Size Dosen't Matter

It happens to every male. Don't deny it!! You wake up in the morning and stretch and get out of bed and....yep - you guessed it...morning wood. Don't be embarassed!! It's NORMAL. Does not mean a thing - it's just there. You get used to it after awhile. It does not cause any problems or pain. The ONLY drawback of morning wood is trying to use the bathroom. You have to twist like a pretzel so you don't squirt the walls. Sometimes, on special mornings, you REALLY have to bend and twist cause that sucker aint goin' NOWHERE!

What does that have to do with my family? Nothing. I just thought I would relate that information to you.

Just kidding.

This morning, Elijah woke up and had to go potty, as always. So at 6:15 I took him to the bathroom and he dropped his pants and...yep - morning wood. He has no idea, of course, so he proceeds to band halfway over the toilet to go pee pee. No big deal. So he gets in bed with us like always and he's watching Bear in the Big Blue House. Ten minutes later he shakes Debbie and says...

"Mommy, my penis is too big for my pajamas!"

Thank goodness it was dark in the room. He could not see me doubled over in silent laughter. So we don't want to encourage him about the subject...so we don't laugh at all. Instead, Deb asks him why that is. Now here where I get a moment of clarity. As soon as Deb asks him why that is, I have a vision of Elijah replying, "Bear looks HOT on TV today." NO!

So Elijah replies, "It's going to rip my pajama pants, Mommy!"

Mom's thoughts...."oh goodness...change the subject please...talk about baseball or something..."

Dad's thoughts....."YESSS!! That's my BOY!!! WOO WOO!!!!!" High Five!

Reality....."It's OK, Elijah, your pants won't rip. How about those Phillies? They won a BIG game last night!"

My morning in a nutshell. Gotta love it.

Don't forget to go to the goodies site (click the link) and sign my guestbook!! There's lots of new pics there!!! (NONE were taken this morning...don't worry)

dad

Pics pics and more pics

I am uploading 6 new Hannah pics today to the Goodies site! Click on the link to the left for access and don't forget to sign the guestbook over there!!!!

dad

The Proudest Parents

What a whirlwind 48 hours! My grandmother Pearl (Buba) was taken to the hospital by 911 on Sunday AM and on Monday she had taken a severe turn for the worse. She's 97 years old and her ailments are typical of what you would expect in a 97 year old. Renal failure, pnumonia, etc. Well, as always, Buba pulled through and made a magnificent recovery. She's being discharged tomorrow and looks 100% better.

Today, Deb went to visit her in the hospital with Elijah and Hannah. Elijah did not know that Buba was sick. He understands that the hospital is where babies are born and where sick people go to get better. Deb told him he was going to visit Buba in the hospital so he must have figured that she wasn't having a baby...she must be a little sick. Well, they walked in the hospital room and...well - I'll let Deb tell the rest...

"Elijah saw Buba and he went over to her and he said, "Are you OK Buba?" and he saw the patch from the EKG machine on her chest. He said, "Oh Buba, let me take that off for you," and he gently pulled off the patch. "See Buba? You're all better now." Then he fixed the corner of her nightgown (it was falling off her shoulder) and said "See Buba, you are going to be all better." He gave her a hug. Little did he know that Grace, Candice and I were all welled up standing behind him. I have never seen a boy so sweet and caring to an older person. It's like he knew that Buba had been ailing. He was so tender and understanding. If Buba was 90% better when he walked in, she was 100% after 2 minutes of him being there."

Yes, he can be a terror sometimes...he's THREE for crying out loud!! I have to remind myself of this sometimes when he's running around a restaurant yelling, "I'm SUPERMAN!" He is also the most tender, gentle boy I have ever seen and he keeps on amazing us with episodes like the one today in the hospital.

