I have no clever title for this post

Ivy's summer vacation is a little more than half way over, and so far we've been having a great time. Man, I miss the days when I had a summer break. You know what else I miss? Meal plans. Not dorm food itself, per se, but just showing up somewhere, swiping a card, and someone else has prepared food for you to eat. But I digress...

Anyway, it's been an interesting month. Sid has started walking, which still blows my mind because Ivy didn't start until 14 months, so I was a bit caught off guard. I shouldn't have been since he had been showing signs for a while, but I swear we cannot baby proof fast enough. Also, different from Ivy, he still does a lot of starting and stopping. Walks a few steps, falls, crawls, maybe gets up to try again. When Ivy started she just stood up one day, took a couple practice steps, and then was off and walking. Sid is perfecting the art, apparently. It's adorable because he totally does the Frankenstein waddle. And yesterday he turned 11 months (I have a sticker pic but I'm too lazy to upload at the moment). Again, disbelief over here that the next monthly milestone is his friggin' FIRST BIRTHDAY! Party planning has kicked into full gear.

Ivy spent a week at Camp Rogoff - aka my parents' house. It was grand. She went to dance camp from 9am-1pm everyday and boogied her little tush off. There was even a little recital at the end for the families. Wow, did I cry. It was so cute. She was the littlest one in the class and spent most of the performance waving to me in the audience. They did three dances, and there's video of one below. When she wasn't at camp, Nana took her swimming, made all her favorite foods, and Papa even took her on her first visit to Chuck E. Cheese. Better him than me...

Note to self - maybe not the greatest idea to sit in the front row...

We also had a great week with Grandma, during which Ivy went to the park, a Dodgers game, and the Peterson Auto Museum. All big hits. And speaking of hits, that week for me was marred by an unfortunate car accident, leaving us with one car for the week (in LA, this is akin to going without showering). Thank god, everyone was okay - I was alone in the car, no kids, and some dude turned left in front me and stopped in the middle of the intersection, not giving me an opportunity to avoid him. Fortunately insurance is putting the liability on him, and let me tell you dealing with all of that was no picnic. I was also fortunate to have several friends drive by (since we were all on the way to the same breakfast meeting) so they stopped and helped me out. Made all the difference, but still put a damper on my week. Now I'm driving a Rogoff Rental from my parents and Ivy is thrilled to pieces with her new car seat. So it all worked out, and I'm very lucky to say the least.

Lest we forget, on the job front, I'm still pounding the pavement for that perfect (or least decent) full time gig and that process still totally sucks, BUT I have found something interesting to do in the meantime and then hopefully in addition to whatever job I end up finding. I'm a Local Business Consultant for Juice in the City, a daily deal site by moms for moms and families! Shocking, you say? Working for a daily deal site? Woulda never imagined it! Well, it's perfect for me (I am the Extreme Grouponer, remember?), and I already have my first list of proposed vendors approved so time to start hitting them up! It's perfect because it's not a huge time commitment and the idea is that I'm sourcing businesses that I already frequent. I'll keep you posted on my progress as I make my first foray into the world of sales... If you're so inclined to help me out, please sign up for the daily deal emails. And if you're interested in applying to be an LBC, talk to me - I would love to refer you!

And finally, I'm almost ready to unveil my long-awaited other part-time on-the-side gig...just putting finishing touches on the new blog. Here's a hint - it has to do with photos. Again, shocking right?

Signing off for now - I promise to try to post again before Sid turns the big 1.

42 Days of Summer

Even though it’s officially been summer for a while now, it’s only just kicking into high gear today. Ivy is off school until September 12...that means 42 whole days of vacation! I’ll be interested to see how she does, because she loves structure and her friends and teachers. But I know she’ll also appreciate the downtime and relaxed schedule, not having to run out the door in the mornings and then be cranky at dinner time when she normally gets home. Mike and I created the Master Calendar for the next 6 weeks, figuring out various childcare plans (since we both have to work) and other activities. I’m grateful that I can be flexible this month but I still have tons to do, so it will be an interesting balance.

We have a bunch of great activities planned, starting with today - going to see Ivy’s first movie, Winnie the Pooh! We’ll also be hitting up the beach, crashing as many pools as we can, and she’ll be spending a week with Mike’s mom here and a week with my parents in San Diego where she’ll also go to a dance camp. And we’ll hopefully hit up the LA County Fair...what fried item should I get this year? I gotta start thinking about that. Of course, there will be lots of down time, too, hanging out at home and in the backyard just playing.

