Balancing Act

We were warned that the first few months of having two kids just two years apart was going to be hard, and it is quite the balancing act. It seems there is always someone that needs to eat, have a diaper change, be put down for sleep or is in general distress about life. 

But we're getting there, and each week we navigate this balancing act we think a bit better. 

Here are some highlights from the last few days:

Balancing two babies on the street (Lev hiding in the carrier on the left shot), and balancing two babies at home. 

Daddy's handiwork putting one of Eitan's diapers on Lev. This is what we get for not being able to pull of potty training Eitan before Lev's arrival. 

Brother story hour. I love how baby is looking up at his big bro in this one.

Levavi sporting an outfit that was mine! And smiling about it! I imagine he won't be smiling over his mother's hand me downs forever, so glad we captured this. This little turkey now weighs in at 11.5 lbs.

And for comparison's sake, here are shots of these two guys. Eitan on the left at 10 weeks, Lev on the right at 6 weeks.

Recent Shuk Treasures

In the past couple weeks Ami and I have discovered each a new food object of affection in our beloved Shuk.

Mine is persimmons. So random. We had them once, from one of those crazy Korean/Asian markets near Silver Spring where we always made sure to buy something we've never eaten or seen before. Well, that one was gross. Like disgusting. I just figured it was a food that people like that for some reason repels me (like eggplant- classic food that I hate that I wish that I liked).

So even though they've been around all fall, I've stayed away- we don't like persimmons. Until one day, I was like, what the heck, maybe we got a bad one that time? And turns out, we did. Because, let me tell you, persimmons, they're awesome. They have a tropical mango-y flavor but also kind of like papaya. They don't resemble the typical fall fruit, at least not to me. It seems like I'm not the first to get on the persimmon train though, Martha Stewart and the New York Times beat me to the punch.

And Ami's new treat. Not quite as healthy as mine, but he doesn't have baby weight to lose so he's all good. These cookies. I don't know if they're quite a cookie, but can't think of any other way to classify them. Last week on a walk in the shuk I came upon one cookie guy (starts with a D, left side of the open shuk, can't remember the name) and saw this little bite. It seemed like it could be awesome or just okay, but for some reason I got one. And it was AWESOME. Kind of like, if you close your eyes eating a snickers. They've got the peanuts and the chocolate, the body of the cookie I think is almond based, it's very soft and not too sweet (so in that way, not at all like a snickers bar). And for some reason I just thought Ami would be into them, so bought a couple and brought them home. And he's hooked. So far he's had two more doses, and I dropped off a bunch with him at his office this morning. Partially because I'm nice, but also because with t-7 days til the big wedding, I want to keep that level of calorie far far away.

My plan is to bring a few home with us next month and have some baker friends try to figure it out. Like that episode of friends with Pheobe's grandmother's cookies...remember, Nestle Tollhouse? 

So that's what we've been eating.

Oh, and in between those foods, taking bites of this little cutie pie. Hilarious t-shirt courtesy of Uncle Hudy and Almost-Aunt Debra.

Kind of Secret Garden

One of my favorite things about being in a neighborhood is finding little gems that surprise you. Especially here in Jerusalem, little nooks, crannies and alleys are ubiquitous, and it's always exciting to find a great spot. In this case, on Friday we were taking a walk on Rakevet Street, and noticed a little garden store right on the corner of Derech Bet Lechem. I've walked by this place maybe 100 times, and never noticed anything. I assumed it was another house- there aren't really any stores on Rakevet street. 

But on this day, walking slowly with the two boys (two boys!), we had time to really look. And there it was, this little adorable entrance and a beautiful, lush selection of plants. I don't even know the name of it, there's no sign for it or anything, but it beat the schlep to the botanical garden, and it seems that Eitan had an equally good time.

We went home with a mint plant (for throwing the leaves in our tea-yum) and a little pinwheel for Eitan. He was very excited about it, although can't really blow on it strongly enough to get it to spin, and isn't into the idea of having it stay outside so the wind can do it. Oh well.

Lev's First Bath

No, his first bath wasn't just in the last couple days, but yes, it did take a few weeks for me to remember to post the pictures. Whatever, I'm tired, okay?

Anyways, it seems baby Lev feels the same way about baths as his brother does. Awesome. Get ready for future posts with the two of them screaming their heads off at their terrible parents who just want them to be clean.

I can't get enough of the little faces he makes. He is quite the expressive little fella.

Family Day on Nina's Base

Once every year Nina's base hosts families to come visit, reinforcing the notion that this phase of Nina's life really is very similar to camp. After a day there I've decided that the Israeli army, at least this slice of it is a combination of summer camp, college and prison.                                                 The Mallers and me and the two boys trekked down south to go check out Nina's home away from home. And Nina came too, because she's on vacation this week. Even though Nina works as a medic in the infirmary all day, it was really cool to be on the base and check it all out, and they did a great job showing off all of the cool air force-y stuff.                       Eitan was obviously in two year old heaven as he is obsessed with airplanes (or a-panes) and pretty much begs to go play at the Mallers on a regular basis. 

