A day in the life

Yesterday actually remained a pretty good day! We ended up going to a friend's house to play that we have not seen in a while. I told her we are moving. These are the people that we stayed with when we were checking out our current home and her and her family have been amazing. However, since the birth of the twins we have not seen them much and I can feel the distance. They live at one end of the neighborhood and us at the other end so getting together with the 3 kids has been just too much. It was nice to visit with them, but it reminds that this one of the reasons we are moving. We don't fit here as we are away from all the other kids in S.'s gan who live down there and with D. gone so much we don't do things here and we don't do things with the Kollel as we are too far out. It is hard to start over, but sometimes new beginnings are necessary. It is like the Girl Scout Song;" Make new friends, but keep the old....." And it is true we will keep up with our friends here as we have done in Portland, but I will look to making new friends too.

Y is making walking progress, he was pushing around our foot stool today while walking! Yeah!

I have also been working with S. on his colors and his writing today. He opted not to go to Gan so rather than let him off the hook we have been having Gan at home. It is interesting to see how he works. It has been really insightful.

OK I am off to make lunch!

Ciao!

Little Things

Not much is new here, but it is the little things that make life good. This weekend for Shabbat we went out for lunch. Our hosts have a son in Gan with Shmuel and another family came that is just a year older and also friendly with the boys. It was great not have to have lunch prepared as I just did not feel like cooking. We had a quite the week with our late Wed. meeting and it was great to go out instead. And while we were there Y. started walking by pushing on of their chairs! Yeah! He is gettting close. The other good thing was while I was walking to the bank today. Normally I hate cell phones, I find owning one to be nuissance about 75% of the time. However, I keep one around for logistics mostly and socializing on rare occasions. Today was one of them. I HATE going to the bank. It is up this huge hill and if I have the kids then there is no way to get a ride. So I dropped S. off at Gan and prepared to trek up to the bank. On the way I called a friend to let her know I had seen her in-laws in the local Portland Jewish Newspaper. Turned out to be a great conversation and we got to chat all the way to the bank and back. It made for a great start to my day as I got exercise, the kids got a nap and I got talk on the phone with out feeling guilty! I hope the rest of the day goes this well!

TTFN!

The "M" Word!!!

No not that one! We are already married and for 7.5 years too! I mean the other "M" word. Yes, that is right.......Moving. Uggghhhhhhh! I hate it! However, it seems that we have developed a pattern of moving approximately every two years and it would seem that our time is up here in beautiful Karnei Shomron. So if we like it so much why are we moving? Well I would like to see my husband everday and the kids need to see their father everyday. Now, if he had a job where he had to be gone that would be one thing, but if a move can make the difference between how much we see D. well then, I think that is the wise move. So we are moving to a place called Tel Tzyion. It is a 35min. bus ride to Jerusalem instead of an 1hr. and 45min. Big difference. The bonuses are that, D. won't have to leave until 8:00am everyday and will be home by 8:30 everynight, we are close to the city with out having to be in it, which means more trips to the zoo, especially since the twins will be getting a zoo pass for their b-day from their marvelous Aunty Tutu and Uncle H! It also means we can go in for Kollel events and go home the same night and visit all of our friends who live in Jerusalemand go home in the same day with out a huge shlep. We are also closer to the central bus station for going to visit friends in the N. and S. hurray. The idea that we can go to the Shuk for veggies is great and we can meet D. for lunch is also great! Oh and the apt. has a yard and NO STAIRS! And it is really well cared for the couple we are going to be renting from bought it, up graded and are now moving back to the States. So really nice place for a good rent. BUT......and there always is..it means starting over. New friends, new neighbors,etc. It is a more religious neighborhood and we had to be interviewed, although brief, to make sure we would stick to the general principals of the neighborhood. Not a problem although a bit different than what I am used to. Also, very little in the catergory of lets say....GREEN! As in minimal trees, grass, vegitation. Except for our lovely little yard. Coming from Oregon I need my natural green surroundings and being a Duck of course. D. said I had to choose between seeing him and having trees. I said it was a tough decision....He wasn't so happy with that answer so I decided I had better decide on seeing him everyday instead of the trees. I think it is a good choice. On the up side we are at the end of the street, near the bus stop and it is a dead end so few cars and a view. We are in an apt. building with a total of 6 tennents, so not so far off of what we are used to now. The bedrooms are small, but we have our own Master bathroom which is unheard of in Israel. And the kitchen is tiny but with room to add cabinets, etc. And the living room is big and has a tiny study off of it for the computer and D.'s stuff so we can keep the kids out! Yeah. It will be hard to say good-bye to all our friends here, but hopefully they will come and visit us and we can always come out to visit them too. Hopefully this will be our last move for a long time. And for anyone who is curious, we will still be in the West Bank, but a lot closer to the city.

In other news.....in my sister's blog she commented on the V. Tech Tragedy. It is a tragedy that was felt here in Israel too. As one of the proffesors who died, was an Israeli and a Holocaust survivor. Not only was he Israeli, but he was laid to rest in Raanana. Which is very close to where we are now. D. was hoping to go to the funeral, but unfortunately with the fact that it was a Friday, the buses would not make it practical for him to go and be back by Shabbat. I think it just shows how small our world is getting and that one tiny pebble sends out so many ripples. My prayers go out to all those who were affected by this senseless tragedy.

I would also like to point out something else too while we are on the topic of violence. Although I do not wish anyone to go through this type of tragedy it makes a handy point. As I said we have a friend from the States here now and in the three weeks she has been here, there have been two major shootings in the U.S. One in Gresham, Or. at a highschool where Thank G-d no one was killed and the Virginia Tech. Tragedy. Can I just point out that at least we know who our enemy is here!

And finally the family news!

As I said we are moving and had to go through a little interview and check our potential new place. We had to do this last night at 9:00pm! Yuck! So rather than cart all the kids in and stay somewhere and deal with getting them back. We left S. with friends overnight and just brought the twins in who are just still young enough to sleep where ever and be OK the next day. This is the first time we have left him overnight in two years! And we have never left him with friends just Grandparents. He was really tired and had fallen asleep at 5:00pm and we had to leave at 6:15pm so our friends came and got him in a stroller. He woke up a bit and was sad, but by the time I called to check in he was fine. I guess a little ice cream makes up for being ditched by the parents. It was really hard for us to leave him overnight, but really smart. I got hom at 12:45AM and there was no point in waking everyone up to go get him. So he stayed and went to Gan with his friend. I will pick him up in an hour. On the flip side it was nice to have a slower morning than usual. Although I still have not gotten as much done as I would have like. Anyway, our big boy is growing up and staying with friends now. Yikes! I am not ready! But I am glad he did well.

The Twinnies are snoozing now so I better get some stuff done before they wake up! OOOPPPPSSS! Too late!

La'Hitraot!

Time for the Local News!

D. is on vacation now so I have time to catch up on my blog! Well actually he has been on vacation for a month and this is his last week. So actually it is more like I finally have time to blog!

The last couple of months have been busy with Purim and Passover and a visit from my mother-in-law in between. It is exactly a month between Purim and Passover and there is a lot to do to get ready for both holidays. Passover deffinitely being more intensive. So I will hit the highlights and then talk about our week up north in Tsfat!

