One hand wizard

When you have a baby a lot of things in your life, things that were obvious, get a special meaning, and show you how easy you had it before.

The most known thing is your sleep: until you have to wake up 3-4 times a night (if you're lucky) you don't even think about how great it is to sleep for 6 hours straight. Hey, 6 hours were usually not enough! Now just give me 4 hours of sleep and I will be your biggest fan. Oh, and my baby is a really nice one, the kind that (usually, except for last night) falls asleep right away after eating.

Another thing that used to be obvious and taken for granted is having two hands to do all the things you do during the day. When your baby prefers being on you, and starts screaming when you leave him somewhere else,  and putting the baby carrier on you is too much effort for the few things you want to do, that's how your life looks like.

Examples? Making breakfast with one hand. Imagine holding a baby (who's getting heavier by the day), and making porridge at the same time.
More examples? Doing and hanging the laundry, with only one hand. Folding it too.
Making tea.
Eating.
And hey, even writing this post!

So as you can understand, I've become a one hand wizard. Slowly but safely there will be nothing I can't do with only one hand!!! (and very little  sleep).

Walking in the Air

Dancing with my baby in the apartment, just to entertain him and have some fun together, fills me with such happiness, it feels like walking in the air.

Love

People try to explaIn it, to research it, write books about it, poams, articles etc. But nothing can really make you understand what unconditional love is.
The kind you feel when your child is lying on your chest, sleeping and making little sweet sounds. The kind that makes you kiss him even when you're really tired, even when your body hurts from feeding him. The kind that makes you worried, every hour of the day, worried that he's doing well, breathing and feels good. The kind that makes you so unusually happy just looking into his big wide open curious eyes.

People say that kids are happiness (in Hebrew at least). At this point I do see what they mean.

Mother

I am.

For the past 10 days I am a mother.

My son came to the world 10 days earlier than the estimated date. It was a quick birth, but was a surprising one, coz it was only in the last minute that the midwives realized that the baby is not coming to this world with his head first.... We had a lot of luck, and it all went well, and we both were fine and went home 4 hours after he was born. Going home right after it was amazing. There's nothing better than relaxing in your own bed, learning every detail of your new baby's features.

It's an amazing feeling to see this little man growing every day, just little by little. Looking into his eyes, and catching his glimpse, realizing that every day he looks with a bit more focus, and a bit more interest. Realizing that he can already recognize my voice, and his fathers, and that he relaxes just to the sound of it. Realizing that he's totally dependent on us,  and almost totally dependent on me- for food. Realizing that he might sleep well in his bed next to us, but when he wakes up- there's nothing more comforting for him than to sleep right next to us on our bed.

I will probably write* more about this interesting experience of becoming a parent,

for now that's it

just wanted to update.

*thanks L for pointing that out! LOL

Pregnant thoughts

1. Women will tell you that it looks like you've swallowed a watermelon. Men would say it looks like you have a basketball in your belly.
2. Things that fall on the floor were dropped there by the devil himself. Bending over when you have a watermelon (or basketball) in your belly is hell.
3. Watching the baby's kicks from the outside is even funnier and more exciting than feeling it from the inside. Imagine your belly moving in waves with sudden changes in it's size in certain places.
4. Being pregnant is a preparation for being a parent: you're tired ALL the time, you can't eat much (the space time continuum: now there's no space, when you're a parent- there's no time), you have a responsibility on the child's health, it prevents you from doing things you were used to (doing sports, going out late etc.).
5. 9 full months feels like FOREVER. At some point you forget the times you weren't pregnant.
6. Pregnancy stupidity can be funny at times, and can be embarrassing at others. Funny- when you realize that you've spent an hour looking online for the same wool you got for the the baby's blanket you're knitting, coz you think you don't have enough of it. Then you realize you have double the amount you thought (who would have thought to just count the rolls of wool that are lying right next to you in a plastic bag?!). Embarrassing - when you use the wrong terms in German, making the meaning of a sentence totally change, when chatting on Skype to fellow students, who don't even know you're pregnant.
7. The younger the baby in a stroller is- the nicer his or her mother would smile at you when seeing your big pregnant belly.
8. The bigger your belly is, the sadder the seller at a furniture store will look at you, when you ask "how long will it take to deliver?"
9. There are more baby stores online in Germany than online supermarkets that deliver. Although Germany definitely doesn't have a high birth rate.
10. You can guess in what part of town you are, according to the amount of fancy strollers you see in the streets.

