Happy 4th Liverday & Welcome Maya

Shayna had another amazing year and we had another wonderful party to celebrate her second life.  Her favorite thing about this year was Maya Lynn.  Shayna had been asking me when Aba and I would "get married again" so we can have another baby and she could have a baby sister.  Since this year brought the blessing of Maya Lynn and Liverday is about our family getting a second chance to be whole, we celebrated Shayna's health and welcomed Maya Lynn to the world.

Shayna continues to astound us with her vivacity, joy, unique intelligent, compassion, and health.  We have had one of the best years health wise for Shayna.  Her lab values have been fantastic all year and we've seen the doctor so little it makes me nervous, happy but nervous still.  She loves to tell stories and make up songs for us.  She gets along with everyone she meets and is amazingly friendly wherever we go.  One of my favorite things now is watching her play make-believe with her friends.  We have at least one play date a week and she and her friends always come up with new adventures to act out about heroic fairies, princesses, or fairy princesses.  The other is watching her sing her made-up songs to Maya, which Maya adores.

Maya Lynn was born on October 6, 2013 at 11:04pm weighing 9lbs3oz and being at least 21" long.  (She never fit into newborn clothes so we know for sure the official measurement of 20" was too short.)  Her name honors two great-grandmothers.  Nahum's maternal grandmother was Margareta so the name Maya honors her.  Patricia's maternal grandmother was Carolyn but went by Lynn.  Both women were very strong minded, intelligent women who fearlessly stood up for what they believed in.  Lynn raised two very young daughters alone after her husband passed away when the oldest was seven and throughout it all was a strong-voiced, community leader making sure her girls would continue to have a better world.  Margareta's conviction and strength was test more.  She was named one of the Righteous Among the Nations for her work in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II.  While we hope Maya's life will be easier than both her ancestors, we also hope that she may have their strength of character and conviction in all she pursues and does.

Israel 2013

It all started the week before we received the surprising news that we were expecting our third child.  Nahum had two international conferences in June that seemed important to his career prompting him to ask if I could fly with the kids myself to Israel at the end of June while he would meet us there fresh from his 2nd conference in Sicily.  Personally, I saw little problem with this but was still a little frustrated by the request.  Yes, it would be a challenging trip but nothing I didn't think I could handle.  My annoyance of the request came because he can't even take the kids to the beach on his own while we're in Israel, and other "little" things like that.  So we bought tickets then found out I would be traveling at 6-months-pregnant.  We discussed changing plans, skipping a conference, moving the trip, but I didn't see the need.  And, indeed, it turned out to be a wonderful trip.

The kids and I headed out Friday June 28th after the easiest trip-packing I'd ever done.  The weather in Philadelphia delayed our flight long enough (5 hours) that we missed our flight to Israel prompting a 2 day layover.  We had a studio apartment style hotel room, swam in the hotel's pool and got to spend an afternoon with our dear friend Katie (she was our nanny/mother's-helper in Pittsburgh during our transplant stay and hadn't seen here since).  It turned into a very enjoyable layover and gave Nahum and his brother David some quality time together they haven't had in years.  The only 3 seats together on the Sunday flight were in first class so poor us had no choice but the get bumped (no extra charge) to first class making the flight relaxing as well (chairs that turn in to beds!).  The first-classers were a bit anxious watching me and two small children join them but we got the usual compliments at the end of the flight, "what wonderful children," because they slept well and Elijah only fussed when he had to stay seat-belted during takeoff and landing.

Visiting Katie.

Chair beds; so wonderful!

The picture at the top sums up one of the two main joys of our trip: the beach and sea were a highlight for each of us.  Neither child would touch the water on the 1st trip there but loved the sand.  On the 3rd trip, I had both of them in the water (we left Nahum to his sleep and work at the apartment) getting slashed by the waves.  By the 6th, and final, trip, both kids cared little for the sand preferring to be splashed, pushed and knocked about by the waves instead.  The waves were larger and more intense than usual but I was still able to swim out past the breaks (about twice as far as a normal year and more than twice the work) to float on my back on the rolling waves.  Nahum enjoy his sea time body surfing.  We had to watch for jellyfish. We saw 5 but all were only stung by particles in the water.  Luckily, the kids noticed the discomfort less than Nahum and I.

