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Whistle Down the Wind

October 27, 2009 by Jessica

Okay – the title may not be totally appropriate for this post, but, hey, I thought the Broadway reference would entertain my father when he gets out of the hospital (hopefully today). You see, today I have movie references and my Grandma “Cookie” on my mind. Do you ever think that some habits/actions of lost loved ones are somehow…reincarnated in our children? Perhaps it signals as a reminder from those who are gone.

You see, Grandma “Cookie” could not whistle. There is no judgment in that – neither Elliot nor I can whistle either, so clearly, it would be a genetic challenge for Micah to acquire the whistling acuity of HIS grammy (my mother). Cannot whistle, you say? Well, why didn’t she just put her lips together…and blow? (Are you smiling, Dad?) Funny thing is, she did. All the time. Mostly unconsciously. It was actually quite an annoying habit. If you asked her to stop whistling, she would tell you that she could not whistle. It started to become so awful her last few years that we would sit around and mimic her. Often when she wasn’t with us, one of us would start making that infertnal…blowing…noise. Even now that she is gone, every once in a while, one of us will still do that as we smile and fondly remember Grandma “Cookie.”

Why am I reminiscing about Grandma “Cookie” today? Naturally, it is because of Micah. You see, regardless of ability, he too, likes to sit and “whistle.” He puts his lips together and makes that same awful noise. He sometimes does it incessantly! This morning, for example. He was sitting in his high chair, absentmindedly….”whistling.” And I thought about Grandma “Cookie.” I hope she is smiling.

Filed Under: Grandma Belle, whistling

Father’s Day… bittersweet

June 22, 2009 by Jessica

Happy Father’s Day! This year, we celebrated Elliot’s first Father’s Day. In honor of the big day, I bought Elliot a bike trailer so he can take Micah on his bike with him to daycare or on errands. He tried it out last week, and both of them seemed to love it.


Just a little video of the first ride in the trailer:


Before I get into the details of our celebration, I do want to take the time to say what an incredible father Elliot is. He is such a loving man – he is so gentle with Micah, changes his diapers (whenever possible, I let him change ALL the dirty ones), feeds him – whatever Micah needs. He has been doing Micah’s laundry most of the time the past 6 months. They take naps together, and he makes time to play with him. Elliot takes him to daycare, shares in the feeding, and they go to synagogue together every Friday night and Saturday morning – their weekly Daddy/son outing. Micah plays “secretary” for Daddy sometimes when he is working. Elliot takes the time to talk to him, and he is very willing to do whatever is needed to care for him. Elliot comes to every doctor’s appointment, too – he doesn’t miss out on anything! Elliot makes up songs all the time so he can sing to Micah (his favorite seems to be “What’s the matter baby boy?”), and Micah just lights up whenever he sees his Daddy. Elliot helps put him to bed every night (he takes him upstairs, dresses him for bed, reads him a book, gives him his medicine and then I go upstairs to nurse Micah), and he isn’t afraid to be alone with Micah, give him a bath by himself, or put him to bed alone when I go out. It is apparent to anyone who sees the two of them together how much they adore each other. Happy Father’s Day, Elliot – we love you!
We decided to celebrate Father’s Day with both of our families this year. We drove up to New Jersey to visit Elliot’s family on Friday. Our oldest niece, Melissa, was home from college, and she had not seen Micah since he was 8 days old! We arrived on Friday afternoon, and hung out with Brian and Stephanie and Aunt Jodi (Melissa was out and about, and Uncle Steven was still at work). Micah was showing off – he rolled over from front to back AND back to front over and over again, and then he sat and played with his gumball machine without falling over! Unfortunately, Micah was not cooperative at bedtime. He cried and cried for almost 1 hour, but I finally got him asleep in the pack-n-play in Brian’s room around 8:30. We had chinese food for dinner, and then the fun began. Brian has discovered baking, so the two of us decided to run to the store (with Stephanie) to get a few supplies to make strawberry pie. We whipped up two of those and then called it a night. Here is some video of Micah showing off (and you’ll hear the conversation we had planning the trip to the grocery store to buy the ingredients to make a strawberry pie):

The next morning, Micah woke up at 7 am, but fell back asleep after nursing until 9:30 am. He ate his breakfast, played with his cousins, and then we waited for his other Aunt Jody, Uncle Dan cousin Ethan, Poppy Ira and Grandma Roberta to arrive. When everyone arrived, Micah showed off all of his tricks and we gave his Poppy Ira his Father’s Day gift…a framed photo of Micah. We all headed out to the mall to have a “cousins” photo taken for Father’s Day. The photo was really cute! We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner, then back to the house for cake and pie.



