Kid Pictures

Whenever my sister and brother-in-law come to visit, they always take tons of amazing pictures of the kids. I feel completely lazy in that I rarely ever take pictures of them, but anyway... Here's the album of select pictures from the visit, for those of you who don't read my brother-in-law's blog.

Before you enjoy these pictures, I just have to say that the second picture in the album took my breath away. Why, you might ask? Because my son is my husband's identical twin, apparently... Seriously, I need to scan and upload some of my hubby's pics from when he was a little boy and you'll do a double take as well.

Twins and Shoes

My kids are the funniest, cutest kids around. The preface to this movie is that Dovid was asking Chana to take off his socks and shoes. She got one shoe off and then left the room. Dovid was just sitting, waiting for her to come back and finish the job. I knew this was going to be a "Kodak Moment," so I taped and was not disappointed. This video was taken on my phone, so it's not the best quality, but I know you'll like it anyway. Enjoy!

Video For Your Enjoyment

I can't believe it's been over 2 weeks since my last post. I've just been so busy doing nothing interesting that my blogs have been totally neglected. In any case, my mom is here for a visit with Ron and she brought with her a video she found stashed away in the house. It's a VHS that begins with a chorus concert from 1995. The conductor was my favorite teacher of all time, and I was super excited to get to see this. I burned it onto a DVD, converted it to mpeg and have uploaded it to YouTube for your viewing pleasure. I'm sure you'll be able to find me since I'm the shortest kid...and I'm standing in the back row!

T-Mobile...Not The Cell Phone Company

That's my husband's joke, actually. He likes to refer to Tzipora as "T-Mobile" when she's moving around. And she's been doing a lot of that lately! No, she can't really crawl yet, but she scootches in circles on her tummy, and sometimes she'll even scootch backwards a little bit. I remember that Dovid scootched backwards on his tummy before he started going forwards, so I know it's just another step in the right direction. She also has begun to launch herself out of her Bumbo seat. I had her on the floor in her Bumbo earlier today and she had nearly turned herself around trying to reach something that was also on the floor...until she actually tumbled out of the seat onto her stomach. It looked perfectly orchestrated, she didn't hurt herself at all (she literally went right onto her tummy from the seat), and she was only moderately surprised that she found herself on the floor all of a sudden. It was really funny, although now I have to keep a *very* good watch on her in that seat, even when it's on the floor.

During this Bumbo seat mishap, I also noticed that she's getting the idea of object permanence, since she was looking to retrieve something that had fallen behind her.

Tzipora has also been making some Baby-Led Weaning progress. She's definitely eating some solids, as noted by her new poo consistency which always has little bits of whatever she's eaten in them, and she's getting loads better at putting food from the tray into her mouth...even if it means bending her head all the way to the tray and shoveling it in. lol I just need to think of some more good soft foods for her to try, since she still doesn't have any teeth. Some of the ones we've tried are cooked carrots, sweet potato and spaghetti squash. Any ideas for me?

As for the twins, their newest milestone is sitting at the table for meals. They're still in their booster seats, but instead of eating off of their tray they now sit right up at the table and have plates! They did really well on their first try of this, and I am so proud of them. They really are growing up!

Hippo Birdie Two Ewes...

Well, really Hippo Birdie Two Mees, but that's beside the point. Today's my birthday...YIKES! Another year has gone by, and I don't know where the time went. It's been a crazy year with having the baby and being in school, but I've still managed to keep my 4.0 average. :-) We can't celebrate my birthday today because the fast day of Tisha B'Av starts tonight, and for the past 8 days we've been in a type of mourning because of the upcoming fast day. So my present (and cake) will just have to wait. Although my hubby was sweet enough to bake brownies for Shabbos in honor of my upcoming birthday. :-D What a guy! Speaking of such guy, here's a picture of something I consider to be my birthday present...

Déjà vu

Here are all of the random things that have been going on lately:

First off, I'm really sorry I've been so bad about posting lately, but things got entirely messed up when the person who was supposed to be coming to live with us bailed. What a disaster! So we're still looking for someone to come and live with us...preferably someone who is honest and won't run away without saying goodbye.

As for the déjà vu, I have mastitis. :-( At the moment it doesn't seem to be as bad as when I had it with the twins, but it stinks nonetheless. I'm on antibiotics and will be taking tylenol round-the-clock to keep the chills and aches at bay. My mother-in-law is here this week, so she's a bit help and is teaching the twins to whisper because I'm not feeling well. It's super cute.

I finished my microbiology class on Tuesday evening, so I'm officially done for the summer. I'm almost 100% positive that I've pulled off another A, so I'm one class closer to valedictorian. :-) If I become valedictorian in two years, I will make sure that someone video tapes it so I can show you my speech.

I took my doula training class last week, so now all I need to do is attend births and I can get certified!! So if you live in the Boston area and are pregnant, get in touch with me so we can work together. :-) I have a whole doula bag full of labor supplies, and I'm also in the process of becoming Hypno-Doula certified with Hypnobabies. That means that I will be certified to work with women who are doing childbirth hypnosis of any type.

Tzipora had a visit at the Harvard Developmental Research Lab yesterday where they put on this cool electrode hat to measure the electrical impulses on her scalp while she watched a video screen. The study has to do with numbers and how infants process them. Isn't she a cutie?

So, now that you're all updated on my world, what's going on in yours?

Happy Blogoversary to Me!

I almost forgot my own Blogoversary!! Yipe! I can't believe I've been blogging for 3 years...it's just unreal. My whole life has changed so drastically since that first post. I began posting as an infertile woman who didn't know if she'd ever get pregnant period, and now here I am a mother of three - one of whom was actually conceived naturally!! I've seen so many miracles since I began blogging, and I feel so fortunate to have the amazing family I've been blessed with.

Speaking of family...how about a few updates?

Tzipora has started baby-led weaning and is doing great! She's getting the hang of it much quicker than the twins did. She's had carrot and sweet potato...even some asparagus, although I don't know if she's actually swallowed any of that. She can now pick up carrots, bite off a little piece and swallow it. She doesn't do it all the time, but I've seen it happen.

I've been trying to have Tzipora practice sitting more, but she's not so good at it. She more just flops over. She'll sit fine in the Bumbo or if I prop her against the couch, but with no support she just goes "wheeeee!"

Chana and Dovid are cute as ever. They talk in full sentences, sing songs, love having us read books, and can't get enough bubbles. They also enjoy playing with water - provided it's nowhere near a bathtub.

We were supposed to have a new live-in helper come last week, but unfortunately she's sick in the hospital and we aren't sure when (if?) she'll be joining us. I'm super sad about it because she's such a sweetheart, and it pains me that she's been hospitalized for so long. We're all praying that she gets better really soon so she can get out of the hospital and, of course, come live with us.

I have just one more week of summer school and then I get a month break until nursing school starts. I'm really, really excited about it!!

How are things with all of you out there in bloggy-land? I've had a few of my fellow bloggers post BFPs and such relatively recently, so I know there are some of you out there with good news... I'd love to hear more good news in comments!