Playing in the water at Hof HaSharon.

The other highlight was all the time we spent with family and friends.  At the end of the day, that's what makes me want to move to Israel.  It's so lonely in Blacksburg after being surrounded by so much family and seeing Nahum's wonderful, old friends and their families.  We even attended a Bat Mitzvah for one of their daughters' (my first such event).  It was a simple coming-of-age celebration and made me wish we had those types of things in American culture.  (Since I'm not Jewish, the kids aren't so I'm not sure what we'll be doing for them.)  I was too busy enjoying the company to take many pictures of our visits so I would like to thank Yael and Kobi for a beautiful and relaxing afternoon at their country house and Dani and Sharon for sharing their view from their 29th floor, Tel Aviv apartment while our children ran amok with theirs.  We spent much time in Saba Dov and Savta Lea's facility's pool (we were in some for of water at least every 2 out of 3 days during our trip).  We found a babysitter for the last week which helped a lot while Nahum worked at the Technion for two days.  I also took the kids on a 1/2 hour train ride to Tel Aviv.  We got off at the Tel Aviv University stop and spent a couple hours a Park HaYarkon before taking the train home.  Elijah cried when we got off the train both times and constantly asked to go back to the train station for the rest of the week.  All three Shabat dinners were wonderful family events.

Visiting with dear friends at the Bat Mitzvah: Yael, Eli, Eyal, and Nahum

Riding the train to Tel Aviv and watching the trains as we wait for our train home.

Elijah feeding some of his cookie to Savta Lea.

Elijah reading with Uncle Dudi and Shayna being tickled by her (still) favorite cousin Adi.

Dov and Lea with all their grandkids: Dan, Ran, Yelka, Dov, Elijah, Lea, Adi, Shayna and Ben.

The trip home on Saturday/Sunday the 21st/22nd was long but uneventful.  My ankles and calves swelled on the 12hr transatlantic flight so I spent some time laying on the airport floor with my feet up or walking.  Sleep was also hard to come by as only certain positions kept the kid out of my lungs and those weren't that comfortable for sleep.  Luckily, there were some enjoyable movies to watch.  The playground at the airport was a highlight as usual (I love Philadelphia for that).

Fun at the Philadelphia Airport.

It was a joy to travel with older kids.  Packing was a breeze compared to every other trip we've taken and we were able to do so much more.  Traveling while 6/7-months pregnant was not such a breeze, but traveling with a baby next year will bring its own challenges.  It was also wonderful to get to do so much the four of us together.  For me, just having a partner in the normal affairs of domestic life makes everything nicer let alone almost always having a second parent around for all our little trips.

Now we just wait for baby while enjoying the rest of our mild Blacksburg summer.  I'm trying to take the kids swimming at least twice a week to keep them comfortable in the water (they made huge advances while in Israel).  I'm also enjoying getting back into crossfit.  I have to at least tweak every workout but everyone there is incredibly supportive no matter what one's ability so this has yet to be an issue.  Thanks to all the rain, catching up with the gardens hasn't been too trying.  The weeds took over while we were gone but they pop out easily with the damp soil making weeding a pleasure while the kids play outside.

Spring Rain = Green Grass and Happy, Wet Children

Every time it rains (about 1/2 the days since my last post) and Elijah finds out, "Right back.  Outside.  Rain," and he heads for the door with Shayna close behind.  On the last day of school, they didn't even make it outside while we got 1.5" of rain so I brought towels and dry clothes with the plans of puddle searching and splashing in the rain.  We got lucky with a huge puddle at the bottom of the school parking lot, away from the child-pick-up car parade, and leading into a long swale in the grass.  The kids had a good half-hour of wet, splashing fun before we had to head home for naps.  We were joined briefly by one of Shayna's classmates and another got a very wet good-bye hug from Shayna.  (See pictures and video below.)

