Remind Me Why...

We seem to have a hard time staying put. That's an understatement. We CAN'T stay put! We got back from Chicago two weeks ago. I just about finished unpacking and it was time to pull the suitcases back out! This time we're packing for a longer trip though. Chicago is just a stop on a much bigger map! We are driving to New York. Why? I plead temporary insanity. Something about how it will be much better to have our own car the entire time we're there. Something about how we'll be able to bring everything we need and not worry about weight and size! All I can say is I was up until almost 2 am doing laundry and I was up at 7 this morning (not an hour I like to see) to finish with packing and all that fun stuff! Oh, and it's FREEZING outside so I've been pushing off cleaning the car. I think I actually have to do it today so we can load the car! Uch.

Ok, I have a list the size of Florida and only a few hours.

Aurevoir!

TEEEEETH!!!

Thanksgiving in Chicago was really nice! It was great to get away, awesome to see family, and Benny really had a blast being the only kid around!!!

To keep up with his weekly tradition, Monday morning we were supposed to go for a flu shot for Benny but of course, he had a horrible cold/cough and was not able to get the shot! And he had the start of pink eye. So we have rescheduled the flu shot for tomorrow!

Something I noticed, while giving Benny his eye drops, was that there are about six new teeth in Little Man's mouth that were not there last week! He got in four molars and two more front-ish teeth. They seriously sprouted out of nowhere!!! I've wondered when his tooth-growing would speed up...he got his first two teeth when he was about ten months old or so!

This week was actually not too crazy. School was school, we had a Chanukah writing contest and the winners got a pizza party after school! Benny stayed with me for the party and kept running to the hallway near his classroom, yelling "DIA! DIA!!!" His teacher's name is Nadia, he calls her Dia. It was so cute!

Shuky won four movie tickets at school over the last few weeks so we finally decided to go out and use them! We took out another couple and went to see Old Dogs. Either we were all over-exhausted or the movie was seriously hilarious! We were all laughing SO hard, like crying laughing! We continued on to Walmart for even more excitement (I needed a marble jar for my classroom). After that, we had some things to do around town, transporting some bigger toys to the shul for the kids' program. Two of which did not actually fit in the car. Both of which were held through the windows, just hanging there. Cue more cry-laughing!

After our lice incident, I had everything in boxes/bags being treated. My wig was in a bag in the freezer. That was an interesting experience. Never thought I'd have to defrost my wig! But alas, there were no more nits and I can once again have my comfy wig! The toys all came out of solitary confinement today as well. With each new toy, Benny came over with a huge, "WOW!" and started playing. Needless to say, today was actually a pretty easy day with him. He could not get over having all his toys back!!
Shuky and I decided to put together the kitchen we bought for Benny's Chanukah present during his nap. We assumed we would get it done before he woke up, hide it in the office, and be able to give it to him fully ready - on Chanukah! Of course, he woke up in the middle of the assembly. Once he saw it, there was no way we could put it anywhere so Chanukah started early in our house this year!

We are very excited about our upcoming New York trip. Not so much for the trip itself but for the being in New York for two weeks part! We'll see how Benny handles his first major road trip. Or maybe we need to see how Shuky and I handle it! Thankfully, Rochel is coming to visit for Chanukah so she will be driving with us. But not back. Although I may kidnap her for the drive back. Shhh. ;)

This Shabbos, we went to the Browns for the whole thing...just slept there. Benny loves the boys and we love going there! He was yelling for AWIIII (Avi) the whole time; hilarious! Of course, it's been snowing since Thursday so it was a really good thing we decided to sleep there!

Well, it's still snowy outside and freezing and we decided that tonight we are going to try sleeping in the downstairs guest room. See if it's a lot warmer on the first floor. Way too cold upstairs these days! Benny is in Shuky's office and we are next door in the guest room...we'll see how this works out!

And now, to try out the new room, good night!!!

Never a Dull Moment...

Unfortunately, I have not resolved my laptop issue as fast as I would have liked to! I was hoping to take my birthday money and any possible Chanukah money and find myself something cheap. But, with our current financial status, I just can't justify buying a laptop when we still have Shuky's! So my posts are not coming around as often as I'd like...
The past few weeks have been pretty eventful. Since coming back from California, each Sunday has been a new fun story with Benny.
Sunday #1: Benny had a horrible cough and cold the entire week before hand. Started giving us reason to worry (we are super careful about asthma considering Shuky's history) so we decided to take him in to the hospital, make sure it wasn't anything serious. It was an ear infection combined with a bad cough/cold combo.
Sunday #2: While combing Benny's hair after his bath, I realized he brought some friends home from school! Yuck! He had lice and, as it turns out, so did I! We had to tear the house apart, treating everything and ourselves too! I had to spend the next few days at home with B, waiting for us to both come out clean! I made it back to school on Thursday finally!
Sunday #3: Benny got a hold of a USB SD Card converter with a Micro SD Card in it. We found it in his mouth but the Micro SD Card was no longer in it! We freaked out and took him to the hpospital for X-rays. It didn't show up on the X-ray but we are now the official joke of the family; 'transfering our data to Benny', 'Benny is a walking operating system' (the card had the new Google Chrome OS on it!), 'bennydroid' :)
Thursday we are heading to Chicago for Thanksgiving, very exciting! And soon we head out on our drive to New York!!!!!!!!!
Peace and love.
Chani

Back From Hiatus

Albeit unofficial, I took a small sabbatical from blogging. Not because I wanted to, mind you. I left to California the morning after Succos and my laptop broke the day after I got back. That is about three and a half weeks worth of no blog posts. That counts as a hiatus in my book! I've missed you blog!!!!!

All I can say is the laptop broke at a good time (if there is ever a good time for a laptop to break)! Next week is my birthday and next month is Chanukah. So that's where all my money will be headed! At least I'm finally picking out a new laptop for myself instead of a lovely hand-me-down! No complaints here, just saying...

Benny is at such an awesome stage (I know I keep saying that, but they just keep getting better!!!). He's really starting to talk more and understand things. Like no. Before, his no was just a cute thing he heard people saying. Now he means it when he yells no at us! And he climbs on EVERYTHING! Today, he pushed his small chair up to the highchair, climbed up on it, and attempted to check out what might be left from dinner! Thankfully, I was walking past as he did so! He really likes to push it to the limit, but hey, what kid doesn't!!! :)

So, at 15 months, he got his first ear infection today. This week should be fun! He also has a nasty cold and cough. I've already arranged for a backup substitute for tomorrow, in case the morning isn't quite as fun as I'm hoping for!