Purim was quiet and enjoyable, we had our first attempt at Lasagne and it is now a family tradition on Shabbat. Yeah! Betty Crocker look out! Well actually she is probably safe for a long time as the kids favorites are still hot dogs and peanut butter and jelly! They take after their mommy!

We had a week long visit from my mother-in-law which was wet and soggy, but we needed the rain. We spent most of the week hanging out in the apt. with a couple of local trips into Raanana. However, D. and I got to go to a wedding with no kids! It was great as I got to meet a lot of people from the Kollel and that was good networking. Very nice people too. We also went out to a dinner here in the neighborhood at a friends for their just married son and daughter-in-law. So having D.'s mom here was great!

Then the weekend before Passover we had a friend from the States come and visit. She is here for a month long visit in Israel. M. has been here before once for a year and once for 8mo. in the 90's. What is really crazy is that we grew up together in a way, as we lived next door to her aunt and uncle for many years. My parents are still good friends with them. She is not Jewish but loves Israel. We invited her to come stay with us over Shabbat as she was getting in on Friday afternoon and we live closer to the airport than her going all the way to Jerusalem. It was really fun and we have found we have a lot in common. It was really amazing to think that we knew each other as kids, but have not seen each other in maybe 15 years. As kids we never would have expected to be visiting with each other in Israel to say the least! We are hoping to get together this week again and probably one more time after that before she leaves. We will deffinitely be keeping in touch after she goes home. Or at least as much as we can!

The day after she left we headed up to spend the week of Passover up in Tsfat. Tsfat is just above the Kinneret( Sea of Galillee) near the Lebanon border. We stayed the week with our friends C&N who had their baby at our house last July. All in all the weather was great. We wanted to do a lot of hiking but soon discovered that get out before noon with kids was impossible. We settled for short walks around the city. In the "new city" they are layering brick on top of the old road while doing some work part of the road caved in a building was discovered! We could see the window, but that was about it. When it first caved in you could walk right up to it and check everything out, but by the time we got there it was fenced off and I could not get in. Although I did take some pictures which we will try to download this week. Tsfat is built on 7 layers of city and it is forbidden to tear up the ground or even do archeological digs because the history there is so immense. That to start digging and researching they would never be done and it would destroy what is there. So they jut cover up and build on top. In the old city there are Synagogues built in the 1600's! Unfortunately with the kids, there was no way for me to go to services. Tsfat is gorgeous and some of it really reminded me of Oregon! They have pine trees there! It smelled so good and the flowers were all bursting with color. We are hoping to make it back up there in August too. Will have to see how it goes.

Finally this past shabbat we had a house full of 19-21yr. olds and that was a great time. R. we met when we were living in Raanana, A. is a regular and we are friends with her parents in Seattle and her aunt and uncle in Portland and then her cousin came and brought a friend from University. It was a lot of fun and a kick to host them.

The week we are soaking up our last week of D's vacation and we are hoping to go to the zoo and head into Jerusalem to do some errands.

As for kiddy progress reports: S. is up to my waist now and his language skills and coordination are really improving. When he wants to he can now put on his own pants, start to finish. He loves helping out with the twins and helping me cook. He loves to help bake cookies, cake and french toast.

Y is starting to stand on his own but not yet walking. He is into everything and is as tall as our desk! Time to start putting things higher up! He is also a crawling disaster and some how is constantly give himself boo-boos! He is eating more solids and has even been known to eat a peanut butter sandwich on occassion! Although his favoites are bannanas, cookies and cheerios.

M is also starting to stand on her own and is really gaining weight. Yeah! She is such a good girl, she is pretty self sufficient and will usually entertain herself. I love it, especially since the boys are well, such babies! S and Y deffinitely need to be closer to me at all times. Although M is always up for a good snuggle. Her favorite activity is finding paper to shred. I think she might be part hamster! Her favorite foods are her baby food pears with raspberries, oat meal and cookies!

As for the parents, we are doing fine. And just trying to keep one step ahead of the kids! E-mail me for the web adress if you need it. We will try to get the most recent photos up soon!

OK the natives are restless and D. has his hands full! Hope all is well.

Alina

The little things in life

Last week I had a hard week, my back started acting up, S. threw up in my bed at 1:30am and we had two tantrums on the way home from gan. It was just enough already. I was ready to throw in the towel and high tail it to the U.S. for a long needed vacation to see the family. So what do the tough do when the going gets tough here? We run for Ben and Jerry's! Yes, we had Ben and Jerry's last week! Hurray! This is the first time we have ever purchased Ben and Jerry's here because usually it is about $7.00 for a pint or 30 shekel! Yikes! But we decided to splurge and guess what?! It was on sale two for 40 shekel or about $9.50. It tasted so good. Israeli icecream is drained of its fat to make margerine so it is the whipped soft icecream, it is very different than american icecream and we really miss it. I also got to read to books. A Faye Kellerman Novel and a little simple romance. Those are the first books I have read and finished since October. I am still trying to read Wicked, but unfortunately I just don't have time for a detailed book right now.

I would still like to take a long vacation in the U.S., but between Ben and Jerry's and a few good books I might be able to tough it out a little longer.

More later when the kids poopy diapers are changed and M. is not crying.

Family Up dates

Since I am up wasting time on the computer I thought would throw in a family up date.

On Sunday the twins had their appt. with Tipat Chalav. This is just a routine check up done by the nurse. I skipped the last two months as their appt. got canceled in December and I never got around to rescheduling until they called and nudged me. So at this point Y. 17lbs 4oz. and M. is 16lbs 3 oz. The nurse is concerned they are behind in their weight and they have not gained what they should in the last 2 months. However, since they have been sick and/or teething the last two months, I am not worried. I have decided that in everything here, if you or your kids don't fit in the box, there is a problem. We are still facing that with S.

Tomorrow S. is going for a psyche eval. since the gannenett is just convinced he needs help and if we don't get him the help he needs he will start grade 1 late. The person doing the eval. is more doing it to humor them I think. She doesn't normaly work with this age, but is American and so she speaks fluent english and hebrew. So she has brought in to help bridge the communication gap between me and gannenet. She also feels that not much can really be gathered at three and keeps emphasising that he is the youngest in his class. But this seems to be falling on deaf ears. I am glad that we have the same mind set as the psychologist as it is making me less defensive. I am curious to see what she has to say as well. If there are things that we can do that will make his education smoother than D. and I had then I am all for it, but I am not going spend the next 15 years making him feel self conscious for something that was mole hill turned into a mountain. The idea of home-schooling just keeps getting more appealing......

It is 10:30pm and low and behold the kids are still sleeping! (poo poo poo!) (as in please don't wake up now that I have said that!)

I should have done chores tonight, but it was great to play instead! Maybe I will do some quick things before turning in! A mommy has to play sometime!

Good Night!

Monty Python's Traveling Circus

This is what my aunt finaly dubbed our group as we traveled around Jerusalem. It is true too. Every time we got somewhere we counted kids, then adults, then purses, backpacks, etc. It was a bit chaotic, but fun. My mom and aunt left on Sunday after a fabulous 12 day visit. As with all things that we really look forward to, it went all too soon. The first week we spent more time at home then planned as we had rainy weather. But we did get into Herziliya to see the Mediteranean and my aunt got to meet our really good friend and her 2 of her 3 kids and her mom. That was nice since they are such a part of our lives here and we consider them family. In the States my aunt knows all of our close friends so it is nice that she now has met some of our closest friends here too.