We did have a brief heat wave in between days of rain when I got out our new, huge pool.  Elijah mainly loves filling his watering can and buckets to water the grass, garden and chalk pictures on the driveway.  While Shayna loves doing that as well, she also spent much time splashing and playing in the water.  On the first day with the big pool, we even had her friend Peyton over who enjoyed it just as much.

We've had some park picnic's with friends after school.  We've done three with friends and at least two on our own in the last month around one of the two duck ponds in town.  There's a small pond on the way to the kids' school that's fairly flat so I bring the kids' bikes.  Shayna's biking skills have improved tremendously.  She's up to going faster (she started at, and would freak out if she went faster than, Elijah's walking pace) so she can make it up the slight inclines and over the tree-root bumps in the path.  She can get up steeper hills too as her legs seem to be getting a lot stronger.  Her breaking has also greatly improved, which was my biggest safely concern.  Instead of freaking out, screaming, then falling, she puts on her breaks.  The bigger hills are still and issue from which she had to be rescued once as she careened straight (luckily) back down a hill she'd just heroically gotten most of the way up. My fast moving friend Sarah (she's been trained by her 4 boys) caught Shayna before anything bad happened.  (Sarah followed this rescue 10 minutes later when she fished Elijah out of the creek he tipped into while I had a slow-moving, I'm-pregnant-and-in-pain, and sore-from-too-much-exercise day.)  Elijah has a tricycle with an adult push-handle on the back and just recently graduated from feet being on the stationary pegs to legs-long-enough to put his feet on the peddles.  He still doesn't get the peddling himself concept but loves being pushed along any trail.

Nahum was in Germany for a conference last week so we kept sane as best as possible.  We're training a new mother's helper for the summer so she was a big asset as I took myself to dinner twice and had some down time while someone else chased the kids.  We also enjoyed a breakfast out where the kids were marvelously well behaved.  I did cheat a little with Elijah and let him play games on my phone while we waited for our food and for Shayna and I to finish our breakfasts after he inhaled his.  Shayna knew the morning plan but Elijah wasn't sure what was going on so showed some concern.  All he knew what he had only eaten 1/2 an apple so was leaving the house like it was time for school on a near empty stomach.  He was quite happy that we ended up driving in another direction and quickly settled in for the new adventure trusting, I'm sure, that I would feed him soon.  I got even braver and busted out the multi-color water colors that afternoon.  Shayna had some practice at school but Elijah had never seen such a remarkable thing.  He fell quickly in step with rinsing his brush before getting more paint.  The concentration on his face was priceless so I videoed about 10 minutes of painting.  Don't worry; it's not all included here but can be made available to Grandpa Michael on request.

Speaking of Grandpa Michael, Elijah's still in love with him and can't wait for his October return.  I took the kids to the neighborhood creek about a week after Michael had left from his May visit and Nahum came home from work while we out.

Me: Elijah, let's go home to see Aba.  Do you want to go see Aba?
Elijah: No. (said quickly, short and to the point)
Me: What do you want to do?
Elijah: uhhhhh...GranpaMichael. (it's one word to him)

Since Michael left, seeing him again has been a normal request by Elijah.

Enjoy the pictures because I'm done writing for today.

May 19: Helping Aba open a coconut.

May 24: Reading the look-n-find book together.

Beginning of June: Three best friends: Addison, Shayna, and Peyton.

The rest is all from June 6.  The last day of school and the day we got 1.5" of rain.

Plus, the video from that day.  

"Annual" Pittsburgh Pilgrimage

I say "annual" because it's actually been almost 2 years since we last visited the transplant folks in Pittsburgh (July 2011) and, theoretically, we're supposed to come up around her transplantiversary.  We got to skip last year's "annual" visit by seeing our awesome local GI doc in Roanoke Dr. Hart.  He and the folks in Pittsburgh get along great, respect each other and communicate well.  The other issue is driving to Pittsburgh in the winter is like rolling the dice on weather and therefore road conditions with the odds against us.  With all this and Shayna's astounding good health, we were able to enjoy some of Pittsburgh's beautiful spring along with our doctor and hospital visits.

