berets and costume jewelery for me. Love.

So today I was wearing a beret from there. The elastic is a tad stretched out, so I pin it in the back to make it fit me I'm sure many of you know where this is going....

I went to Walgreens. I bought coffee creamer (on sale with coupons, of course). I went out to my car. As I was opening my car and chatting on the phone, I happened to look at myself in the reflection of my van window. At which point I realized that

I HAD NOTHING ON MY HEAD.

Yes, my hair was feeling the sun on it for the first time in almost 14 years.

I screamed (well not really), hung up the phone, and put on my hood. I then took off my sunglasses because I looked like I was about to rob the Walgreens, calmly went back in,

and found my beret lying in a little heap in front of the coffee creamer.

And no, I did not change my beret. I'm still wearing it now at midnight.

With my contact lenses.

Did I tell y'all I got lenses? I haven't worn them in 8 years but was ready for a change. I'm telling you, Bar Mitzvahing your son is a life changing endeavor.

Look What I Got!

2010-11-15T09:00:00.001-06:00

So you all know about my friend Amy the photographer. She had her new ~~little~~ baby this summer-Max! Before Max arrived in all his 12 pounds 14 ounces glory, she came and took pictures of my little stinkers this summer.

Look what came on Friday!

Yes, it's a 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide canvas. Yes, I cry every time I see it.

If only my snood wasn't laying on the steps this would be a perfect picture.

Yes, Yes. I'm Still Alive

2010-11-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

But I might get the title of The Worst Blogger in the Entire World Who Should Be Blogging All About Her Beloved Son Dovi's Upcoming Bar Mitzvah

which is in 19daysohmygdI'mfreakingoutIneedsomeofDovi'svaliumimmediatelybreathebreathebreathe

Wowza. It's soon. Like really, insanely, terrifyingly, heartstoppingly, waking up at night panic attackingly soon. Not like that's happening to anybody I know.

I have about 4,000 projects 90% done. But nothing, and I repeat NOTHING, is all the way done. It's not good for the psyche of the insane anal retentive blogger.

I wish I could tell you all about my projects. I really do. But that would ruin it for the people who are, ya know, coming, and deserve to be shocked by my amazing craftiness. Yes, I have been crafting the Bar Mitzvah. Did you expect anything different? And no, I am not paying for it with coupons. When Jewel still took expired coupons, I had visions of saving up all my Catalinas for like two years and ordering trays from Jewel and paying for them with insane stacks of Cats, but alas, that was not to be and we have a real caterer. Which will be much easier for me but much more expensive, which makes the thrifty coupon shopper in me throw up a little in my mouth.

Luckily I have wonderful friends and wonderful personal shoppers in New York (I WILL find out how much I owe you, and I WILL pay you back!) and hopefully we have almost everything we need. Yes, almost. Still not everything. Faint.

And no worries, I have an anatomy test on Thursday, as well as book fair for ESJ's school all this week. Yikes.

But on the upside, Dovi has really cute shoes for the Bar Mitzvah.

2010-09-20T20:02:00.002-05:00

Click here to see where I've spent my day.

Curse you, Shosh for forwarding me that site! I have literally been reading it all day. Most of you know that I have a great desire to be organized. I also have 4 kids in a small 3 bedroom house (Elisha, Shana, and Jakie share 1 three foot long closet and one 6 drawer dresser. ) It's tight. Very tight.

Over the past few days, before ~~Shosh made me waste my day~~ I even found this site, I became inspired to pare down. Maybe it was the great clothing switcheroo. The great turnover inspires fear in even the hardiest mother. So, today I dropped off 8 (yes, 8) bags of boys' clothing today, and I'm just getting started.

After I read that blog (and seriously wanted to cry. How is that woman so organized? Seriously!) I was inspired. I cleaned out the entertainment center shelves, and tossed all the DVD cases. I put them all in some CD flip book thingies and tucked them into some wicker baskets, along with all the Wii paraphernalia. Tomorrow brings the great organization of my desk area shelving and the closest that holds all my silver and crystal stuff.

I do think that being organized is, to some degree, inborn. Some people have it, some do not. Some do not have it and do not care, other do not have it and have a great desire to have it (what are we having again? Oh yeah, the organizing trait. Maybe it's a gene. I bet in about 5 years, they will have found the gene for organization and will be offering genetic therapy to help you become a better homemaker. Ha)

I, unfortunately, fall into the last category:

Those who do not possess the organized trait but have a great burning desire to be organized.

My mom? Crazy organized. I honestly do not remember my house ever, and I mean EVER, being messy when I was a kid. And we were four kids. And she worked full time. How did that happen? Simple. She possesses the trait. That I do not.

So I am inspired. I am going to clean it out and clean it up.

Wish me luck!

Fine, Fine. I'll explain.

2010-09-13T17:49:00.002-05:00

But let me tell you, this was one of the most complicated deals I've ever done (but sooooo worth it). It had about 18 steps!

About 3 weeks ago, Aquapods were on sale at Jewel for $1. The sale ended September 5th.

During the sale, I became aware of an upcoming Catalina deal on Aquapods, buy 3 or more, get $3, beginning September 6th. Yes. The day after the sale. Which irked me.

Additionally, the week of the sale, there were $1.50/2 Aquapods coupons in the paper.

So....how did this all work together to get me Money Making Water????

I ordered 20 of the $1.50/2 coupons off of eBay. (and had about 4 of them from my own papers)

The stores ran out of Aquapods. I requested rainchecks. Over the course of the week, I collected rainchecks for about 50 8-packs.

Then, I placed my special order for 48 8-packs of Aquapods. They told me it would be in....September 6th or 7th. Awesome. After the Catalina started (don't think I didn't plan it that way....)

So I went in on the 6th at night to pick up my cartful of water and get my Catalinas.

But don't forget, the Catalina was buy 3 or more, get $3. And I was buying...44 (Shosh took 4 of my order)?

So. How to do it?

I did 11 transactions of 4 each! The checker was soooooo nice. I grabbed a case of 8 off of my cartful. She closed her lane. She took my rainchecks, and rang 4 at a time, price modified them to $1 each, I then gave her my $3 Catalina from the transaction before, paid $1.09 and got back another $3 Catalina.

It only took about 20 minutes to check out.

I paid $11.99 and got back $33 in Catalinas.

So now you know. That is how I got all my Money Making Water. Enjoy? Or did your eyes glaze over?

Water, Anyone?

2010-09-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

I figure I'll give you guys a couponing post.

Happiness is Jewel paying you $22 to remove 44 cases of bottled water from the store.

Explanation about the Tefillin

2010-09-12T18:29:00.003-05:00

When a Jewish boy turns 13, he begins wearing Tefillin.

Hmmm....not sure what more I can say that the article didn't

Faint.

2010-09-06T19:04:00.006-05:00

I'm not sure what else to say other than to put up these pictures.

Time to Whip Them into Shape (not literally of course)

2010-08-27T10:42:00.004-05:00

So I've decided that my kids are little slackers who don't do a blessed thing in this house. I'm constantly on them to do the things that...well...they should be doing. Make your bed? Put your clothes (shock) in the hamper? C'mon, guys!

So I've instituted the next level in my ~~county jail~~ house...

Chores!

These are hanging up in my kitchen (to my Keshet staff readers-didn't I do a nice job? I feel like we live in Keshet-laminated, velcroed, and hung up in the kitchen!)

Can you guys read it all?

Really, there is no rocket science here. Just put your freaking laundry in the hamper, PLEASE for Pete's sake! (Who is Pete and why is he in my blog post?)

This is week one. So far the ~~little slaves~~ kids are being surprisingly cooperative. But then again, kids like responsibility. And guidelines. And rules. And allowance. Which will most probably be awarded for completion of chores. Speaking of which-who here gives allowance? How much do you give?

I'll keep you all posted...

7th Times the Charm!

2010-08-26T07:17:00.005-05:00

This summer was Dovi's SEVENTH year at Camp Simcha Special. It floors me that he's been going there for so long.

This year was a change from the past two years in that Dovi's beloved Raphi was not his counselor. Raphi had some school that he needed to take care of, so we had a new counselor!

Wednesday, July 28th, Dovi and I hopped a plane to New York.

bright and early...think he looks a little sleepy?

And no....we do NOT travel light!

We met my sister at LaGuardia, and the three of us headed off for the drive up to camp. Luckily it all went smoothly, unlike the time I got a $250 speeding ticket!

When we got to camp, this really nice guy came and met us at the car. He was helping us get Dovi's luggage out. I then told him that I needed to go find Dovi's new counselor Yakov. At which point he told us HE was Dovi's new counselor Yakov! I still think it was kinda funny.