Not to be outdone, Sid is also awesome these days, of course. He can stand unassisted and is moments away from his first steps. He sees something he wants to go after and propels himself forward, only he hasn’t figured out how to lift his feet to do it! It’s so cool to watch. Ivy, who started walking MUCH later than this, just sort of stood up and started walking one day. I like watching Sid try to figure this out in baby steps, as they say.

It’s also hard to believe that in less than 2 short months, he will be turning ONE. What?! Yeah, I know. I’m already starting to plan his birthday party...oh, who am I kidding? I started planning months ago. I feel like there are 2 camps when it comes to first (or any age) birthdays - those who avoid the parties because they kid won’t know the difference (though I beg to differ) and those who throw bashes in celebration of the kid and the parents...because let’s be honest, WE are the ones who kept him alive for the past year! And if you’re Sid that’s not always a small task. He can be in a room full of toys and he’ll speed across the room to find the one teeny-tiny bead that fell off Ivy’s necklace and attempt to put it straight down the hatch. Just yesterday he was splashing his hands in the kiddie pool set up in the backyard and he ended up diving in head first. Fortunately we scooped him right out, and he was less than fazed.

Here’s to summer and not going totally bonkers without school! It’ll be the ultimate test of sanity...for all of us!

Why the Jumperoo made me cry

An important milestone occurred in our house a few weeks ago. No, Sid isn't walking yet (though he probably will be soon) or sporting any teeth. I did something I had been dreading and resisting forever.

I got rid of a piece of baby gear.

This was a dramatic moment for me, as it was a tangible acknowledgement that we will likely not have any more kids. Granted it was just the Jumperoo, which neither kid used that much anyway, but still... I've only given away some baby clothes to little Isaac because I know they'll stay in the family should we ever need them again. But the Jumperoo now lives with the Rauchers in North Carolina. Judah was happily bouncing away in it at our house a few weeks ago and Tamar asked me about buying one. I told her not to spend the money because they were more expensive than they were worth (but of course, I had some crazy coupon discount for mine getting it for less than half the regular price). Then she offered to buy mine since their moving van was coming the next day.

I froze. I seriously did not want to give it away, even for a little bit of money. I turned down the offer at first, actually, thinking "What if we have a third kid? It won't have a Jumperoo!" After stewing on it over dinner, I came to the conclusion that if we can ever afford to have a third we will also be able to afford to buy a new Jumperoo, or not get one at all (again, Silverstein babies aren't too into them...this logic may or may not be inspiring me to also get rid of the swing, which currently resides in my parents garage). So off it went into the Rauchers' moving van and Judah is currently jumping away happily in North Carolina. I miss them...

As hard as this was to do, it helped ground me in the reality that we will likely be a 2-kid family. Nothing wrong with that at ALL. I am so grateful for Ivy and Sidney who are the most amazing gifts and if for whatever reason I can't or choose to not have more, I don't feel that I am at all missing anything. BUT. Mike and I always talked about wanting three...of course, before we even had 1 and realized now that having 3 would make us certifiably insane. However, everyone says going from 1 to 2 is more difficult than 2 to 3, and we also know families gracefully managing 4, but that's just crazy talk.

And the reality is we are barely even equipped to handle 2, and a hypothetical number 3 would be in a LONG time anyway, IF we can afford it and IF we want to jump back into starting over with another baby. Every time I see a squishy little newborn (as I do often since many of my friends are all reproducing at the moment) I want another one. It's also a really selfish desire because I want a do-over from my pregnancy with Sid. I want an easy, uncomplicated pregnancy and an easy birth (my doctor is totally supportive of VBACs). Again, I acknowledge that this is selfish, and even out of my control, but I want to officially close off the uterus happily and on my ideal terms. I just can't bear the thought of saying definitively, at 32, that I am done. Time will tell, my friends, but don't expect any announcements soon. And I'm not getting rid of anything else for the time being either.

In other news, things are busy and hectic around here and we're geared up for summer. I am now officially a Schlepping Mom, as I take Ivy to not one but 2 "extracurricular" classes each week - dancing (birthday present from Mike's parents) and swimming (from mine). Both are quite amusing. Dance class is a HUGE hit. She's been waiting for this for almost a year. She loves the leotards and the tights and the shoes, and she practices her poses and positions around the house all the time. As Mike commented, Black Swan she aint (crappy movie, by the way) but she's enthusiastic. More like a clumsy chicken, but whatever. It's adorable. And she's enjoying swimming too. We have her signed up for semi-private lessons but she's the only kid at her time slot so it's private at a fraction of the cost. Score! Hopefully by summer's end she'll be more comfortable and confident in the water so we can enjoy crashing the neighbor's pool on Shabbat afternoons and at my parents' community pool.