The second week was spent in Jerusalem and this was great. We spent it in a hotel near wear D. is at so we got to see each other every day! We ate breakfast and dinner together, and he came "home" everynight we were there. What a luxury! We went to a wedding with no kids and dinner was just the two of us! Hurray!

We did find that traveling with the kids from place to place was a project and even just getting them ready in the morning was a team effort. So we did not see all of what we wanted to but got to the important things. We went to our wedding, which also happened to be near the hotel, S. got to go to the zoo, my mom got to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, I am still waiting to do this.... grrr!, and my aunt got to see the Kotel, "the Wailing Wall." We also did some other touristy things as well. Next time they visit the kids will be older and we will be able to do more. But we did a pretty good job all things considered.

The other nice thing is that they really got to know the kids and see their personailities. Although the twins are nursing and we all caught colds so they were not exactly themselves, but pretty close.
It was amazing that in the two weeks they were there that S. grew another inch, M. started sitting up on her own and got her top 2 teeth and Y. got one new tooth and really made progress on his crawling and pulling himself up. Oh! and M. is also improving on her crawling. So it was nice that they were there for so many milestones.
Our next goal is that I go back for a visit. I miss the rest of my family and it is going 2 years since I have seen my sister and it has been a year for my dad. So hopefully sometime this year. In the meantime we are looking forward to April when my mother-in-law arrives and we have a few more days of help.

And of course we are trying to get back into our routine, it is going better than I thought, but it still takes sometime. S. is having a hard time going to bed on time depsite how tired he is, I miss the help and the twins miss having arms to hold them continuously, but we are managing and in a way I could tell everyone was ready for our regularly scheduled programming. Vacation is nice, but it is nice to come home.

Vacation and other thoughts

Why do I say that? Because in about 6.5 hours my mom and aunt arrive and that is what I will get, a 12 day vacation! Hurray! Not only will I get help with all the kids, but we will be going up North overnight and next week we will be staying in Jerusalem for a few nights. No cooking, cleaning or laundry and we will have one adult per kid, four when D. is around! I am really excited to see both my mom and aunt just on principal. I have a great time with them both and I am excited for them to see the kids and how much they have all grown. I am also excited for my aunt to get a sense of where we live and our life and what things are like. But I am also really greatful that when they come we get to go out to eat and hotels, etc. This is something we cannot afford and it is nice that they are willing to treat us. It is a very special treat and I know we are fortunate as a lot of people don't get this when their relatives come. The family comes in, takes off on vacation, but doesn't take with them the people they are visiting. Kind of sad, but often those people come to Israel a lot more or see each other a lot more I guess so it is different. But for us we are really lucky, so I am looking forward to my vacation time! In the meantime I am getting all the last minute details ready and the house cleaned! Yikes!

In other news, it seems that a lot of our discussions lately have focused on relationships, marriage and what makes a good marriage and family. I have had discussions where the parents should stay together at all costs, unless there is physical violence goingn on, I have heard another couple who thought that it was important for both parents to work full time so the kids would have a proper work ethic, and then there seems to be the opinion that the more financial stability one has the better everything is and the more intelligent one is. I have my own opinions on what makes a good family and a good marital relationship as well, but what I want to know is why does everyone think that they have the answer for everyone else. I have a lot of friends where the wife is the primary supporter, sometimes it is a good thing and other times the wife would like to be home more with the kids. I also know a lot of people where the wife works just part-time and is happy or not. And I know people who live on a smaller salary so that there is always one parent at home with the kids. I am of course making generic statements and that is my point. Everyone is different and what right do we have to look at someone and say, "Oh you are doing it all wrong and let me tell you why." It is OK to disagree with how someone lives their life and raises their kids, but unless there is abuse or child endangerment, how can someone else tell another person how to live their life and raise their kids. I think what people forget is that often kids adapt to way they are raised because they have to some extent the same personality as their parents. If a parent is very scheduled and organized, then it stands to reason that probably at least one of the kids will naturally fit that personality too. Except for me, according to a friend of ours, I am the "milkman's" child because she felt I never looked like either of my parents. Not true really, but sometimes in my personality and way the my life has gone, she just might be right. But then I deffinitely see some of my parents traits in me, it just happens that what traits are smaller in them are more dominant in me. Anyway, the point is, kids respond to how their parents respond to things. So for a family who is constantly on the go and the kids do well, it is probably because somewhere in them geneticaly they are programmed that way. But take a kid from a family who is on a schedule and dump into chaos and they will fry. They don't have it in them. Neither is the wrong way to raise a kid, it is just two different styles. So why am I on this topic, D.and I live such an off the wall life that most people just can't understand how we do it or why we do it. Now to be fair, this is something I was very reluctant about and yes, I have many moments where I would like to give it up, but at the same time I really can't see how we could live anywhere else either. So it seems that every few months we get comments from the same people about what we are doing wrong and how lonely and sad we are deep down inside and how can we live like that anyway....And then we spend the next few weeks defending ourselves until things settle down again. What I really want to know is why can't people leave well enough alone! I know there is genuine concern, but at the same time we have been having the same conversations for the last 2 years. And then I hear, well you seem down, you seem exasperated a lot, you stay in too much. Well let me tell you folks, you try being pregnant and sick with a very, very busy toddler, then turn that into twins and an even busier toddler and we will see how you do! We are supposed to be able to vent to our friends, but it seems that if I do that, then I have big problems! I have exactly two friends I can vent too who will not blow things out of proportion. I am now to the point I just tell people the simple truth. We have good days and bad days, just like everyone else. And when I really go nuts I have 3 people I can call. D. included. OK enough venting. I have to go clean. 5.5 hours and counting!

Midnight Madness!

Why do I say that? Because it is almost midnight here and I am still up! This would be do a sugar induced rush. Last year our neighbors gave us bed that was half a trundle set. So it was a bed and frame but they were still using the half that tucked underneath. So this week they bought their son a new bed and we were recipients of the other half. This meant staying up past my normal bedtime of say 7:30p-8:00pm. The only way to do this was to indulge on really good hot cocoa and some hershey minis! So now I am up and trying to get myself to go to sleep. But we are really excited about the extra bed. We tend have friends come and stay a lot and it is always good to have extra space. Or we may end up using them for the twins when they get the big bed stage. Which probably won't be so far from now as we put S. in at a year due to the fact that we had just moved here and we did not want to invest in a crib for such a short term situation.

It is hard to believe that the twins are already 8mo. old. They say a rolling stone gathers no moss and that is true because it is smoothe and moves fast. Life however, seems just the opposite. The faster we move, the more moss we gather. The moss being what our life is made up of. Friends, family and experiences. Although each day is a challenge and some of the nights with the twins have been the longest of my life, as an over all time span, it is has gone so quick! It seems like it wasn't so long ago that we were just finding out we were having twins. I am still trying to figure that one out! I call M. my hitchhiker sometimes as the the twins are fraternal which means they came from 2 seperate eggs at two seperate times. Since she is a week developmentaly behind Y. I always say she hitched on or snuck in! Sometimes it seems so normal and natural to have the two of them and other times, I just look at them and say, "where did you come from?!" and I think it would be so easy to just have one more instead of twins. But the truth is, if we had not had twins, it would still be difficult, because it would still seem overwhelming at times to handle two kids because we wouldn't know the difficulty of three. In otherwords, what we have is always our biggest challenge because it is what we know. But it reminds me that it could always be harder.

