Life with a Big Sister

Hadassa: My baby sister is so cute... I'm going to give her a big huge hug and kiss!

Sara Miriam: I don't know about this...

Sara Miriam: NOOOO!! Someone please tell her that I'm not enjoying this ...

Hadassa: Aren't I the greatest big sister ever?!?
 Sara Miriam: Sisters.... sigh!

For Sale

Found at the Children's Place ...

The things they say!

Yesterday, I took the train with the kids to Manchester to see Yocheved and Yossi. On the way there, I told the kids we're going to see Yocheved. Dovid said 'I know who Yocheved is - Yocheved is the mother of Moshe Rabbeinu!'

Later on the train Hadassa said, a few times, 'Yocheved has a new baby!' I couldn't understand why she was saying that - until she said that the new baby was Moshe Rabbeinu!

We all had a great time. Dovid's favorite part was jumping on the trampoline, Hadassa loved playing with Dena, 'her new friend' and SM enjoyed all the attention (as usual!)

Sunshine at last

What's missing from the picture?

SNOW of course. B'H it is finally getting nice the weather. The snow has mostly melted and the kids have rediscovered the backyard. So nice to send them out there for some airing out. It does amazing things for them. Turns them from ..... into adorable kids again!!

It took long enough... Sara Miriam is finally enjoying the baby swing. Well, for 5 minutes anyway, whilst Dovid is swinging her (yes, that's his sock in the pic!)

The Real Story

My inbox has been flooded in response to yesterdays' post, including some veiled threats of Social Services... So, here is the real story. I was getting the kids into pjs last night and noticed that Hadassa had folded herself underneath the upside down laundry basket ... and she fit. What a great photo opportunity! So I ran to get the camera and the kids 'posed' inside it.

In other news, Dovid had a friend over today, and when his father came to pick him up, he ran over to him with a couple of pumpkin muffins and said 'here's one for you and one for your wife'. Mwah!! Later, I said to Dovid that was so kind of you to give I's father the muffins, to which he responded 'Of course, I'm very kind!' ... I guess you can cancel the social services!

When All Else Fails...

It was one of those days... when the kids were out of sorts and nothing I tried seemed to make an impact, so when all else fails...

Hey presto, well-behaved kids!!

DISCLAIMER: No kids were hurt in the production of these pictures.

Purim (Part 2)

 

The queen - hey that's not a dress-up - she really does think she's a queen!

 

Purim!

Ah Purim! So busy but so nice! Dovid summed it up well, he said tonight, I wish we could have a whole week of Purim :)

It was busy, with a kids party in the morning, teen party in the afternoon and a couple of other parties to attend in between :))So while I should have been organised and done a lot in advance, uh... the reality was quite different. On thursday I was still scrambling for an idea for mishloach manot and for costumes.

So on Thursday morning, after the kids saw the eye dr (all healthy BH!!!) I hit upon inspiration in Superstore when I saw there fruit TWISTS ... twists - like how everything in the megilla gets twisted!! So I bought some of them, but fruit twists do not a mishloach manot make. I also bought some foil dishes thinking I would make cinammon twists. But when I got home I found out that I had run out of yeast, so nix that idea. Instead I used a cookie dough to make apricot twists (note to self: do not do again. Cookie dough does. not. twist. Not even in a bind) Eventually I came upon the inspiration to make brownies with a twist(ed icing) in the foil dishes. And, hey presto mishloach manot!! Well, not quite. I made a double batch of brownies which only made one third of what I needed, and I called it a night. To be continued :)

Friday was costume day. Dovid had an adorable cat in the hat costume we had picked up last year:

Hadassa had a queen costume from Savta that she wanted to wear. Which left Samuel, Sara Miriam and my costume to find. We went down to a costume shop hoping we could find something. But they were ridiculously expensive and even more ridiculously unhelpful. So we left, and I sent Samuel home to clean up the house for Shabbos as I went to Value Village in hope of some inspiration. Which I found! I found a pirate eye thingy which was the inspiration for Samuel's and a Corona hat which was the theme for my costume.

 

And the theme? Randomness! Just like the randomness that a superficial reading of the megilla suggests... random coincidences -- random character. But really coincidences is G-d's way of remaining anonymous!

Hope you all had a great Purim!!

No, I don't feed my baby chocolate

Yes, this is Sara Miriam, same Sara Miriam that won't eat any food. It's not that she's picky or that she is a small eater. She just doesn't eat any solid food yet. Yes, you're right she looks suspiciously like she is eating something in this picture. What is it?

Yes, that is chocolate in her hand. But no, I did not GIVE her chocolate. She helped herself thank you. She found a Hershey's kiss and unwrapped it and ate it.

 

Sorry no cute captions, but the kids are cute, eh??

Who put the baby on the table?!?

That's right. She can't walk, but she can climb!