Anyway, it looks like Buba will be going straight to a 24 care facility from the hospital. It's a very difficult move for Mom, who has been taking care of Buba in her house for 5 years, but she decided today it was best. Mom needs her life back and Buba is becoming increasingly more difficult to care for with the limited resources available in a bedroom. She still gets around with her walker and she does all of the things needed to stay clean and healthy but she needs 24 care in the event that something sudden happens. Mom is broken up about it but her sister Rocky is in from Jamaica to help her through it. Uggh. More on this later. Heck - you guys don't even know who Buba is!! Well...most of you don't. She's quite a healthy looking 97 year old!!!

Don't forget the new GOODIES SITE!! Go there and check out pictures and sign my guestbook!!!

dad

ANNOUNCING...

Hey gang...I've created another website that will host all kinds of NEW goodies! The writings (the diary) will CONTINUE to be right here at this site. The new site located here will contain pictures, a guest book, and will enable you to join the community that will lead to other things in the future like message boards and a possible chat feature. Most of you are always asking for more pictures and that's the reason for the new site.

When you get there, PLEASE sign the guestbook so I knew you were there! You should also join as a member so I can reach you automatically with update notifications, etc. There is also a links page with other cool stuff. It will be expanding by the day, literally!!

Thanks again for watching.....

HERE IS THE LINK AGAIN TO THE NEW SITE!

dad

PICTURES!

Here are a few from this past week. I am establishing a seperate page that you can link to from here to see all the pictures posted. I will have that ready soon!!

Have a good weekend!!

The Mexican Wedding, Hannah's Official Name and WHITESNAKE

"What are three things Jordan took part in this past weekend."

CORRECT!

What a weekend!!! Saturday night was spent at Deb's parents' house celebrating the engagement of her sister Amy and fiance Brett. It was a great party out on the deck with lots of beer and lots of beer. AND they had lots of beer too! Amy and Brett are getting married in January. In Mexico. So we are going to make it a vacation! We are headed down there for a week in mid-January to live it up a little and celebrate a wedding on the beach. It should be very cool - breaking the traditional tuxedo/limo wedding thing. I am looking forward to wearing sandals to a wedding! Brett said there were 30 or so people confirmed to go.

After getting home and getting to sleep, I wake up on Sunday morning and we host 80 people at our house for Hannah's baby naming ceremony. 80 people! The Rabbi was stationed downstairs and we squeezed maybe 40 of the guests down there while the rest stood on the stairs or at the top of the stairs. It was PACKED! I wish I had sold tickets! The ceremony was terrific and Hannah is now officially named along with her cousin Ariana. It was actually a double ceremony all wrapped up as one. I will post the naming ceremony "program" in the next day or so here at the site. Deb did a fantastic job creating the literature and it's a beautiful packet.

So the people file out of my house and it looks like it was hit by Hurricane Claudette. We had a cleaning person that did a nice job but there's no way to see ALL of the cake frosting smeared into the walls and tabletops. There's no way to see all the SHOE marks on the walls of the stairway that occur when 4 year olds walk up the stairs SIDEWAYS. There's no way to see the puddle of pee-pee NEXT to the toilet that a stray 3 year old created - right before he announced to the crowd, "I JUST WENT POTTY ALL BY MYSELF!" There's no way to see ALL of the poppy seeds that fell of the bagels during the luncheon. I mean, POPPY SEED BAGELS?? Who ordered these? Never again. This morning as I was stepping into my shower, I felt a sharp pain in my foot and found a freakin POPPY SEED lodged between two of my toes. Those things SMART when you step on 'em! It's plain bagels from now on. Anyway, the cleaning crew comes today so when I get home it will smell like lemon and whitefish salad. Ahhh.....

After the naming it's off to Melissa and Brian's house for Joshies third birthday party. We are pooped by then and it's only 3pm. So I stay there for a bit and then hop in the car and head to the PERFECT ENDING to my day....