Yakov and I spent a good three hours going over Dovi's stuff-and we when we were done he had that scared "deer in a headlights" look. I'm pleased to say that Yakov came through with shining colors.

Dovi has shared a cabin with the same few boys for the past few years...we always take pictures of the kids, but this year, the parents decided to take our own picture!

(yes, the sign behind us DOES say "FD Drools")

Dovi reunited with his buddies

showed off his cabin

smiled winningly for pictures

And got to know Yakov.

My sister and I then decided to stroll around camp-she'd never been there before and wanted to see everything. We went to one of the buildings and found this on the wall:

Look how little Dovi was!

If I get any pictures emailed to me (ahem!), I'll be happy to post about Dovi's 12 days at camp, which were filled with helicopter rides, concerts, workshops, and lots of pushing counselors in the pool

Good to know that Dovi is consistent.

Only the best picture of Dovi. Ever.

2010-08-22T18:14:00.000-05:00

Ever.

I'm coming, Dovi!

2010-08-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

I really must go to bed but I'm trying to get in the habit of blogging again...

I'm going to set this to publish in the morning, while I am on the plane

TO GO GET MY BOY!

I've missed him so much! Dovi has basically been gone for 3 weeks.

Too long, I say, too long

I'll post lots of pics of his Kids of Courage trip as soon as a certain person emails them to me.

Let me tell you, he's fabulous in his new hat and shades.

So Let's Begin!

2010-08-17T16:27:00.003-05:00

As the summer began, I dubbed it "The Summer of Sara". I'm not in school right now and the kids were in camp. Hence, it was MY summer. Mine to do whatever I wanted. I'm sad to report that I really did very little. I managed to ~~waste~~ enjoy my days by frankly doing not a lot of anything.

I spent the first week or so putting my house back together after the fiasco that was Dovi's 3 week hospital stay. Then, it was time to deal with my stress from that time.

And what do I do when I'm stressed? Why I decorate, m'dears!

So. I surveyed my house, and honed in on a few places that I was irritated.

1) Nowhere for the kids' shoes to go (well, I had some baskets in the front hall, but they were always visible. And Visible = Mess)

2) Ugly Kitchen Chairs. Well not so much ugly as not my style anymore. Light wood. Eew.

3) Ugly Living Room Side Table. Now I can't really complain about said table because ~~I picked it up in an alley eew don't tell my germy mom~~ it didn't owe me anything. But it was nondescript. Uninteresting middle toned wood. A place to put accessories instead of something beautiful to look at.

So.

I got moving. Nothing a whole lot of spray paint can't fix, right?

Problem 1: Front hall shoe storage.

Solution: Old Shelving unit that was in the basement that had a broken shelf and was destined for the garbage.

How did I do it? Remove broken shelf, spray paint black (only about 400 coats of paint!), and hang a little curtain rod to cover up the mess.

Voila!

Isn't it pretty? Oh and those who know my house well will also notice that my front hall is no longer red. More about that later.

Problem 2: Ugly Kitchen Chairs

Solution: Why paint, of course!

How did I do it? Hmmm maybe a bit more black spray paint? And some fabric...
They are faint-worthy. And are making me want to paint my kitchen table...

And on to the last.

Problem 3: Ugly accent table.

Solution: Beautiful in Blue. I don't even like blue, and I swoon when I look at this. Yes. I swoon. It is divine.

How did I do it? Blue spray paint, then sanded the edges, then a bit of dark wood stain.

I figure that all of these transformations cost me total about $50. Spray paint is divine. And the good news is that the blue paint on my front lawn is just about gone.

And now I need to go make dinner. Because it's 4:41 and I have not made a blessed thing.

It's good to be back.

Knock Knock? Hello? Anyone there??

2010-08-17T08:42:00.003-05:00

I think I might be back.

Maybe.

I'm sorta kinda getting the itch again.

So I have much to catch you all up on...

Let's take a vote.

I can talk about

(a) Dovi's time at Camp Simcha Special

(b) Dovi's time at Kids of Courage

(c) Dovi's ongoing pulmonary issues

(d) my freshly painted house (I swear, this blog is wacko)

(e) our trip to New York and Philadelphia

(f) Elisha, Shana, and Jakie's birthday

(g) all the decorating I did this summer (I was a mad spray paint fiend, I tell you)

So, my pretties, tell me what you'd like to hear about!

I couldn't pass this up.

2010-07-22T21:19:00.003-05:00

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but I had to share this.

There's an article here.

Dovi leaves on Wednesday.

Now where do I get one of those snazzy Camp Simcha car window flags?

A Little Explanation

2010-07-10T21:56:00.003-05:00

Hey Everyone...

I just wanted to pop in and say hi. Nothing's up. I'm just taking a little blogging break. I've been at this a few years and I guess I'm just feeling a bit burnt out. I've been enjoying the summer, enjoying my kids, couponing, and redecorating. If you drive by my house you'll probably see furniture being painted on my front lawn.

Just being me and enjoying my family.

Dovi leaves to Camp Simcha in a few weeks and then off to LA with Kids of Courage after that.

We're busy.

And good.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

When did they get so big?

I make him say it all day.

2010-06-21T21:44:00.003-05:00

Seriously.

Could he be any cuter?

Welcome to our new basement!!

2010-06-18T10:14:00.006-05:00

Sorry I've been MIA...we've been setting up the basement and enjoying the bea-yoo-tee-ful weather (pool yesterday, pool this afternoon!)

Dovi seriously loves the pool. He was splashing and having the best time!

Now, come downstairs. Enjoy our basement!

These pictures of my kids on the wall are courtesy of the AWESOME Amy of Three Peas Photography...my stairs seriously make me feel like I'm at Pottery Barn

As you go downstairs, you see the playroom. The floor is already scuffed from hockey.

These doors are to the toy closet

We are still waiting for the doors to my grocery store :) It's three feet deep and a sight to behold.

Shana's art desk. I repainted and antiqued the chair and the desk. I love love love it.
The laundry room door. Is the sign not precious?

The laundry room. I tiled the floor myself!

The room that will become the bathroom. Right now it's storage.

The guest room. Still accessorizing. Need to finish ASAP...Raphi's coming!! Raphi, I know that you need all the pretty pillows and stuff. I'll get right on that.
How cute are the plates? Still more to hang. Don't worry, Raphi. I'll finish.

And Elisha on our new couch/futon in the basement. Because he's cute.

Small Explanation

2010-06-10T17:24:00.001-05:00

That blue bracelet I was cutting off in the previous post was the parent bracelet that Benjie and I got to wear-it gave us 24/7 access to the PICU. I was very happy to remove that accessory.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-09T08:07:00.003-05:00

Just Waiting...

2010-06-08T10:24:00.001-05:00

For the doctors to round and then we are outta here!

Waiting

Waiting

Waiting

Totally Unrelated

2010-06-07T11:17:00.002-05:00

to Dovi but a good giggle.

I took Shana and Jakie into the ladies bathroom here at Children's.

I overheard the two of them chatting.

"Napkins? Twenty Five Cents? Shana, why would someone PAY $.25 for a napkin?"

"Jakie, that's weird. Why would you pay money for a napkin? I don't get it."

I ignored the conversation.

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

One Foot Out the Door

2010-06-07T08:51:00.003-05:00

We're almost there!

Dovi had an awesome night with his BiPap on home settings (step one to go home).

He's currently on room air and doing awesome (step two to go home).

His blood pressure, which has been insanely high, seems to be ok as well (he was literally at 170/120 for a few days...) but this morning he was a lovely 93/42 (step three to go home).

I'm cautiously optimistic. He has his favorite murse Mickey today (yes, murse. Figure it out!). We're going to get all bathed and cleaned up and see what the day brings...here's to happy, healthy lungs and a happy, healthy Dovi!

On the Upswing!

2010-06-06T11:50:00.003-05:00

Yay!!

Dovi is doing

A
W
E
S
O
M
E

His adorable, cute personality is totally back.

He's down to 2 liters of oxygen. he's going to sleep on his home settings of his BiPap tonight and then we'll see what's what tomorrow.

Yay!!

My only concern is what we are going to do when we go home and have to give up the beloved Playstation-Dovi might refuse to leave!

But seriously, he's looking good. I didn't realize how BAD he looked at the beginning of last week compared to how GOOD he looks now.

Here's to a good night (and a Blackhawks win!)

Hey Everyone!

2010-06-04T14:23:00.002-05:00

Dovi is doing AWESOME!

He's been off the BiPap since 10 am and is rocking the nasal canula (can that be done?) He's currently sitting on a chair playing Playstation.