Anyhow, in our life, the moss has deffinitely gotten thicker this past year. Not just because we have twins and we are learning how to juggle more kids, but also it is the experience of having kids in a foreign country. It has now added to our experiences of living abroad. For example, since we had the twins at home in the Shomron(West Bank) their american birth certificates will say, Karnei Shomron, but they won't say Israel on them, because it is of course disputed "territory." The fact that we even had them at home is a major deal anywhere, but especially here. Israel hates home birth and the paperwork, etc. is a major hassle. But it was great for many reasons, the top ones being 1) I would have had to have a C-section otherwise, as the twins were breach, 2) I did not have to worry about being seperated from S. for several days, something we have never experienced, and 3) The truth is having babies in the hospital either here or the States is kind of worrisome as it seems that so much more can go wrong. I know that sounds nuts, but when you have home birth, the doctor(s) let the mother call the shots more, within reason, and things happen at a more natural and relaxed pace. Plus there is no worry that the doctor will take the child away and do something against parental wishes, vaccinations or bottle feeding when the mother would rather nurse, or not being allowed to sleep with the child in the room, etc.

But I digress. The point is all these little or big things happening to us are magnified for better and worse by living overseas. It is shaping not only who D. and I are, but who our children will become. They will know it is OK to do things outside the box because they have seen it done. Or maybe it will make them want to crawl very far inside the box because they will think their parents are nuts. They just might be right too! The great thing is we have lots of friends in the therapy business, I figure free therapy for all! It will help the kids understand who we are too right?!

And speaking of moss and minight one of our little moss gatherers is awake now. Guess maybe my insomnia is rubbing off on them. Not that they truly know the meaning of sleep through the night! Unlike my little nephew who has slept through the night since day 1! I called my sister and told her I either hate her or my nephew, I am not sure which, but it was unfair that they get a good night's sleep every night! Of course I can't really hate either of them, but still.....So unfair! I just keep counting down until the reinforcements arrive! 5 days and counting!

Goodnight/Day!

A Day in the Life of the Jensens......

Yes, I am actually updating my blog! It is 9:13pm and I am awake! This may have something to do with the fact that my mom just sent a big care package complete with Hershey Minatures and York Peppermint Patties amongst a plethora of other "comfort" food. I feel like a kid at Halloween or Templeton the Rat from Charollette's Web when he goes to the carnival. Anyhow needless to say I am enjoy the treats! Although I am trying to pace myself.

Anyway, over the past month or so I have been surprised to find out how many people read my blog and are actually interested in it. I have received most of the comments not on here, but in my personal e-mail. Lately the biggest request is that people want to know what a typical day is for me. So here it goes, I hope I don't bore you!

I am up anywhere between 3:30am and 7:30am depending on how the twins are sleeping. Sometimes I get lucky and go back to sleep somewhere in between there. Usually I am up around 6:00am and if I am lucky I can check my e-mail before I start getting everyone ready so that I can take S to gan. Gan starts at 8:00am, but I have until 9:00am to get him there. I usually get there around 9:10am. It usually takes around 2 hours to get everyone dressed, fed and organized. Then I come home and the immediate goal is to get the twins down for a nap. Y has been a shoe-in lately and is deseperate for a nap around 9:00am, so he is usually easy. Then on a good day he sleeps until about 11:30a or noon. This leaves me and M. If she is cooperating she just hangs out with me while I get chores done. If not, then I spend a majority of the morning holding and nursing her and just trying to get her down. On a good day we hang out and I do dishes, laundry and general housekeeping and chores. On an unproductive day, we just hang out until Y. wakes up and it is time to get S. from gan. Gan ends at 1:20pm. We start getting ready to leave at 1:00pm as it takes me 20min. to get everyone organized and out the door. In warmer weather it doesn't take so long, but with winter it means bundling everyone in hats and coats and socks and slippers........When we get home from gan it is movie time. I usually pop in S's favorite movie of the week and I get the twins settled down and maybe finish some chores or I just hang out with S and watch the movie. He likes it when I do that. After the movie we play, read or whatever, then by 4:00pm I am starting dinner, we eat around 4:30p-5:00p and then by the time dinner is done, it is time to start getting ready for bed and everyone is in bed between 6:30-7:00pm. This includes mommy a lot! It is not often I am up past my kids anymore and I have frequently woken up to find messages on my answering machine because I did not hear the phone ring as I was already asleep!

Although it seems I don't do much with my day, it goes fast! Or really long depending on what kind of a mood everyone is in! Tues. are long in the morning but fast in the evening. Tues. D. comes home at 3:30pm so I spend the morning counting down until he gets home and reinforcements arrive and then it seems as soon as he is home the night is already gone!

Wednesdays are also good days as I get help from 4:00-6:00p from 2 neighbor girls that help me out for free. They voluntarily come and help clean up the house or watch the kids or run errands for me. This is really amazing and I am grateful to them every week for showing up and doing something so kind for absolutely nothing in return. I hope to find a good way to thank them at the end of the year for all their help.

One thing I should add to my schedule is that D. spends Sun night-Tues. in Jerusalem and then Wed. night there too, so the majority of the week I am a single parent. I see him Thurs. 10:00pm-Sun. 6:45am and Tues. 3:30p-Wed. 6:45am. So our time together goes fast and I am in bed early a lot as 1) I am wiped out and 2) I don't have the incentive to stay up since it is just me. Although every now and then I do stay up late, like tonight and do my blog, etc. or I will put in a movie that David doesn't want to see. Although even that is hard to stay awake for!

So that is what a day in the life of the Jensens is like. Not very exciting or exotic. Just life.

Although I am getting very excited as in a week my mom and my Aunt E. will be here for just under 2 weeks! Hurray! Not only do I get help, but this will be a vacation for me as well as we will be staying 1 night up North and 3 nights in Jerusalem. This means, I get free baby sitting and no cooking or cleaning while we are gone! Hurray! The last time I got a vacation is when my mom and dad came same time last year. I am really excited also for my mom to see how big the twins have gotten since she has not seen them since theywere new borns and I am excited for my Aunt E. to see the twins as this will be her first time. And also it has been a year and a half since she saw S. and he has of course changed a lot. I love having everyone come and visit of course because then I don't feel so far away, but then it is hard when everyone leaves as it makes me very home sick. I get used to being away from everyone and just knowing that I am not near them, then I see everyone and it is really hard to be away again. But it is the "nature of the beast" so to speak and part of our choice of living all the way over here in Israel instead of down the street from family. I don't regret our choice to live here, it is just that everything has an upside and a downside, and being away from friends and family is the downside. Especially like two weeks ago when I got really sick and D. had to take time off to run the house while I was sick with the flu and bronchial infection. When my sister was sick she could send A. to grandma and grandpa so he wouldn't get it and she could recover. When I am sick D. takes time off work and we hope no else gets sick. That is another moment in time when I am really sorry we don't live near family.

