Abuela

Wow. Almost a month between posts! I've not been ignoring you - I just cannot believe how time has flown this month!! Tomorrow, at this time, Deb and the girls will be on the plane to New Jersey. I can't believe it's time already!!

Deb will be in New Jersey for nearly a week before Elijah and I go there. Amy's shower is Saturday so she will get to be there for that. She's also going to meet MICK before me!!! Unfortunately, it looks like Mick won't be released home before our trip there, which means the kids will not get to meet him. That sucks. However, he is doing progressively better and will probably be home shortly after we depart.

Elijah and I get to NJ on the afternoon of the 26th. Friday, the 27th is my one day to see everyone before services on Friday night for Lauren's Bat-Mitzvah. Saturday is the event and then Sunday afternoon we are leaving with The Turers for a week at Disney World!! FINALLY a vacation!! I can't want for Hannah to see Disney for the first time. Elijah was there when he was two and, although he remembers a lot, he was sleeping in his stroller for much of it. This trip is going to be very special!

Mom was here for nine days and it was wonderful. She took care of the kids, did the laundry, made dinner every night and slept between Elijah and Hannah every night in a queen sized bed. The two of them had trouble falling asleep on the first night after she left. Everytime the kids spend time with Abuela, Hannah tries new foods. Last week she tried avocado, cooked beets, eggplant, and kiwi fruit. Loved them all. I can't wait to buy her more kiwi. She's cuter than EVER these days with her hair up.

Elijah is gearing up for his big day this Saturday!!! He is testing for a belt promotion at his Karate school. The test is at 9am and he's been practicing for it. Deb and the girls will be in NJ for the big event but it will be BOYS DAY and we will celebrate afterwards! He's been practicing outside lately. The weather has been great and the mountains have snowcaps now so it makes for a cool makeshift dojo.

Sadie. Oh my little Sadie. Mom had a good time bathing her in the sink all week. She's really getting bigger and her personality is really coming out now. She is going to be ONE on November 11th! She's giving up on the baby food now and eats whatever we eat along with her four bottles a day. She's so cute and cuddly and she's ALWAYS smiling as big as this...

It's nice to have Mom in town. Most of you will say, "yeah, of course it is because she does your laundry, watches the kids and makes dinner." True. I will admit that is true. However, it's nice to see her too. It's hard living so close to your Mom all the time. I think it's healthy to live far away sometimes because it makes together time better and more meaningful. Deb and I were just as excited as the kids while we waited for her plane to land and we were just as sad as the kids when she left.

Mom cleaned all the dirty Sadie diapers while she was here. THAT was nice, for sure. However, she left a few days early...

Yesterday, Hannah was in the bathroom downstairs while we were fixing dinner in the kitchen. I heard her call me from the bathroom. She usually calls me when she poops so I can help her when she's done. Anyway, I heard her call and asked Deb, "What did she say?" We stopped what we were doing and she called again from downstairs and, this time, it was quite clear.

"Daddy! I have poop on my toe!"

So I put down the pizza bagels I was about to cook and walked downstairs. The whole 15 seconds it took me to get there I was thinking, "poop on her TOE? WTF?" I arrived at the toilet and Hannah was sitting there like normal. There was poop in the toilet and she looked perfectly OK...except for the dollop of poop resting right on the top of her third toe. Her panties were spotless, the floor was spotless, the toilet seat was spotless, her hands were spotless. OK. So I clean her up and put her panties on.

"Hannah, how did you get a dollop of poop on your third toe?"

"What's a wallop?"

Mystery unsolved.

Sometimes kids just get stuff in places that no other human beings can get to. It's just that simple.

Where was Mom when I needed her then? Mom would have doused Hannah in formaldehyde, scrubbed the bathroom with Comet, opened all the windows to get the germs out, and had the family evacuated to a shelter for the night. I just wiped the poop off with some toilet paper.

Lot's more new pics are up!! Click here to see them!!!