I'm waiting for Benjie to come here and then I'll head home to the other little stinkers.

Hooray for happy lungs.

Thank You

2010-06-03T21:26:00.002-05:00

I have to say thank you.

I am overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the offers of help that we have received.

If I took a meal from each person who offered, we wouldn't have to cook for at least 2 months. For that I thank you.

If I let every person who offered to take my kids have a turn, I could vacation in Aruba for a few weeks without incurring any childcare costs. For that I thank you.

For the calls, the emails, the texts. The outpouring of love and caring. For that I thank you.

Just knowing that so many people care and want to help fills my heart when it is breaking for Dovi. For that I thank you.

I know I keep telling everyone that offers something that we are fine. Just know that I appreciate more than you can imagine each and every one of those offers. You get s'char (reward) for that.

Thank G-d, we're hanging in there and getting it all done. Benjie's home with the kids who were thrilled to have him home. I'm here with a Dovi who had an awesome day off of BiPap and is now sleeping on the BiPap (as he always does, albeit on much higher settings and much higher oxygen). The paint has been chosen, lights purchased, and carpet picked. The carpet guys are coming to measure tomorrow.

We're getting there. Mostly because of all of you.

Plan for the Day

2010-06-03T11:48:00.003-05:00

1) Try to be off BiPap for a little bit.

2) Go order carpet for the basement

I guess that life goes on- I need to choose carpet if we want to finish the basement by the weekend. Yesterday, I bought lights.

And hopefully, Dovi will be home by Monday. He's doing very nicely-just needs to get off the BiPap and lower his oxygen needs.

I just need to accept in my mind that when we bring him home it will still be a bit scary (AKA Hoarders) in my house.

But we'll hopefullyl be home and that's what matters.

This is how we roll

2010-06-02T20:45:00.002-05:00

BiPap breathing for you and the Blackhawks game on the Slingbox (thank you David and Rochie!)

Seriously though, Dovi's about the same. He's been on BiPap on pretty high settings all day with quite a bit of oxygen. Don't freak out, everyone. I have no concerns about him having a full recovery. What I have concerns about is the long term implications of this nasty pneumonia. His lungs are bound to suffer some pretty severe scarring from such a nasty pneumonia. I fear that this means that every time he gets a cold, he'll end up on BiPap. Yuck.

I've been saying that I hope that we'll be home for the weekend. Now I'm hoping for Monday.

I'm tired.

And Thus I Know that I am Stressed.

2010-06-01T18:31:00.001-05:00

I have spent all day online at Dovi's bedside planning what decor I'm going to do for my basement. When the D is sick, the Momma paints.

So Cool!

2010-06-01T15:05:00.001-05:00

We're playing Safety Bingo on the Children's Closed Circuit TV Channel!!!

Dovi's so happy. Not as exciting as Shabbos Bingo at Camp Simcha but what can you do...

Happy Tuesday Morning

2010-06-01T10:07:00.003-05:00

I figure let's skip over all the past 2 days...he's on 6 liters of hi-flow oxygen and they upped his BiPap settings at night. I refuse to say when I think he might be released because every time I say hopefully tomorrow we seem to win ourselves another day or two.

They are starting him on steroids today and hopefully that will help us turn a corner. When you put your hands on his back you can feel the rattles in his lungs.

He's crabby and ornery and playing Playstation. And I bet that we'll have the same status report later on today.

Happy times!

Tell me it's ok

2010-05-31T21:02:00.001-05:00

That I'm laying on my sofa at home now instead of cleaning my house.

Benjie is at Children's with a sleeping Dovi (we switch at 8 am tomorrow after I see the kids off to school) and I'm home with sleeping triplets.

My house really needs a cleaning and straightening. Lunches need to be made. But I'm laying on my sofa with my laptop on my lap (gasp) watching the Hawks game.

That's ok, right?

Admission

2010-05-31T11:53:00.002-05:00

So they decided that they wanted to admit Dovi. The only problem was that the hospital we were at does not allow patients on BiPap on the regular floor-they want them in the ICU. And there is no PICU at that hospital. Which meant that we needed to move over to the Children's Hospital. But we couldn't just hop in our car and drive over-by this point, Dovi was on 3 liters of oxygen to keep his oxygen levels up. So they decided that we needed to go on medical transport.

But they also wanted us to bring our BiPap from home to check the settings. Don't forget, it was 9:30 on Friday night (Shabbos) and we were waiting for medical transport to move our son who has pneumonia and FD who had just become nonresponsive over to Children's. So I did what any intelligent parent would do. I hopped in my car and drove home to get the BiPap. While I was there, I also grabbed a bunch of food for Benjie and some pjs for him. I drove back to the ER and we waited for the transport, which came about 30 minutes after I got back. Good thing I did what I did, because a taxi would have taken way too long and I would have missed them.

The transport team got Dovi and Benjie and went over to Children's. I called a taxi then to go home or wherever my other children were. Don't forget, Shana had seen the whole event occur earlier and I had no clue how she was doing. So the taxi dropped me off at my in laws house. I knocked on their door and found out that my brother in law and sister in law had taken Elisha, Shana, and Jakie back to their house. So I strolled over there. I knocked on their door. And knocked. And knocked some more. And no one heard me. So I walked home and went to sleep. What else was I supposed to do? I was afraid that I was going to sleep until noon, though-I was the only one in my pitch black, quiet house. So I slept with the curtains open...luckily I woke up at about 9 am and went over to my brother in laws-and found my happy little kids getting ready for shul. I cannot believe that Shana seems to be totally fine.

I spent the day with the kids at good friends and they took good care of me. Benjie and Dovi chilled at Children's. After Shabbos, another good friend took me to get my car from the ER parking lot and I went to Children's to see my boy, who looked pretty good, even while he was sound asleep. Another good friend brought us pizza, and Benjie and I hung out for a while until I went home.

Next up, Sunday.

The story...

2010-05-30T21:25:00.003-05:00

So I kept Dovi home from school on Friday because he was a bit crisisy...not terrible, just vaguely off. A little retchy, a very low grade fever. I was home doing the great clothing switchover (all moms know what I'm talking about, and it was majorly compounded by the fact that my house is a bomb right now due to the basement. I said on Friday morning that my house really, truly looked like an episode of Hoarders)

Friday at about 6 pm we went to my in-laws for Shabbos dinner. I dropped Benjie, Elisha, and Jakie at shul and took Dovi and Shana over to the house to wait for them. Shana was reading a book. So was I, and Dovi was laying on the couch next to me with his head on a small pillow. He was coughing, and I told him to give a good cough and clear his throat. I realized that he wasn't answering me.

I looked over and saw that he was dusky in color and his eyes were rolled back in his head. I started screaming and yelling at him to wake up and sat him up. When I realized that he wasn't responding to me, I screamed (ok shrieked hysterically) up to my mother in law to come down and call 911. He was breathing, but very erratically and not responding. I'm not going to tell you what I was thinking. I literally slapped him in the face three times to try and get him to come back. 911 told me the paramedics were on the way and to lay him on his side. I did so and he gave a big shuddering cough and woke up, crying and upset.

My mother in law and Shana had run to shul to get Benjie. About a minute later the paramedics came and checked him out. His blood pressure was really high (160/120) but his oxygen levels were ok. I called Dr. Axelrod and she told us to take him in. At this point Benjie ran in the door (he told me he was really confused because he thought Dovi was nonresponsive and came back and found Dovi standing in the window). Since he seemed to be stable we didn't go in the ambulance to the ER because they would only take us to the closest ER and we did not want to go there.

So Benjie and I hopped in the car and went to the ER that we've always gone to. We stopped at home and grabbed insurance cards and Refoenu cards. The ER was expecting us because the paramedics called ahead and we went right in. They took blood and a chest xray and established that he had pneumonia. They decided that he needed to be admitted. And this is when it got interesting...

He's OK

2010-05-29T21:34:00.002-05:00

I'll start with that.

I don't have much time to write now but Dovi has a bad pneumonia that caused him to lose consciousness on Friday evening. He's in the PICU now on 4 liters of oxygen.

He's OK. He's watching the Blackhawks game now. Really, he's going to be fine.

But he could use tefillos. Chaim Dov ben Sorah Yehudis.

I'll write more when I get home.

Things that make me happy

2010-05-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

My bloggy friend Ms. Writer Girl tagged me in this fun meme.

I generally ~~am too darned lazy~~ don't participate in them, but I think this is good.