Since I have not updated things in a while I give quick milestones on the kids and then I am off to bed. It really is past my bed time!

Y. is crawling/scooting and comes to look for me if I am not in the room. He is also quite the little butterball and can where 12mo. clothes, although some are still a bit big on him. He loves food, except oatmeal. But his favorites are cookie biscuits, french fries and bread. He has 2 bottom teeth and is ticklish and loves to watch S.

M. is not crawling or sitting up yet, but she does scoot, mostly backwards and tends to back herself into a corner, literaly and then I have to come rescue her. She is starting to laugh and be ticklish. She also has 2 bottom teeth. And although it is not the same she does like watching S. too. She is getting into food some, her favorites are pudding, yogurt and cookie biscuits. She does eat oatmeal though unlike Y. Although she is hitting most of the same benchmarks as Y. her biggest difference is she is not aggresive in her actions and is more content to watch everything. She is not in a hurry to do things or get anywhere. She is more content to wait for you to come to her. It is interesting seeing the differences in the kids. Male vs. female and just the fact that even though they are the same age, they have very different personalities and capabilities.

S. is learning more hebrew and is starting to speak it at home more. I am still way behind in that dept. The gannenet has finally quit giving us a list of all his faults. I think it helped that we spoke with one of the psychologists in the Education dept. who happens to be our neighbor. Although she is not the person we would normaly speak with, they chose her as she is American and speaks fluent hebrew and english. I think she was able to explain to S.'s gannenet that he is fine for his age and that some of the things she thought were going on weren't. Basically cleared up some miscommunication due to poor language skills on both parts. I think also it was explained to her that he is one of the youngest in his class, so his skills were different then where she thought they should be. Over all everyone is much happier these days and we don't cringe when we have to pick him up from gan now. Much better. In other things, S. loves his siblings and gets concerned when they cry and is excited when they do something new. He is so excited to come and get me when Y. is standing or crawling or doing something else new. He loves to dance for Y. and get a reaction out of him too. He will also pick things up for them if they drop cups, etc. from their chair, etc. He really loves them and it is great to see. He is getting to be such a little man over all it is fun to watch. But exhausting too as he is too smart for his own good, trying to get things out of the oven or cook hotdogs on the stove! We are grateful he has not figured out how to turn the stove on! Although he can light matches. We have them hidden high up now!

OK I am being paged gotta run.

Have a good day!
Alina

What is Real Life?

Someone sent me a generic forward recently showing kids in Africa, (I assume) living is sub-standard living conditions. The caption on the e-mail said, "Thankful" or something like that. Then the persoanl message was, "This is real life sweetie!" Well truly for these kids, it is their real life and for the rest of us it would be a hellish nightmare. The idea of course is to remind us how lucky we are to live in a first world country and have all the luxuries that 3/4 of the world does not have. Well I can say that although there are days I forget, I know that most of the time I am truly grateful for what I have. I realize that even on the small salary my husband makes we have more than many people in this world and one does not need to go to a third world country to find children living in abject poverty, barely surviving. I know people who survived childhood by sleeping in abandoned tunnels in Israel, I know people who survived childhood by sleeping cars in America and I grew up with people who survived childhood despite their parents drug abuse.
However, I don't think things have to be a worst case scenario to be real. The life that each one of us leads is very real to us and it is not for another person to say whether or not that life is real. I have friends that recently moved back to Israel after being gone for six years. They have gotten many comments such as, "oh you are Israeli, it is so easy for you." Or "Everyone has stress, you just have to deal." It has made their adjustment that much more difficult. For one this is a country that reinvents itself every 7 years and for another, things simply change in that much time. I feel it is unfair to belittle someone's stress simply because it is not seen as crucial as say the child with no bed in Africa.
Whether a person's life seems real to one person is irrelevant because to the person living it, it is very real. But more importantly, shouldn't we be grateful for the opportunity we have, that we can evaluate ourselves and figure out how to improve ourselves and our lives. I think the bigger loss would be to say, "well I am doing better than some kid in Africa, guess I don't have to work to achieve anything else." What a waste of the opportunities and resources we have if we do not take advantage of them. Because my children have food and a warm place to sleep every night, it means I have more time to figure out how to be a better parent and how to give them a better education. If I did not evaluate these things and stopped at the fact that they are well fed and clothed, I would be doing them a disservice.
As for me, what is "Real Life?" "Real Life" is when I look at my 3 kids and see them playing together even though I have a 3 year old and 6mo. old twins. "Real Life," is when I realize I am married to someone who believes with all his heart that he is doing the right thing for his family. And when I realize that my children will grow up bi-lingual with out giving it another thought. If anyone has seen the movie, "The Family Man" with Nicholas Cage, he goes from being a single corporate exec. to a father with 2 kids living in the New Jersey burbs overnight. This happens of course through Christmas Magic to teach him a lesson. But I can really relate. As sometimes, I stop what I am doing look at my family when I see them all crowded into our bed on a Satuday morning and wonder, "when did this happen!?" and I think this is "Real Life" for me.
This winter I hope to push my self to learn better hebrew, or else I am not taking advantage of the oppportunity I have living in a foreign country. I hope to push my self to learn more Torah or I am wasting my time living in the birth place of Judaism. I want to push my self to learn more and to be more so that my children will learn by example and do the same. So that we do not waste the opportunities that our "Real Life" has given us.

Shavua Tov,
Have a great week!

A Ripple in the Water......

September 24th began Rosh Hashanna and the Jewish new year. For all Jews and Israelis this is our time of new year resolutions, reflections on the past and the promise that we will try to kick those old nasty habits we have been carrying about for longer than we care to admit. And for the secular world those resolutions will come out Dec. 31 at midnight on the eve the secular new year. So it is no wonder that it seems I and my friends have been doing a lot of soul searching as of late. Because lets face it, another year is staring us in the face and we just aren't getting any younger!

In this quest I had a friend who asked the interesting question of, " what do you want your obituary to read?" This may seem a bit morbid to some, but I think it helps define who a person really wants to be and their priorities when all is said and done. Her response was, "that i tried my best to help people and something in the world is now better than it had been." It is a wonderful statement and I know that having been her friend for a very long time now, almost 14 years, her goal has been accomplished.

I think we go through life never really understanding the effect we have on other people. Recently I had the privilege of being involved in a ripple effect where my role was so minor that I could not possibly know how large the ripple would go until, someone wrote a story and published it in the NY Times. Here is the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/05/fashion/05love.html?_r=1&ref=fashion&oref=slogin

It is a bit humbling to see how my actions directly affected someone else, it is 
reminder that what we do is not always the end of the story, for better or for worse.
That I should be more aware of what I am doing and saying since I have no way of knowing
the true affect of my actions on someonelse outside my field of view.

As for me, at this point I am trying to re-define my goals. With 3 kids in tow, I have found that what
I thought is important is not, but part of me is having a hard time getting rid of those old tapes.
The ones that try to convince me something in my life is missing, because I didn't accomplish what I
originally set out to do. But on the other hand, if someone were to ask me if that is what I wanted now,
I could easily say, "No!"So why is my brain at war with its self, old tapes are hard to erase, they
stick around no matter how much new stuff we cram in there that we know is better.  I am hoping that
by re-evaluating my self and setting new goals, eventually those old tapes will go away and I will be
able to give my full concentration to the new things I want to do.

