Hello again all. Here you can see me with the new towel I got from Yuval, Hagit and the kids. I am almost falling asleep. Grandma Nava - Mommy thanks you, and Uncle Tal - I have to sleep sometime, at least during the day, otherwise how can I stay up at night? As for other news, Papa has indeed gone back to work, and it is harder for Mommy now, but we are all doing fine. Have a nice day...

This weekend Mother was showing her art in the gallery as part of the San Ramon Art Festival. When Papa went to pick up the pictures, he found out a nice surprise. The portrait you see that Mama painted got Best of Show! If you are not familiar with how these things work, there is a first place for each type of art, and then out of all the best pieces of art from each type, only one is chosen for the best of show (and is awarded a prize too!!!). So we were all very happy. Also this weekend we went to have lunch with Hani and Shmuel on saturday, and I played a little with their baby - Mendel. Have a wonderful week everyone...

It has been a few days since the last update, so let me tell you the most exciting news first - I broke the 6 pounds barrier (to those of you less familiar with the strange and utterly illogical weight system used here in the states, it is equivalent to about 2.8Kg) so I am no longer in the "preemie" category. The newborn diapers are still too big, but the preemie ones are getting to be small. Weeeee...
I also went on my first coffee trip today. Well, I only drank milk, while mommy drank tea and papa had the coffee, but still it was in a real coffee shop.
I also had to go to the doctor and get a shot. Not much fun, but not too bad either.

• Great grandma, I will pass along your kisses, and I do hope to see you next year.
  
• Uncle Tal, only time will tell... But I am sure if my parents only come with reasonable demands (such as: here let me hold you and play with you and read to you and feed you and pamper you) I will graciously accede to their wishes.
• Galia and Yigal, I am so glad you enjoyed the pictures, but as experienced parents, you should know that sleep is very low on my priority list. Especially uninterrupted sleep for more then a couple of hours.
  

Everyone, have a wonderful weekend and

שבת שלום

Ah, housework. Here you can see me helping father fold the laundry, while mommy is preparing dinner.
Also, today we got a surprise gift from friends of ours who live in Germany (and from Peter who lives here). Bhernd and Beate, thank you very much! The shirt is a little big right now, but should be just perfect in a few months. Everything else was just a wonderful surprise!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. As you may recall, we were celebrating mommy's birthday on the 17th. In the evening, Ulli and yankin came over and brought more cake (makes the milk even sweeter) and we had a nice birthday party. I think I may need to study german and turkish as well as english and hebrew to talk to Dalia and Ayla. As you can see in the picture, both myself and Dalia kept looking at papa. He is much more interesting then that small camera everyone was looking at...
And uncle Tal and Grandma Nava, Mommy says thank you very much!

Hayom yom huledet leima

Sep 17 already, and mommy starts celebrating her birthday by feeding me. What more can I ask for? After I finished feeding, mom and dad did go ahead and had the birthday cake (Torte di Mandorle) that was delicious. Perhaps as a special present I will let my mommy sleep a few hours tonight...

Home Improvement

You know the saying about when the floor is not straight? Well, today I got a new stereo system in my room. Father wanted to put it on some fancy corner shelves, but it turnes out the walls in our house do not form 90deg angles...
Father did put up the system, but he had to improvise shelves (he went to the lumber yard and got a shelf and had it cut to the right size, and then got special screws that can hold in the type of wall we have, and stuff to hang the shelf on). While this mess was going on, I was staying in the other room...
And thank you auntie Yael, yes we are all very happy and feeling well.

Today mother is reading to me. The book in question is angels and demons (same guy who wrote the Da-Vinci code). She actually started reading this book to me just before I was born. Don't you just love the colors? Pink pajamas and red poof, and wonderful soft baby blanket. Ah, life cannot be better. Also other news, my tush is not red anymore, thanks to the TLC both my parents lavish on me (to those of you who do not live in the state, this is TLA, and let's see if you can guess what it means...). Uncle Tal, thanks for your comment, but I don't think their clothes are boring. Could you send one of their robes cut down to my size?

