It's mid-day on Tuesday here in Tel Aviv. It's beautiful. Seriously, beautiful outside. This is the weather we'd been expecting for the past week!! Thankfully it's arrived in time for the wedding.
This morning, I went to the shuk (a market of sorts) with my Dad and Shawn. I found many pretty things -- earrings, bracelets, a sign for Atticus's room... We walked down the street and had lunch and now I'm patiently waiting to try and talk to Greg before getting ready for the wedding tonight. The only bumm news is that now it seems my Bubbe has caught the cold that Atticus and I had earlier, but she has it even worse than we did. I'm hoping she's feeling a little better by tonight and can make it to the wedding!!
Yesterday was great too. It was our second trip to Jerusalem -- and it went MUCH better! We started at Mount of Olives, then went into the city - strolling the Via Dolorosa, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Yad Vashem... then when we got back to the apartment Amy, Darren, Goat and I went to see Nicole over at her friend Dena's house. We ordered sushi, drank some wine and played Trivial Pursuit. It was a great night. It was a great relaxing night for Nicole - which was just what the doctor ordered for her!! I'm so glad that we were able to spend the evening just hanging out.
Okay... off and running again.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
ER
Well, today has been a long day. After Jerusalem, Atticus had a bit of a cough and runny nose, but I wasn't too concerned. Over the day on Wednesday, it kept getting worse. Of course - the one thing I didn't bring was his "Little Noses" saline spray, so I went in search of a pharmacy yesterday while we were strolling Tel Aviv. Mission accomplished, I picked up some seawater spray and we went on with the day. Alas - he seemed to lose his appetite during the afternoon and the coughing and wheezing just got worse. At about 11 pm, I had the brilliant idea that it would have been helpful if I'd purchased an aspirator when I got the saline spray to help get rid of some of the gunk in his nose. Poor guy just couldn't breathe!! A few late night emails with Nicole and Brad and they tracked down a 24 hour pharmacy for me. My Mom, Atticus and I hailed a cab just before midnight and went to get the aspirator to see if it would help.
Not so much.
This morning, Atticus was just plain miserable. His eyes were all red, his nose was running non-stop and you could just hear the gunk rumbling around in his chest every time he coughed. Sigh. I feel awful. If you could see his little face when it's all red from coughing, it's just so sad. I want to help and I know there's not much they can do for coughs in children. But... since there was so much congestion in his chest, I decided to skip the Mossada and Dead Sea excursion today and venture to the Children's Hospital in Tel Aviv. I was extremely lucky that Hadas had the day free and offered to go with me. Hadas is the best. She really is such a great person. She and I cabbed down to the hospital and over the course of the morning, Atticus was examined and had a chest x-ray. The good news is that it isn't pneumonia -- the chest x-ray came back clear. And... the oxygen test and pulse were both good too. But, since the little man was wheezing (of course not nearly as much when we were in the presence of the doctor), they gave us a breathing treatment and sent me to the pharmacy to pick up a respirator type thing to use for the next few days here at the apartment. I was able to figure out the medicine and the mask thingy and we did our first treatment tonight.
Atti is currently kinda-sorta sleeping in the other room. I can still hear him coughing every now and then, but I'm hoping he'll sleep a little better throughout the night. Here's to hoping. We have to do the breathing treatments 3 times a day for three days -- and hopefully he'll be back to his usual happy go-lucky self in time for the next trip to Jerusalem on Monday. Tomorrow is another relatively quiet day. There's a crafty flea market/artist bazaar thingy that I want to go to in the morning and then Brad's folks are hosting a BBQ in the park in the afternoon. That's all that's on the schedule for tomorrow, so hopefully we can squeeze in another good nap or two for the little man. I really feel awful. I wish I could get the aspirator thingy to work better so I could suck out some of the snot.
Well... it's now almost 10pm and my Mom and Bubbe still haven't returned from today's trip. I hope they get in soon, I want to hear all about it.
Amy W arrived yesterday and it was so cool to see her. I can't believe it's been since the wedding since we last saw each other in person. Nuts. Tomorrow Goat and Darren arrive. We're getting closer to the wedding festivities. Let's just get everyone healthy and all will be well.
Not so much.