Changes

I hope that this post will be one out of many posts I write in the near future. Now, I have some more time.

Yesterday was my last day at work. Why? Because in Germany mothers have the luxury of staying at home starting from 6 weeks before the due date. This is a real blessing, since I am still studying at the open university (I think I forgot to mention here that I got a very good grade on my essay last semester :-)), and since with every day of pregnancy it gets harder and harder to rush to work and stay efficient there...

I must say, I have no clue how women in Israel work till the last day before they give birth. I'm only in the middle of the eighth month, and already feel how heavy it is and how complicated it is to move from one place to another. So as it sounds- I'm glad to have this chance to stay home now, focus on my studies and above all- focus on what's good for my body and for the baby. I guess it won't take long before I start nesting and taking care of everything for the little baby we're expecting. It's really exciting.

I have tons of little tasks I want to take care of, knowing that later I won't have time for. Like arranging the photo album from Argentina, finishing to knit my scarf, and starting to knit a nice blanket for the baby. I want to go over my closet and throw everything I haven't used in the last year or two, and I want to start reading more about the birth, although we just finished a preparation course for couples at the birth center I want to give birth in.

My mom is coming to be here for a month - she scheduled her flight for a week before the due date. In the beginning I thought it might be a long time- but with time and after a few talks with her, trying to be as open and honest as I can- I realized that she's really only coming to help us. We will just have to continue being honest with each other, telling one another exactly what we expect.

I'm quite excited about these first few weeks that we'll become a family, and I want it to stay our experience as a couple plus one as much as possible. I think it's important for the future.

So, hoping this is not the last post in a while,

have a good weekend everyone!

Growing

So this post will be one that will be a compensation for all these days that I haven't written a word...

First I'll start with saying that it's so obvious that I come here to write as soon as I have some work to do for Uni. I keep looking for escape :-) I have an essay to hand in, and I have another 3 weeks or so to finish writing it. I've only read some literature so far and found some articles. So let's hope that I actually get to write this assay. I need to write 15 pages in German. Wish me luck.

Other than that, we had some nice activities lately, for example we went on a weekend with Rob's family, a bicycle tour that was dedicated to Rob's dad, who loves riding his bike. It was a birthday present from all the kids. I, of course, lazy me, didn't ride the bicycle, but I was in charge of the picnic car, so I met the happy family on the way each day bringing them some food. I also had all their belongings in the car- since we slept in 2 different hotels that weekend. It was a really beautiful weekend, I took amazing pictures, and it was honestly fun driving alone in this absolutely inspiring scenery. It was in the area of Stuttgart,  in the Swabian Alb. I really recommend  going there if you have the chance.

Other than that- I just had a tooth pulled out, one of my lower wisdom teeth, which has been there since I'm 18, so it was really hard to let go. I'm still recovering, but I didn't suffer from much pain since they took it out, so I guess I was lucky there. But the whole procedure was a bit complicated because........ well....... because...........


I'm pregnant :-)

yep.

And that's one of the reasons I haven't written here in a while. The first 3 months were horrible. I had sickness throughout the day, and lost 4kg just because of that. The last month was much better. I'm starting my fifth soon, and I feel ok.

Anyway, I wonder who of you is reading this and will now know the news. My Israeli friends all know already, but you guys around the world - I haven't had the chance to tell you, and was actually wondering if I should even write it here on the Blog or not. I decided that I should, I mean, at some point I would have written that I have a baby, and that would have been even funnier no?