Hopefully soon I'll cave and load my pictures onto Shuky's laptop so I can upload everything from the past few weeks. I'm still not fully accepting that my laptop has gone to the special laptop farm where they get to roam free and hang out with all the other cool laptops. It will still come back to me, it has to! I NEED MY LAPTOP BACK!!! :(

Much to think about this week...

I've missed you all,

Chani

Videos Worth Blogging About

The Monsey Goldsmith Clan put up some hilarious and adorable videos yesterday and they deserve to be mentioned!!! These kids are seriously something else! You've got to hear Shaina and Zalmy discussing things, like toy cars and instruments!!

Enjoy! Leave comments for them so they will keep putting up pictures!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyemt247#play/uploads

Benny the Star!

I have been talking about doing this for a while now, as some of you may know. Gap is doing a casting call for models and I am entering Benny. Anything that comes out of it goes into an account for him, hopefully to start his college fund! Right now, I can put up to five pictures on the site and you can vote for each one or choose one specific one you like, but you can vote once a day (for one picture only) until sometime in November. Although there will be a panel of judges to determine finalists, the more popular pictures have shots at other things as well.

PLEASE VOTE FOR BENNY EVERY DAY!!!!!!!

http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/chananzo/355851770/

Right now there is only one picture you can vote on (not the best one either), soon the second will go up and eventually I will have a total of 5...

Thank you so much!!!!!!!

Feel free to show this to anyone you want!!!

New Year, New Fun!

Rosh Hashana was really nice. We had ate three out of the four meals out at friends' houses. Benny was mostly OK. For some reason, he had the hardest time with the Shabbos day meal (when he walked to someone's house!!!) but I'll give him that one. Chalk it up to crazy schedules, intense meals, new faces, you can choose! He loved being in shul on Sunday. I let him walk most of the way to see if he could make it on a Shabbos, but I thought I would be late and miss the shofar so I threw him in the stroller and make a run for it. Of course, the shul was running late so I had another 20-30 minutes to spare! Next time...

Benny sat with Shuky for a nice amount of the davening. When it came to singing parts, he got SO excited and started doing his regular dancing and rocking to the beat. People from the bimah were dancing with him. Everywhere Shuky looked, someone else was either enjoying the show or joining in. So cute!!

School has been going well for me, thank G-d. My older class has been giving me great reviews (via parental feedback) and my younger class is giving me a run for my money. I have them for the last hour of the day and I usually don't get my full hour. By the time I get into the room, they are very ready for the day to be over and nothing I do can keep them happy. It's only been a week so I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. I'm hoping that once the Yomim Tovim are over and the school schedule gets back to normal, I will really be able to make something more of that period!!

Benny is doing well in school, as well! If he doesn't have a good nap before school, he is a MONSTER! But when he does sleep, he loves being in the class! He has his friends already (hung out with them at shul too :D) and does not let me touch his lunch box. He has to carry it everywhere! Of course, it is half his size and drags on the floor but it's his and I better not touch it!

Shuky is also doing well in school! NICC just announced that they have paired up with University of Iowa and are offering a BA in Shuky's program. That means that our two years here may have just become four, but we will have to see as time goes by...

And, I have offiically stopped nursing. Did it for 14 months, super proud of myself. BRING ON THE BOOZE!

Hope everyone had a beautiful Chag and an easy fast today. May you all have a sweet new year with health, wealth, and happiness. And all that good stuff.

And, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIMI!!!!!!!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

Potty Ahoy!

So, lately Benny has been showing signs that he's ready for a potty. Yes, he's really young (not quite 14 months), but developementaly, he has been a bit advanced and this didn't surprise me too much. So, while shopping for his 'school supplies' today, I decided to buy him a potty. I took him into the bathroom, sat him down, and I sat on the toilet across from him and he did it! He peed! He got super excited and started pointing down, like he does with a dirty diaper. Of course, this got me super excited so I started clapping and singing for him and he just went wild, clapping and laughing and singing along with me. Too bad Shuky borrowed my phone's SD card. No pictures or videos for anyone. We'll pretend the next time is the first!

Speaking of school (I think I mentioned it up there...), I've been at the school a lot this week, getting my classroom ready, gathering text-books, scoring all the cool supplies, etc. so Benny has been in daycare. The first day I was ready for the waterworks and him grabbing my leg and never letting go. We opened the door, he ran in for the toys and never looked back! I came back four and a half hours later, expecting to see a basket-case (him AND the teacher!). But, no. Granted, he was super happy to see me. Ran over and gave me a big hug! And then went back to the toys and his teacher. I gathered his things and said, "Ok Benny, let's go home, say goodbye!" He turns to me, waves and says, "Bye Mommy!!" and turns around and continues playing! I literally had to drag him out of there! Taking him back today was just as great, I opened the door to his room and as soon as he realized where he was, he was OFF! The teacher had to wrestle his back-pack off of him! :)

Tonight I was in school for a while, had Benny with me. He found a pencil (unsharpened) and was holding it. He fell down and it hit him right below his eye...nice bruise and cut! I, of course, starting freaking out! This was, after all, the first big booboo in all of 13.5 months!!! A few hugs later (for both of us) and he was all better...

And now, my friends, I must sleep.

But before I go, just a quick mention of a great fundraiser going on to raise awareness for Ovarian Cancer... http://www.kelly-confidential.com/send_virtual_tshirt.html You design adorable shirts and send them out to friends and for every time you do it, a dollar gets donated to OCRF and you get entered to win a new Electrolux Luxury Washer/Dryer combo! Go. Do. Win!!

Good night to one and all!

School House Rock

Benny is hillarious. My mom bought him a nice lunch box for school and this morning I pulled out his backpack to make sure it would work for him - he has not let go of either since. When we had to go out running errands, I literally had to pry them away!!! He has been wearing the backpack, while loading and unloading everything (including my cell phone) into the lunch box! So cute!!

The way he's been spouting his gibberish lately, I feel like he's just going to start talking in full sentences all of a sudden! And of course, it is all accompanied with wild gesturing and pointing!