Shayna and I had a wonderful trip, just us ladies.  Elijah stayed home with Nahum and Tall Oaks Montessori (where he stayed until 4:30/5 each day instead of the usual morning preschool only).  It was the easiest drive I've ever done with a kiddo in tow.  Shayna was an excellent traveler, able to stay in the car for long periods of time and communicate bathroom, food/drink, and entertainment needs easily.  There were even a few times when she had me turn the car dvd player off  so she could look out the window, daydream, sing her songs or just chat with me.  We drove up two weeks ago Sunday and checked in with labs and a clinic visit Monday morning.  The transplant crew continues to be very happy with Shayna's progress and present health.  We also talked about the possibility of a little plastic surgery to goofy scar folds if she requests it as a teen (or older) and their immunosuppression weaning program.  Once Shayna is 5 years post-transplant, she can be evaluated as a possible candidate for Dr. Sindhi's program.  She has to have been rejection free for the last 3 or so years and show good indicators on a blood test he has designed.  (Transplant science is still so young that it's thrilling for me to watch it unfold from such a close view point.)  It's still a couple years out for us but an exciting possibility since Prograf does not come without its side-effects.  The one of most concern is kidney damage, which they check for every year and Shayna's kidneys look perfect so far.

April 15: Relaxing after labs with some french toast breakfast at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

April 15: Clinic visit with our coordinator Stacy and PA Patty examining Shayna.

April 16: Waiting for her procedure.

Tuesday, Shayna had her umbilical (belly button) hernia repaired.  She was scared they were going to remove her belly button as it's hard for a 4-year-old to understand all the complex things under the skin.  An oral dose of Versed did the trick to relax her.  After that she smiled and giggled at anyone who looked at her.  The procedure went smoothly.  There was a little intestinal adhesion to hernia tissue so I'm glad we were in Pittsburgh since it was all routine for them.  After the procedure, the nurse got nervous because of the way Shayna acts coming out of anesthesia (crying and grumpy) so gave her a large dose of Fentanyl (narcotic in the Morphine family) without notifying me though I was standing right there demanding to know what she was doing.  Pissed me off and knocked Shayna out for another 2 hours.  It did make Shayna chipper when she woke up since the anesthesia wore off while she was in her Fentanyl slumber but we could have left at least an hour, it not more, before we did with the extra drugs.  Shayna was a trouper as usual and was playing, gently, outside in the evening.

Making the day extra difficult, my virus took full hold on Tuesday.  My ears were stopped up so I had a lot of trouble hearing and was popping ibuprofen and tylenol all day to control the pain, I started to get dizzy with anything other than steady movement, and achiness and exhaustion took over my body.  We ended up going to a MedExpress where the doctor said it was a virus going around that even she had experienced and because I was pregnant I could take anything but tylenol or ibuprofen.  I'm still waiting for my ears to fully open up and in the mean time another virus has taken hold making it almost 3 weeks of illness for me.  Thank goodness Nahum has mastered putting both kids to bed so I can get a break in the evenings this last week.

On to happier times: Before we left Pittsburgh, Shayna and I visited the zoo and aquarium.  I pushed her all around the hilly winding zoo while she marveled at all the animals.  She was scared of the lions, tigers, and rhinoceros so didn't want me even going near their fences.  She was fascinated by the elephants, giraffes, apes, and penguins.  I loved that part.  We even saw a mama gorilla with her 5-day-old baby.  Shayna made me whisper as we passed the sleeping black bears.  We walked through the shark tunnel to watch the sharks circle at eye level and swim over our heads.  There were many other animals to visit and love and a few places where even a stiff moving 4-year-old could climb.  She was so good about staying within her physical limits without a word from me.  After the zoo, we drove home and again Shayna was an awesome traveler.

 

April 17, 2013 and March 2, 2010: She's grown a bit in those 3 years.

 Being silly in the tunnel through the shark tank.