10 things that make me happy, in no particular order:

1) The enormous stack of 2x4s in my basement

2) My Dunkin Donuts Gift Cards that I got for my birthday (from those
who know that I am too cheap to buy myself iced coffee)

3) When the laundry is done and folded

4) A quiet, clean house and a good book

5) When Dovi is healthy

6) When my kids listen to me. The first time. Happily.

7) Couponing

8) Crafting

9) Running (or should I say finishing running)

10) When Benjie comes home after a long day

C'mon everyone...comment, even anonymously...one thing that makes you happy. I know I have lots of readers. I have a site tracker. Wouldn't it be fun to get like 75 or 100 happy thoughts? C'mon...comment away!

Knock Knock...Anyone Home??

2010-05-23T14:30:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone...I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I promise.

I was merely finishing my semester (2 As, thankyouverymuch), bailing my dad's van out of the pound (no worries, I have over 1/2 a post on THAT experience), selling my dad's van, making Shavuos, enjoying a lovely visit with my mom and her husband, and spent today emptying my basement.

Why was I emptying my basement, you ask?

Back in September of 2008 you all got to hear about the water in my basement here and here and here and here and here.

Then last May you all got to live through this.

Now, you all get to live through my basement renovation!!!!

Hooray! Today, we got the basement emptied. Tomorrow, they begin! Hopefully, in about 2 weeks, we will have a playroom, a laundry room, a bedroom, and storage-room-which-will-become-a-bathroom-at-a-later-date, and the all important grocery store room.

So now my basement looks like this:

future playroom

future laundry and furnace room

future bedroom

another view of the future playroom.

But in order for the basement to look like that...

My den needs to look like this:

My side porch like this:

My kitchen like this:

My living room like this:

And my dining room like this:

Suffice it to say I will NOT be entertaining any time soon.

But it's all good...I'm getting a basement!! I can't wait. They say two weeks. I'm expecting three. I can live like this...it's no biggie.

Oh and for Shavuos the kids and I made a Har Sinai cake. I thought that I was so clever and creative until I found out that these are evidentally made all the time. Who knew?

Seriously though, how cute?!

A Confession

2010-05-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

I had this:
not once, but twice yesterday.

Is that wrong?

Seriously. Opinions?

Sara is not available right now.

2010-05-06T16:39:00.001-05:00

She will blog again on Wednesday afternoon after finals.

Thank you and goodbye.

:)

That's what I get for trying to do a good deed.

2010-05-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

Last night, I stopped at Jewel to pick up some cereal (Extra points if you tell me how much I spent on 8 boxes of cereal). As usual, I went through the self check out. The check out over from me, there was a man that I know.

Why did I notice John (let's call him John so as to protect the culprit preserve his privacy)you may ask? Well he was using coupons of course.

But I digress as usual.

After he checked out, two guys started checking out next. One of them said "Oh look! That man forgot his bag!" And ran out to try and reunite John with his forgotten challah rolls.

It seemed that John had...ahem...driven away mighty quickly out of the Jewel parking lot.

So, since John only lives a few blocks away from me, I offered to drop his forgotten rolls off at his house.

As I drove away, I called his house to alert his wife to tell him not to go back to Jewel to retrieve the rolls.

I pulled up.

John was getting out of his car.

"Thank you so much! What did I forget?"

I triumphantly held the bag of challah rolls out of my window.

"Ummm those aren't mine, Sara"

"Are you sure? The guys after you said that you left them"

"Nope, I only bought Mothers Day cards" (reminder to all men here: Sunday is Mother's Day)

So back I went to Jewel.

It seems that the rolls belonged to the woman who checked out before John.

That's what I get for trying to be nice. A whole lot of confused people.

Could she be any more of a doll?

2010-05-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

Seriously.

Shana is such a sweetie pie.

When she's not stomping upstairs screaming "This is SO UNFAIR", that is.

Rebecca Reminded Me

2010-04-27T21:02:00.000-05:00

That I forgot to tell you my funny-Sara-is-a-flake story.

Friday was my birthday.

I am a twin (you all remember that, right?)

So at 8 am on Friday, the phone rings. It's my (twin) sister.

"Happy Birthday!"

What's the first thought that goes through my head at 8 am on Friday morning when I haven't had my coffee yet?

"Wow. Rebecca's good. She remembered my birthday so early in the morning. Wow"

Yes. That is what I thought as my TWIN sister called me to wish me happy birthday.

I'm quick. Yes, I am.

I'm happy to report

2010-04-26T15:01:00.002-05:00

That the sheep brains had not yet arrived. We got a two day reprieve!

But I did have to go to the bookstore and purchase my very own dissection kit in a fancy burgundy leatherette case. Ooh la la.

BTW last Friday was my birthday. In honor of that auspicious occasion, Shana decided to come down with strep throat.

Which did net me a new gift card to CVS when we filled her amoxacillin, but I really could have done without.

I am also happy to report that in honor of my birthday the couponing G-ds aligned and I had a most delightful couponing afternoon on Friday after ~~I dumped my sick daughter at home with Michal~~ arranged for Shana to spend a lovely afternoon with our friend Michal eating salsa and chips and watching Shrek. So at least it wasn't all a wash.

Wish me luck on Wednesday. And by the way folks, he told us that sheep cow eyeballs are on the way for next week.

Yay!

Say a Prayer for Me on Monday

2010-04-21T15:00:00.002-05:00

A prayer that I do not vomit my brains out.

On Monday afternoon, we are dissecting sheep brains in anatomy class.

I want to cry.

It will be April 26th.

The semester ends May 12th.

I seriously thought that I was going to get out of the class with no dissections. Hello, it's been what? Four months? Now, with two weeks less he springs this on us? Eek.

I told my lab partner Justin that his job on Monday was to dissect, and my job on Monday was to not vomit.

Wish us both luck.

I win the flake of the year award.

2010-04-20T16:04:00.003-05:00

Today I went to Dominicks to ~~get paid $12 to remove~~ buy a few bottles of this.

I got home and was unpacking my loot, and I noticed something odd about one of the bottles. I looked at it. I shook it.

Instead of liquid, the inside seemed to be filled with gravel.

Hmmm.

Odd, I thought.

So I called the 800 number on the back of the bottle and told them that the product that I had purchased did not seem to be shower cleaner. Instead, it seemed to be gravel.

The lady started laughing.

It seems, that instead of a bottle of shower cleaner, I purchased the demo bottle of shower cleaner. Y'know, the one they put out in front of a product to show you what it is?

Except that at Dominicks, there was a big ole basket of shower cleaners, including this one, and I grabbed a few and paid.

So really, it's not my fault-they put it in by mistake.

But seriously. Who does stuff like this? Only me.

She told me that I should just take it back to Dominicks and exchange it.

And she's mailing me a coupon fora free bottle for my troubles.

So sometimes being flaky pays off!

I suppose I should tell you all.

2010-04-19T08:30:00.000-05:00

No.

I did not get into the nursing program for next year.

Wait.

Don't freak out everyone.

I have much to explain.

First of all, I truly, in my heart of hearts, believe that this was Ratzon HaShem, or G-d's Will, for reasons that I'll explain later.

Secondly, once my bruised little ego recovered, I realized that (besides for it being Ratzon HaShem), it really had nothing to do with me, as a person, as a student, that I didn't get in. It was purely a numbers game.

The program that I applied for has a very simple points based ranking process for determining acceptance. There are 4 classes that you must take in order to apply for the program, and 3 classes that are not required to apply, but if you have taken them, you get many, many additional points for the ranking. Those classes can be taken either before or after you enter the program, but in order to entice you to take them before you enter, you get lots of points if you take them.

There is no essay, no interview, no letter of recommendation. Points, and points only.

I didn't take any of those 3 classes. Yes, I am currently taking two of them. But the application was due in February and you don't get credit for classes that are not completed.

So I had 66 points. If I had gotten credit for those 2 classes that I am currently taking, I'd have 98 points. That's a big difference, huh?

Well of the over 400 people that applied for the 192 spots in the program, over 192 people had taken said extra classes.

So despite the fact that I'm a good student, and have lots of experience, and a really compelling story, none of that mattered. The fact was that I have 66 points. And 192 people had more than that.

So. Why is this all Ratzon HaShem, you ask?

Let me list the two reasons that I've come up with.

1. You all know that Dovi's Bar Mitzvah is in November. Although I didn't tell anyone, I was extremely nervous about beginning my first semester of nursing school and rotations in the hospital while planning Dovi's Bar Mitzvah, which promises to be both (a) hectic and crazy and (b) incredibly emotional and draining.