FYI, for anyone who has a need for baby products, a great site to keep an eye on is

MamaBargains. They have awesome deals!!!

A Bobbelacious Shabbos!

We had an awesome Shabbos with Bobbe in Minneapolis this weekend! Rochel had a flight back to New York out of MSP for Sunday morning so my mom decided to make it a girls' weekend! She came in Thursday morning, where Rochel and I (along with the Benster) picked her up at the airport. We got a room at the Radison and spent tons of time in the pool! We also went out to eat, touring a bit, drove along the river at night, vegged, did a bit of shopping, and just plain had an amazing time!

Bobbe bought Benny his first train set!! He loves it! Well, he loves wrecking it, still a bit young for the tracks themselves, but he would not put down the trains!! He also LOVED the pool, as usual! I went to Target and found a great floatie contraption on clearance...of course, by the end of the weekend, he pretty much knew how to climb out of it. Good stuff! :) He was making friends with everyone in the hotel, doing his new thing where he gives lectures...gets all serious and shakes his hands around and just repeats his gibberish...so adorable!!

I brought the pack-n-play but he had a rough time sleeping, I guess he's gotten used to having his own room! So, every morning, around 6ish, he woke up like he sometimes does, but because he saw us all, he REFUSED to go back to sleep in his bed. Sleeping with him is like sleeping with a Whomping Willow (Harry Potter reference for anyone unsure). Which means no sleep for me past 6ish! And nighttime was a horror of it's own! I decided to just let him get tired enough to go to sleep, so about 11 or so each night, he would give me the 'I'm-rubbing-my-eyes-please-put-me-to-sleep' signal and off to bed he went!

For the drive back, being that it was just me and Mr. Monster, my goal was to not stop unless I absolutely needed gas, and that stop had to be, at the earliest, 30 minutes from home. I figured he would sleep until then, we were doing the airport drop-off at 5:30!! I knew that once he woke up, he probably wouldn't go back to sleep. And I was right. But, thankfully, I didn't need gas until Decorah (20 minutes away from home) and he slept the ENTIRE way!! Yay Benny!!

And now that we are back, I just finished unloading the car, Shuky blew the Shofar for us, and off to bed Benny goes for his first nap! Ahhhh, peace and quiet, come hither!

Hello Hulu, I've missed you!

Oh Glorious Internet

When they say absence makes the heart grow fonder, I'm pretty sure they had internet in mind. We finally got internet in the house and I am SUPER excited!! Obviously, I instantly uploaded pictures to my Facebook. Because, hey, I've got my priorities :)! And I was so sad to realize that without the constant uploading of pictures, I didn't take quite as many! Also, internet means video chatting again and catching up on all of our shows! Yay for HULU!!!!!

Shuky has started school already at this point. So far so good! I have decided to take a part-time job. A little over 3 hours a day, teaching some 5th grade English. Benny will be in daycare in the same building for those 3+ hours.

I think the daycare will be harder for me than for Benny, honestly. This kid has been attached to me, at the hip, for the past 13 months. He's a social butterfly, give him a few toys and another kid to take them away from :) and he's perfectly fine! How about me? Who am I going to chase after, who is going to frustrate me, who is going to make me laugh??? 5th grade girls, you have your work cut out for you!!!

We've been sending out Benny's pictures these past few days and if there is anyone out there who did not receive any and would like, please email me your address! You may be on the list already for the new batch of pictures coming in, or I may not have your info!!

Have a good Shabbos everyone!

Save the Clothing!

How do any moms save clothing from one child to the next??? Benny is a good eater and with eating comes mess. Anything within a five foot radius of his highchair is in danger of getting dirty. When appropriate, I take off his shirt for mealtime. I have all the great bibs, I do everything like I'm supposed to. And yet, I find myself washing things three, sometimes four, times to get out the food! He still spits up from time to time, so even with having his shirt off at mealtime, he gets it dirty later! I am open to any and all suggestions on how to get food and everything else out of clothing!! Help me save Benny's clothes!!!!!

Random thought: I've finally found a good health forum, called Natural Medicine Talk. Somewhere I can just browse and find what I'm looking for and see other people's comments. I am a forum lover, of course! With so many topics and branches, I figured everyone could use a site like this.

A Beautiful Uniqwah

Always tell the special people in your life how much you love them! This past weekend, a very dear friend of mine passed away and I just wanted to remind everyone to never hold back on your love for those in your life. You have no idea what tomorrow will bring!

Miriam was amazing. No simple words can describe the kind of person she was so I won't even try!

Miriam, I will love you and miss you every day! In October, Micki and I will be having a Girls Night in your honor!!!

The Clock Moves On

It has been a full year since I gave birth to our rambunctious little guy. Over a year since I started this blog. Over two years since I got married. Over three years since I decided to change my life around - dropped everything and left to Israel. Which really started everything for me!
Sitting back and looking at my life through someone else's eye. It may seem somewhat calm, regular, run-of-the-mill type stuff. From my eyes, the view is enormous!

As Time Goes By

It's been one year since I gave birth to my son. It's been over two years since I got married. It's been over three years since I decided to change my life around by dropping EVERYTHING and going to Israel.

Looking back on all that has happened these past few years, it makes you really think. Imagine if I hadn't decided I was sick of my life. I wouldn't have gone to Israel. I wouldn't have met Shuky. I wouldn't have Benny. We wouldn't have a beautiful family. I thank G-d every day that I realized enough was enough!

Benny is hilarious. I am going to tell you a few of the things he is doing now, to give you an idea of the character he's become. First of all, he is walking all over the place and I love the waddle that comes with it! He is a constant chatter-box; some understandable, most not. We have a distinctive 'Mommy', 'Tatty', 'a-da!' (which started out as dog and became all animals), 'ma-more' (I want more), and a few others. He points at everything he is playing with or passing boy and says 'dis' (this). He eats EVERYTHING and when I say everything, I mean our plates as well! He finally started sitting down to read books. And he plays so nicely on his own. He has also discovered what is inside his diaper, which makes me so happy (read this sentence with sarcasm please). As soon as we open his diaper to change it, his hands FLY down there to check it all out. Poop changes are extra special. It usually takes both me and Shuky...one of us holding his hands while the other changes him! He is obsessed with bath-time, has been since he was little actually. He will hear the bathtub start from another room and come running! He grunts and tries to climb in, he likes to check the temperature while it's filling the tub, just like he sees us do. Oh, and the cutest thing he does is brush his teeth with me every morning and night. He sits on the counter with his feet in the sink, holding his Snoopy toothbrush with his yummy toothpase and copies every move I make. I never thought I would enjoy brushing my teeth so much!!!