Again, the Hertzmans played a pivotal role in our Pittsburgh trip.  It was so wonderful to have a house with normal people around to stay with.  Shayna and I did great sharing a room.  (She wanted to continue once we got home as well.)  Shayna was scared of their new dog Cookie which made the dog scared of her but they were very nice to Shayna putting the dog in the basement a bit more often so Shayna and I could be downstairs in the early evening.  Our bedtime (I went to bed with Shayna and loved going so early) coincided with their dinner time so Cookie could join the family for their normal evening routine.  Adam (the dad) enjoyed reading to and talking with Shayna so I even got a few breaks while I listened to her laughter in the next room.  Both boys Noah (11) and Jonah (8.5yo) were great with Shayna; though, they were a little over enthusiastic to explain many scientific things to Shayna (astroids, dinosaur extinction, electricity, etc).  Shayna did her best to follow along.  Monica was her usual sweet, steady self.  I am so thankful they were able to open up their house and lives for us like that.  Even with normal/easy doctor and hospital visits, my stress level is quite high as I always have to be on alert.  Having a real home to relax in every afternoon/evening was essential for making it a joyful trip.

April 15: Reading with Adam and Jonah.  Adam had both kids giggling with his voices for the animals.

Elijah was not forgotten during our adventure.  He was a trouper, enjoying a full day (8-5) at their montessori school without any issues, and he and Nahum really bonded.  Elijah's such a mama's boy that it was nice to give him a chance to realize he can get the same comfort from Nahum.  I need to go away more often.

The other exciting news about Elijah: NO MORE HEART MEDICATION!!!!!!!  I was cleared the week before Pittsburgh to discontinue his 3x/day flecainide as long as I check his heart rate 3x/day for the next month.  It's been a week without meds and we've had no SVT episodes so far.  He does look for his heart after I listen and tell him it sound beautiful.  If he has an episode, we're just put back on flecainide and have to wait another year before trying again.

The deer didn't eat all my tulips this year, and I had put a lot more in the ground last fall to tempt them.  They hit full bloom this last week.  I took some pictures to try to compare to last year (still have to find those photos).  It's been wonderful to have a cool, normal spring.  While we haven't been outside as much, my gardens are perfect.  The kids and I even planted mixed greens and sugar peas right on time this year.  Once I'm feeling better, I have a lot more work that I'm looking forward to in the yard.  Then, I have to refinish the deck.  At least Shayna can help with the staining while Elijah naps.

April 13: Playing outside.

April 19: Goofing off in the rain.

April 13: View from the low lawn.  

 April 25: View from the lawn and view from the steps.  I love the quick changes in spring.

Yay for Grandma! and More Snowy Adventures

March 24: Reading with Grandma Carole.

We had a wonderful Spring Break the week of March 25th thanks to Carole and her untiring ability to do whatever Shayna wanted.  "Help me take my babies here," "Put them to sleep here," "We're princesses doing....," and so on, all week long.  There was also lots of chase since both the kids love that game so Carole got her aerobics in as well.  Her two travel days were beautiful but every day in between was snowy and cold.  To get the kids, and us, some out-of-the-house exercise, we went to two open gym hours at the local gymnastics studio (the whole studio is open to walk-5yo including trampolines, foam cube pit, lots of bars, balance beams and many other things the climb or jump on) and two visits to the local pool with a 37-person Passover dinner at our house just to keep life interesting.  Carole also took care of the kids while I went to crossfit and the nuchal screening in Roanoke (which looked great).  The week was so lively and the visit so wonderful it felt like she was here only a couple days.

March 27: Painting with Grandma Carole

 

March 28: The full-body workout of climbing out of the foam pit.

I was so proud of Shayna leaping off the vault on her own.  She's getting so much more adventurous; it's wonderful.

March 25: Winding down of our crazy Passover dinner.  I loving being able to put that many people in our house easily.  Passover is awesome too in that it's not a party we put on but a party everyone is involved in.  I set up the frame work then stepped back and while other people organized, setup, and ran the rest of the evening.