2. I'm going to look at other programs. Loyola has a 16 month program as well, which would give me a Bachelors of Nursing instead of an Associates. Frankly, I'm not so sure what benefit I'd get with a Bachelors vs. an Associates, but I'm going to the information session at the end of this month to see. What I do have going for me is that I am a Loyola Alumnus. The annoying part is that I'd have to take two extra classes to get in-one is easier (Developmental Psychology), and one is not (Organic Chemistry).

So what am I going to do?

I'm going to take Anatomy/Physiology 2 this fall. Maybe Organic Chemistry as well. Will look into Developmental Psychology for the summer (I think I found an online course through City Colleges). I'm going to look into more programs. I'm going to reapply for the program for the following year. I'm going to chill out and enjoy planning Dovi's Bar Mitzvah, and will try to come up with a way to avoid crying every time I say the words "Dovi's Bar Mitzvah".

Don't tell me you're so sorry. Because I'm not. Well, my ego was a tad bruised at first. But I'm past that. Everything happens for a reason. I've said before that G-d has plans that we often don't know or understand. This is another example.

It's all good.

Brilliant! If only I'd thought of it...

2010-04-14T08:46:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, I got a call from Elisha:

"Mommy, my tummy hurts"

"Do you need to throw up? Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

"No, Mommy, my tummy just hurts"

Now if that isn't an ambiguous complaint I don't know what is.

The school reported no fever.

So what to do? Do I go get him? Leave him there? What happens if he pukes all over his desk? At home, little Mr. Elisha is the Boy Who Cried Wolf. His "tummy hurts" all the time, especially when it's time to clean up.

But he's never called me before. So I felt torn. I told the staff that I needed to drive Dovi to school (I was on the highway doing just that) and I wouldn't be back in the neighborhood for about an hour (truth? I needed to go to Meijer. Any buy 25 boxes of Barilla Pasta for 1 cent each. Priorities, folks!) I told them I'd swing by school when I got back and we'd assess then, and they sent him back to class.

Well a friend of mine (should I identify you? Don't want to embarrass you) had a brilliant idea. This is what I did.

I went to school and got him from his classroom to chat. I asked him how he was feeling.

"Maybe I need to go home, Mommy"

"Well Elisha, if you go home, you'll need to put on your pjs and get into bed"

"Well Mommy, I haven't had lunch yet"

"After lunch you'll need to get into bed (and here comes the brilliant part) AND Elisha, since it is such a beautiful day outside, I was planning on taking you guys to Slurpees this afternoon. But if your tummy feels yucky, we can't do that. Slurpees are not good for upset tummies"

I could see the wheels turning in his little head.

"Hmmm Mommy, I think I'll be ok. I think I can stay at school the rest of the day"

Kiss, hug, and off he scampered to his class.

And yes, we went to Slurpees. In order for this method of mental manipulation to work, one must be willing to fulfill their end of the bargain. So we strolled to Slurpees at 6:30 pm. Why on earth do kids insist on combining all of the repulsive Slurpee flavors? Don't they know that Coke with a dash of Sprite is the preferred Slurpee?

What kind of Slurpee do you like?

When was the last time you had this serviced?

2010-04-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

So most of you know that Dovi sleeps on BiPap. For those who don't, BiPap stands for BiLateral Positive Airway Pressure. A BiPap machine forces air into your lungs. It's used for sleep apnea, which Dovi kind of has.

Ooh check out this snazzy drawing. I did not do it. Lifted it from the lovely internet. But that's exactly what Dovi looks like at night. Except he's cuter.

He also uses 1 liter of oxygen with the BiPap. Why all these lovely devices, you may ask? Well kids with FD have a very bad habit of going to sleep and not waking up. Yes. Not waking up. The leading cause of death (at least it seems to me over the last few years in FDland) is just that. Going to sleep and not waking up. Yes, FD sucks. Don't say I didn't tell you so. Big time sucks. So we do everything in our power to hedge our bets. We have BiPap. We have oxygen. We have a pulse ox right there. We have a blood pressure monitor. We have a nurse at night, both to give him his feeds and meds, and to make sure that he keeps his BiPap and oxygen on. Because he has a naughty habit of unhooking himself. (Case in point, 3 am last night when he took it off).

So.

After that lovely, depressing paragraph, give you the somewhat entertaining source for the title of this post.

A few weeks ago, Dovi's BiPap was acting a little squirrly one night. So I called home health. THe respiratory therapist on call got us straightened out, but a few days later, we got a call from home health that they needed to "come and download the data" from the BiPap. Umm huh? Dovi's had the BiPap for I think two or three years. Hang on, I'll go find out...ok I looked it up in old posts. He got his BiPap in the summer of 2008. So 2 years. And never once have we heard from home health about "coming to download the data".

So we figured out a a time and the guy came today.

He downloaded data. And then he asked: "When is the last time you changed the filter?"

I said: "The BiPap has a filter?"

Then I told him that no one had ever come out to service us. He was horrified. And got a new filter. And showed me the old one. It could not have been healthy for Dovi to have that BLACK moldy filter in his BiPap. Vomit.

Then he asked me how often we change the BiPap mask. Umm never?

So he gave us a new, smaller one to try out. Dovi flatly refused. I need to call tomorrow to get another one of his big honking masks. Little weirdo. But then again you couldn't pay me to sleep on a BiPap and he's a good little trooper.

Most of the time.

But seriously. Two years? No service? How was I to know? Oops.

OK I find this funny. But in the rereading, it seems more pathetic and depressing than funny. Sorry.

Have I Mentioned

2010-04-09T09:15:00.000-05:00

that I have the teeth of a 90 year old homeless man who grew up in a country with no fluoridated water?

I believe that I have bemoaned the horrid state of my teeth at one time or another.

Well it seems that 2/4 of my children are suffering the same fate as me.

Poor Shana.

Poor Jakie.

They are both on cavities Numbers 3 and 4.

Elisha? None. "And I eat a lot of candy, Mommy. And don't always brush my teeth so well"

Fabulous.

Poor little chickies. They're both having their 2 cavities filled in a few weeks, and Jakie's having sealant put on 1 of his teeth.

Luckily, my dentist believes in ~~knocking out the little stinkers~~ gently sedating the children so as to avoid any undue trauma ~~drugs em up with nitrous oxide~~ , so hopefully it won't be too bad.

Did I mention that it seems that they both have my teeth?

Oy. Maybe we should just save some time and pull out all their adult teeth and just give them implants. Have I told you guys that I still have a humongo crater in my mouth from where my tooth got filled that can't be filled in until about September? Lovely.

Poor little ones. I feel the need to go wake them up and floss them. (yes, I wrote this post at night and set it to publish on Friday)

Still. Have. Not. Heard.

2010-04-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

I seem to be completely paralyzed right now.

I have been waiting to hear from the nursing program that I applied to.

Since last week. The acceptance letters were supposed to be mailed "on or before April 1".

Well it is now APRIL 7th and I have. not. yet. heard.

But then again, neither has anyone else.

What the heck? Why are they messing with me this way?

Don't they know that I am totally way to OCD to deal with not hearing on the date I was supposed to?

I honestly cannot think of anything else right now.

Paralyzed.

Will update when I hear.

Oh and as a sidebar, if there was any doubt that the Robinol that Dovi is on to control his secretions (aka drooling) actually did anything, I direct you now to my lovely son who was not on Robinol for about 4 days thanks to my extreme forgetfulness over the end of Pesach. He is one juicy dude. But no fears, I picked up the Robinol today. Oh and no worries, everyone-I would've walked to Target to pick up his meds on Yom Tov-if I'd remembered to go. Yes, I'm clearly mother of the year. But he's really fine. Nothing like a freshly dried up Dovi.

Child Labor

2010-03-29T10:40:00.001-05:00

Have a Happy Pesach everyone!

Woohoo!!!

2010-03-25T09:14:00.000-05:00

Done Done Done Done Done!

Now on to Pesach...

School Strikes Again

2010-03-23T21:40:00.003-05:00

While most of you are stressing about Pesach, I'm stressing about school.

I had/have THREE exams this week.

Anatomy Lab Exam this past Monday (rocked it)

Microbiology Exam tomorrow morning (expect to hopefully pull off a B. I despise memorizing algae and protozoa. So I'm not and hoping for the best...it's multiple choice)

Anatomy Exam on Thursday morning. Do not have enough time to study. Am freaking out. Will be nowhere near as prepared as the previous exam. Also hope for a B.

But I will be done with all the exams just in time to turn over my kitchen for Pesach...fun fun!

Thank G-d I have a LIST...

as a sidebar, Dovi is just fine. know that that blood pressure was insane and not good. But it's all part of the fun with FD and it went away just as quickly as it came. We know his blood pressure is high when he's all red and kinda puffy looking. Like he was again tonight, but I opted not to take his blood pressure. Gave him his meds and put him to bed...