We took him for his one year old pictures on his birthday and they came out beautiful. I came home and pulled out his 4 week and 4 month shots to compare to now. He still has the same face but a bit chubbier and he just looks older. Obviously. But, still, it's interesting! I will try to put up some of the pictures soon. Our photographer, Brenda, was amazing; we usually get about 9 poses per sitting and this time, she was just like, "Oh, you can do as many as you'd like." Now, most of you may be thinking, 'Wow, she's so lucky!' Think back to your last photo session. Try to remember what it was like trying to decide which pictures to print without buying EVERYTHING. Nine pictures was always hard to choose from. Now, try to choose from THIRTY poses!!!!!!! I walked out with only two poses, could not decide which ones to do. And now, every day since the shoot, I've been looking over the online gallery, trying hard to decide!!! They stay up for 12 weeks so eventually, I should figure it out!

I would like to apologize for my lack of posts. We don't really have internet in the house and recently pulled the internet off my phone to cut back on expenses for a bit. I try to get on as often as possible, but obviously, not as often as I would like!

Have a good one!

Shame On Me

I can't believe so much time has gone by without a post. I hang my head in shame. Luckily, there is more to write now!

Firstly, Benny has started walking. At first, Shuky didn't think they counted as real steps but slowly, as he saw how Benny was seriously getting around, he caved and agreed that Benny has, indeed, gotten older and moved on to a new stage in life! Now, there's no stopping the little guy!

So, last you all knew, we had just moved in to our place. Benny was starting out in his own room.

Benny is still sleeping in his own room. Once in a while, he throws us for a loop and actually sleeps nicely! I have yet to get a full nights' sleep since, oh I don't know, the time of creation probably!

At this point, most of our boxes are unpacked. Those that remain have made it to Shuky's 'soon-to-be-office/guestroom/TV room'. Our other guestroom has been inaugurated, thanks to Moishy. Rochel has also graced us with a visit, but did not stay at our house. Oh, and Benny calls her 'Ra-Rooow'. He also says Mommy and Tatty very nicely, and Zaida is 'Ayda' or when he's lucky, 'Dayda'.

Another fun fact, I am slowly starting to fit back into my pre-Benny wardrobe! And I do mean slowly! But, it is all unpacked nonetheless!

We have been spending all of our Shabbosim out at either my father's house or with the Browns. This week was our first Shabbos at home, and like every other place we've lived in, our first Shabbos is always graced with guests!

I have so much more to write but no idea where to start. And a sink full of Shabbos dishes waiting for me downstairs is really not helping! Oh, and being that tonight is Benny's hebrew birthday (HOW CRAZY IS THAT!?!?!?!), I also have a birthday cake to make for a very funny little one year old who has completely changed my life and stolen my heart. Speaking of which, Benny is sitting on the floor in our room right now (no, he's still not asleep!!!) yelling into some of the parts from my breast pump, enjoying the way it changes his voice. Time for bed mister!

Good night to all!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

It's our first night in our new house tonight! And Benny's first night in his own room!

There is an amazing lightning storm outside, along with a tornado watch. Did I mention it's tornado season here now? The storms can get pretty hectic sometimes! It's usually pretty intense to sit and watch. For instance, right now, for five minutes straight, the sky lit up literally every half a second! When I was here as a teen, we used to drive out to the middle of field-land and watch the storms in all their glory!

Have a good night to all!

PS Our first guest room is ready for reservations!

Amazing Cakes!

Now that the Blooms are headed to Israel, I've been on the lookout for a new cakemaster to quench my creative thirst. I just may have stumbled into the hands of the perfect person!

Take a look at this blog, call me when you're fully craving one of these cakes, let's get one together, just because!!!

The Business of Babies

This is not a talk about the birds and the bees :) This is a talk about my new business. Well, my new website for a business I've been trying to get some wings on. Baby product consultations. The Baby Aisle. It's what I know and love, why not use it to help other people and bring in a little money! Most people don't take the time to do the research necessary when purchasing products for the little ones. Not that they are buying unsafe products, but with todays' market, when there are so many choices available, why not get exactly what suits you and your lifestyle! And that's where I come in. Knowing the right questions to ask and where to look for the answers can make a big difference.

For now, my site is a blog that is being constantly updated with pointers and reviews and incentives (free gift to the first ten signers!) to become a client. Go to www.thebabyaisle.com to get your baby needs taken care of!!!

Just Some Pictures...

I haven't put pictures up in a while so I figured I'd pull some cute ones off my phone to share! Enjoy!!

Um, Say What?

Is there anyone else out there who is wondering when this illusive season they call 'Summer' may be coming? I am beginning to believe this is just so we don't complain so much about the winters! Tell us there is this great, hot season that comes soon after; tell us we can go swimming, yes, swimming; not have to layer up. YEA RIGHT!! I'm telling you, it's a lie! All a lie!

I'd probably even be happy if it were in the 80's, I don't need the standard high 90's to 100's. Just not 58. Because that's the current temperature here in Iowa. 58 degrees.

I WANT NICE WEATHER!!!!!!

On a happier note, I fall more in love with Benny every day, if possible! He is at the most adorable stage, learning new things all the time. Really, he is just surprising me with his understanding of what's going on around him. He really gets things! And he really gets into things! He is slowly adding new words, or what sounds like words anyway. He points to things that are actually there now! He takes his little walker and runs everywhere! Ain't no stopping him now...:)

One of the funniest things he is doing these days is dancing to every drop of music he hears. It's awesome. I can sit and watch him for hours. If only he would sit for that long!

Everywhere we go with him, people stop what they're doing to talk to him. It's very interesting to see how people change around a baby, drop all their guards, become someone else!

We are still not fully into our house yet. We got this amazing deal on a bedroom set, it was originally $250, we found it clearanced for $62. It's a dresser, night-stand, headboard, and mirror. Beautiful too. Nice oak. It was brand new, in the box. They are just bringing in a new furniture company! Score!!

Anyway, if anyone wants our new mailing address, email me and I'd be more than happy to share it!
Have a good night!!!

