glenrockschwartz

Hi Avery, Yesterday you turned eleven months old. The countdown to your first birthday can now officially begin. While you were napping yesterday afternoon and Alex and Eric were having their necessary TV downtime, I did something stupid which was to read a book about developmental milestones. Now while I generally think you are perfect, when I read these types of books, I can have what is known as a 'freak out reaction'. Because there are guidelines about what is developmentally appropriate. And it's not that you are necessarily developmentally delayed (what an evil phrase, huh?), it's more that I have not 'tested' you on these developments. So you woke up from your nap and I was on a mission: pulls herself to standing. yup, you can do that in your crib with verbal encouragement. check. can walk holding on to a sturdy children's car/push toy. brought your Winnie the Pooh car up from the basement, stood you behind it and lo and behold, you can push it and wa...

Hi Alex and Avery, Today is Tuesday March 10, 2009 - actually it is already March 11 in Istanbul, which is where I am as I type this blog. Alex, you will be five years old in just a few short days. Avery, you are a bit passed ten months. I want to let you both know (now and years from now when you go back and read this) how much I love you, how I never stop thinking or talking about you when I am away from you, how lucky I feel to know how well loved and cared for you are when I am away. And how lucky YOU are to have a mommy who will teach you all about the world, including such far off and magical places as Istanbul, Turkey. Alex, I cannot wait to bake cupcakes with your class in honor of your birthday when I am Shabbat Mom this Friday - I wouldn't miss it for the world! You may just be having dinner right now, but I must go to sleep since it is the middle of the night here. I love you both with all of my heart and more. Love, Mommy.

So now that I am the even wiser mother of two I can say with complete conviction that every child will have some recurring type of illness that the kids around him are not necessarily getting. I have seen kids who throw up or get fevers at the drop of a hat. Alex had an ear infection nearly every month for the first couple years of life. And now it's Avery's turn. So what ailment do I joyously get to celebrate regularly with this little girl? Diarrhea (cha cha cha). Now you are probably thinking that diarrhea trumps ear infection as far worse. But believe it or not there are some pluses. 1. You never have to go to a doctor, 2. You never have to go to a pharmacy, 3. When you catch the disease, at least there is the benefit of losing some weight.

...Obviously, since I did not manage to blog even once. I missed writing Avery her nine month note, so I'll do that here. Also want to record for posterity some of Alex's current idiosyncracies. So here goes, Avery, Stats: at your 9 month check up you weighed 21 lbs 9 oz (88 %ile) and were 29.75 in (96 %ile) You turned 9 months about a week and a half ago. If you think you are looking particularly slim in these photos (hee hee) it is because you had a stomach virus that took out the entire eastern seaboard. I'm not kidding, I had it, Jenny had it, Jenny's whole family had it and then we went to Florida and you gave it to Grandma and Pop Pop too! Florida was not the best trip. I've already mentioned Grandma and Pop Pop getting sick, but to add insult to injury, you screamed and cried almost the entire 3-hour flight to West Palm, it was freezing cold the entire time we were there and Alex sliced open his finger while out for the first ride on his razor scooter (no s...

Last Saturday, Eric and I drove to Hoboken with the kids to have an adult dinner at Julie's house once the babes were asleep in her bedroom. We had a great time - food and company, as always, were excellent - and I don't have too much to write other than: A] I'll even admit that it's nice to start getting our lives back now that Avery is a little bit bigger and, B] Just look at this photo! Am I so lucky to be so much in love with this handsome man! Also, as a side note, on Monday night following this dinner, for the first time Alex totally threw up in his bed and all over himself. Thank goodness, this didn't happen several nights earlier when he was asleep in Julie's bed! I would have been mortified.

Hi Avery, Yesterday you turned eight months old. We keep waiting for you to crawl and to grow teeth, but you are taking your time and enjoying life just the way you are. That's not to say that there have been no big advancements in the past month - you are now queen of the two to three hour morning nap and you have truly started sleeping through the night by our standards which means from about 8 p.m. until after 7 a.m. Also, in the past few days you have started to imitate more and this includes clapping your tiny hands when I prompt you to do so. You are so proud of yourself and I am so proud of you that you would think we had just found the cure for a horrible disease. Imitation also includes sounds and Alex has found some pretty annoying shrieks that he knows you can copy and the two of you laugh and laugh while I just choose to leave the room smiling, but on the verge of a headache. Food and faces are also a newer part of who you are and how you communicate. Continuing wit...

...this is certainly not meant to be a guilt trip in anyway, but I was just thinking about how great the kids are (have you sensed yet that there is a theme to this blog) and thinking about how my mom would really love to be here to see 'her babies' instead of being in Florida for so long. Here are three pictures from the past week, each worth at least the proverbial thousand words: 1. Avery snoozing away during morning nap time. At night now, she sleeps on her belly, but during naps she prefers her side. Even better, because she is sleeping on her tummy at night, she is now sleeping until after 7 every morning. Eric thinks I'm the only crazy person that is sad about this because now I don't get to spend as much time with her. 2. Eric and the kids goofing around - uh, I mean cuddling - under a new sofa blanket. This image should be likened to those Russian matrushka (sp?) dolls, with the tiniest one inside the medium one inside the largest one. Or in other words, A...