Tuesday, February 27, 2007

All's Well

Ahuva rocked her well baby checkup at tipat chalav today. Both nurse and doctor were impressed with her development. I'm sorry I didn't bring a camera to capture her smiling at dr. with stethascope pressed to her little chest. She is an impressive 6.6 kilos (14 and a half lbs.), 59 cm in length.
She also had some vaccinations - not fun. These may cause fever so we bought some baby tylenol as advised.
 
This weekend we went on our first family trip. It was wonderful. We stayed at a kibbutz guest house way up north and visited the Hula Valley nature reserve. Little did we know it, but they offered 3-person side-by-side bikes for visiting the 10 KM trail. Perfect for us! With car seat in the middle for Ahuva, we were able to get excercise and stop and start as we liked. Well, Ahuva didn't much care for stopping!
 

Monday, February 26, 2007

Thursday, February 22, 2007

A Visit in the Village

Yesterday Ahuva and I made our farthest trip yet, to visit our friends in Dalyat-al-Karmel. As you can see, it was a beautiful day and Ahuva was treated royally.

Mitzva Making



I dressed Ahuva up in her first dress (thank you cool R.I. cousins!!) for her first shiva call. Sadly, a dear family friend passed away. Ahuva was well behaved during the visit and brought some smiles to the mourners.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Smiling


Ahuva is doing more cooing and smiling.
She even made her first joke: In the middle of a smiling session she suddenly scrunched up her face as though unhappy. When my expression changed accordingly, she burst back into a smile as if to say "Ha, ha! Gotchu, Mommy!" If you're not laughing, well, I guess you had to be there. I was totally amused.
This weekend Ahuva successuflly appeared at a Bris for twin boys (little Amir may be in love with Ahuva), a dinner in a restaurant hosted by guests from abroad, and a Saturday outing to a fine Haifa cafe. Not too shabby!
This weekend we're planning a family OVERNIGHT adventure in the north at www.biktot10.com.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Baby Yoga

Thursday Ahuva and I went to our first session of "Baby Yoga" class at a local "Mommy and Me" club called Tandu. It was totally silly and fun!
I told my mother I feared it would be "too yuppie".
"So what if it is? You're a bit of a yuppie. Be true to your class," she urged. I couldn't have been more glad that I did.
Unfortunatly, we were 30 min late and so missed hearing everyone's name and birth stories. We were slowed by a trip to Ahuva's nice doctor who confirmed that the many little red pimples that come and go on Ahuva's face are totally harmless. Dr. K. says no one knows why they come, and that they will dispear. We thought they were do to maternal hormones ingested through my milk, or worse, that they might be alergy related. I was NOT enthusiastic about the idea of keeping a food journal as my lactation consulatant recommended, so I braved the long wait to see Dr. K. though it meant being late to baby yoga.
I heard Ahuva poop loudly while we were waiting at Dr. K's so as soon as we got to Tandu I knew the 1st order of business was a diaper change. This would be my first public change. The friendly owner held Ahuva while I used the bathroom. She then led me into the yoga room where the class was already in progress.
The floor was carpeted with thick mats. Around the edges mothers perched on fat puffy pillows, their babies spread out on towels in front of them. Ahuva and I were led to a corner where I dumped our belongings. A grandmother sitting next to me willingly held Ahuva while I set up her blanket and prepared to change her. Meanwhile the teacher was explaining the benefits of baby yoga, how it stimulates good digrestion, improves imune functioning, encourages healthy development, and promotes confidence in infants.
Whatever, I was just really happy to have a fun reason to leave the house with Ahuva!
Butt cleaned, I was just about to put on a fresh diaper when the teacher announced, "OK, we're going to get started. You can take off your baby's clothes, even their diaper!". Most of the mommies seemed skeptical about that idea. But since I hadn't yet put on her fresh diaper, I thought we'd give it a try. Luckily, the clean diaper was lying under her while I removed her outerwear top because she peed directly on it! That was great, because I was fairly sure that it meant she wouldn't do so again for at least a few minutes. As urged, I put a cloth diaper under her just in case. Ahuva's cloth nankies are hot pink. They were a fabulous gift from my cousin Cath who dyed them that fabulous color. I could tell they were the envy of my neighbors.
Following instructions from the teacher, we "asked permission" to massage our babies and then began, using almond oil distributed by an assistant in little cups. We also held our mouths to our babies heads, bellies, and feet and emitted a loud HUMMMMM. It felt like we were communicating the OM vibration to our babies. I liked it and Ahuva seemed to like it.
I had worried that she'd sleep through class but no, she seemed pretty with it the whole time, alert and often smiling. I felt a little bummed that she wasn't giving me eye contact but prefered to stare left, towards the big mirror. But then I noticed that the two baby boys to my right were staring in our direction rather than at their mommies, so I felt better.
The time seemed to fly by. The class lasts nearly two hours which is good because it allows time for nurisng, napping, and diaper changing along the way as needed. There seemed to be a group melt-down towards the end, with one baby cry setting off the next. Ahuva joined in but was soothed by nursing.
We signed up for the 7 session package.
The two days since the class, I repeated what I remembered of the massage at home. Why not? She likes it and it's something to do with her other than nurse or change her or say "coo".

Ahuva, week 7

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=151544362/a=3127449/t_=3127449

Polish Feast

Sunday we had a real treat when Adi, Ahuva and I were invited to a dinner hosted by our neighbor Lola. She is from Poland, a tough Holocaust survivor who came here via the detention camps in Cyprus after losing her entire family. She is now a great grandmother. She rocks.
The guests included Lola's grown son and daughter. They both were really nice. More shy than outgoing, fun-loving Lola, they are both sensitive and artistic. The main guests of honor were Lola's family visiting from Canada, the parents of our friend Y.
The evening was a rare treat for several reasons. We were totally relaxed, since Ahuva was mellow or sleeping the whole time and we only had to walk down one flight of stairs to get there. We really like spending time with Y. and his wife. Plus, there were many kind hands happy to hold Ahuva, especially Y's mother (not yet a grandmother, but clearly ready to become one!). She described that baby-to-chest holding as a "melting moment". Who could disagree?
The food was delicious! Lola had single-handedly prepared a real holiday feast: gefilte fish, chopped liver, and Polish eggplants for starters. Then outstanding mushroom blintzes. Next came a roasted chicken accompanied by Polish gnocchi, delicious with fried onions. Wow. To top it off we enjoyed a poppy seed packed cake baked by Lola's daughter. Perfect.
With Ahuva sleeping in the caring arms of others, I relished being able to eat "like a grown up". That is, slowly, relaxed, and with grown up conversation. I didn't have to calculate how to prepare and eat my meal using as few dishes and utensils as possible (to speed clean up). In fact, Lola even had little gold-plated dachshund knife holders at each place setting. Royal!

Friday, February 09, 2007

Baby Buddah in Lotus Pose


One of the first positions we learned this week in "Baby Yoga" class.