Oh and by the way, everyone...nursing program acceptance letters go on on or before APRIL 1...which is NEXT WEEK! We all know that my letter will arrive on the first day of Pesach so as to maximize my stress.

You know you have a kid with FD when...

2010-03-22T13:58:00.000-05:00

You take his blood pressure and it's 159/121 and your response is "hmm...interesting"

OK I've seriously, totally, 100% lost my mind

2010-03-19T09:39:00.002-05:00

I don't even know why I am humiliating myself this way.

I guess because I think it's kinda funny. When you spend your days doing online tutorials of the bones and muscles of the torso and skull, you get kind of insane. (What's the muscle that allows you to raise and lower your yeah? It runs from the mastoid process to the sternum...)

So my upstairs bathroom sink was draining slowly for the past week or so. I'm sure there's some big ole nasty hairball in there. On Tuesday it stopped draining altogether. Well you all know that I'm ~~cheap~~ thrifty. I'd seen an "As Seen on TV" ad.

I figured...it has to work, right? So I headed out to CVS and bought one With my Extra Care Bucks, have no fear. You don't think I'd actually pay, did you? As I was driving home, I realized that this was a historic moment:

The first time I've bought an As Seen on TV item. Although I've heard that the onion chopper does work really well and I'm contemplating buying it for Pesach.

So I decided to video the inaugural use of an As Seen on TV item.

Seriously. I've lost my mind. I think I should ask everyone to just close their browser, or better yet, I should have some self respect and stop this post altogether. But it seems that I am like a car crash that I can't walk away from so I feel compelled to share this experience with all you, my little bloggy-friends.

And the car crash continues.

I just watched the videos. Seriously? What on earth is my problem? I'm clearly insane.

Oh. And Jacob's really funny. Check out his Bananagrams.

The plumber is currently upstairs fixing my sink.

And the End of the Skunk Saga

2010-03-17T19:25:00.001-05:00

Animal Control picked it up last night.

All's safe again in the backyard.

Steph-there is no chance in the universe that Benjie would pick up a dead skunk. He doesn't like to take out the garbage at night due to skunk phobia! :)

Skunk Status Report

2010-03-16T20:13:00.002-05:00

(I know you all need to know, otherwise you won't be able to sleep tonight)

I called Animal Control again this morning:

Me: "I need to have a dead skunk removed from my yard"

Her: "I have in the computer that you called about a live skunk yesterday"

Me: "Well yesterday, it was alive. Today, it is dead"

She laughed.

The skunk is STILL here.

Animal Control called me back. They'll hopefully come either tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks a lot.

He's everywhere!

2010-03-16T11:09:00.002-05:00

Click HERE

Maybe I should explain...watch the top banner-wait for a Chai Lifeline ad :)

The Garbage Will Not be Taken Out

2010-03-15T19:39:00.003-05:00

Until minimally tomorrow morning.

Why, you inquire?

Well, I'll tell you. (Like you have a choice. This is my blog and I'm tellin' ya)

This afternoon, I was innocently making dinner (cottage cheese pancakes, french onion soup, and vegetable casserole bake thingy which is yum and will be good for Pesach) and there was a knock on my front door.

All the kids were playing in front so I wondered why they were knocking to come in.

Well it wasn't my kids, it was a neighbor's kid.

It seems that there is a half dead skunk in my backyard.

Initially they thought it was dead, but they changed their opinion. I didn't argue with them about it. Dead or half dead, it has to leave. my. yard.

So I called Animal Control and my neighbor who works at the alderman's office.

Then I threatened all the children who were in front (most of whom were not mine) that if they went anywhere near, even close to the backyard, they would be sent home. Immediately. No second chances.

Animal Control has not yet come. Deep, cleansing breaths.

Pesach is Coming...We're so Happy!

2010-03-12T09:34:00.003-06:00

Well kinda.

Why are we so happy you ask?

It certainly cannot be all the cooking and cleaning ~~and cleaning and cleaning~~ .

Nope, it's the company that's coming!

Benjie's sister and her family are coming in from Israel! We haven't seen them in over 5 years!

We haven't met half of their kids, and the ones we did were 2 years old and a baby the last time they were here!

So we are rather excited. Shana is over the moon to have three more girl cousins here to play with! It should be fun and hectic-just the way we like it.

But I still do have to cook and clean, all the while studying for my microbiology midterm, my anatomy lab exam, and my anatomy midterm, which will all be taken the week before Pesach.

So drastic measures need to be taken. The week(s) before Pesach will require surgeon-like precision and organization.

This calls for another Excel spreadsheet. Many of you know of my great love for (a) excel and (b) lists. In my opinion, there is nothing in life that cannot be accomplished with a good list in excel. I've made one every year, and I just updated it for this year.

So then I got to thinking...most of my little bloggy's readers are people who might benefit from this list I was specifically thinking of all my deal counselor boys whom I know are slaving away cleaning for Pesach even as I type!

So I figured, what the heck...or "what the hecky heck" as my lovely children have taken to saying. Where on earth they learned that I cannot imagine..Must. nip. such. language. in. the. bud.

But I digress (as usual). I figured...what the hecky heck? I might as well share said spreadsheet with all you lovely readers.

A few notes:
I do NOT spring clean.
I do not clean most of my second floor-my kids never eat upstairs and my cleaning lady cleans upstairs every week.
I do NOT wash all my toys. My kids are not 2 years old and gnawing on teether biscuits while building with Duplos.
I do NOT go crazy.

So here you go.... Pesach in a spreadsheet. It has about 5 years on it, with various menus and shopping lists. Feel free to make my exact menus. They were tasty. Click here to download.

And try not to hyperventilate.

I'm still alive, I promise!

2010-03-10T22:57:00.002-06:00

Dovi had a great trip to New York.

As did I...I slept until 9:30 am 2 out of 3 mornings I was away, and 10 am the 3rd...

Played with my nieces and one nephew who was present...

Went to Daffy's and Century 21 (OMG. Favorite. New. Store. Ever). All I can say is that it's a good thing I don't live in New Jersey because we'd honestly be broke from those two stores...

Went out to pizza with my sisters in law...why can't we have reasonable pizza in the Midwest?...

Spent Sunday morning writing my paper for Anatomy class (which needs to be proofed and then turned in. A month early)...

Flew home Sunday night-got on a flight 3 hours early...

DVD player battery died...Laptop battery died...Dovi entertained himself by stacking plastic and paper United Airlines cups...

I actually DO have a good story from the flight home...

Pesach is coming!...

I have THREE tests the week before, so I might be a little scarce...

I love you all bloggy readers!

Off to New York!

2010-03-03T18:47:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow night, Dovi and I are off to New York...

he's going to a Camp Simcha Special Reunion-up at camp! He's so excited.

So am I. For him. But frankly I could do without an unnecessary trip to New York. Don't get me wrong, I'm very excited to be seeing my brothers/sisters in law/nieces/nephew. (sister? brother in law? nephews? Rebecca, will I be seeing you guys? Not sure how we'd pull that off)

But I really have zero, zip, zilch, NADA interest in the whole packing/shelpping/unpacking/repacking/more shlepping rigmarole that is entailed to transport Dovi anywhere.

Slight panic yesterday when we thought there might be an issue getting Dovi's portable oxygen concentrator, the Sequal Eclipse, the love of my life. I wish beyond belief that I had the $4,000 laying around to buy one of those suckers just to have. It's so difficult every time we travel to order it from home health. It's never simple and always a headache. At least it arrived today!

Basically, I'm flying Dovi to New York tomorrow night, we're sleeping at my brother's in New Jersey, and then I'm driving him to the bus up to camp on Friday morning. Chai Lifeline will bring him to the airport to me on Sunday.

Which means that I am my-child-free from Friday morning until Sunday night! Don't worry, it's not going to be so exciting. I'm planning on using that time to write my Anatomy/Physiology paper. Yes, I have to write a paper for A/P. Let's not even go there. I printed all my sources (guess what my topic is...) and will bring my laptop and hopefully pound out 8 pages on Sunday. It shouldn't be too hard. I...ahem...know the topic pretty well.

I'm sure I'll squeeeeeze a little trip to Daffy's in there (how's about Saturday night, Tams?), but all in all it will be a rather bizarre weekend for me.

But an awesome one for Dovi!

So it's all worth it.

Happy Purim a few days late!

2010-03-02T10:59:00.006-06:00

So....Sunday was Purim. It was busy!!

Last night I was so exhausted that I went to bed at 8:30 pm!

First, let's start with our Mishloach Manos.