Here is some video for good measure:
Micah had another rough night falling asleep, but he slept until 8:30 Sunday morning. We were out the door by 9:30, and arrived at Jen and Jeremy’s house for brunch around 12:15. We had blintzes, quiche and strawberry pie for dessert. Micah played with his cousins Paige and Peyton and showed off his tricks again. We also gave my parents a framed photo of Micah – a trilogy of close-up shots of his face. After spending a few hours together, we headed home around 3:00. What a long (but fun) weekend!

I thought I would also take this time to thank my own father for being a wonderful Daddy. You were always there for me, without hesitation. When I waited until the last minute and you had to run all over creation picking things up and turning things in for me so I didn’t miss an important deadline, you did it, without grumbling. You came to my swim meets and dance recitals and gymnastics events. You even came to a mother/daughter even with me once when mom couldn’t be there. You took me to see shows and spent time with me. You made me go shopping with you sometimes – I still can’t forgive you for that, but I’ll let it slide. You drove my carpool, embarassed me in front of my friends, but most importantly, you’ve always been there to love and support me, without hesitation. I may not tell you often enough, but I love you, and I appreciate the person you are – there are few men in this world who are as good as you are, and you taught me to set the bar high and expect more from men. Thank you, Dad, for all you do for our family!
Despite all the wonderful things we have to celebrate, Father’s Day is also bittersweet – one year ago on Father’s Day, I entered my 2nd trimester and we sent out a note announcing my pregnancy. The next morning, I sent out a second note to family and friends announcing the death of my grandmother. What a crazy year…we miss you, Grandma “Cookie,” and we think of you often. I’m sorry you never had the chance to meet Micah – I know how time with your family and all the little babies brought you such joy.

Filed Under: Father's Day, Grandma Belle, Paige, Peyton, pictures, video

A new chapter . . . . maybe a boy?

June 22, 2008 by Jessica

Time marches on . . . this week has been pretty rough. We drove 9 hrs in a car up to Utica to go to my grandmother’s funeral, and my morning sickness was out of control! I puked 3 times on the way up, and was generally feeling miserable. My cousin Trenna and her husband John came in to join us for dinner. Unfortunately, they got a little turned around as we were trying to find a restaurant . . . and I ended up puking out the window AGAIN!! We had a small graveside service, which was nice . . . except for the horrible, miserable and inappropriate Rabbi who conducted the service. I was appalled by his behavior towards us, and some of the things he said during his “eulogy.” I will try and be kind and not post any of the things he said to me here. We did have a nice luncheon afterwards, paid for by a close friend of my grandmother’s.

We had to leave right after lunch since we had such a long journey home. Luckily, the car ride back from Utica was not quite as horrible (it was only 7 hours and I only puked 1 time)! We returned here late Thursday night to discover that Arleen and Lorin had left a pitcher of water outside the door for us – a kind and thoughtful gesture (and part of the Jewish tradition to wash your hands before entering a house of mourning/after leaving a cemetery, for those of you who do not know). We went to services on Friday night, and our family friends Gail and Steven, Arleen and Lorin, and Suellen and Gregg brought over dinner for us. Saturday night we held Shiva at our house, and we just barely had enough people to make a minyan (10 people – the minimum needed to say the prayer for mourning). Thanks to Heather and Brad for coming over at the last minute to meet our quota!! Today we have more family and friends stopping by to visit and we will have another night of shiva at my parents’ house. Hopefully, we won’t have any problem obtaining our minyan tonight.