This morning, Atticus was just plain miserable. His eyes were all red, his nose was running non-stop and you could just hear the gunk rumbling around in his chest every time he coughed. Sigh. I feel awful. If you could see his little face when it's all red from coughing, it's just so sad. I want to help and I know there's not much they can do for coughs in children. But... since there was so much congestion in his chest, I decided to skip the Mossada and Dead Sea excursion today and venture to the Children's Hospital in Tel Aviv. I was extremely lucky that Hadas had the day free and offered to go with me. Hadas is the best. She really is such a great person. She and I cabbed down to the hospital and over the course of the morning, Atticus was examined and had a chest x-ray. The good news is that it isn't pneumonia -- the chest x-ray came back clear. And... the oxygen test and pulse were both good too. But, since the little man was wheezing (of course not nearly as much when we were in the presence of the doctor), they gave us a breathing treatment and sent me to the pharmacy to pick up a respirator type thing to use for the next few days here at the apartment. I was able to figure out the medicine and the mask thingy and we did our first treatment tonight.
Atti is currently kinda-sorta sleeping in the other room. I can still hear him coughing every now and then, but I'm hoping he'll sleep a little better throughout the night. Here's to hoping. We have to do the breathing treatments 3 times a day for three days -- and hopefully he'll be back to his usual happy go-lucky self in time for the next trip to Jerusalem on Monday. Tomorrow is another relatively quiet day. There's a crafty flea market/artist bazaar thingy that I want to go to in the morning and then Brad's folks are hosting a BBQ in the park in the afternoon. That's all that's on the schedule for tomorrow, so hopefully we can squeeze in another good nap or two for the little man. I really feel awful. I wish I could get the aspirator thingy to work better so I could suck out some of the snot.
Well... it's now almost 10pm and my Mom and Bubbe still haven't returned from today's trip. I hope they get in soon, I want to hear all about it.
Amy W arrived yesterday and it was so cool to see her. I can't believe it's been since the wedding since we last saw each other in person. Nuts. Tomorrow Goat and Darren arrive. We're getting closer to the wedding festivities. Let's just get everyone healthy and all will be well.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Where to Begin
Wow. I seriously don't even know where to start. It took about 24 hours from start to finish to get from DFW to Tel Aviv, but we made it. 3 adults, 1 baby, 3 suitcases, a stroller, a car seat, a diaper bag, a laptop bag some other random carry-on bags, etc. Whew. We actually did pretty well with the trip here I think. The stewardess on our BA flight from Dallas to London was a doll! We learned that she has a one year old little boy at home and that this was only her third flight back from maternity leave! I swear she spent 80% of her time tending to us and the other 20% to the rest of the plane! And... to make it just a bit better, we got lucky and there was an empty seat on the plane next to me - so Atticus got his own chair! He spent some time in our laps, some time in his chair and some time in the funky little bassinet that attached to the wall. We arrived at Heathrow, changed terminals and got checked in for the next flight. The BMI flight was fine - not as smooth (in many ways) as the BA flight -- but the end result was the same. We landed in Israel. The Grand Bubbe, Bubbe, Me and Atticus -- 4 generations -- all in Israel. Nicole and her friend Dena picked us up and shlepped us to the hotel/apartment. We're staying at the Ben Yehuda apartments -- they're nice. Small and efficient kitchenette, table, sofa bed, and a couple bedrooms. So far so good. All of us CRASHED when we got here. Amazing how much a couple flights can take out of you!
The tours started the next morning at 9 am. There's so much history in this tiny little country that you could spend an entire day in each of these cities and still not really absorb all the history that happened there. I'll go into more detail of each location soon. The tours have been great - but it really is so much information. I wish I would have read up on my Jewish and Middle East history before we made the trek! The baby has done great in the Ergo for the most part and the Grand Bubbe is holding up pretty well. Then came today... Jerusalem. It was 45 degrees, rainy and just miserable. Nobody had a great experience. I feel bad for the Grand Bubbe. Of all days to not be able to really take in where you are... in Jerusalem? Sigh. Good news is that we're going back on Monday after my Dad and Shawn arrive. We didn't even go to the Western Wall today because I just wanted to get my crew back to the bus. Good thing we have a quiet day tomorrow to recharge!
Ok...well, I know I haven't mentioned anything of what we've seen - but it's late and I need to head to bed. We're having a good time, but there's just a LOT going on!
More soon. I'll also try to get the photos off the camera tomorrow during our "down" time.