One fine Purim day
A pretty geisha, two pirates, and a baseball guy
Went out to play

At a picnic they decided to meet
But first they needed to decide what to eat.

Sushi, chose the geisha without delay
For sushi was her favorite food every day

The baseball guy chose peanuts and beer
For when you see that pair you know baseball is near

The pirates, they were very bold
Instead of food they wanted to bring their gold.

Well sushi and peanuts didn’t go so well together
So regular picnic food they decided to eat in the picnic weather

Brownies and lemonade, watermelon they did pack
This was surely a better picnic snack

But those sneaky little pirates, they did not care
They snuck in some gold coins for you to share

A Freilichin Purim from the P crew
A Happy Day from Us to You.

Happy Purim from the P Family
Benjie, Sara,
Baseball Guy Dovi,
Pirate Elisha, Geisha Shana, and Pirate Jakie

Now...moving on to the Mishloach Manos that we gave to the kids' teachers! Pretty cute, huh?

The most special part of the day for Dovi was when he got a visit from the Kids Of Courage guys. Every year, groups of guys come to Chicago on Purim to collect for various charitable causes. A group of boys came out to collect for the next Kids of Courage trip. They came to our house and really added to our day!

I got my grade

2010-02-24T20:15:00.001-06:00

I don't want to brag but I seriously rock and roll. (No, I did not get 100%)

I guess 30 hours of studying really paid off.

YAY!

Now to memorize the 22 bones of the skull for our "pop quiz" on Monday.

Rett Syndrome Awareness

2010-02-23T22:54:00.002-06:00

A few days ago, my dear friend Peta emailed me and asked me to blog a bit about Rett Syndrome, from which her lovely daughter Elaina suffers. Dovi and Elaina met each other when they were 1 and 2 respectively.

They had alternate PT/OT times at our therapy clinic-Dovi had OT and then PT, and Elaina had PT and then OT.

Which meant that Peta and I had 2 hours together to hang out and go shopping. Which we did!

Elaina is also my birthday buddy on April 23rd...as is her sister Emily!

I was getting all prepared to blog, and then Peta did.

A heck of a lot better than I can.

So here she is: Peta's Post about Rett Syndrome.

And a direct link to the IRSA website here.

Thanks for caring.

Done.

2010-02-22T11:56:00.000-06:00

Grade will be up by 4 pm.

Relief.

Cannot Blog.

2010-02-18T20:20:00.002-06:00

Must study.

Anatomy.

Physiology.

O
M
G

Test on Monday.

Anatomical Positions.
Biology Review.
Chemistry Review.
Tissue.
Integumentary System.

Been studying ALL day today.

Literally.

Except for a run to the grocery store and the fruit store, I'd say that I'm at about hour 8 or 9.

And the test isn't until Monday.

Need mnemonics.

Now.

Send help.

Or snacks.

Or coffee.

In Which My Sister in Law is the Best Mother EVER

2010-02-17T09:00:00.001-06:00

Every mother who reads my blog will know what I'm talking about.

The 100th Day of School. And the associated project.

For those who are not mothers, or whose schools do not partake of this lovely (snort) new ritual, let me explain. The kids count each day of school. On the 100th day, there is a party. A parade. And each kid brings in their HUNDREDTH DAY PROJECT.

The Hundredth Day Project is this: each kid brings in 100 of something. Generally, the kid reminds the mom at approximately 3 minutes before carpool at which moment 100 chocolate chips, or cheerios, or raisins, are stuffed into a baggie as fast as possible. Every once in a while, we know in advance. Then we might string said cheerios, or glue the fruit loops on a poster board.

For my niece Esti, the Project Princess, as we call her, this just would. not. do.

She had a vision.

100 shapes in glitter.

And my amazing sister in law, Tamar, helped her do just that.

I hereby bring you: 100 shapes in glitter in honor of the 100th day of school by Esti.

O
M
G

I must say, Tamar is a saint.

We're Hard Core

2010-02-16T10:00:00.000-06:00

We don't just watch the hockey game at our house. We are the hockey game.

It's RACE DAY!

2010-02-10T09:00:00.000-06:00

At long last....RACE DAY!

Anyone who has run in a marathon or half marathon knows about the messed up sleep the night before the race. Marathons generally begin at about 6 or 6:30 in the morning. That means that to GET to the start line on time, you generally need to get up at about 4ish in the morning.

Miami is no exception Start time is 6:30, which means that the bus left the hotel at 4:30 am. Yes, 4:30 am.

But you are generally so nervous about the race (and oversleeping...it has happened!) that you wake up about every 15 minutes overnight. I was no exception. I think I saw every 15 minute increment on the clock. I was so pumped up to be running for Dovi and with Dovi that I could. not. sleep. And neither could Benjie. Or Dovi.

So by 3:30 am, even though the alarm wasn't gong off until 3:45 am, Dovi was up, the alarms were off, and we were all dressed. Funny story-Dovi often will wake up in the middle of the night and try and be all sneaky and turn off his oxygen and BiPap. So at 3:15 am, I heard him doing just that.
"Dovi" I whispered
"Uh Oh....busted" was his response

Busted. I love him. He's such a pre-teen.

So at about 3:40 am, Benjie went to go pick up our babysitter. Yes. At 3:40 AM. What else would we do with the Fearsome Threesome? Now I know Shana's a little mama, but this would've been a little much.

So Mindy and Benjie came back, she went back to sleep in our room with a wakeup call scheduled for 6:15 am, and Team Dovi went down to the lobby.

what...you don't take pictures of your 12 year old in the elevator at 3:45 am?

Raphi arrived with Dovi's chariot...

and Dovi ate a bagel. At 4 am.

the Chicago contingent took a picture. Don't we all look bright eyed and bushy tailed for 4am? Well frankly I don't think anyone had slept a wink.

Dovi tried out his chair again in the lobby of the hotel and we decided he looked rather comfy.

We progressed to outside to the busses. Dovi smiled winningly with Chana, one of the Camp Simcha Special counselors who he thoroughly charmed...

and we boarded the bus to go. Raphi had a cowbell. Which he rang. Incessantly. I honestly thought someone was going to toss him out the window. Or stuff him in the bathroom. Luckily it wasn't too long of a ride.

We started getting organized. Notice the girl in the wheelchair with the boom box by her feet? Her pusher, Joe, was running in honor of Dovi also. He rocks. He also rocks because he pushed Sarah (the girl in the wheelchair) across the finish line of the half marathon in 1:57. Without training. He's the one directly behind Sarah. I wanted to vomit. 1:57. I know, Rach. 1:57. I'm sorry.

I gave a mini interview to some guy from guy from ING. I must have said Team Lifeline 40 times in 30 seconds.

Then we got into our start corrals. Dovi and Raphi were up in the front by the wheelchair participants. Stupidly, Benjie and I decided that we should go to our assigned corral instead of staying with Dovi like most everyone else did. Result: we did not run with Dovi at all. But we got pictures!!

Hi, Raphi! Lookin' good!

Question: Is he lounging or covering his ears?!?

Mindy (the babysitter, who, when we took her home at 11:30 AM had worked for us for 8 hours) took the kids on the monorail, with another spectator family) to the Mile 11 Cheering Zone to find us.

They found Dovi

and then waited around a while

Until Benjie and I came by.

Now to the nitty gritty (this is for you, Rach). As we were lining up to start, it was insanely humid. Like fog up your glasses just standing there humid. And this was my 4th year running Miami. I have never seen so many people in the corrals. It was madness-wall to wall humanity. It literally took us about 20 minutes to cross the start line. For the first mile or two, the field was so crowded that you could hardly run without having to weave around people. And the humidity? Did I mention it was humid? Did not make for a good beginning of the run. Once the sun came up, the humidity burned off and it was a lovely overcast sky-perfect, lovely running weather-it was about 65-70 degrees and cloudy. Divine. I decided to stick with my lovely hubby and we ~~ran~~ participated the whole way. We ran up until about mile 8 or 9, when we started to slow down and alternated run/walk the rest of the way. End result was not my best time, but it was fabulous to run with Benjie. Next year, though-we're running. fast.

At the finish line we reunited with the kids and Raphi

and some counselor friends

We ate some snacks (I think I ate a fruit cup, a muffin, and two bottles of water in about 10 minutes)

and headed back to the bus. (Two points to whomever correctly IDs these two backs. And if you took the picture you do NOT get credit)

To answer the inevitable questions in advance...

The kids' t-shirts? I made them. The backs say "Keep running Mommy, Abba, Dovi, and Raphi". I didn't put Joe, even though he was running in honor of Dovi, because he was pushing Sarah and I thought that would be bizarre.