So, have I mentioned that I'm really into daily deal sites? My friend Rebecca is really into Extreme Couponing on TLC (as impressive as it is to get 47268494 boxes of Cheerios for $1, where the hell would I put them?), and this makes think I need to pitch my own show to TLC - Extreme Grouponing. I seriously need Groupon therapy…I’m totally addicted. I get probably 25 emails a day with deals. It’s nuts. But as I’ve mentioned before it’s been a great way to buy or do stuff we otherwise wouldn’t really be able to afford. And, I’m so Extreme that when I refer other people to the deals, I usually get credit and then end up getting deals for FREE! Brilliant! I love free! Spread the love peeps – buy through me, then repost yourself and you too can get free stuff!

Speaking of free stuff, I’m also on an email list that sends you consumer surveys. They’re usually pretty quick and I like to share my opinion as a consumer, so I’ve racked up money that way too…cash them in for Amazon gift cards, and that’s MORE free stuff! Madness, I tell you! This is now living in my home, that I got free:How have I lived this long without an ice cream maker?! It’s divine. Not exactly helpful for keeping the weight off, but it’s summer so nightly ice cream is practically mandated. Oh who am I kidding? Ice cream is non-seasonal in my book.

And finally, I am so relieved to report that after 3 months of sleep training, Sid is finally sleeping through the night. I realize as I type this I am probably jinxing it, but who cares - I'm more rested than I've been in almost a year. Almost enough to forget how exhausting it is to have a baby and want another one...just kidding.

Road Trip Success, and Ivy turned 3

Forgive my super lameness - I just can't get my act together to update this thing. I am SO friggin' tired (more on that in a minute), and I'm quite busy doing some part time consulting while I look for a full time job. And I'm raising 2 kids, and cooking dinner, and...and...and. You know the drill.

Anyway, it's been a busy month+ since I last updated. The first exciting piece of news is the arrival of one Isaac William Black, born to Erica and Adam on May 20! We were beyond thrilled to hear the news, and were on pins and needles all day waiting for details. The timing was perfect because we were able to load up the Silverstein family truckster and drive up to Mountain View for the bris the following week.

We had heard various pieces of advice as to how we should tackle the drive. Due to a work conflict the night before the bris, we had no choice but to get up before dawn and hit the road at 5am. It was perfect. Both kids were super mellow as the sun was rising, and there was no traffic in sight (especially awesome for the Friday of Memorial Day weekend). We cruised up the Grapevine, making one stop for potty and one stop for a late breakfast, bringing us to Mountain View before noon. We hustled over to meet little Isaac, and then prepared for the bris. It was a beautiful ceremony and we so happy to have been there.

I'm an Aunt!

Little Cousin, Big Cousin!

The rest of the weekend was awesome - lots of parks, good food, and quality family time. We hit the road late Sunday afternoon, and the trip back was slightly more challenging the drive up. Crankiness was escalated, it was harder to fall asleep, we had to detour through San Bernardino, etc. But we made it home safe and sound in time to start gearing up for Ivy's 3rd birthday.

Yes, my baby turned 3. I'm still sort of in shock. The first year was all about milestones and getting to that one year mark. The second year was a blur, largely due to my pregnancy with Sid. But the third year was eye-opening. She went from being a baby to a person. A person who speaks in full sentences and sings songs in Hebrew and tells jokes. It's astounding. We were so blessed to have a week-long birthday celebration, starting with a huge party co-hosted by 2 of Ivy's friends with the same birthday. There were bubbles and bagels galore, and we had a blast. We also went to Disneyland, where Ivy was obsessed with finding Snow White (no other characters would do) and both she and Sid got to enjoy some rides. It was a magical day...just the way those folks at Disney intended it to be!

Count 'em - three!

