Elana's First Shots

What was I thinking. I had no clue that I would get that upset when Elana got her shots. Even Leaf's eyes watered. The needles are huge and there are tons of them...well three but still. I have never heard such a blood curdling scream in my life. I guess everyone goes through it.

The good news on the visit is that Elana is growing and developing well. She is doing all the right things. Not a huge surprise, Elana is not very tall BUT she is husky. Leaf asked that doctor if Elana's size is a predictor of her future height and the guy looked at me and laughed. If Elana breaks 5'3" she will be a giant in our family. Not Dee or Auntie Shannie tall but at least she can shop in the regular people section.

Since Dee is back in England I will try my best to keep this up. There were so many funny things that happened but I realize now back dating is boring and I do not have time to update now. So Dee and whoever else wastes their time at work reading this I will redouble the effort...whatever that means.

We are still alive

Okay to say life has been stressful and busy is an understatement. Leaf keeps promising that it will get better but it never does there is always something new....I still believe Leaf every time he says it will get better. The stress is that everything is happening at once. Leaf is finishing up his residency which is a lot of work and long hours, we are trying to buy a house, we are living in a house that someone else is trying to sell (we rent it), and it goes on....The bright spot is we have a beautiful little girl who loves us.

So here is the news items. Leaf got a JOB...a real one that pays normal pharmacists wages. So in reality Leaf is right it is almost over....30 more days! The other good news is we are moving home to my parents. I do not know how excited they are but it helps we are bringing Elana along.

The big Elana news is she smiles all the time...and none of that fake stuff everyone was trying to claim. These are for real. I will say Leaf gets the best ones which makes me a little irked. I am the one up at 3:10 writing this because for some reason he cannot keep himself awake! Still I get a few.

The other big news is Elana takes a bottle. She first did it when Dee was over and it was pretty simple. I have heard horror stories of trying to get kids to take a bottle but she is related to Leaf and I who don't miss to many meals. On that note, I am wondering when is the point that I just start accepting that I am a little "thicker" than before. The scale has not moved in weeks, I have no clothes to wear because apparently I was once anorexic and did not know it. I had no clue what a pain being fat is. I do not like that my belly hangs over my shorts like a middle aged man or that my thighs rub together in a very uncomfortable way. I did finally realize that my belly is here to stay unless I do something about it.

I might get to that next week.

ALLERGIES!!

Okay yesterday started out pretty normal. Leaf went to work, I woke up around 10 or 11, Dee was visiting so we talked, and we shopped. Elana was an angel and let us eat tacos and shop for a good couple of hours. It was nice until.....she had the poop of her life in Target. Dee and I both were shocked. Something about having a Hunter around makes my kid poop. It was so bad that I just threw Elana's pants in the garbage. Luckily they were cheap.

Later in the day Leaf and I went on a dinner date with Nick (Leafs other woman/friend). For years I have obligatorily gone to dinner with Nick and his latest lady friend just for him to break up with the girl that night or the next day. It has happened so many times that Nick even tells girls about our curse. So last night I managed to remember the girls name (I do not like to get to invested for obvious reasons) and have a nice conversation. Leaf and I were really impressed with this girl and loved having dinner with her. Everything seemed to be fine until later that night Nick texts Leaf saying it is over. I said it had to be a joke because when they left Nick was driving and he cannot text and drive. We went to bed thinking it was a joke and in the morning Leaf called Nick and it was true. To say I was mad at Nick and wondering if there was a shrink who could fix the guy is an understatement. I even called my mom and complained about it (she works with Nick). Well I was right it was one big joke. After I swore off Nick and told Leaf we needed to sit him down for a talk it was a joke. To pull something off on Leaf is pretty good because he does not fall for that stuff. It was however totally believable that Nick would through the nicest woman he ever dated away. He once broke up with a girl because they lost to us in doubles ping pong. Anyway God willing this one will work out. I really like her and now that I am invested it better last a little while.

So for the title, allergies. I am totally sick from allergies. I have a headache, runny nose, achy joints, and a sore throat. I know your joints but do not usually hurt from allergies but I have other stuff going on that causes that a lot. This usually happens and I hoped I would avoid it but it is not the case. Leaf hooked me up with some Clariton and I am going to be okay. I just can't wait for it to kick in.

Baby Naming

Elana had her baby naming on Friday which was also the celebration of Israel's 60th birthday....our luck. This was not a quiet family affair, as it should be, there were 200 people there! So there was a typical shabbat service with some special reading about Israel and then the baby naming...just in time.

Leaf, Elana, and I were standing on the bimah (stage) listening to the Rabbi speak about how Elana got her name when she let on rip. This was not just a fart, it was a diaper filling poop that could be heard in the first few rows. Leaf and I looked at each other and laughed....The Rabbi tried not to laugh and just finish up.

You hope events like that are memorable and that you will not forget them and now thanks to our little angel we will not.

Happy Mothers Day to Me...