The tours started the next morning at 9 am. There's so much history in this tiny little country that you could spend an entire day in each of these cities and still not really absorb all the history that happened there. I'll go into more detail of each location soon. The tours have been great - but it really is so much information. I wish I would have read up on my Jewish and Middle East history before we made the trek! The baby has done great in the Ergo for the most part and the Grand Bubbe is holding up pretty well. Then came today... Jerusalem. It was 45 degrees, rainy and just miserable. Nobody had a great experience. I feel bad for the Grand Bubbe. Of all days to not be able to really take in where you are... in Jerusalem? Sigh. Good news is that we're going back on Monday after my Dad and Shawn arrive. We didn't even go to the Western Wall today because I just wanted to get my crew back to the bus. Good thing we have a quiet day tomorrow to recharge!
Ok...well, I know I haven't mentioned anything of what we've seen - but it's late and I need to head to bed. We're having a good time, but there's just a LOT going on!
More soon. I'll also try to get the photos off the camera tomorrow during our "down" time.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
First Kiss
Sigh... I knew it would happen sooner or later. Atticus gave his first kiss to a girl, his friend Eleanora. :-) My friend Diane and I met for an afternoon gelato this past Tuesday and while we were sitting on the patio, the kids were facing each other and Atti just reached over, grabbed Eleanora and gave a big open mouthed kiss to her nose. It was really sweet. We're going to have to watch out for him... he's turning into a lady killer already.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Excitement
In less than 4 days, Atticus and I will be on our way to see Nicole in Tel Aviv. I'm so excited for the trip and so dreading the flight over. Ha. It's definitely worth it though.
I just keep laughing in my head thinking... "Oh, my gosh. I am going to be the person at the airport that other people dread seeing ahead of them in line." There aren't as many business travelers anymore - when compared to the consulting hey days... but Friday afternoons are a popular flight time for anyone looking to go out of town for the weekend. And, well - I'll be there in line with my Mom, Bubbe, Atticus and an odd assortment of luggage, stroller, car seat, etc, etc.
I'm going to log off here in just a moment and start the packing process. I want to make sure that everything is as streamlined as possible. No extra papers in my carry-on, no loose chapsticks running around in the diaper bag, nothing that will cause us more grief than necessary. Funny - I'm normally a laid back traveller, but I'm starting to panic about this trip. It will definitely be the most organized I've been before leaving for a trip. Greg and I are normally the kind of folks who just sort of go with the flow when on vacation. We arrive somewhere and then decide what we should do for the following day. Then, we pick something to do for the next day. If we decide too late, eh... there's always tomorrow. So far, it's worked well for us. Our 2 weeks in France was one of my favorite vacations to date - and we had no agenda for 90% of our trip.
I will be taking a laptop, camera and the video camera (though I'm still not sure I want to bring the video camera), SO...assuming I can get the free wi-fi to work at the apartments in Tel Aviv, I'll be able to check email and post pictures/video to the blog. Keep your fingers crossed. Thankfully all of Israel is pretty wired for wi-fi. If only I'd thought to look for an electrical converter before now...
Well... the to-do list is growing every minute that I sit here typing. Yikes. 4 days away!!
I just keep laughing in my head thinking... "Oh, my gosh. I am going to be the person at the airport that other people dread seeing ahead of them in line." There aren't as many business travelers anymore - when compared to the consulting hey days... but Friday afternoons are a popular flight time for anyone looking to go out of town for the weekend. And, well - I'll be there in line with my Mom, Bubbe, Atticus and an odd assortment of luggage, stroller, car seat, etc, etc.
I'm going to log off here in just a moment and start the packing process. I want to make sure that everything is as streamlined as possible. No extra papers in my carry-on, no loose chapsticks running around in the diaper bag, nothing that will cause us more grief than necessary. Funny - I'm normally a laid back traveller, but I'm starting to panic about this trip. It will definitely be the most organized I've been before leaving for a trip. Greg and I are normally the kind of folks who just sort of go with the flow when on vacation. We arrive somewhere and then decide what we should do for the following day. Then, we pick something to do for the next day. If we decide too late, eh... there's always tomorrow. So far, it's worked well for us. Our 2 weeks in France was one of my favorite vacations to date - and we had no agenda for 90% of our trip.
I will be taking a laptop, camera and the video camera (though I'm still not sure I want to bring the video camera), SO...assuming I can get the free wi-fi to work at the apartments in Tel Aviv, I'll be able to check email and post pictures/video to the blog. Keep your fingers crossed. Thankfully all of Israel is pretty wired for wi-fi. If only I'd thought to look for an electrical converter before now...
Well... the to-do list is growing every minute that I sit here typing. Yikes. 4 days away!!
Ewwww.
We've found the first food that Atticus thinks is awful. Avacado. I wish I had taken a picture of his face when he first swished it around in his mouth! He did take about a dozen bites all together, but after each one he would wrinkle up his nose and stick his tongue out. It was funny.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Laughing with Dad
There are several pictures in this series... but this is one of my favorites.