Postvillllle. Sigh.

Hello everyone. We have survived phase one of our move. Getting here. Moving into our house is another story. It's been sitting empty for quite a few months now so I wanted an exterminator to come through, just clean up any 'squatters' who may have been enjoying the place! One would assume that I would have taken care of this before getting out here. That would have been smart. That would have been the efficient way to do things. I, obviously, did not. So, tomorrow, a week after getting into town, is the first day available to have the place treated, and of course the best thing to do is wait 24 hours after such a treatment. So we have gone from my mother's house in New York to my father's house in Iowa! We'll be here for Shavuos and then we can start putting our stuff in the house.
Well, first we'll have to go through and give the place a once-over, cleaning-wise, and then we can start moving in! We have a few projects we want to do over the summer. For one, I would like to paint the two bedrooms that we will be using. I would really like to make a nice room for Benny and likewise for ourselves! We haven't really been able to lay claims to any place yet since we've been married and we know we're here for at least two years. Why not really make it feel like home!
So I've been eying paint colors and trying to decide which way to go! We've also been fantasy shopping at Walmart a few times. Similar to window shopping, where you come home with nothing. But in the land of fantasy shopping, you can afford whatever you want. We are going to have one heckava place in this fantasy world!!!!!
The good news is, everything we own is now local. No more saying, 'Oh we have that in our boxes in Postville!'. And all of our New York stuff made it out today, so we REALLY have everything!!!
Alright, Benny has started this fun new schedule. He goes to sleep at a normal hour, usually between 7 and 8, depending on how his naps went during the day. Obviously, that is affecting what time he wakes up. Gone are the days of sleeping until 10 or 11. Hello 6:30-7. Hello birds chirping. Hello crack of dawn. Hello Shuky. Here's Benny.
I would like to create a snooze button for my child!
And now, being that it's 10 and Benny has been asleep for a while, I guess I should hit the sack as well!
Good night to one and all.
Oh, before I go, we would like to extend an open invitation to ANYONE who wants to come out for a visit, it's really beautiful here!!!!!!! And we finally have tons of space for guests!

What a Day!

I never thought getting to the airport could be such an ordeal as it was for us today! I got up at 6 to finish packing and get our carry-ons ready. Sruly picked us up around 8:45-9. We stopped at our old place first to grab something we forgot. The roads are all being redone so two blocks took almost ten minutes to drive! Then we stopped at Buncho for some to-go food and coffee. Another 15 minutes or so. And then we were off to LaGuardia!

So, merging onto the Grand Central from the Jackie Robinson, there was a van coming fast that we didn't see so we both ended up stopping short. The driver of the van was BEYOND pissed! Let's just say that even though both our windows and his windows were closed, we were able to hear the profanities quite clearly! He let us go and that was that.

Or so we thought. We were joking around about it and the van passes by to see us all laughing. I don't think that was the reaction he was looking for. Instantly, he went into crazy mode! He slows down, hoping we will pull up right next to him. Which wasn't something any of us were interested in doing, so we slowed down too. At this point, we are both pretty much stopped in our lanes, everyone around us is honking as two of the four lanes are being blocked up by this man's road rage issues! We moved over to be in his lane behind him so he switches to our previous lane. Back and forth a few times. Mr. Van is driving erratically, we're all really nervous. Sruly notices a cop in the far left lane and quickly pulls up next to them to get their attention. They stop to talk to us, Sruly explains what happened and asks for help. The cop tells us to get behind her and off we go. She speeds up with us in tow, takes us past the van and keeps driving with us. We see the van speeding up, swerving in and out and around all the cars. We start honking at the cop and pull up next to her letting her know what he's doing. She sends us in front of her and keeps the rear. Stays with us until our exit, where we SPEED off, hoping he won't see and follow. He didn't, thank G-d! We told Sruly to call when he got home!!! (He made it fine :) )

Off to the adventure of making it through the airport. After checking in at the last minute, we headed off to security. I walked through the wrong line and got yelled at. No biggie. We went back to the beginning of the line and waited 'like everyone else'. We gwt to the front and go to give our tickets and ID and realize the agent never gave us Shuky's ticket! So I continued through with Benny and he went back to get it. The workers saw what happened and helped me out to the gate. Shuky had a nice argument with the ticket agent, who, for some reason, was taking it personally! She finally printed his ticket and when the security guys saw Shuky they pulled him through super fast.
We made it onto the plane, enjoyed our stopover in Chicago and just left Rochester.
Oh, they lost my stroller too. Fun times, fun times!

So long, farewell

Our last day in New York. Just went to Ikea with Melissa, fell in love with everything I saw, planning a trip to Minneapolis already! Got a cute bag for our pool stuff for the summer! All we have left to do is pack what we're traveling with and we're good to go!

Last night, we went with Benny and Zaidy to 'Carlos & Gabby's', a great Mexican restaurant on Coney. It was awesome; the great kitchy decorations, the huge sombrero sticking out of the storefront, delicious food! They had little mariachi-style instruments for kids to play with which Benny obviously loved!

So, on another note, I've been slowly getting my name around as a 'baby genious' of sorts. I've been doing consultations, helping people find the right products for their needs, within their budgets. I'd like to start charging soon, for now I'm letting people see that I'm good at it. Hopefully they will refer me to their friends! I'm still treying to figure out rates and things so if anyone has feedback, what would you be willing to pay for such a service? I can help you with anything, from small to large, give you comparisons if you want choices, order for you if necessary...I've already helped a few people pick out strollers and they've all come back to me with help getting other items! And so far, only happy results!
I'm also trying to come up with a cute name for the service, so any suggestions?

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

Well, they're not packed but we're working on it! We made our tickets, we leave Wednesday, May 20th. Whodathunkit. Back to Iowa. Craziness.

We're still based out of my mom's place. We just couldn't see Benny crawling around on that floor, even though it's been cleaned very well and is definitely sanitized at this point!

Anyway, we're off to our apartment to get a-packing!

Goodbyeeeeeee

So, even though our apartment was cleaned really well, I just can't see Benny crawling on that floor anymore. Something about floating poop and him putting things in his mouth, you may understand a bit of why I'm feeling what I'm feeling! Basically, we're heading back to Iowa next week hopefully.

Heading out to Monsey now for the next few days, get our goodbyes and come-visits out of the way!!