I would be curious to know what other people have as their goals in life and what they would like their
obituary to read.  If anyone wants to respond, I look forward to reading your answers.  As for me I guess
I am still working on both those questions and as soon as I know I will post it here.

Have a good week!

Alina

PS pardon the typos, I am not wearing my glasses!

Jensen parents to the principal's office please.....

Sighhh......yes it would seem that even at the tender age of 2&3/4 my kid is requiring a parent/teacher conference. Ugggghhhhh. The biggest problem is that I don't speak hebrew so the Gannenet cannot convey her concerns directly to me. In fact when the Gannenet explained about the meeting, I thought it was a field trip, because I was handed a permission slip at the same time and was told to have him there by 8:30am. Turns out it was two different things. I had my neighbor, whose son is in gan next door sort the whole thing out for me. My neighbor assures me that I should not worry and that most of her kids have had this kind of meeting. The biggest concerns for the gannenent apparantly are that, he doesn't sit still, he plays more on his own then with the rest of the kids and that his verbal skills, hebrew or english don't measure up. So at the meeting will the head of the early education dept. who be able to discuss the issues and see if anything needs to be done. Possibilities could include, guiding the gannenent on how to work with him, having me work with him or sending him for outside help. I can't believe the gannenet has never had a child with any of these issues, so I will be curious to see what happens. Although neighbor says that the advice is usually very helpful and if there is something why not stop it now, I worry that this going to be the start of a long line of, "Mrs. Jensen, your child does not fit in the box." Well I knew that on the day he was born and he was trying to hold his head up and see what was going on. Not to mention we had him at home too. But I am going to go with an open mind and hope for the best. I guess it will be an insight to the Israeli mentality of the school system here and what is expected. And if it really will help him in the future, then I am happy to do it.

On to other news. Since it has been a month since my last up date I will give a quick re-cap of what we have been doing. Rosh Hashanna began on Sept. 23 and was really nice. We ate most of our meals out and had a great time. Yom Kippur was long as usual and I must say that although some things grabbed at me this year, I did not have a strong spiritual connection during Rosh Hashanna and Yom Kippur. I think it is hard to focus on the deeper meaning of things when chasing 3 kids. My biggest concerns were making sure that everyone was taken care of. Although they do have a day care during the services I could not just leave the twins as they were nursing and I had to be near by and I was not sure how S would do. In the end he did OK mostly. Sukkot was great. We splurged and bought a new Sukkah. Here in Israel they have really nice pre-fab Sukkahs and we bought one. The Jensens go wild and decide be conformists like everyone else. And can I tell you, it was nice. It was a lot like one of the American outdoor screen tents. And what was even better, I did not have to help put it up! One of the neighbor kids helped us and all I had to do was make dinner. Yeah! For the first days we had friends from Raanana that we knew in Portland come. The C family. They came last year so it is becoming a nice tradition. They have 3 boys, 5, 3.5 and 5.5mo. S had a great time playing with the two older ones and it was fun having all the babies in the house. Sukkot is 7 days long and at the end is Simchat Torah/Shmeni Aretz. So for the middle week between sukkot chag and sim chat torah is vacation time for almost the whole country. Think labor day, memorial day, etc. for a whole week. So Tues. we met the C family and another family and went to the Mediteranean. I must say that there is nothing quite like living 45min. from the Med. It warm, gorgeous and truly exotic. I really need to make a point of taking the kids more. I do love the beach. I really miss the Oregon Coast somedays, so being near the Med. really makes up for it! The rest of the week was spent hanging out at home. But we got to spend it in the Sukkah which was great. This allowed me somewhere to hang out so that S could run up and down the lane in front of our house and I could keep an eye on him. Otherwise there is usually no where comfortable to sit and I either have to take him to the park or he his confined in doors. The last night of Sukkot we slept in the sukkah. Traditionaly the guys sleep there all week long, but D was not up to it so we all camped out the last night. S thought it was the best thing since sliced bread! Put one twin in a laundry basket and the other in a bassinet and everyone slept great. Unless you count that Y was up every hour on the half hour! Reminds us that we need to figure out how to take the kids camping next spring even though we don't have a car. It really made me miss camping. So I guess in the end Sukkot really reminded me that I miss the outdoors and that I need to make more of a point of taking my kids to do those types of things.

So now the holidays are over and D goes back to Kollel next week, but we have a really nice break. However, we now have friends in for their daughters wedding and we are looking forward to that. We are friends with the extended family also, who live in Portland and most of the kids from both families so we are quite excited to have everyone here visiting.

For shabbat we are out Beit Shemesh as we just had friends from Portland move back to Israel after being gone 6 years. We knew them in Portland. They have been here 2 mo. and this will be our first chance to see them. Really looking foward to catching up. They were really instrumental in us becoming religiously observant.

On the 29th my in-laws arrive and I am looking forward to the extra hands. I have been spoiled having D around for three weeks to help out. So it is nice to know help is right around the corner again!

So that will keep us busy until about mid-november. Will be nice to see so many familiar faces.

The biggest twin up date is that I started them on bottles last week. Not all day, but part of the day. It really helps. I just am not eating and drinking enough to keep up. They are happy and I am happy and less ttressed and they still get plenty of nursing time too. M is the big bottle drinker and she gets 1-2 a day and Y does maybe half a bottle. We did go to Jerusalem the other day and both got mostly bottle. It was a big help. I will start trying them out on food soon. We tried sorbet on them, but they did not quite seem ready for food yet. Maybe in another week.

OK gotta get S from Gan!

Look forward to hearing from everyone,

Alina

Progress......

Today I realized that we are making progress in the parenting scheme of things. For the 3rd day in a row S went to Gan very nicely. Hurray! I can now quit feeling guilty.....at least about this one thing for now. I think he even likes it there, today he talked about all the friends he played with and that makes me feel really good.

The twins are also making progress. I realized that on Friday they will be 4mo. old and that they are on their way to bigger and better things. They are actually grabbing things, no thanks to mommy's help. I actually had friends both yesterday and today hand them something and they took it! At least for a few minutes. Y is much more into grabbing things, but what he really likes to grab are his hands. M is still more interested in watching than doing. However, she is more active in trying to sit up then Y is. Also if M is on her back and wants up she will push up, like when a person lays on the floor and then pushes up into a back bend. In that area Y is much more passive and is content to hang out. But they both wiggle a lot and I have to watch out as they have both launched themselves out of places I thought they were safe! I am also buckling them into the stroller these days or they will squirm right out! At this point I think M will be more active and Y more passive, but it is hard to say as both can be very active. But I have noticed that at least at this point Y is a morning person and M is a night person. It takes much longer to get M down at night and Y will wake up in the morning and just be content to hang out. He does not really want to nurse a lot, he just wants to hang out.

In some ways, I feel I have made progress too. I feel I am more tuned into my kids needs now. I don't feel I was always as tuned into what S wanted and needed. That was hard. I knew the basics, but I feel now I am more aware. It doesn't always mean I am good at acting on it, but it helps out. With the twins I feel I am really tuned in. I don't know if it because I have to be or I have more time to be or if it is just because after having 3 kids I have learned a few things! Of course it also helps that twins are getting older and even at 4 mo. it makes a difference from when they were newborns.