The day was spent visiting the infirmary, meeting all of her army friends and being a part of the whole family day shebang- they had planes on display, felafel and other snacks, an airshow, and explanations of what they do on the base in general. 

Ami said this picture reminds him of a scene in Dr. Strangelove. I never saw the movie, but here's the clip. And, I got in trouble for letting him go up there. Apparently there had been a rope up that the unruly families trampled that I didn't notice. Whoops. 

Here's a view of Lev's perspective on the day from my ergo carrier.

Doesn't Eitan look like a real mini-pilot? Between that jacket and the earplugs, oh man is this cute?

Mallers plus Eitan the Maller-wannabe.

This is pretty much how I roll nowadays, one baby in the carrier, another in my arms. I'm getting pretty good at carrying around a million pounds of kid, and have the backache to prove it.

So that was our day in the air force. Good times.

Hanuka Highlights

The last two nights of Chanuka are upon us. And yes, I know I spell this holiday as many ways as there are nights. That's part of the fun.

We've had a great week, and it's especially exciting to watch Eitan celebrate this year when he really seems to get what's going on- at least infinitely more than last year. Here's a taste of what we've been up to. And I use taste very intentionally as this holiday for us has really a lot been about the deliciously unhealthy food as much as I've been trying to stay on a healthy post-baby-pre-wedding diet.

Year two making latkes from scratch. I forgot to take a picture of them once they were done. Perhaps because they were gobbled up as soon as they came out of the frying pan (courtesy of the tag team of Nina and Eitan).

On Sunday night we hosted the K-baum siblings for a night of fun.

 The Jewish Santa Claus award goes to Hudy and Debra for the awesome t-shirts for Lev (which will be featured and pointed out in later posts) and a bowling set for Eitan

The best sport award goes to Uncle Yosef for still kissing baby after getting projectile vomited on.

And the sweet award goes to Nina for bringing the Roladin sufganiot. She bought one of each of the 11 flavors they're offering this year.

And the dummy award I guess goes to me for forgetting to take a family picture of the siblings. We'll have plenty more opportunities with the upcoming wedding festivities I console myself with.

Another night we went to Nina's apartment 

And on a very rainy day we did crafts. Eitan and Daddy colored and put together driedels and I did some crocheting and made Nina a picture for her wall with paint chip samples.

Oh and had more sufganiot- this time from our little Emek branch of Neeman pastries. They were as delicious as they are beautiful. The one on the right is Irish creme flavored and the cream inside was unreal, tasted like a shot of baileys, but creamy and frosting-y. So good. The middle one was also such a piece of art, both from the top and also once sliced. This holiday kills me.

So tonight is Shabbat and we're winding down Chanuka 2012. Tomorrow night we will have to get one more round of sufganiot as they really disappear from stores the day after Chanuka as we learned a bit harshly last year (I wasn't ready!!). Latkes, we've had our fill of- I'd rather eat french fries or baked potatoes anyways, but sufganiot, you will be missed. But on the other hand my cholesterol level may return to normal, so that's good.

This year we've learned a whole bunch of Israeli insider Chanuka stuff thanks to Eitan's school. The Israeli lingo for this holiday is different here and back home. Apparently, most of our Chanuka terms are Yiddish; menorah, latke, dreidel, and here they use Chanukia, levivot and sivivon.  And I do think it's a good unifier that the one term we did come to this country knowing is the same in the US- sufganiot. Thank god. Also, they have different songs here. I mean, I guess it makes sense that "I have a little driedel" isn't in the canon of songs that all Israeli children know. One song we learned has Eitan's name in it- super exciting. Here's a techno version, the song is Banu Choshech. 

So that's been our Chanuka in Jerusalem, year two.

Chag Sameach!

Strawberry Season

Along with Chanuka and sufganiot season around here is also a much less caloric and oily seasonal treat-strawberries.                                                      As weird as it is to eat perfectly ripe, juicy strawberries in the middle of a bone cold rainy Jerusalem winter day, when things are in season here, you just go for it. And freeze them so that come summer strawberry pies and shakes are available. 

Thankfully it's a long season- I remember getting strawberries in the shuk last year almost through Purim. So we're not going to worry about freezing just yet, and are just going to enjoy these sweet little healthy bites.

Here's Eitan enjoying the first of our winter treats:

In this first batch, we had a real surprise- Siamese twin strawberries! Check it. How cool? I'm glad I'm not pregnant anymore (for a million reasons...) because I'd worry it was a sign or a message about what was growing in there. Thankfully there was just one little (big) baby Lev in there and yes, I was too freaked out to eat or cut up these twins.

PS- How good is that picture of the strawberries up top? I'm so impressed with my photo skills right about now.