Wish me luck!

Welcome Home!

We had a great second week in California. So busy that I barely had time to check my email, let alone write here. We visited with a lot of people, lunch and the park with Tia Luba, amazing steaks with Shmuly, Micki, and Mendy, Orange Delight with Aliyah,  lunch and a great shmooze with Tia Olga, a very exciting visit to Tante Russia with Tia Miriam and Arielle, and much more!

Tante Russia is my grandmother's aunt. She is the sister of the woman I was named after, my great grandmother, Chana Berdicewsky. Between her and Benny are 5 generations!! She was so happy to get to meet Benny!! 

We had a great bbq at Gardner Park, or Pan Pacific as they pretend to call it...nice turnout of people! 

I was pretty worried about the way back home. Going out, I had help, which was amazing! Firstly, Burbank is definitely the way to go, everyone is so extremely helpful there!!! I got the only empty seat on the plane so that I could bring on the carseat. Benny didn't take his morning nap so he fell asleep like 20 minutes into the flight! Everyone around me fell in love with him and offered a million times to take him and give me a break (I thanked them all but politely turned down the offers). The flight attendants all came to talk to him whenever he was awake! I let him crawl around the aisle for a good 20 minutes and he ended up eating with me and playing for a bit and then going back to sleep until we landed! In the middle of all that, we did have a diaper explosion and of course forgot to take the change of clothes from my bag. Had to wake up the nice guy sitting next to us to get the bag. Brought the wrong bag. Woke Mr. Aisle Seat up again. Got the correct bag. Changed the little monster who does not sit still for ANYTHING! 

All in all, California was great, the trip was great (a bit long but great), there were a few celebrities on the flight with us - Neil Patrick Harris, Juliette Lewis, and one other guy I can't remember his name...

Shuky made the most AMAZING lasagna for me for dinner and we sat and ate our delicious food with Benny at home finally! Not long after, we were sitting on the couch, just watching some stuff on our laptop. I pulled out all of Benny's new toys for him to play with and tire himself out with. All of a sudden, Shuky started yelling and pointing to the door. Water was gushing in from under the front door. I grabbed Benny off the floor and ran into the bedroom. We kept Benny on the bed and ran around like madmen, grabbing electronics off the floor and any valuables we saw...Shuky called our landlord who came running down instantly. At this point, we had realized that this is very special water we now had in our large indoor pool. This was sewer water, with proof of residency. Not to be too disgusting but we now know what our neighbors have been eating for the past few days! Ok, so maybe that was too disgusting. 

It went from the front of our apartment well into the back. Stopped through the bedrooms to say hi. Ruined all of Benny's new toys. Stuffed animals, food sets, a million pacifiers that were apparently under our beds (been looking for those!!). My box of maternity clothes got all wet. We had towels that were drenched. Blankets that went for a swim. It was a mess. We packed up what we needed for the night and my mom came to pick us up. Today, we went back with masks and gloves and tried to clean up as best as possible. All the clothes and linens were thrown into garbage bags and dropped off at the local laundromat. We moved all the surviving things into the other side of the basement (our landlord has a little studio-type apartment that they use for the kids and guests). A cleaner came in to the apartment when we finished and chemically treated the entire place. We will be temporarily residing at 770 Lefferts once again until after Shabbos, at which point we will see if the chemical treatment was succesful or if the place needs more work done. Yay us!

In the meantime, for anyone who has not yet heard, Shuky is officially a student once again. We will be moving back to Postville in the first week of June (or sooner, depending on the status of our apartment), g-d willing, and come August 20th, Shuky will be in college. Our goal is to knock out our first two years in Iowa and then move somewhere with a school that has a good program for Shuky (computer science) and a good school for Benny!

It was amazing seeing everyone these past two weeks. It's great to be back! 

Beautiful Aquarium!

Yesterday we drove to Long Beach, to the Aquarium of the Pacific. What a gorgeous place! Benny had sooooo much fun! He got so excited with each new tank, he leaned up against the glass and tried to grab all the fishies swimming by! Shrieks and all! Some Asian woman at one of the tanks got so excited by his excitement, she started taking pictures of Benny instead of the fish! Lol! We watched a 3-D video of fish and how our world affects theirs. Benny wore my 3-D glasses and loved it!

Then we drove over to 4215 Gaviota Ave, where we lived until I was 9. So fun taking a trip down memory lane, so many great things to remember...karate lessons, the liquor store where we used to get Laffy Taffys...

On the way home, we stopped at Orange Delight of course. Amazing food always.

Benny got a lovely rash that kept getting worse so we had to go out later that night to Walgreens for some Benadryl. This morning, the rash looked much better and now it's almost gone!

Today we went for mani/pedis and then out to lunch. Afterward, we went to pick up Ronen from school and headed to the mall to hang out. A few hours later, we headed to Tia Miriam's house for a poolside pit-fire/barbeque and a good old hang-out with the aunts and great-aunts and Great Bobbe!

And now, we are winding down as people pack and say good-bye. Not to us. We are still sticking around for another week!

Have a good night.

Fun Fun Fun!!

Shabbos was very nice. Motzei Shabbos we went into the city for some Pizza World fun.
Yesterday was awesome! We went to Zuma Beach for a few hours. First of all, it's been just about a million years since I've been to Zuma. Secondly, the drive is amazing, all the gorgeous houses. The men selling Bonsai trees on the side of the road. Amazing! So, we get to Zuma and it's a bit chilly but nice and sunny. The water was FREEZING!!! Like, putting-your-feet-in-the-water-hurts freezing! We all hung out. Rochel was brave enough to go all the way in. The rest of us had sweatshirts on and wrapped ourselves in blankets!
We saw so many dolphins playing in the water, literally feet from the people surfing! So cool!!
We were joking around about how freaky it must be to see a fin go up all of a sudden in front of you! Tia Miriam started saying how you know there are sharks when you see a sea lion, that's what the sharks eat. All of a sudden, I see a sea lion pop its head up. Rochel was treying to convince us that it was a bald black man. We followed the bobbing head until we got a better view. Turns out I was right, it was a sea lion. But no shark sightings to report!
Rochel and I tossed around the pigskin a bit, while standing in the wet sand obviously!
Benny loved the beach! Ate tons of sand of course. But what's a trip to the beach without some sand ingestion, right? He was crawling all over the place, super happy! He loved all the seagulls too. He got so excited when they came close to eat our bread! So adorable! The water was too cold for him, but I put his toes in the sand after the water came up.
After the beach, benny and I dropped everyone off at their homes and went to the city to visit Aliyah and pick up Uncle Shmuly...for AUNTY ROCHEL'S BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!
But first, Benny needed a bath to get all the sand out of his tushie. Guess what, HE GOT HIS FIRST TOOTH!!!!
Rochel's party was A BLAST! We had a salad bar, hot dogs, chicken, tons of yummy food! We had a karaoke showdown, with four generations singing! So much fun!!! It was great seeing everyone, we make a fun, crazy bunch!
Missing Shuky tons! Benny is missing his Tatty!!!