In one final, wonderful gift from Winter, we got ~2" of snow on Thursday.  As the kids both, now, love snow, I took them out in it in the afternoon.  I ended up excited about the snow as well so that I raced around the house the get the sleds from under the deck so we could hit all 3 hills in-ish our yard.  (The big hill is actually mostly in our neighbors yard.)  Shayna and I loved the sledding as usual.  While Elijah enjoyed most of it (I even took him down the big hill twice), the flying snow (I tried to block it with my hands) as we hit the abrupt grade changes (steep to flat instantly) still got a little in his face which took the shear joy out of it for him.  However, he did love pulling the sled around the yard and would have stayed out much longer doing this and cheering Shayna's sledding on.  Shayna's sledding ended after she ran into our house but she still recalls the rest of the sledding as great fun.  (I'll buy some straw bales next winter for a buffer.)  I'm just so happy that Elijah finally enjoys being out in the snow for a while as when we went sledding in January he didn't sled but still spent the brief time out with Shayna and I crying.  Instead, he cried when it was time to go in to help me finish making dinner.  I love the growing kids and how much more I can just play with them.

 

Now it's off to meet Nahum and the kids at the Farmers Market then home to do some gardening on this beautiful, sunny weekend.  (98% of the snow melted yesterday; haven't had that since Colorado.)

I'll end with this picture from April 2 of one of our beautiful morning rituals: Sharing Aba's cereal in the morning.  If Elijah catches Nahum sitting down, Elijah ends up eating about 1/2 of what's in Nahum's bowl.

Surprise! and More Dresses Than Most Dads Can Handle

Nahum and I got a fun surprise at the end of February.  Instead of an IUD preventing pregnancy there's now a baby.  Our 3rd, and final (greater steps will be taken), offspring is due in the early fall, probably October.  

Shayna is stoked about her baby "sister" but not so happy when I remind her that it could just as likely be a boy.  At which point she says, "If it comes out a boy, I'll cry."  She's decided that talking through my belly button is the best way to communicate and desperately wants to be able to feel the baby.  I had her poke my belly to feel the fat then the muscle underneath and explained the baby  was under all than and really tiny (about 2").  It's gonna be a long wait for her.  Luckily we've got a beautiful spring/summer on the way with a long trip to Israel to distract her.  After the initial shock and following acceptance of our new challenge, it's been the easiest pregnancy, both physically and mentally.  Yes, it's been a normal tiring 1st trimester but mentally it's been an easy acceptance of the physical takeover that I hated when pregnant with both Shayna and Elijah.  That could just be due to the sheer terror of dealing with a toddler, preschooler and a new born but I'm taking advantage and enjoying all the sensations that typically come with my pregnancies.

Elijah's latest obsession is dresses, or as he says it, "dretchy".  "Right back!" he shouts as he runs to their room, "Dretchy." 5 seconds later he hands me, or Nahum, his selection on it's hanger.  As he started wanting to change dresses throughout the day, I finally started documenting his attire of choice.  The kids have been on spring break but just before that, Elijah started wanting to wear a dress to school.  Nahum would have him show the dress to his teacher Ms. Nancy then would take the dress off Elijah and back to the car after dropping the kids off at school.  Elijah's insistence in keeping his dress on while out has grown so I wonder how successful that tactic will be on Monday when school starts again.  Shayna is always told, "what a pretty dress," whenever she wears one.  Elijah just wants the same attention and thank goodness the whole family is quite supportive of his choices.  I just try to keep them shorter if we're going to the gym or park so he can still climb easily.

Nahum recently spent a week traveling for work in southern CA and Las Vegas.  The kids and I did better than usual even though all our normal sitters were on spring break as well.  I had a 13yo come over a couple times and one visit from a new college sitter and that seemed to be all the break I needed to stay sane.  While Nahum flew home on Saturday afternoon, I even took the kids hiking at the Cascades trail.  They did awesome!  Shayna probably could have done the full 2 miles to the water fall, but Elijah still has some stamina to build.  We made it about 20 yds from the sawmill boiler (about 1/2mi from the trail head) before Elijah decided he was done hiking and either wanted to play with sticks and rocks or be carried.  We snacked by the old boiler then risked the rain by hiking quickly (Elijah on my shoulders) back to the car.  While there was thunder quite close, it never poured on us and left both kids with a happy taste of hiking in the mountains.  As soon as it warms up (still winter-esk here), I'm going to take the whole family, and a child carrier for when the boy, all the way to The Cascades.

Notice the orange blur of the trail.  That's speedy Shayna.