If you guessed Trenton, NJ for the Whitesnake concert - then you are CORRECT!!! Gary, Michael and I go to these hard rock shows all the time. It's our guilty pleasure. We can act like 16 year olds for a few hours and look at metal chicks. I love metal chicks. BUT that's a topic for another post. This time is was Slaughter, Winger, Warrant, and Whitesnake. Awesome!! It was LOUD and there were metal chicks everywhere. I think we were the only Jewish people there though. I KNOW I was the only one there who ALSO had a baby naming ceremony for his daughter that same day at his house! I was in bed for the night just after midnight. Exhausted and satisfied.

Bottom line - my day began with prayer and thanking god for my daughter and ended with me pumping my fist to songs like "Cherry Pie", "Slide it In" and "Slow and Easy." THAT'S THE LIFE.

Rock on.....

dad

The Best Therapy

Ever notice how sometimes you can talk to a complete stranger, or someone you don't know all that well, and the words they say make you feel so much better? Sometimes, people who don't fully understand are the best listeners and offer the best advice. My wedding ring is missing. Somehow I gave it to Deb to hold while I put suntan lotion on Elijah this weekend and we have not found it yet. It's in the house somewhere...just not where we can see it right now. It sucks but we know it will turn up at some point. Anyway, I asked Elijah several times if he knew where my ring was and he didn't really show much interest at all. Sometime that night, he asked me to play with him and he saw my sad face. His face became sad almost immediately and he said, "Daddy, you're not sad, you're happy!" I said I was a little sad because I could not find my ring. He walked over and took my hand in his and said, "Don't worry Daddy, we will find your ring. Maybe not today but we will find it tomorrow." Suddenly, I felt 100% better. I BELIEVED HIM! So we played for another half hour or so and then I put him in his bed and he said he wanted to help me find the ring. We looked all over his room (I knew it was not in there but he had hoped it was). After we couldn't find it, he went to bed and so did I...knowing that I would find it...tomorrow.

dad

My Son the Ventriloquist

Hannah is getting BIG! The other day I was feeding her and she had gotten so thick I could not believe it! I am noticing her cheeks getting big and puffy too. I can remember Elijah - until he turned 2 or so - had the most squeezable cheeks I've ever seen! He was chubby all over - he had those knees that you could not see unless he had his legs bent. His cheeks were so big we used to joke that he could store a winter's worth of Cheerios in them. Now, Hannah seems to be growing them too!! I will post some new pictures here in the next few days. We can compare cheeks!

Elijah has this interesting behavior with Hannah. He will walk up to me (or Deb) while we are holding Hannah and put his hand on her. Then he says, "She's awake! Hannah is awake!! Say Hi to her Daddy." So I say Hi to her. Then he continues to tell me what to say to her. "Say 'Hello my love' to her." So I say, "why don't you talk to her - she loves when you talk to her." "No, no Daddy - YOU tell her 'Hi'." How bizarre! We can't figure out why he does that - but it's so very cute. Finally, after about 5 minutes of this, I tell Elijah, "Is there anything else you want to say to Hannah for you?" It's like he's calling me on the phone asking me to relay her messages for him.

Elijah continues to be so protective of Hannah, it's incredible. When someone holds her, he's right there - and I mean RIGHT THERE - practically on the person's lap. He tells them what to say too. He's like her attorney. I can see him with her when she's 16 and a cute boy walks up to her in the mall when they are shopping...

{Cute boy}
"Hello, my name is Brutus Beefcake, but my friends call me Meat. What's your name?"

{Elijah}
"Don't answer that, Sister. He's attempting to manipulate you. Strike that question from the record."

{Hannah}
"But, Elijah, he looks like a nice boy."

{Brutus Beefcake}
"I am a nice boy. I have a Harley, 6 tatoos and a pierced penis."

{Elijah}
"My sister will not be speaking with you at this time. I advise you go on your merry way. Besides, your earlobes are getting tangled."

Yes, I can visualize this scene...and it makes me happy. Afterall, the guy probably wasn't Jewish. What kind of name is Beefcake?

HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND!! Be SAFE on this 4th of July. We got a family of matching T-shirts to wear so people will be staring at us like we are nuts.

Send me e-mail!



dad