Introducing...

Yes, it's been a while since I've posted. And yes, we've been busy. And here he is, finally, ten days late, Baby Boy Rozmaryn!

The week leading up to his birth was very eventful, and as miserable as each day after October 29th was waiting and waiting, I really think that he came exactly when he was meant to. 

Let's just review. Monday,  October 29th, my due date, Hurricane Sandy rolled on in. I made a joke of it all,   not at all expecting to actually give birth on "the day", and expecting to be late (as was the case with Eitan). And my mom's arrival was pushed from Wednesday to Friday due to flight delays. And I figured that I'd still be pregnant when she came, rightfully so. And she came, and spent a few days staring at my enormous stomach willing the baby to come out.

And so the inducing lore began, spicy foods, long walks, yoga poses, some medical "natural" induction methods and even an acupuncture appointment on the calendar. 

Monday night, one whole week after my due date, middle of the night we get a call from New York that my grandmother (my mom's mom) has passed away. Off my mom goes to New York, and 10 hours after landing is back on a flight to Israel with the body for burial. Wednesday evening she returns, proceeds with a funeral and burial here. And I'm still pregnant. And even more upset because on Doctor and Rabbi orders, and my mom's, couldn't go to the funeral because I'm at that point a week and a half overdue and apparently it's a "thing" that pregnant women shouldn't go to cemeteries. We meet the family back in Jerusalem for a post-funeral meal and head home for the acupuncture. 

And Thursday night, I wake up at 1:35am with contractions. Half not believing I was actually going into labor I just went to the other room, and watch some TV, after feeling them consistently for an hour or so, called our parents in the US to tell them to start looking for flights and headed out for the hospital. I'll spare the (very) gory details, but at 9:30am our little sabra arrived.

And while we were at the hospital, you know having the kid, Aunt Dadu had Eitan duty. I had prepared a bunch of little presents for Eitan for the day that we would just not be there, and Aviva was happy to be the one to play Santa. Of course, we had A LOT of time to talk to him and prepare him as best we could for what was ahead, starting with explaining that one day Mommy and Daddy were going to go get the baby, and of course, that we always always come back. So perhaps a tiny bit because of our pep talks, but mostly because of the presents, when he woke up on Friday, he was pretty cool about it all. And yes, we were calling and checking up on the situation while I was pushing Baby Brozmaryn into the world.

And, this is how Aviva felt about Eitan's 6am wake up call, that she actually needed to stay awake for, rather than just freeing him from the confines of his crib and pointing him in our direction.

And so, with an hour or so until Shabbat starting, Ami left the hospital to make sure everything could be as normal as possible for Eitan, especially considering spending Shabbat at the Shiva house with my mom and siblings.

Sunday morning arrived and finally time to go home. I missed Eitan so much- and was so excited and nervous to introduce him to his baby brother. We got home, and I went, by myself to pick him up from school (as normal), and he was so cutely excited and confused to see me that he nearly burst into tears. It was so so sweet. Love that kid.

And home we came talking about his baby brother who we brought home, and thankfully, so far so good. Eitan loves holding his baby brother's hand, making nice, and just looking in at him. We're still assuming that one of these days he'll get that this kid is a part of our family and taking attention away from him, and hate him, but for now, he is doing great. It didn't hurt that his baby brother bought him this balance bike that he is obsessed with, but he really seems to be happy with the situation, asking for his baby brother, wanting to see him, it's adorable.

And here we are...thanks to the hipster filters on instagram courtesy of Aviva Rozmaryn. Two boys. One day at a time. But day 1, that was a goodie.

Name and additional oversharing about this new baby to follow...