Here is me with my dad , sitting on the bean bag in my room. Today I got to know my neighborhood. We even visited Chani who lives near by.

Still tiny, but growing... Here I am sleeping on a pillow in the middle of the big bed, just about to wake up. Mostly I was sleeping in mothers' lap, but for this picture I posed all alone.
Uncle dan, thanks for the warning in your comment. I will have to make sure he can't win. So far I am doing pretty well in that department, and he does everything for me without my even asking.
Today we decided (me and mommy) to let father have some time to handle other important aspects of life. A half day of dealing with job related issues, and then taking care of food. Not only a nice dinner but also Pashtiza so we can have food for the rest of the week. For those of you not familiar with this invention, it consists of a multi-layered pie made of whatever there is at home, with a few constant ingredients. For example, today the bottom layer was polenta and semolina (mamaliga) with mushrooms and spices, followed by a vegetable layer (peas and cauliflower) a pasta layer marinated in quark, sour cream and cottage cheeses, spiced salty and with hyssop, and topped with angel hair pasta basted in muhamara, with some grated madrigal on top. As you can imagine, this took quite some time. As these words are being written, it is baking in the oven. Other then that, the day was uneventful - oh and the rash is almost gone. Hiccups still here once or twice a day though...

A relaxed afternoon with dad. Today I got to go out, first on a walk downtown, then as you can see in the picture resting a bit while father is using the last rays of the sun to read me a bedtime story (Phule's paradise by Robert Asprin in case you were wondering). The jar on the side is filled with corn flakes, oat flakes, pecans and other snacks which both mom and dad munch on. Mommy likes the pecans best. The outfit is definitely too big for me, but is very warm and cosy, so I don't mind. Today was quite relaxed, just like a sabbath is supposed to be. Happy Sabbath everybody.

Thank you for all your replies! Uncle Tal, I was counting on you to dip into the well of chinese wisdom and come up with some remedies that will actually be good for babies. Can you imagine me gargling with cider vinegar? The only thing I eat and drink these days is mommys' milk... As for thinking of the ugliest person I ever saw - never saw an ugly person in my life (admittedly not a very long life yet). Great grandmother, I am very happy you saw my blog, and hope to see you too. Now for some recent news. Yesterday mommy tried to give me a pacifier... Ha, she thought she could fool me. I noticed (almost immediately) that no milk is coming. My sucking reflex is very strong, so I couldn't just spit it out, but that's what hands are for, isn't it? I simply reached and pulled it out of my mouth. Showed her who is the boss... On the fashion front, father bought some sleeping robe for me. As you can see, from the picture, I am really small, so the choice of garments right now is not so big. To complicate matters I have a longish frame. I get lost in the newborn clothes. So that robe father got for me was for babies up to 5 pounds (which I just crossed). This was the first time a garment was actualy too small for me. Of course, I still needed something to sleep in, so father took to fashion design, and remade the robe into a long sleeve shirt. It is not in the laundry already, but I will try to post a picture of it sometime soon. Also yesterday, Shmuel and Hani came over with dinner. On the menu - salad and meatballs. From the speed the dishes were cleaned you'd think mom and dad did not eat all day - oh wait, they really didn't. Anyways, thanks Hani! You must tell me what the reciepe for those meatballs is. They were just great. It is so good to have friends who help us! Tonight we are celebrating the 4th anniversary of the wedding (not mine silly, my parent's). An italian restaurant from nearby downtown supplied the meal, and father supplied the wine. Until next time then, be well all...

Horrible Hiccups, Damnable Diapers, and more...

You must have been wondering what is happening with me these past few days. Well, as you may have guessed, sleep deprivation is not that motivational and does not encourage creativity. Be that as it may, here is a picture of me just after feeding. Also, I know you are all just dying to give me advice, so here is your chance to give some useful... How to stop the hiccups? Current methods known to science include stopping your breath, get scared to death, or drinking lots of water. And you adults consider yourselves smart? Who thought those up? So, any better ideas that don't include trying to kill me? And another one, what is your favorite anti diaper rash remedy? Gotta admit all that wonderful food coming out so frequently has given me a *blush* rash. Until the next time...

