Eat, Sleep, Scream

Avi is over a month old now, and we're starting to get to know him a bit better. We know he likes to eat--a lot, and often. He has amazing lungs and when he's hungry, the whole house knows it. He doesn't just cry--he screams full force. The screams are then followed by what Doda Shosh calls the goat sound, a little bleating complete with the pushed-out lower lip, which means "Nothing's actually wrong with me, I just want food NOW." Here is a photo of Avi in a 12-month onesie. Not surprisingly, it doesn't look quite as big on him as I'd imagined it would. The idea is to take a photo of him in this onesie every month, to document how he's growing. Anyone want to bet how many months it will take for him to fit into 12-month clothing? Hint: He is already starting to grow out of the 3-month outfits!

Avi Broches Wylen

The last 4 weeks have been a whirlwind of diapers, nursing, healing from the c-section, and getting to know our little Avi Ben-Zion. Avi's bris was a beautiful event, filled with the love of family and friends, grandparents and even great-grandparents, and couins galore. We were thrilled with our mohel, Cantor Menachem Toren (if anyone wants a referral, let us know--we searched high and low for him and were extremely happy with his services). Ema Alys was probably more traumatized by the event than Avi was. Since then, we've been blessed with lots of help from Nana Cheryl and Aunts Daya and Shosh, who have selflessly given up full nights of sleep to help us out. Avi is now a month old, and has already gained 3 pounds since he was born, and is now up to 11 pounds, 4 ounces. He is alert and happy most of the time, and his big blue eyes and gummy smile melt our hearts every day. We hope to find more time to update the blog in the weeks to come, now that I am feeling better and starting to adjust to my up-every-two- hours schedule!

Baby Wylen is Here!

Finally, Baby Wylen appeared on the scene! He was born at 10:17 am on Wednesday, February 27, 2008, weighing in at an impressive 8 pounds, 12 ounces, and measuring 21 1/2 inches long. The whole story will be posted on this blog when Ema and Aba Wylen emerge from their daze. In the meantime, enjoy a few cute pictures of our little angel, who will be named at his brit milah ceremony on Wednesday, March 5. Stay posted!

The Tenth Month

No one likes to tell you that pregnancy can last longer than 9 months, but here we are, two days past our baby's due date, all three of us growing rapidly every day. We have another doctor's appointment tomorrow where we'll get an estimate of how big the baby is (my doctor thinks it's over 8 pounds already!!), and then we'll have to make some decisions about whether or not to induce labor or keep waiting for this baby to decide when its ready to come out on its own. It all depends on the projected size. If it looks like the baby could possibly top 9 pounds (something I have a hard time imagining), we'll try to get it out sooner rather than later....Hopefully, the next post here will be the post-baby-post!!

Down to the Wire (we hope!)

It's now just 9 days till Baby Wylen's official due date, and we are wallowing in dreary cold, wet, snowy, rainy New Jersey. It took me an hour and a half to get home from work last night in the snow (the 12 mile trip usually takes no longer than 30 minutes at rush hour), and let me tell you, it was no fun at all to drive 10 miles an hour on slippery roads when you are 9 months pregnant and need to use the toilet every fifteen minutes. Combine that with the fact that I've had a terrible head cold (which I can't take any medicine for!) for days, and you get one grumpy mommy-to-be. Tomorrow is officially my last day at work, but I doubt I will make it out of bed unless this cold magically disappears, my voice returns to normal, and my nose stops leaking! So I guess I can be grateful for at least having the next number of undetermined days before the birth to stay home and "nest" and rest as much as possible. With any luck, we'll be posting good news here very shortly! Wish us luck!

Mamas and Babies

Yesterday was a real treat. Becca and Avraham
came in from Israel, along with Ashira (3 years)
and Hillel (5 months), and Bethany came in all
the way from NYC with little Caleb (3 months).
Our baby, of course, is still on the inside (just 3-4 weeks to go!), but our little reunion still made for a cute picture we can all look back on years from now when our kids are all hanging out in Israel together one day!

The Ninth Month!

Well, here we are with less than a full month to go till the big due date. We're half-way through our lamaze classes, we're interviewing pediatricians, we're starting to gather the essential baby stuff we'll need for the first few weeks. And we're barely sleeping. Or at least, the baby and I are barely sleeping. I can't seem to get comfortable no matter how many pillows I use, and as soon as I do drift off, my bladder wakes me up, ready to be emptied yet again...Alas, the woes of the last month of pregnancy. We are in week 36. This picture, which we took late last night, surprised even me. Somehow, that belly looks much larger in photos than it does when I just look down. Probably because I can't even see the whole thing from my perspective!