Mothers Day is pretty over rated at this point. I am sure Elana appreciates me but she is not quite able to express her feelings. She is just starting to smile but that is not consistent. Leaf got me an awesome picture frame though. The frame has spots for Elana's monthly pictures through her first year. On top of that Leaf let me sleep in which was GREAT. I feel so rejuvenated right now. I think in turn he realizes that being alone with an infant is not all fun and games. In seven weeks that was really the first time he was fully alone with Elana. He mentioned it was hard to eat or go to the bathroom....I had no sympathy.

So maybe next year will be more fun....

Leaf and Jack took a shower

Okay, so normally I give the dogs a bath but today Jack decided he wanted to shower with Leaf. Jack just walked in while Leaf was warming up the shower.



Since Leaf was naked I did not take any action shots but I did get Jack on his way out..

I know showering with your dog is kind of gross but what are you going to do with a 100 lb dog. If he wants in he gets in.

BOO Kitty!!!!

I really do not like cats. I think they make horrible pets because they poop and pee in a box. Oh you may be thinking but outside cats do not do that. Well letting a cat outside is inhumane...they can get hit by cars, are targets for mean people, and can be attacked by other cats! So I do have a heart and that is why we have Kitty.

8 years ago kitty was saved by my roommate and needed some work done. I took him to the vet and got him better. Thinking his owner would be looking for him I did not name him...I have now named him "You Stupid Piece of Sh*%." At first Kitty was fine, he got in our trash a few times but was pretty normal overall. Since he was an outside cat to start with we did not force him to give up his roaming ways. When we got a house we moved him too. He used to walk next to us for miles when we walked the dog. He knew everyone in our neighborhood...apparently to well. Kitty got cat herpes. When we moved to Stockton we decided Kitty was going to be an inside cat so he did not spread his disease. Also Kitty liked to walk in front of cars as they were moving and then lay down....in Stockton that is a death wish.

Recently Kitty decided that his litter box was uncool. He will poop there but the garage door is better for pee. It started when a repairman accidentally covered kitty's box and he could not reach it....now he prefers the door. For me this is a deal breaker. I am totally all for animals being treated with dignity and respect but Kitty is driving me crazy.

So on top of this Kitty has done some things that nearly pushed me to open the door and kick the little ba%$#rd out. The most recent was during Passover....I literally cooked for 2 days while breast feeding a 4 week old who was cluster feeding. That alone drained my patience. I decided to cook my meat dish in the Crockpot...this is what I woke to at 5 am....

For those of you who do not know, the torn bag is the Crockpot liner to make clean up faster...which did not happen.

I literally had to sit down and rationally talk myself out of killing the cat. If it was not that Leaf loves the damn thing Kitty would have been gone. Luckily he could not get the lid off so the meat was okay.

The worst part about kitty is I am his favorite person in the world. I never give him treats, I am always pushing him out of my way and he only purrs for me. So i am stuck with this cat...I volunteered t fund him a new home but Leaf said Kitty would miss the dogs.

So I am left telling Kitty to choke on a freakin hairball and die....Trust me no tears will be shed over that one by me. The worst part of the story is I have to be very careful that Kitty does not get out or die because of my doing because Leaf would think I did it on purpose. I am so stuck for a good 10 years with this cat!

Week 4 and more

Okay so I am late but I can explain. Something happened in the last 2 weeks. First, Elana does not sleep as much. Second, she decided that the night is for partying and that sleeping is for the day. She also took a break from pooping which sounds nice but in reality is worse. I figured well less gross diapers but the flip side is she is cranky. Third, I was out of town visiting my grandmother in the hospital. So there are my excuses.
The big news for week 4 was that uncle Alex came for a visit. Before Alex could dream about having a baby of his own reality struck and "Baby Lana" blew out her diaper during dinner. It was so bad we had to just hose her off. This was followed by complete shock by me...this had never happened before. Luckily I was at my parents and Darlene took over and cleaned the baby up. As usual it is easier being the younger sister because Darlene already knows what to do.

Since Gram is so sick Dee decided to fly out from England to boost Gram's spirits. It was great for all of us to see Dee and to see Gram so happy. The visit might of been the factor that helped Gram get over the hump. Gram was moved last week to a rehabilitation facility in Livermore. It is nice that she is closer to my parents.

On that note, here is my rant. For Gram she cannot be blamed for smoking. It was advocated by health care professionals as a healthy thing to do in the 40's. Today there is no excuse to smoke. The research is clear and no amount of exercise, eating healthy, or praying is going to protect a person from the dangers of smoking. My rant however is bigger than smoking it is all unhealthy things. I am guilty of eating bad, having to much to drink, not exercising, making excuses. We all are. I honestly believe that I will out live most teenagers because I did not grow up of video games, fast food, and highly sexualized TV. Every generation has its "cigarettes." Something we do that is unhealthy, sometimes we know that to be the case and sometimes we do not. For me it is unhealthy eating, for Kasey and Lindsey lack of physical activity (not that they are not active but their peer group), for you it may be something else. Whatever it is we need to recognize it and make better choices for ourselves and our families. If you are reading this and you look down and see and extra 20 lbs on you belly or know the menu's at several restaurants maybe there is room for some change. No one she be going through what my family is going through in this day and age. Bottom line is we know better.

So there it is. Until next time....