The good news is that on Friday we had a midwife appointment. It was a fantastic appointment. She took the time to answer all of our questions, and discuss options for my fear of needles. I really like this practice, and I’m so thrilled I switched. I also picked up a prescription to help control my morning sickness, so hopefully that will help. We were able to hear (and record) the heartbeat, which I will try to figure out how to post here later. There is a “thwap” sound about halfway through, which we were told is a kick!

Then, just for fun, we decided to take the IntelliGender test today . . . I figure it must be about 50% accurate!! According to IntelliGender, we are having . . . .


I suppose we will see in August if this is correct!

Filed Under: boy, Grandma Belle, intelligender, morning sickness

Sad News

June 16, 2008 by Jessica

I can’t believe I have to post this right on the heels of our wonderful news, but my Grandma died this afternoon. My father and I were planning to visit her today to check on her. About 5 minutes before my father arrived, the nurses went in to check on her blood pressure. They stepped out while the machine was reading, and when they returned, she had died.

Filed Under: Grandma Belle

Rocky Day . . . Happy Father’s Day!

June 15, 2008 by Jessica

So, today was Father’s Day . . . and my parents’ anniversary, and my brother’s birthday. Big day in our family! We had a wonderful family day planned . . . my brother, Jen and my nieces were coming down so we could spend the afternoon at the park together. After our outing, we were supposed to go back to my parents’ house to bbq and have a late lunch/early dinner together. I arrived at my parents’ house right on time . . . just as my father received a phone call from the assisted living facility where my grandmother lives. Apparently, she wasn’t feeling well, and they wanted to call an ambulance to send her to the hospital. We decided to split up – my mom and dad went to the hospital, and Elliot & I went to meet my brother at the park. We took the girls on the carousel and the swings, and waited for a phone call from my parents.

They called about 1 hour later, and the news wasn’t good. Grandma’s EKG was irregular, and the doctor did not think Grandma would be leaving the hospital. He said she either had a heart attack (which would be the good news in the scenario) or that she was suffering from an aortic dissection (which would mean her valve had finally failed, and it would be fatal). We immediately left the park and went to join my parents at the hospital with Grandma. After a few more tests and a lot of waiting – the news came back that she had a mild heart attack! Ultimately, the doctor determined that there was nothing we could do for her barring invasive measures that would likely kill her, so he released her for palliative care to return to her current care facility. We do not yet know the extent of the damage from this latest heart attack, so at this point it is a waiting game – we are waiting to see if she will recover from this attack, and we are waiting to see if this is a precursor to subsequent heart attacks. Regardless . . . today she is holding steady. She is one tough lady!

In the end – it turned out to be a Happy Father’s Day. My dad returned home with us after my grandmother was released, and we had our dinner and exchanged gifts. I hope Grandma hangs strong for a while longer – we’ve been told she has been living on borrowed time for 4 years, so maybe she still has more time left.

Filed Under: Father's Day, Grandma Belle

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Eat-Sleep-Love | Maryland DC & Virginia Sleep Coach, Baby Planner, Maternity & Child Consultant

"I was exhausted and out of ideas when I consulted with Jessica.  She gave me all the tools I needed to help my children sleep better. Thank you, Jessica, for making our home a happier one!"

-Kari

Mom to 2 year old quadruplets
Eat-Sleep-Love | Maryland DC & Virginia Sleep Coach, Baby Planner, Maternity & Child Consultant

"I was exhausted and out of ideas when I consulted with Jessica.  She gave me all the tools I needed to help my children sleep better. Thank you, Jessica, for making our home a happier one!"

-Kari

Mom to 2 year old quadruplets
Eat-Sleep-Love | Maryland DC & Virginia Sleep Coach, Baby Planner, Maternity & Child Consultant
"Our son did not know how to fall asleep on his own, sleep through the night or stay in bed past 5:00am. Jessica was there every step of the way, offering advice, suggestions and support. Her step by step plan made for easy transitions and successful milestones. We cannot thank her enough for all her work and support!"
T. and S.

Parents to 2.5 year old boy

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