Happy Birthday, Baby!

Has it been a year already? This morning, Nourit burst into the room where Avi was just waking up and shouted, "Happy Birfday, Avi!" and was greeted with Avi's delightful version of 'Good Morning.' Avi is now walking everywhere - she took her first 'no-hands' steps 5 days before Christmas. She is showing signs of big sister adoration - just yesterday, I found her heading toward Nourit's room numerous times while Nourit was napping. She finally pushed in the door and woke her big buddy up before I could stop her. She and Nourit enjoy baths together now, and I even observed Avi initiating hugs with Nourit yesterday. It's been quite a year - wow, what a year - but she is really rounding out this family and I couldn't imagine life without her.

Nourit is excited and wants to make presents for Avi. She wants to make a cake because that's what you do on birthdays, right? Unfortunately, we've found that January birthdays get short shrift in this family, so the birthday party is postponed for now. Soon, though, we'll be eating pizza and cake and toasting our baby-turned-toddler and thanking God for her wonderful smile.

Happy Birthday, Dear Michael

It's Monday, January 12 and I'm wishing my husband a happy birthday. I'm also wishing him a yummy, homemade cake, and a really cool present (maybe something for the kitchen or electronic.) After that, I'm wishing him a full and speedy recovery from his knee injury, and that his cold woudn't progress. Then, I'm wishing him a wonderful night out for dinner with moi, maybe at Topolobampo (since we had to cancel our reservations for last Friday night.) I'm wishing him angelic children who don't cry, scream or hit each other (at least for one day!) and I'm wishing him a day without deadlines, obligations, and requirements of him to be anywhere but home.

These are my sincere wishes for him, but they may have to wait for a date in the future because today:
-I have something that looks like conjunctivitis and need to skip work to go to the doctor
-I have no plans to bake a cake with puss oozing out my eye
-I did not preplan and purchase a present and unfortunately, all his birthday checks just got rolled into the savings account
-I cannot do anything about his knee, and the reality is, it will take alot of PT before it feels better
-It's cold season, and I can't do anything about that, either (although I did buy alot of citrus!)
-School is in session, so Mike has to teach, be a student, and finish a gargantuan piece of music before he can put his feet up. Both feet up.
-Can't do anything about the children. Cries and screams are just part of the territory.
-And dinner will have to wait until...???

So, my darling, 30 something husband, when ??? arrives, I hope all these wishes come true. Or at least the one about going out to dinner.

Meet my 3 Year Old

This is Nourit. She's 3 today. I'm so thankful that 3 years ago, we went to the hospital and met her face to face. Since then she's grown into such a funny, smart, sweet and interesting little girl. She's definitely a normal child. She refuses to give goodbye kisses, pushes her little sister out of the way, and sometimes pushes the limit. At the same time, she has an amazing capacity to surprise me with her tenderness and sensitive heart. 3 years have gone by in a flash. I can almost glimpse the little girl she will be in another 3 years.


Today, I took Nourit to the ice-skating rink for the first time. I put her new double blade skates on and out we went to the rink. The weather was perfect. Not too cold. I was so proud of her. From the moment we stepped on the rink, she had no hesitation. She would fall, but would laugh and get right back up. I skated behind her for the first little while, holding both of her hands in mine, and keeping her steady with my body. But then she broke away, preferring to hold onto the side and skate more independently. She expected to go fast, "like rabbits" she said earlier in the day. At the rink, she kept observing how fast everyone was skating. I told her she had to go slowly before she could go fast. I think she accepted that because she didn't seem to get frustrated. After awhile, we went home.
This morning, Nourit helped Mike bake her 3rd birthday cake. It was the cake she requested, chocolate with raspberry. As always, Mike did an amazing job, spending an entire day on his creation. Because we've been so reticent to plan anything this break, we hadn't invited anyone for a party. Nourit was expecting alot of kids to be here on her birthday, I guess because that's been her experience of birthdays thus far. Not wanting to disappoint, (and not wanting to eat the cake all by ourselves!) we invited our neighbors who were still in town (Emma and her mom, Scarlett and her parents and Nana, Kyla and the gang), and her good little friends that we hadn't seen in awhile (Claire and Jacob, and my dear friend, Viola). We had quite a houseful at 4:30 pm! Lots of little ones, lots of chocolate cake, and lots of joy in Nourit's eyes.

And for all our family members who called to wish Nourit a Happy Birthday? Although she put her hands over her ears and wouldn't talk to you on the real phone, I did overhear her calling each of you and talking to you on her new play cell phone. She said she loves you.