Here you see my room at noon. The rocking chair in the background is for when I am feeding, and various other furniture in the room, such as the poof father is sitting on can be used to entertain me. Oh, I also like music, especially the Quiet heart and Spirit Wind albums by Richard Warner. Another new feature of my room is a dimmer. I don't like the bright lights during the night, so daddy went to the hardware store and bought and installed a dimmer. Turned out to be a bit complicated, since the outlet had a solid wire, and the dimmer just a wire. Most cable end splicer/joiners here are caps and don't work with solid wires. For some reason, the hardware store did not have the type with a screw, that makes it easy to splice wires such as these together. In the end, he had to improvise with a sort of squeezable tube with isloation, but it all works beuitifully now.

Sleepless in Mountain View (sep 3/4)

This whole body thing takes getting used to you know? Just think about it, coordinating breathing and sucking and swallowing was already hard enough. Now there are other complications from all sorts of unknown other places in my body. And if I can't sleep while all of this is going on, why should my parents sleep?
Mother is napping every so often, and I think soon she will be on my schedule. Father is having a harder time and will just have to learn to do without sleep.

September 3rd

On the way around the block, we stopped to take a few pictures. Now, it's not that I have anything against pictures, but I just did not want to wake up. Besides, when they open up the covers, there is sun and wind out there (this was an afternoon hike...) so I used the well known magician trick and covered myself with the robe. Don't worry, you'll see lots of pictures of me soon enough...

Today is the first time I got to try out my metrolite travel system. Here you see me all bundled up and ready to go for the test drive. It is just around the block, but still very exciting. And the best part is, father is doing all the work, and I can happily nap while the grownups are walking.

Shabat shalom.
This is my first time at a shabat meal (the friday dinner for those of you not jewish). Today the table is blessed by Rabbi Shay, and we even have Challa (provided by the friendly Rabbi - a real one - that lives nearby). The rest of the food was provided by Ken and Nicole who joined us for dinner with their daughter who is going to be my friend when I grow up a bit. You can't really see me, but mommy is holding me in her lap. Oh, and the flowers on the table were sent by mommys' family. We got lots of flowers - from Maria (a friend of father from way back in Israel) Osnat (the sister) and even from PMC (that is where daddy works) so the house is all nice and colorful for me.
Well, time for me to eat some more so that is the end for today.

Another very important step. Once we got home, we could finally get rid of these dog tags that are tied to all our hands. They are used in the NICU as identification. You might think it was a military installation with all the security. Oh, and in the background you can see my changing table. Not my favorite place, but can't be avoided.

Home at last. This is my very own room (well, mother and father can come in to feed me and take care of me, but they had to clear all their stuff out. I insisted.)

First thing in the morning, they weigh me before sending me home. This is the last day I wore these wires you see the ends of.

As promised, here are some pictures. First an honorable mention. In this picture you can see my night nurse. She was very nice, both to me and to my parents. She made us all feel comfortable, and everyone could get some sleep at night. Not all the nurses were so nice. She happens to be canadian with 3 kids. Are all canadians that nice? I heard they tend to be.

Home at last!

Finally, after so long, I got to go home today. This was somewhat of a rush job, and I am not quite organized, but then everyone who ever moved to a new home will know how I feel. Just about as soon as we got home father got a shopping list and had to get all sorts of things, from waste baskets and a hamper, to night lights and bottles (turns out the ones he already had for me were not the same as what I was using in the NICU, and I did not like the nipples - oh did I tell you that I am a very good nippler? And even before that, he had to rush and get me new clothes, since all the clothes they had for me were too big. That's fine though, I'll grow into them soon...
Now things are settling down somewhat, and even though I have the hiccups, father is watching me, and home is a lot more fun then the hospital. A friend of daddy also got dinner for both mom and dad - thanks dave! It is good to have friends. I should get some of my own soon.
Hope you can see some more pictures tomrrow, after everything settles down a bit more.
G'night for now to all of you.