Good Morning California!

Aaah. The deliciousness of waking up to gorgeous weather in Sherman Oaks. This is the life!
Benny didn't sleep too well last night but I was expecting that. With a 6 hour flight and 3 hour time difference, I'm surprised he slept at all!
Of course we went straight to Orange Delight from the airport! Thanks Shmoozle! Benny and I shared a Southwest Chicken Salad! Shmuly offered me a menu, and I was like, "Pu-leeeeze! As if I need a menu here!!!"  ;)
Anyway, the house is now quiet. Everyone is off to work and school and Benny is finally sleeping! Gonna go enjoy my first day here in heaven!

Ciao ciao.

We're Offffffffffffff!

Benny and I are heading to the West Coast in a few hours. Gotta show love to all our Cali peeps! :)

Two weeks of definite warm weather. Possibly a beach or two. No coats. Ahhhhh. I can handle that!

Will try and keep writing all through the trip, gonna hopefully get my pics up too!

Hasta La Manana!!!!!!

I don't have too much to write. Pesach was nice. We stayed in my mom's building. Did some of the meals by her, ate the rest out between a few families. 

Benny and Shuky both got strep Motzei Yom Tov. Shuky actually had it all through the second days but we didn't get to the doctor until Friday morning. That was alot of fun!

Benny and I are now busy preparing for our trip on Wednesday to California. Yay!!!!! Working on unpacking everything from Pesach, getting all the laundry done, and then to repack it all, minus Shuky's clothes. 

Oh, and both of our strollers have officially broken. My big one is still under warranty so hopefully all the parts will be here when I get back...my car seat stroller is a hand-me-down (thanks Melissa!!!) so Shuky is going to hopefully figure out a way to fix that. 

Ok, I'm tired, have a ton of stuff to do, and not really in the mood to do any of it so I leave with this: I need yet another thing to be hooked on so HELLOOOOOO TWITTER!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Matzah Day!

Wherever you may be, the youngest NY Meyers would like to wish one and all a kosher and freilichen pesach. We will be in Crown Heights :( - no fancy hotel this year. As soon as Pesach is over, I'm getting us jobs at a hotel for next year! Lol!

It's been an eventful month already and we're just in the beginning!! 

Benny got a highchair finally. 

Rochel joined us at the park on one of our many trips and got to experience Benny's frantic arm-and-leg-kicking and shrieks of excitement while watching all the kids run around!! It's hilarious!!

On Sunday we went with Sruly and the kids to Central Park (to walk off our delicious lunch :) )and we got some awesome shots! And had a bunch of fun too! We put Benny down and he was OFF! Could not get him to sit still for anything! Except for the dog :). I have to upload some more pictures but here's a sneak peak! 

Oh. Almost forgot. We are training Benny to sleep in his own bed so the last few nights have been uber fun. And I mean uber. I can't remember the last time I felt this exhausted. Kudos to all you parents who have done this before. At least we can now see a light at the end of our sleepless tunnel! Hopefully this new not-having-Benny-attached-to-me-at-night thing will help him sleep longer. Keep your fingers crossed!

Love to all. Good night.

**Update**I apologize, we went to Prospect Park, not Central Park! Thank you to reader Shuky Meyer for pointing out that mistake and writing a Letter to the Editor! :)

Long Time No Speak!

It's been a while since I've written anything on here. Been a hectic month! We are in the new place for a few weeks and we are LOVING it. We had a great time staying with my mom but everyone needs their own space eventually, so it was time. Benny can crawl around freely here and he even gets his own room! Granted, he doesn't sleep in it yet. But hey, he has his own room and that's all that matters! We are slowly getting it set up as a fun room for him. Pulled out the pool we got for Florida, going to make him a ball pit. Got some cute things to hang on the wall. Clothes hanging in his closet. Working on getting a bed in there for guests as well. All sorts of fun stuff!
And we are back to having Shabbos guests again! Yay! Not that we didn't enjoy being 'guests' or anything, but it's nice to be able to invite people again!
Anyway, Benny is huge now. He's eight months old and doing tons of adorable things! We just borrowed some big kid toys from Yitzy and Mimi and he can't get enough of them! He's a little unstable on the walking toy but he's getting the hang of it slowly. The musical table is amazing, he is obsessed with it!!!
And of course, he gets into EVERYTHING! I find him between the couches, under the table, in the case of seltzer, on the bookshelf thing...nothing is safe from the Benny Monster!!!
Alright, we have friends coming over now so I gotta run. Just wanted to get on here and put down a few thoughts, maybe throw in a picture or two. Just say hi and..oh wait. ME AND BENNY ARE COMING TO CALIFORNIA FOR TWO WEEKS! After Pesach. Shuky can't take off more work and Benny needs to meet the family in California already. So yay!

Alright, hugs and kisses to all!

Beautiful Wedding!

What a beautiful wedding last night! It was really nice getting to see everyone and I was even able to eat most of the food (yay for crazy diets). Benny looked adorable in his suit but its getting really small already! It's 6-9 months so I guess its time for a new one!

Anyway, we've been doing a whole lot of nothing. It's amazing! Benny and I walk on the canal every day. He's been in his pool twice now with water, too cold on most days for that though. Today he played in it without the water...had SO much fun!

The Schwartz's have a new dog, Boomer. Every time Benny sees him he gets super excited, kicking hois legs, squealing in delight! Hillarious!

Loved seeing everyone.

Have a sunny one!

Hello Floridaaaaaaaaa

We're here. I realized this will probably throw off the alergy testing I've been doing. The humidity will make Benny's system act differently...I guess we get a little bit longer of this whole 'barely eating' thing! Except that he got this horrible cold from the change in temperature, it was snowing as we boarded our plane at JFK.