Now that the various celebrations are over, we're back to normal...whatever that is. We've been working on Sid's sleeping, and he's made some minor improvements but we're still tired. He's also crawling like a maniac, and here's how it's different from Ivy: I remember her crawling around with no particular destination in mind, but maybe that's because we lived in a small apartment and she didn't have far to go. Sid, on the other hand, goes straight for cords, outlets, and anything potentially dangerous. He can spot something chokeable a mile away and get there in a flash. This is going to be crazy. We never had to babyproof for Ivy because it would never occur to get into things she shouldn't. Heck, I could leave an open bottle of Tylenol out on the floor, and she wouldn't even notice. But not this guy - we're going to have buckle down and keep him alive!

I'm really happy that summer is here - as soon as this June gloom clears up, we'll be in business! We have so much that we want to do that we had to start a spreadsheet to keep track. And I hope to be back on here more, lest I disappoint my handful of faithful followers. See ya on the flip side!

Cancun it was not - spring break recap

The last few weeks have been exhausting. As if the whole ordeal of Passover (nonstop cleaning and cooking for 8 days) isn’t enough, throw in preschool spring break AND a visit from Mike’s parents and you’ve got yourself a whirlwind week! Actually, it was a lot of fun. And having Mike’s mom around was an enormous help while I tended to my job hunting and other work projects...she kept Ivy quite entertained. I swear, a new toy or book or sticker appeared every hour on the hour! Sidney also had a lot of fun hanging out with Grandma. We had a great field trip to Underwood Farms where many strawberries were picked. Mike’s dad joined us for the latter half of the holiday, and we had even more outings - Red Sox game, MOCA, to name a few.

After all was said and done and everyone was back in their respective homes, preschools, and day cares by the end of last week, I damn near fell apart. I was beyond tired - and of course my back and neck were acting up again. Add to that Sidney’s sleep training (going decently well, save a failed attempt at a dream feed) and Ivy waking up with the roosters every morning.

Oh, and there’s emotional exhaustion too...trying to find a job sucks. It really does. And I’ve had some decent leads and prospects, but nothing has bitten yet. Granted it’s only been a month, but I’m getting antsy, despite my mile-long to-do list of other projects. When I’m too beat to accomplish anything, I get down on myself and then feel guilty that at least if I’m not getting anything done I should be spending more time with the kids. It’s a never-ending cycle of second-guessing and regret, follow by bursts of inspiration and motivation, and back again.

And I’m getting worried. Paying for preschool was hard enough when we were both employed... Fortunately, Mike recently got a small raise at work, but that doesn’t exactly cover the gap of my missing income. There has GOT to be something out there for me. We still dream of taking a vacation, or at least a weekend getaway, if we were able to be out of the woods for more than 5 minutes.

What was I saying about being exhausted?

Anyway, life is good otherwise. We are enjoying the impending commencement of summer. Yesterday we went to the beach and enjoyed yummy sunny weather (albeit quite windy which did not bode well for our umbrellas). And in the evening, after the kids were in bed, I went out for a run in the last minutes of daylight which lasted til almost 8pm. Bliss.

We are also on pins and needles waiting for the arrival of Baby Black, who could be making his debut any day now. We’re so excited!

Here are a few photo highlights of what we’ve been up to - an attempt to make up for my recent extended absence from the blogosphere. Oh, and I’m still working on that special project I mentioned last time. I’ll get to it...one of these days!

Ivy and her fellow migrant workers, er...friends

Onion picking fail!

April 23 - 7 months!

Gooooo Sox!

Where are YOUR matching monkey jammies?

Ivy channels her inner artist at MOCA

Santa Monica pier for the last day of break

I'm still here, I swear

My bad. I cannot believe it's been a month since my last entry...well I can, sort of. The short version is that I got laid off from my job (we all did - sadly, the organization had to suspend all operations) and I swear I have never been busier. When did I have time to work? Not only am I job hunting and meeting with people about jobs and doing odd jobs, but I am also trying to keep the house running. I have done oodles of loads of laundry and dishes, and only some cooking. I have not been bored or without something to do for the last 2 weeks, not even blog!

BUT - don't worry friends, I'll be back soon. And in fact, I've been doing a lot of work on some stuff that I'm excited to share along with a big, and timely, announcement. No, I'm not pregnant again. Get your mind out of that place. Now.

Until then - hopefully before Pesach - I have to give a shout out to Bill and Carin on the arrival of their beautiful baby boy. Mini Folman came into the world last Friday, and I had the privilege of meeting him yesterday. Fun times are in store for him and Sidney.

See you soon!