Edmonton

Shabbos in Edmonton was amazing -- as usual. D and HM had a wonderful time playing with the other kids. We stayed with a family who have twin 4.5 yr old boys and it was cute to see how D became friends with one of them, and HM with the other, although they all played together. If that makes any sense :)

On Shabbos D told me that he wants to go and play with M. I was surprised that he remembered M from when we had been in Edmonton in November well enough to want to go and play with him again. But I shouldn't have been -- he has an incredible memory!

Watching the sealion show.

We took the kids to crazy golf, it was a lot of fun until the 6th hole. At which point a few little people, who shall remain nameless, got very restless. As you can see the hug in the picture above wasn't necessarily mutually enjoyable. 'Nuff said!

Now for the not so fun part of the trip... On the way back, first SM threw up, then HM threw up all over herself and her carseat -- we had to pull over and clean them both up -- TG for babywipes and chinooks :) We got home and HM threw up a couple more times. In the morning we woke up to find the couch in D's room COVERED in vomit. I hope they all feel better really soon!

Just another day!

From a photographic point of view they are not very good pictures. In fact they are pretty bad ... but if you want to get a glimpse into our day, (or even if you don't!) you just have! Sara Miriam suffers from what may be called 'Too Much Love'. The kids love her and want to play with her and hold her and pick her up ... and she wants to do her own thing. Hence the picture above -- that was nice but now let me go!

Thanks Savta for the adorable top -- it is an apt description of SM too!

You know, being up a lot at night takes its toll. After a night like that I need a Starbucks to get through the day...

That is much better! Now I can face the day!

Now for some adorable snaps:

This takes the cake!

SM is small for her age - she weighs approx. 7.5 kg at 12 months. She is just starting to get interested in eating solids, after being adamant that she wanted nothing of it these past few months. My dr. is very unhappy about it. I think (scratch that, I know) she thinks that if I only tried harder SM would eat more. She also wants me to wean SM and start her drinking cow's milk. Which seems counter-intuitive, because nursing is the only reliable way SM will get nutrition at this point. At least that!

Every time I go in to get her weighed, she gives me the homo milk shpiel and asks me how it's going trying to get her to drink the milk. Not very successful is my response :) In any event, on Friday I got an invoice from the Dr for SM's visit. Reason: apparantly my health care is no longer valid. Which makes sense if it's MY health care -- I just recently got a new visa and didn't realise I had to submit it. But for SM?? She's Canadian! She shouldn't have a problem. I gave them a call and they confirmed, that yes, of course they had billed the visit in SM's name and yes, her health care was still valid. But, I was also being invoiced because... apparantly the dr had noted down... 'maternal concerns over homo milk'... Nice! Not only do I have to listen to that, but now I have to pay for it too??





(The good news is that at least now I have health care)

What's Happening?

A quick update on the kids!

Dovid is 5 now and a big brother all the way!! He is caring and protective of his sisters ... when he isn't teasing them mercilessly... oy! He loves to draw and learn! Right now he is drawing a picture of Daddy and Dovid -- Daddy has a giant head with giant eyes! He's my little tzadik -- it's amazing to hear his emunah! The other day he told me, after he had heard us discussing going to Israel for the BIL's wedding -- Im Yirtzeh Hashem the tickets will be cheap, then later he asked me 'Did you find cheap tickets yet?' He is very excited about the wedding!!!

Hadassa is 3 and I can hardly believe how big she is! Her hair is slowly, ever so slowly growing back after her big haircut (courtesy of her older brother). It was a really thorough haircut... down to the scalp in some places. It happened on a Shabbos afternoon, no less, I was putting the baby to sleep -- very grateful that D and HM were keeping quiet downstairs. You'd think after 5 years I would KNOW that a quiet child is not a good thing, and two quiet children is even worse... Sure enough, D came rushing into my room, Look at HM's hair... ARGH!

Now What!?!

I took a look at this blog and realised that I have been very very negligent. I haven't updated since summer of 2008! According to this blog Sarah Miriam hasn't even been born yet ... :( I'm not sure where to go from here -- how do you go about updating the last 18 months of life??

The most important thing is the birth of Sarah Miriam!! Which, amongst other things, means that this blog is no longer called Dovid & Hadassa Malka! And it is too long to call it Dovid, Hadassa Malka & Sarah Miriam... so I need to think of a new name for this blog... Any ideas??

IT's A GIRL!! In true Ross tradition she's wearing a blue blanket! Dovid was given a pink blanket in the hospital, HM was wearing a blue hat (that's the one DH got ready for her before she was born -- at which point I KNEW she was going to be a girl). SM I was absolutely sure was going to be a boy. The pregnancy was so similar to Dovid (easier than HM) and the labour and birth was so similar that I was convinced she was a boy, so much so that my doula asked me in the hospital 'Do you know what you are having?' and I told her 'We didn't find out, but I KNOW it's a boy' :)

More later! Meanwhile, reply to the thread with suggestions for the new name :)