In other progressing news, my hebrew is coming along. We had another session Tuesday and we not only covered banking but basic words like, shirt, shoes, potty chair, etc. I am excited to be studying and I hope some of it sticks. But I am also excited to just get out and have somewhere to go a couple of days a week. I like having adult conversation and being out of my house and because my study partner is sometimes house bound because of health issues, she likes the company too. It is a good time for both of us. Her kids are home schooled so we get lots of extra help with babies too. But I really like having somewhere to go and some one to meet with. Although we have a lot of friends here, I have few people I can call on just to go over and hang out. Usually we see people at functions or just for shabbat meals. So it is nice having that kind of relationship with someone here. I do have a couple of other friends like that, but they are usually busy during the day since all their kids are in Gan or grade school so that is hard. It is one of the things I need to work on here. But those thoughts will have to wait another day. But I am making progress!

Shana Tova (Happy New Year!)

Success!

Shmuely finaly went to Gan today without so much as a complaint! I an not sure what did it. However, it seemed to make all the difference that I told him I am going to my hebrew study group today, just like he is learning hebrew in Gan. Maybe he felt that was a worthy cause to be left at Gan, or maybe he feels we are in the same boat. I am not sure. However, I am very grateful because I was up all last night with Y because he was running a fever. I think it is from his teeth. But at any rate he was up apporximately every two hours last night. To say the least, mommy was a bit fried this morning!

As for the study group I am learning hebrew with a friend from the neighborhood. Today we mostly spent visiting and playing with the twins, but we went through our collective materials and went over some vocabulary relating to banking. Very useful. Tomorrow we will be focusing more on the hebrew and will be going over the banking end of things.

I am off to do laundry and dishes before I have to S from Gan.

Have a good day!

To the New Year

On Friday night we celebrate the Jewish New Year. It is a time of reflection, not only because it is a major religious holiday, but because it marks another passage of time. As the new year arrives I reflect on where I was a year ago both in my religious observance and in my personal life. A year ago I did not realize I was pregnant, even though I was. We had, had some friends of my husband's out for shabbat. It was a big party as my husband was switching from a Yeshiva to a Kollel and his friends threw a party for him to celebrate. All was well until motzei shabbat and I felt horrible all of a sudden. Soon after the whole family was sick. It took me about 2 weeks to realize I did not have what everyone else did! Last year we had a family of 3, now we have 5! With children, each new year is really a marker. I think back to when I was pregnant with our first child, then to the first year with a child, etc. It is exciting to see our oldest grow and enjoy the holidays more with each passing year as he begins to understand bits and pieces. Now we will have a new experience with the twins this year!

I think not only has this past year been a year in which our family has grown, but I feel that spiritualy I have accomplished a lot. I feel I have put more trust and faith in Hashem this year than in years past. It is freeing, because at some point I realized that once I have done what I can, it is no longer up to me. I can relax, instead of saying, "what if...." I now realize that all things happen for a reason and "what if..." didn't happen because it wasn't meant too. Although I know that some people in my life feel that my becoming religious has limited my life, I actually feel that it has broadend my life. There are many things I never would have experienced if I had remained in my former habits. Although there are things I miss, I still find a way to keep the important things close to me and fill in the holes with new things.

And speaking of new things...on to a different topic. S is into his third week of Gan and he is still having trouble adjusting. However, I feel more confident now that I am on the right track. I had a good conversation with his Gannenet from last year and she said that although he is one of the youngest, he should do fine. She agreed that it was a hard to call whether to send a child his age up to the next level or hold him back, but felt confident he would do OK in the end. The cut off is Channukah, his birthday is just two weeks before that cut off. So he really is one of the youngest, in the class. In fact I am not so sure who is under him except for one other boy who b-day is the day after his. I have decided that I will keep him in until the end of Dec. and if he still hates it I will pull him out and put him back in private Gan for another year. This gives us time to see where the problem is and how to help him adjust with reasonable time for re-evaluation.

On a side note, the twins are wonderful and getting bigger every day! They will be 4 months on Friday and it is hard to believe. Y is such a rollypolly and loves to smile and coo! He has such an innocence about him. M is long and lean and she likes to talk. She seems to have a more wisened air about her, much like S did when he was born. It is interesting with M I have noticed to birthmarks, one she has had literally since birth and it is a mark of three little indents on her chest, like someone poked her with a fork. The other just developed and it is a beige mark on her stomach. Someone told me that scars from past lives can show up on the new body. Although in Judaism there is a deep belief in past lives, I am not sure I believe that aspect, but it does make wonder just where she has been in the past. Would make for a great piece of fiction perhaps.

OK it is late here and I am missing out on sleep to post this blog.

Have a sweet and wonderful New Year.

Shana Tova!

Well it has finally happened! It is 2:30 in the afternoon, my kids are all sleeping and I am awake! So I am taking this time to blog instead of do laundry and the like. What fun is that?

Most of my thoughts are focused on the life and times of my 2+ year old son. He seems to be updating the latest addition on the book, "How to be a Two Year Old and Getting the Most of the Terrible Two's!" This isn't a book, but it should be. And it should be written by my little man. To give him credit, being two is not easy. I read that two year olds have quick mood swings and that is normal. I think it must be because, they are not babies, but they are not really big enough to do much on their own. Plus they are learning all kinds of new things like potty training and how to clean up after themselves in a basic way. To add insult to injury, Shmuely is also learning how to share mommy after almost 2 years straight of one-on-one attention. Although he does love Y&M it is a bit rough on him. And now for the clincher, this week we started Gan. Last year he went to Gan, but it was only a couple of days a week, a smaller class and the teacher spoke english. Now we have 30 kids, 6 days a week and it is all hebrew. Except one Gannenet does speak english. Whew! What a relief for mommy. On the one hand, I feel bad sending him to Gan, it is not mandatory(though I don't one person who doesn't do it) and I am not working so it is not like I have to send him. On the other, what on earth is he going to do at home all day with me, while I take of Y&M? I don't want him spending the rest of his life in a commatose state watching movies and I just can't spend the one-on-one time like I want to. They also teach them a lot of things. First, he is learning hebrew, he should pass me by next week! (Just kidding, he still speaks a lot of 2 year old as well.) They also teach them songs, reinforce religious education and basics like, colors, numbers, etc. Finally, he is learning social skills. All of things are important and I feel like although it is difficult for him to adjust, he needs to learn to try new things and that all things are difficult in the begining, but once you get used to them it is OK. Plus the Ganennet assures me that he has fun there when I am not looking. I know part of my anxiety comes from my maternal instincts to protect my children from anything uncomfortable or unpleasant, but if I did that he would never try anything new and he would miss out on a lot of life's lessons'. I have decided that raising kids is a lot like a video game, each age is a level and you work and scramble to get everything out of it you can before you reach the next level so that you are prepared for the next set of obstacles, but the truth is you are not prepared because you have never seen that level before and so you take your goodies and do the best you can. Fortunately I get a lot of support from my family and from the neighborhood. My neighbors have 8 kids on one side and 7 on the other, the average in the community is 5. It is good to have lots of people to get advice from.