Laughing with Daddy
Renaming labels in Blogger
For the past well... 7 months, all things related to Atticus I've labeled Baby Baden. Before the birth (and for a few days after the birth) the little man didn't have a name. Well, I've wanted to rename the label from Baby Baden to Atticus for some time now, but I haven't been able to figure out exactly how to do it. (Granted, I haven't looked in quite a while.)
So, I've created a new label... but I'm thinking there has to be a way to rename the old one, right?
So, I've created a new label... but I'm thinking there has to be a way to rename the old one, right?
Sunday at the Park
Yesterday, Atti and I had a grand ole time at my cousin Nikki's baby shower. Atticus is quite the fan of little toddler girls, especially when they dote on him and make him the center of attention. The shower wore him out however and he managed to take a 2 hour nap that started the moment our car pulled away from the shower. :-)
After he finished dozing and I did some cleaning/organizing - it was still a beautiful day outside, so we headed over to Shipe park. It's not a huge park, but it's so close, Atticus is there practically every day! I did get a quick video of Atti on the swings - but I can't figure out how to "flip" the video. Apparently I am not YouTube proficient just yet. And.. well, I've heard that my last YouTube attempt didn't work for everyone -- so definitely leave me a comment if this doesn't work!!
Here are a couple of still shots too.
After he finished dozing and I did some cleaning/organizing - it was still a beautiful day outside, so we headed over to Shipe park. It's not a huge park, but it's so close, Atticus is there practically every day! I did get a quick video of Atti on the swings - but I can't figure out how to "flip" the video. Apparently I am not YouTube proficient just yet. And.. well, I've heard that my last YouTube attempt didn't work for everyone -- so definitely leave me a comment if this doesn't work!!
Here are a couple of still shots too.
More Babies!
Mazal tov to our dear friends Josh and Lisa Rothstein who welcomed their third little girl, Abby Tova last Tuesday.
And another mazal tov to dear friends Wolf and Sandye Fertman who welcomed their first, a little boy earlier today!
The baby boom continues... only 6 left to go. :-)
And another mazal tov to dear friends Wolf and Sandye Fertman who welcomed their first, a little boy earlier today!
The baby boom continues... only 6 left to go. :-)
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Ridges?
By golly, I think I can feel the ridges of a tooth breaking the surface!
Sent from my cool new iPhone!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Babies, babies everywhere
Two of my friends had babies last Tuesday. Jenny and Jeremy Rosell welcomed a little boy, Ryan - who joins older sister Abby. Nick Lange welcomed his first, a little girl named Dylan Nicole.
This leaves only 8 friends currently expecting. YIKES!
This weekend was also the baby shower for one of my oldest college buds, Brandon. It was such a strange and cool thing to see the majority of all my old college friends hanging out with spouses and kids. Bizarre to think we're old enough to have spouses and kids, especially when I feel like such a teenager when we all get together. The bad jokes, innuendos, stories of old times... We have an incredibly lucky group to still be so close. For those of you that don't know, most of us met our first weekend in Austin in August 1993! Me, Amy, Nicole, Brandon, Goat, Darren, Kyle - and several others along the way, but that's been the hub if you will for 15+ years! 15 fabulous years.
We had an incredible weekend.
This leaves only 8 friends currently expecting. YIKES!
This weekend was also the baby shower for one of my oldest college buds, Brandon. It was such a strange and cool thing to see the majority of all my old college friends hanging out with spouses and kids. Bizarre to think we're old enough to have spouses and kids, especially when I feel like such a teenager when we all get together. The bad jokes, innuendos, stories of old times... We have an incredibly lucky group to still be so close. For those of you that don't know, most of us met our first weekend in Austin in August 1993! Me, Amy, Nicole, Brandon, Goat, Darren, Kyle - and several others along the way, but that's been the hub if you will for 15+ years! 15 fabulous years.
We had an incredible weekend.
Sneaky Tinkle
That's the name of Atti's new band. Anyone want to join? Must be under the age of 1.
Twice in the last week, Atti's managed to somehow get himself (and his clothes and changing table) wet while I was changing him. And - I had the boy parts covered with a washcloth....
Hmmm... Sneaky Tinkle.
Twice in the last week, Atti's managed to somehow get himself (and his clothes and changing table) wet while I was changing him. And - I had the boy parts covered with a washcloth....
Hmmm... Sneaky Tinkle.
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