Now I just hope and wish for, as they say, a "boring" pregnancy, and a healthy baby!

That's it for now, told you this will compensate for a long time not writing...

Paradox

It's a really beautiful weekend. The weather is amazing. Especially after a month of rain and gray and cold weather. The sun is shining now, and it's getting warmer by the hour.

But I'm alone this weekend.

Rob went to Budapest for a stagdu of a friend that is getting married in August. I must admit, except for the fact that I'm spending this weekend alone in Munich, I'm jealous of him for being there with friends and having fun. I've never been there.

Sometimes it feels lonely, but not in the sense of being alone with yourself, rather not having anyone to do anything with. I've tried calling friends from here, but because I didn't want to make plans in advance (wasn't sure how I'd be feeling this weekend), I'm stuck.

Germans need to plan everything in advance. Being spontaneous is not really their thing. I really miss that about Israel. There I could have had plenty of plans made in the last minute. Just call a friend, and if their available you can join them in whatever they're doing.

I've asked one of my colleagues at work, the one I like most and get along with the most, what she's doing this weekend. I've mentioned that I have nothing to do... She told me what she's doing and didn't even think about asking me if I want to join. I know it's not personal, but it is quite annoying to always feel like a 3rd wheel, so I just didn't ask if I can join. Just didn't feel comfortable.  That's Germany, and maybe also other places in Europe. People won't just invite you to do something with them. Even if you like each other and even meet sometimes outside of the work place.

So I'll try to do some things at home that I've planned on doing, like cleaning up a bit, washing the dishes, doing the laundry. Maybe start my new assignment for uni. I might take myself and some study books and go outside somewhere in the sun and read.

*sigh*

Remind me next time when Rob makes plans to go for a long weekend somewhere- to make my own plans. I should have gone somewhere too.

Resting in the holy land

I haven't written in a long time.
There are a few reasons for that.
The first reason will be revealed some other time, I promise.
The second reason is my studying.
I've started studying for my masters course, at the open university of Germany, and next to reading a lot in German, I needed to hand in an assay today.
I actually needed to hand in two assays but the first reason for not writing kind of stopped me from doing that as well.
So, as understood from the title, I'm in Israel now, already almost 10 days, and I really enjoy it here. The only minus is that Rob isn't with me this time. Other than that- I would have stayed here much longer, if I could. The weather is really nice, not too warm and not too cold, my friends are really nice and I get to meet them (between one uni assignment to another), and in general, I really rest here and do absolutely nothing special, which is the perfect holiday. Thinking about going back to work in 2 days makes me really upset.
I'm in Haifa now, but going to Tel-Aviv this afternoon, going to see my brothers once more, and tomorrow mom is coming to TLV to spend the day with me and my sister. And then my nice holiday will be over.
Anyway, that's basically what's going on with me nowadays, I promise to write a bit more when I can and when I have the muse to write.
Have a nice weekend you all (especially whoever has Pentecost holidays)!

Numbers

here are a few facts in numbers, about me:

2.5 was my age when we moved to the states
5 was my age when we moved back to Israel
10 is the amount of apartments / houses I've lived in till now
6 are the years that I spent in the scouts
21 months was the amount of time I served in the Israeli army as a guide
10 is the number of different jobs I had since I was 14 till now
5 is the number of languages I've learned in my life, from which:
3 is the number of languages I speak fluently
4 the amount of siblings I have, 1 sister and 3 half brothers
17 was my age when my parents split up
3 years of my life were spent studying for my B.A in Psychology and Communications
2 is the amount of pets I had, 1 cat (Toffi who got run over by our mean neighbors) and 1 dog (RIP Uggi who died at the age of 17)
22 is the estimated amount of pairs of shoes I have
24, almost 25, was my age when I met my husband for the very first time
18 is the amount of countries that I actually remember visiting (not including the countries my parents took me to as a really small kid)

Now I urge you to make a similar list :-) and I'll start with tagging Liat