"Spring cleaning" my brain - coming out of blog hibernation

I've been slacking on the blog front recently, but for good reasons...I'm a full-time working mom of 2, remember? I've also been intentionally stepping away from the laptop in the evenings, when I'm not doing work (which I do have to do a bit each night) or editing photos, with the goals of a) trying to earn a little bit of extra money by doing some grantwriting (and other projects - I'm pimping myself out people, so send stuff my way, rates negotiable!) and b) trying to read more. I'm in a book club now, so I gotta get my reading on, know what I'm saying? Right now I'm reading Cutting for Stone, and it's excellent. It's also about 800 pages long and I have to finish it before our meeting in 4 days. I also have been getting terrible headaches by day's end, since I stare at a computer screen all day. And if I'm going to stare at a screen when I get home, it better be something funny like THE OFFICE or mindnumbing like JERSEY SHORE. So this is just a quick update to let you know that all is still well.

Mike and I finally settled on a weeknight schedule and rhythm for getting done what needs to be done (big shout out to the ECC hot lunches that started this week, meaning 2 fewer nights that we have to make Ivy a lunch!), and it even includes going to the gym. My nights are Tuesdays (spinning) and Wednesdays (pilates). This has been critical to ensuring that I'm doing exercise at all, though with my favorite day of the year coming up this weekend (duh, Daylight Savings!) I will be able to do some evening running as well. It's high time I start working on that new year's resolution...

I had a successful get away with my sister-in-law Erica on the infamous Cruise to Nowhere. I missed being with the littles, but it was nice to be free for a night. I drank fruity cocktails, sat in the jacuzzi, and got dressed up for dinner...a far cry from what I wear to dinner most nights. Erica and I had lots and lots of laughs...you would not believe some of the rubes that were on this ship, and we weren't even going anywhere! That and the awful rock and roll tribute show...though to call it a tribute it really quite generous. I brought my pump, and had the ship staff a bit confused as to why I needed to periodically get into my fridge bag over the course of the evening. I slept 8 hours, uninterrupted, and overall felt quite refreshed. Then it seemed that the moment I walked in the door at home, my back started hurting again and it was chaos trying to wrangle the kids. So much for feeling refreshed!

Don't try this at home...

Speaking of my back, I've been complaining about it long enough, so back to the doctor I went. She quickly deduced that a lot of the upper back tension and pain I'm feeling is likely from stress...big shock there. So I've been working on managing my stress, and lo and behold I'm feeling a lot better. That and my weekly pilates. I never had ballerina posture to begin with, but improving that is also helping. Slow and steady...

A couple weekends ago, we had a "blind" play date with a friend from my mommy message board. She was someone that I knew lived in LA, and we've "known" each other for a couple years now. She has 2 sweet little girls, one of whom is exactly Ivy's age and the other who just turned 1. We finally decided it was time to meet in person, so I bit the bullet and gave out my address to a complete stranger on the internet. My instincts were good on this one, and we had a very nice afternoon with our new friends. Ivy and Lu jumped around laughing and made muffins. It was super cute and really nice to meet some new people.

Then this past weekend, Ivy came down with a 24-hour bug of some sort. She woke up and was a little off, but we figured she was just a little tired. She got to gym class and as we sat down for circle time, I realized she was burning up. I whisked her off the floor and into the car, where I settled her on the couch with a sippy cup of apple juice and a Dora marathon (Who's brilliant idea was it to DVR episodes? Yup, mine!) while we waited for the Tylenol to work its magic reducing her 102 fever. Poor thing. She got to stay home from school on Monday, even though she was mostly fine by then and we had a fun, relaxing day together. I'm so glad that so far Sidney has managed to stay healthy...but believe me, Ivy was NOT happy about not being allowed to touch or kiss him while she was sick. She cried...a lot. "I WANNA HUG MY SINNY-BOY!" Love.

Purim is coming up, and once again Mike and I find ourselves at a loss for costume ideas. We really set the bar way too high 3 years ago. My only idea is to dress up as pregnant. (What, too soon?!) But while we try to figure it out, Ivy announced that she would not be going as a cupcake (at least she wore it once on Halloween so it wasn't a complete waste) and wanted to be a flamingo. I thought this was hilarious:

but I'm not about to drop that much money so off to the craft store we go! I see lots of pink feather boas in my future. I never knew I would attempt to be so crafty!

That's about it for now. Mike goes out of town next week for work, so it's Nana to the rescue! We may attempt some light sleep training, but this little boy has got me wrapped around his finger so I'm pretty sure it won't happen and he'll be in my bed every night as usual. How can you say no to this face?

Hey ladies!