Back to life, back to reality....

It’s been a busy few months and I haven’t really kept anyone up to date on my life, other than through little Facebook status updates. My pregnancy is pretty obvious now. Even if I didn’t post about it, people would still come up to me to say “b’shaah tovah” because of how I look. I shouldn’t complain because I barely showed with my last pregnancy and would get comments that people didn’t believe I was pregnant. I found that to be annoying. The first couple of months were rough. I was so nauseous that looking at a computer for a long period of time just made it worse. I was surprised I was online as much as I tended to appear. Eating was a chore because I knew the food wouldn’t stay where it was for long. I even got sick at shul once, which was so embarrassing. (Thankfully, it was in the bathroom and only one person I knew heard me.) I just know that I will never become bulimic. I hate throwing up!!! I’m so glad I can eat again that I tend to overeat these days. I have the excuse of “eating for two” though. My 20 week ultrasound is this coming Friday. I am not finding out the gender. I love the element of surprise and I’m more concerned that my baby is healthy than anything else. I had my first sonogram on my birthday, which was a nice treat on a lousy day (it was Tisha B’Av and I had an ear infection). Then I had one in August to check for Down Syndrome and other possible issues. I’m more excited about this one and will post pics next week.

The whole month of September was full of holidays and holiday preparation. One holiday would end and we’d be out shopping to get ready for the next one. Rosh Hashanah was nice because my parents were in town and we got to spend some quality time with them. We hosted a couple of meals and my husband made some amazing dishes. He got this new brisket recipe and the flavor reminds me of how my paternal grandma used to make it. I had him make it again for Shemini Atzeret. Yom Kippur was okay. This was the longest I’ve ever made it through a service without having to worry about the kids. However, I had a really bad headache and broke the fast a few hours early as a result. Then I spent the rest of the evening reading a book where the main topic was food. We officially broke the fast over grilled cheese sandwiches with our neighbors. Sukkot was one weather disaster after another. It first stormed on Erev Sukkot, soaking everything in our sukkah. Thankfully, it held up okay and remained Kosher. Some people lost most of their schach and weren’t able to eat in their own sukkahs. What I love about our neighborhood is that other families helped people out when they needed sukkahs for their meals. The first two days of Sukkot were extremely hot. It was like mid-summer all over again. Sukkahs don’t come with air conditioners, so we were sweating like crazy. We hosted lunch on the first day and went to a friends’ sukkah (although we ended up being in their neighbor’s sukkah) on the second day. There were a couple of sukkah hops going on, as well. It got nicer out by the weekend and we had friends over on Sunday for a barbecue. Then we started our cooking all over again for Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. We had some friends visiting from Englewood and we hosted the lunches so that they could meet some of our friends here. We had fun spending time with our NJ friends again. The weather didn’t behave too much though. We got soaked walking to shul on Shemini Atzeret in the pouring rain. It let up in the afternoon but started again on our walk home from evening Hakafot. We even lost power at around 11:30 pm. It came back shortly afterward, but it was still an annoyance at first. Simchat Torah would have been nicer if they had groups for the kids. It was loud and crazy and my older son did not want any part of it. I tried to get him interested, but he just wanted to stand there and watch. Then I had to watch him while he ran around with his friends so that my husband could daven. Overall, Simchat Torah was a fun experience at our shul. This was the first time we experienced Hakafot here, as we went to Baltimore last year and all the women were sitting in the corner while the men danced. It was nice to see the women dancing and having a festive time here.