OK the troops are waking up and they are restless so I guess I will wrap up. But before I go, I just have to say, some things here are so great! I just got my groceries delivered to my door. Even if I had a car it is great not having to shlep kids and groceries up 14 steps. And the great thing is if you spend over $30(150 shekel) it is free. It varies from store to store, but that is the deal here and such a deal it is!

Alright, gotta run,
Alina

It is 2:00am and I am up because I fell asleep in my chair nursing the twins. Instead of going straight to bed like a normal person I like to use this time to myself for a few moments. I am up already....... and I am almost guaranteed not to be interupted.

First, I am pleased to announce that after almost 3 months of pestering the government we did get our Bituach Leumi! Hurray! This is our baby money. Our doctor is also very happy because it means he gets a sizeable down payment for his services now. In Israel every person is required to have health insurance. Because we are on a Socialized Medical system it is pretty cheap. Until you stray.....If we had gone through with the C-Section and been in the hospital the whole thing would have been paid for through insurance. Instead we opted to go with a private doctor and have the twins at home. This means it all came out of pocket at a high price. But, the health advantages were well worth the cost. In some circumstances a C-Section is necessary, in my circumstance we did not agree. We have had all 3 kids at home and it is always worth it. I like being in my own bed, eating my own food and having my privacy. The other advantage was that I was not away from my oldest son. We have never been apart for more than 24 hours and 5 days apart would have turned him upside down. It is a bit of a bummer to see all this money come in and know that had we gone traditional we would be ahead now instead of just floating, but in the end it is worth it. And considering most people who do home birth never get the Bituach Leumi, I am not complaining.

I would also like to thank everyone for their encouragement on keeping up this blog. I am not sure what I have to say is interesting to anyone else, so I am glad some people are enjoying it. I guess that is the great thing about free will, if someone finds it boring, they don't have to read it. And I am not even spamming their inbox!

Today was a big day, I actually took all three kids to play at a friend's house to play. It was either that or S and I were going to go nuts! This may not seem like a big deal to someone with one kid, but gathering up 2 non-walkers and a 2 year old is work. Getting diapers, everyone dressed, fed and down the stairs, yes, as usual we live in an upstairs apt. But I don't mind, it tends to prevent most of the creepy crawlies from getting in! Anyhow, doing all of this is a lot of work, so I was very happy to be out today. It was a hot walk, but worth it and nice for S to do something besides hang at home and watch movies.

I have found that having twins now has made me compromise a lot on my idea of ideal child raising. The moment I got pregnant, so many things went out the window I lost count. First as a family we spent so much time being sick this winter that we were all miserable, then being pregnant on top did not help. So....out came the videos, then dinner started resemble lunch a lot. Hard boiled eggs, toast and juice is a complete breakfast, right?!......And so it goes. I don't really like the fact that S has learned to appreciate the fine art of parking his tush to watch more than one movie a day, but I keep promising myself, it is just for a little while. 'Till mommy can manage all three kids at once....Oh in about 18 years! Just kidding. This fall S will be back in Gan (pre-school) and that will keep him busy from 8-1:30p, home for lunch, a nap if I am lucky, some play dates and dinner and bed. So there should not be some much need for a movie. Although in the winter when it is pouring buckets, there is not much else to do. Although I am hoping to get him into Piano lessons or start teaching him myself. This will also fill in sometime.

OK I must be boring everyone and this is getting long because it is 3:00am now and my thoughts are all over the place.

May everyone have a peaceful and quiet night/day where ever you are and pray for the continued peace and safety of Israel.

OK I am really trying to make an effort to keep up on this blog; so instead of doing dishes and laundry.....I am updating my blog. Right now I have a twin sleeping, one on the couch and the oldest is watching The Simpons with his abba(father).

The war is officialy over and our friends C&N went home today. Of course there is a lot of mixed feeling on this. I am glad that war is over so that everyone can quit worrying about us, but as with most of Israel, I feel that what we needed to do, did not get done. Our soldiers were not released and most of us still feel a real threat from Hizbollah. It is also a worry to have the U.N. offering to put troops on the border considering U.N. is comprised of some very vocal arab countries who would like us gone and by European countries who feel Hitler should have finished the job. Not very reassuring! France offered up troops, but the anti-semitisim in France is heating so a very scary prospect. And of course now they say it will take a year to get troops in place.....Hmmmm...I feel like they are ready to help don't you?

Life on the home front is pretty quiet as usual. Well how exciting can things be when we have to shlep 3 kids every where we go! We tend to spend a lot of time at home. Since we have no car getting off the Yeshuv is a lot of work. However, we did go to Bituach Leumi today. This is a government branch that handles child stipends. One of the great things about Israel is that they actually give you money for having kids. One kid is not that much, 2 kids is not much more, but having twins really changes things. They give you a monthly stipend and a lump sum just for having them. So for the past 2mo. they have been promising our stipend, but to no avail. Now they say we will have it tomorrow. Sure hope so! And so goes a typical day in government beuracracy! Just so you know, I think government beuracracy in the states is just as nutty and un-reliable! Any way, so that was our big outing today.

We are still waging the potty training war and we are slowly winning, I think. Can anyone really be sure with a 2 &1/2 year old? Any potty training suggestions for little boys is welcome! We are open to any and all suggestions. Today I gave him raisins to eat while he was on the potty. That got him to sit.

I had a really rewarding moment as a parent the other day though. S (my 2&1/2 yr. old) sat on my lap and sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the ABC song with me. It was really cute.

The Twins are cute as ever and growing fast. I love to see them laugh and smile. Y (my boy) really likes to laugh and giggle. M (my girl) is deffinitely all girl.

OK the natives are restless and house work is calling. We are going to put in The Bear in the Big Blue House Potty Training Video. Ahhh the thrill of parenting. My TV viewing has changed drastically.

Have a good day/evening where ever you are!

The time between posts seems to be getting longer and longer but this is what happens with 3 kids in the house under age 3. On May 22nd we had 2 healthy twins born at home. Yoseph Eitan and Malka Haddasah. We opted for home delivery when the Dr. wanted to do a C-section because they were breach. So we found a specialist who would deliver at home.

A lot has been going on in the past 2&1/2 mo. both at home and in our country. There is a war going on now and it is a bit surreal. We have friends C & N from Tzsfat who have been out of their house for 5 weeks now. We were able to find them an apt. here to stay in. This is a real blessing because they have their own place. Many people are in hotels or staying with families with 9 people and one bathroom. Others are staying in Yeshivha Dorms at 100 shekels a night. That is about 20 dollars a day! It was great to have C & N here because they had their baby in our house! This was also a planned home delivery and we offered our house because we have had all our kids at home. The community has been a huge help and was great with the Brit. In our community over all it has been volunteer central. People supply food, games, toys, etc. for those displaced. I know we are doing our effort by having our friends almost every shabbat and hosting them for about 2 weeks before they found their place. But I wish I could do more. I want to take the kids up and go visit the families staying in the dorms here. It is odd seeing what is going on up North because physicaly as far as resources, etc. we are unaffected. We are in our homes, no sirens or bombs, no lack of food, phones, etc. What makes it real is the fact that many families are here from the North and the fact that we have many men and boys off fighting the war. One family lost their son in battle over shabbat.

But on to other wars. I must sign off to go battle my 2 & 1/2 year old who thinks it is great fun to slam into me while I am typing. And Malki is crying now and it is off to battle another day!