We had a baby pool sent here before we came, Benny loves it. Loves. Loves. Loves! 

The weather here is gorgeous! We walked to Walmart yesterday. Oh Walmart, how I've missed you! It felt like I was home again!!! Then we continued on to the little mall and across the street to the kosher meat market. Got some amazing food that I could actually eat and Shuky made an awesome dinner!!!!!

PS Benny is really starting to imitate you. It's so adorable!

Good shabbos to one and all!

Some Kind of Silly

So apparently we have some internal alarm that goes off. Right before we are supposed to take a big trip we move. Or maybe we can only move when there's something big coming up. Either way, we're in the new place and Benny and I are working very hard on getting unpacked so we can repack for our two week trip to Florida on Wednesday.
Our last move was the week before Pesach and it wouldn't have been such a big deal...we were going to Florida anyway. But we had promised our house out to friends so that pushed us to fully unpack right away!
And when we moved into our first house right after we got married, we had guests over for Shabbos meals so we had to toivel everything and unpack then too...gotta have the house looking nice! And then on Sunday we left to Florida for two weeks.
I figured it out...we can only move if there is a trip to Florida right after the work! Sounds good to me!!! :)

Off to unpacking land! Got Benny sleeping in his wrap, holding onto me...

'Bigger' and Better Things

Ok so it may not be bigger but we found ourselves a place. It's a walk-in basement. Well it's actually above ground too so I guess we can call it the first floor of a house...two bedrooms, one bathroom. Nice and cozy! Yay! We are moving in tonight, hopefully. Shuky is pulling our suitcases out of some dark hole as we speak, so we can pack our room. Seems to be a lot of stuff now that it all has to be packed but up until now it seemed as if we had so little here...everything is in our boxes in Postville still!

Speaking of which, we're still trying to decide what to do with that stuff! Probably going to end up renting a storage unit out here so we can pull out what we need and replace with what we don't as time goes by. Then, when we get a normal apartment, we'll have everything here and ready to go!

So Wednesday is Florida day. Very exciting! It will be very nice not having to wear a million layers or smush Benny into his coat and hat! 

Benny now waves by the way. Not sure if he realizes he's waving but it's slowly starting to happen at the right times, but it's adorable! He also puts his hand up against his mouth to make that 'Wa-Wa-Wa' sound...until now he's been using every other possible surface!

Ok suitcases have arrived. Off to pack. Yet again. 

Fun Little Tidbits

So, I just wanted to give you a quick insight into the fun times of Benny Meyer.

Benny is now moving across the floor at quite a fast pace. Still not on all fours, but he's using all fours, which I see as a good start!

He claps now. When he's happy or sad. When we play and when he gets yelled at (yes, we yell!). When we sing Modeh Ani in the morning. When he wakes up from his nap. If you haven't quite understood, he's ALWAYS clapping now! It's really cute!

Tonight he found the power switch on his jumperoo. Not sure if he will remember it next time but he had a lot of fun turning the music on and off and he was jumping around!

He is so much fun to play with these days...not that he wasn't before, but now his interaction is on this really cute level, as if he actually understands what is going on in the games we play. It's amazing!

Ah, and now we can get to the best part of the story. Benny is ALWAYS congested, he snores at night, he snorts all the time. So I took him to the doctor. Being that he's a Meyer, I'm keeping a close watch on the possibility of Asthma coming to play so as he gets older and this snortyness isn't going away, I get more and more worried. His doctor feels that it may be a reaction to something I am eating. I have been off of all dairy for over four months now. Dr. Fun decided it's time for me to pull some more out of my diet: no wheat, soy, corn, eggs, fish, nuts.

Basically, I'm really hungry.

Love you all, can't wait to see people in Florida soon!!!

Good night!

Six Month Checkup Already?????

Wow. Six month checkup. Six months have passed since Benny was born. **Funny thought, it's only been five months since he was named ;) **

Heading out to Kingston...

Having some fun in the waiting room

So we went to his doctor today, and luckily, there is a PA that works there as well. I had gone to this doctor a few months ago when Benny had a stomach problem and I really didn't like him, but hadn't yet found a new one. So anyway, there is also a PA that works there...I've marked down the days she works there and we now love Laurie the PA! (When I said I didn't really like the other doctor and if they could please mark that I always want Benny seeing Laurie, the receptionist laughed and goes 'Don't worry, we don't like him either' lol)

Since this a well-being appointment, shots were obviously involved. I prepared myself for the shrill screams I've learned to love and was pleasantly surprised by the outcome! Benny was so busy ripping the paper on the table he didn't even notice the first shot in the slightest. When the second one came around, all we got was a little 'HEY whatcha doin over there???' No screams. No cries. No tears (from either of us :) ). It was beautiful. 

We found out Benny has some excema, in true Goldsmith fashion! Time to whip out the Cetaphil!

Benny is now 17 pounds, 11 ounces and 25 1/4 inches long. That's a heckava kid to be lugging around!

On that note, Benny grabbed on to the side of Shuky's bed last night and pulled himself up completely. Did it a few times. Then he swung around and boinked his head. Cried. Got back up on that horse and tried climbing all the way onto Shuky's bed! It was adorable!! So he now sits, crawls somewhat - backwards, forwards, and in circles - and now he's pulling himself up too!

Wish me luck everyone! Looks like Benny is gonna give us a run for our money!!!!

Benny '09

I guess my writers strike can come to an end now...things are slowly calming down, for now anyway. 

Shuky has steady work, which, needless to say, is very exciting! He loves his job which makes me love his job!

Benny is HUGE! Breaking my back huge. Can't believe he's almost six months huge. Sitting on his own huge. And he is so LOUD!!!!!!! Let's put it this way - when he starts crawling, I will never wonder where he is. 

We are still living with my mom but now that steady work is in the picture, we are really in the apartment hunting stage. 

PS Mazal tov to Bubby 'Miami' and Brian on your engagement! We're super excited for the wedding! I've been keeping my eye out for a suit for the Benster! And mazal tov to Yitzy and Mimi about Tzvi Yosef, Yossi, or TJ as I like to call the squeaky hairball!!!

Love you all, glad to be back. Hopefully you'll hear from me again soon!