This past weekend, we went on our camping trip. It was different than I was expecting. We basically needed to pack up everything needed to feel comfortable and survive for a few days in the great outdoors. We went to Jellystone Park. It’s very kid-friendly and family-oriented. There was a mix between roughing it and living in luxury. My husband even joked about what it would take to be completely removed from the camping environment while being at the campsite. They had regular bathrooms with showers and automatic hand dryers (which my younger son hated because they were so loud). There was a convenience store if we left anything behind. Of course, the one thing I left behind was not to be found at a convenience store. (More on that later!) We arrived Friday evening and waited for our cousins to show up with their tent. Then they helped my husband set up the tent and we put our air mattresses inside. Afterward, my husband started a fire so that we could see (we didn’t have any lights by our campsite and had to rely on campfires and flashlights, as well as borrowing our cousins’ lantern). The fire didn’t last long and he had to keep adding wood, leaves and other flammable items from nature to keep it going. In the meantime, I brought our hot dogs over to our cousins’ grill and managed to trip on their fire pot (it was this metal tin that every campsite had for making fires) and bang up my legs. I think I protected the area of my stomach were the baby is (I called a doctor today to explain what happened and they didn’t seem concerned) but got scratched at an area above the waist. It was not fun to walk the rest of the weekend. The boys were sweet about it though and my younger son kept kissing my knees. Anyway, we dined on hot dogs and later had s’mores for dessert. Then we gathered by the other people who were with our “group.” (Mostly friends of our cousins but we were all camping around the same area.) One couple brought their beagle with them and it made me miss Buddy. Our first night in the tent was okay, other than being cold and noisy. It felt like we were right on the path of a train track. The boys woke up at random times throughout the night, as well. Saturday morning, we hung out by our campsite for a while trying to get warm. Our cousins made hot chocolate, which was a nice treat on a cold morning. It warmed up outside by 10:00 and we took the kids to a trampoline area that also had a lot of sand. The boys had a blast. Then we went to a playground for a while and later walked around the campgrounds to see what was going on. After lunch, my younger son and I took naps while my husband and older son looked for firewood. Then we all went pedal-boating and played mini-golf. Afterward, there was a wagon ride where they played really annoying versions of children’s songs. (I was singing one this morning and my younger son remarked that we heard it on the tractor.) Then we relaxed for a while by our campsites and had dinner and later sat around the group campfire again. I got to chat with one of our cousins' friends and she was really nice. The boys both fell asleep on my husband's lap, which was sweet even though I was surprised he was able to walk after that. I hope our next child (b'shaah tovah) favors me so that he doesn't have to cram three kids on his lap next time. Anyway, after we put the kids down, we went to bed too. Our air mattress deflated during the night and it was so difficult to sleep after that! In the morning we took showers and packed up for the ride back home. We first took a trip to Luray Caverns. It was very interesting there. I called it the "Disneyland of caves." It was obviously a natural wonder but it was set up with walkways and lights everywhere. There was an audio tour included and the music had a Disney feel to it. The best part was the Stalacpipe Organ. It was set up in such a way that the rocks were hit in different spots to make music. The boys somewhat liked it. My older son kept rushing ahead of us, which he usually does at museums and zoos. He can't stand still long enough to appreciate something. Just to backtrack, when I said I forgot something important, it was the extra battery and charger for my older son's cochlear implant. He was basically going off one battery that had very little juice left. It would work for 5-10 minutes at a time and then it would be off for a while. It worked for him to hear the Stalacpipe Organ though. I'm just glad he can somewhat hear out of his left ear and that he can read lips. I felt so awful for forgetting something so important (and I was worried about forgetting our towels and we had to turn around before we even left our neighborhood)!

Not too much else is new. I went to a huge "holiday" sale at my favorite thrift store tonight and came out with some more maternity clothes and a few things for my younger son. (My older son is set for the next year with clothes, thanks to a generous friend with twin boys.) I also got some CDs, such as the "Clueless" soundtrack (which I only had on cassette till now) and the "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack (since I can't find the one I already have). I found a case for the "Freaky Friday" soundtrack (yes, the music is good in the movie and I went for it). However, when I opened it, the "Wicked" soundtrack was inside. That was fine by mine since my current one is all scratched up. I got some more costumes for the boys, as well. They can use them for dress-up or Purim. My older son has a Halloween party at his school and I'll send him something to wear there too. Speaking of which, I'm sad that I can't go to his class Halloween party this year. This is the first time since 2006 that I've had to work on Fridays. I've been so spoiled by my previous job, as well as this current job (up till now). He also wanted me to go to the pumpkin patch on his class field trip, but that won't be happening either. It's one of the few things that is hard about being a working mom. I hope I can make it up to him in other ways.

I think I've talked your ears (or eyes, in this case) off for now, so I'm going to head off to bed now. Thanks for hanging in there and listening. More to come...