Yes, Shana is the cutest little thing in her Team Lifeline cap.

I wear an orange bandanna because the ING color is orange.

My bib says "Dovi's Mom" and Benjie's says "Dovi's Abba". We also had it on the sleeves of our shirts.

The W on Dovi's bib is because he was a wheelchair participant.

Dovi's time was better by about 15 seconds. Yes, we were beaten by our 12 year old disabled child.

2:57. It was not pretty. I told you so.

Friday...Counselors in the Trunk...Shabbos...It's a Party!

2010-02-08T09:00:00.001-06:00

Friday morning, we got up bright and early to swim some more.

Yup, in the pool again at about 8:30 am!

We swam for a bit and then checked out of hotel #1 in preparation for checking in to hotel #2 for Shabbos with Team Lifeline.

When we got to the hotel, it was time for an epic hug-a-thon as Dovi reunited with his BFF Ezra. I've blogged about Ezra in the past. Ezra is Dovi's best friend from Camp Simcha Special. They are 5 weeks apart in age and both have FD. And they seem to be soul mates.

Ezra's dad ran on Team Lifeline as well, except that he ran the full marathon. Fast. In two different shoes. Not on purpose. Yikes.

It was a little insane as we pulled up at the hotel to a crowd of about 10 counselors singing and banging on our van. The only small issue with that is that Dovi has a tiny bit of PTSD from the first year he came to camp...he is terrified of "arrivals"-when you arrive at Camp Simcha Special, you are surrounded by throngs of singing, cheering counselors. Dovi is not a fan. So the guys were banging on the van and screaming...and Dovi was cowering in fear in the van. No worries, once he saw Ezra, all was well.

We dumped our stuff in our room and headed out for lunch with about 10 counselors, 2 of whom rode in the trunk of our van to the pizza store...great example for the kids, huh?

We waited in line at the pizza store for a lovely 40 minutes...gotta love Miami Beach in January!

We finally ate lunch. My kids are like puppies all over the counselors, who were all lovely sports about it. Shana seems to have an itty bitty crush on Joe (see her putting bunny ears on him? She's obsessed with bunny ears. Puts them on everyone in every picture. Drives me batty)

Then we went back to the hotel and (I know this will shock you) swam again, this time with the guys. Sorry, no pictures.

Oh yes, my awesome parking deal. Parking at the hotel was $35 A DAY. Yikes. Well, next door to the hotel (literally) was a public parking lot, which would be difficult/impossible on Shabbos because we wouldn't be able to pay the meters. Until we (and Moishe Deutsch, a clever counselor) remembered that we have a handicapped tag for Dovi (which miracle of miracles, we remembered to bring), so we didn't have to pay the meters. Yay! Free parking! Would you expect any less from me??

Then it was time for Shabbos. Of course, no pictures. Would have been nice if I took a family picture before Shabbos, but being as we were in the pool until about 25 minutes before candle lighting and had to shower 6 people in one shower...there was no time for that.

Long and short: Shabbos meals with the marathon people, Shalos Seudos by the pool with the guys. We fed them. They called me mom and sang songs of appreciation. I'm not sure what more could be said.

Saturday night was the pre-race pasta party.
Sorry, this is the only picture I have. Not very exciting.

A parent spoke really beautifully about Chai Lifeline and how the organization has impacted her family. I also met a couple (hi Shani and Chaim!) who read my blog. I felt all giddy and pseudo-celebrity-ish :)

Then Dovi tried out his jogging wheelchair (thanks Galiah!), got the tires all pumped up,
and went for a jog around the pool deck at about 11 pm. Yes, all my kids were up until after 11 pm for 4 out of the 6 nights we were on vacation.

We all went to bed (not saying anyone slept very much) by about 11:30, while the counselors, decided that, in preparation for a half marathon at 6am, a pizza run at midnight was necessary. Ahh to be young and ~~stupid~~ fun.

Marathon day coming up!

Florida....Day 1...Thursday

2010-02-04T12:53:00.009-06:00

OK here we go....

Our wonderful friend Michal came with us in the car to drive the van home from the airport (c'mon ,you all know me-would I ever pay for a week of long term parking? I think not! Speaking of which, remind me to tell you all on my Friday post about our awesome Florida parking deal!)

So. Michal came with us-she squeeeezed in the back between the kids and allowed them to play Brickbreaker on her phone.

Shana insisted on changing out of her uniform in the car. "Mommy, I will NOT wear my UNIFORM on the plane"

Well now.

See them all with their stuffed animals? I allowed them ONE each. I still believe it's a minor miracle that they all came home.

After a packed flight to Florida (on Spirit Airlines, the Greyhound bus of the skies), we got to Ft. Lauderdale at 11 pm. By the time we got our rental van and got to the hotel, it was after midnight. The kids got to bed by about 12:30, and slept until 8:30.

By 8:45 we were here:

I know you're a little jealous. It's ok to cry that you were in the arctic while we were swimming (well except for you, Steph. You live in the most beautiful land of them all. I think I need to move to Miami)

We swam for a few hours and then went on our big outing, to Lion Country Safari. It was SO COOL! The kids loved it. Of course I didn't take any pictures of the safari part of it, so imagine lots of rhinos, lionesses, giraffes, zebras, and the like about 10 feet away from you and you'll get the idea.

Then we moved on to Safari Land, the park part of the place. We:

rode a ferris wheel (well not me, I'm afraid of heights...didn't know that about me, didja?)

Rode a pontoon

played mini golf

rode a carousel (oh this is such a great picture of Dovi)

checked out some flamingos

smiled like little clowns

And FED GIRAFFES! OMG it was sooooooo cool.

Jacob and Dovi refused to.

Oh well, more for us. It was one of those "once in a lifetime" moments-when else will you feed a giraffe?

Sorry it's all bright...

No worries, there's glass between them and the crocodile.

Then we went out to dinner in Boca Raton, and went back to the hotel. Benjie and I sat in the dark room by the light of the bathroom after the kids went to bed, hunched over the laptop. Ahhh the rocking life of parents.

Friday coming up later! (maybe tomorrow-I'm still getting unpacked and organized!)

And just because I love y'all...a little preview :)

Amazing

2010-02-02T10:13:00.000-06:00

All I can say is that it was amazing. No time to blog, must go back to pool.

Marathon? Wow.

Weekend? Wow.

Weather? With the exception of one day, Wow.

I promise I'll blog tomorrow. Lots of pictures!

We Meet Again, My Pretties

2010-01-28T20:26:00.002-06:00

Remember last year?

My pretties are back. But I bought myself a new pair. These ones are black and white patent. Pretty cute if I might say so myself.

I wore them today.

Yes, I wore them today.

Because WE'RE IN FLORIDA!

It's RACE WEEKEND!

As most of you know, this year it's not Benjie and Sara's happy little honeymoon. This year it's Benjie, Sara, Elisha, Shana, Jacob, and Dovi's Winter Vacay.

Things are a bit different when traveling with your kids.

Last Year:
Car: Sporty little yellow two door

Luggage: Two small rollies

Sleeping Arrangements: I got to share a bed with my husband

Dining: When we felt like it, where we felt like it.

Entertainment: Pool. Beach. Restaurant. Rinse. Repeat.

Race Day: I roll out of bed at 4 am, Wander downstairs to bus. Benjie takes spectator shuttle at 6:30 am. Alternate between hot tub and pool rest of day.

This year:
Car: Green Minivan. Yeah. We've got a sweet ride.

Luggage: Many suitcases. Many overweight suitcases that required rearrangement at the airport to avoid overweight charges.

Sleeping Arrangements: I get to sleep with a very cute little girl who is a bed hog, and Benjie with a fabulous 12 year old who has a habit of pishing out of his diaper.

Dining: Tightly scripted, ongoing. Much ongoing whining of "I'm hungry" heard over and over and over, even 5 minutes post snacking. Much ice cream and french fries eaten.

Entertainment: Lion Country Safari. Wanadoo City. Looking for more ideas (We did Parrot Jungle last time we were here. Need one more 1/2 day activity. And remember that I'm pretty cheap)

Projected Race Day: Benjie picks up babysitter at 3:45 AM (yes, 3:45 AM). I wrestle Dovi into his clothes without waking up ESJ. Dovi, Benjie and I go on the runners' bus at 4:30 am. Dovi will be crabby. Babysitter drags kids to spectator bus at 6:30. I do not envy that girl. I'm not sure the $10/hour we're paying her will be sufficient. Alternate between hot tub and chasing children rest of day.

But I have to say, it's all worth it. My kids were swimming at 10 am this morning while it was 10 degrees in Chicago.