sisters!

zoo

florida

pooh ha-dov

skuuuuuuuul

so, aviyah's started to do this really cute thing. (that's on the side from her being a little bit haywire adjusting to everything that's happening and learning that we don't yell and flap our arms wildly when we want someone to stop something.) anyway, she's started translating hebrew for mommy. this morning, aviyah really wanted to go to the park, but we were really close to her naptime. i told her in hebrew that first we would take a nap, and then we would go to the park to play afterwards. she then turned and told mommy, "daddy say, first sleep, then park."

group hug

aviyah, photographer esq.

mommydaddy

yalei

nights and days

we are trying to help yalei know her nights and days. she is starting to stay up a little longer during the day. this morning she was up for almost an hour! i can't remember for sure, but i don't think aviyah was this calm. i think aviyah was always a little bit of pistol. for a brief bit last night, yalei needed to be held a little bit longer to fall asleep, and i remembered that i think aviyah was like that all the time.

it's hard for me to tell exactly who she looks like, and i think her face still changes every dat. i remember that a lot of people also felt that aviyah looked like me at first, but i think it's because of course the babies don't look exactly chinese. but, i think aviyah and yalei have always looked different than my family too. samantha insists, though, that yalei has my nose. (mine's is soft! she says.)

yalei has gained back a lot of the weight that she lost in the hospital. it is normal that babies who breastfeed can lose up to 10% of their bodyweight by the time they leave. it sometimes takes a few days for the mom's breastmilk to come in. she was born at 8'1 and left at 7'6 but was back up to 7'11 on monday. everybody is healthy, b'h.

aynayim afurot

abc 123

aviyah has started to count to ten in english and hebrew. i don't know how all this starts. one day she just busted out 5 through 10 in a rush, over and over again. she does not like to do her alef bet _at all_, but she loves her abc's. (by the way, i discovered that papa says lnmop for some reason.)

butterfly wings

yalei was breech, and her position in the belly caused her feet and legs to bow a great deal. we were a little concerned because we didn't even notice it at first. the baby is swaddled so often, and she sleeps so often, that it took a minute.

it caught us by surprise because you really get nervous that the baby will be okay at first. she did actually have a tough time right at first; she didn't breathe right away. still, she was okay! the doctors explained that c-section babies sometimes don't get all of the fluid out of their lungs at birth. they think that the pressure from a vaginal birth helps the baby absorb the fluid into their blood. sometimes,in a c-section, some fluid remains and the doctors agitate her a bit to get her started. so, anyway, then she was okay, thank god, and i felt really relieved. i felt really scared, but then i felt like i got away with something, or something like that.

the other night, though, we first noticed that her legs were bowed and her feet bent at a severe angle under each other. it has improved a bunch, already, but you can still see the angle. if you look at the pictures, her right foot is really twisted underneath her left foot. in fact, both of her ankles are bowed. we've tried to do a little bit of work to get them straighter, but it's a little tough because there was just so much time that they were set in the other position in the womb.

the doctor today did say that it's very natural for breech babies because of their position. he suggested some specific stretches and massages to do, and he also said that her legs may stay bowed until 18 months. it is or was a bit scary, so we're very relieved and hopeful everything will be okay, god willing.

leaving!

gan pesach

and action!

yalei's awake!

footsie!

sometimes, aviyah finds the kookiest stuff really funny.

ha-yom he-sheni

i think yalei kinda looks like an old man!

sisters!

people are very up on helping aviyah be happy and comfortable and excited for yalei. (i think aviyah's actually gotten more gifts than yalei has!) for real, i think aviyah thinks celebrating yalei's birthday was fun, and b'h, she's been the super nicest girl ever to yalei. she likes to hug and kiss her, and she's upset about her belly button booboo. she helped us to change one of her diapers, too. (she's been praciticing.)

i think that's been really nice to see because i think the whole sister thing is a gamble, right? i mean, i think it's one of those things that even if you try to do certain things really well, it's still just a complete world change that upsets the order you have. i think it's really important to help prepare her, but at the same time, it's also something that's unprepareable and unpredictable, right? how _do_ we adjust when our world completely changes?

one thing that i've noticed, though, is that i feel a bit uncomfortable with the whole "big sister" thing. (i should say this isn't about anybody or anything anybody said. i know for sure that i don't expect anybody else to read this and adjust how they act or speak. and, i don't even know if i'm completely right.) i guess i just feel awkward really reinforcing that she's the "big" sister. (she did make a pretty cool hat at chai tots, though!)

i feel like it's important to get across to her that she's a sister, and definitely that it's important to love and help and be nice to our sister. still, i feel like the emphasis on being a big sister, that a big sister can do more and knows more, can set up a weird situation. i think maybe my perspective is colored by being the "younger" brother. still, i think if we think, which we do, that the things that we say and do now matter later, and the things that we teach her help build her identity and how she sees the world, and i think that we do and it does, then how we communicate being a sister is really important as well.

i don't want to really reinforce the idea that she's bigger and all of the things that come with that. there's one book that we've been reading that says "i can use the potty" or "i can feed myself" or "i can dress myself". (put aside the fact that aviyah's still kinda young, and she can't do all of those things all of the time anyway.) it also then kinda makes her feel better and bigger because it says that the baby cannot yet do those things. anyway, i just feel like it's an empty ego feeder, and i don't want to _reinforce_ this idea that she just knows more and can do more than yalei. i want to reinforce the idea that aviyah is wonderful for the things that she knows how to do, and yalei is wonderful for the things that she knows how to do.

i understand, of course, that aviyah _is_ physically bigger, but why is it necessary to give her credit for being nice as the "big" sister? i feel like that limits the message. isn't the message really that she should get credit for being nice as a -stam- sister. we are nice to people because it is right to be nice to people. we love people because we care for them and how they are. we don't like or love because we are a big sister or a little brother. i think i want to teach her that we love our family because we love our family. we love each other because we are mommies and daddies and brothers and sisters. not so much because we are bigger or smaller or prettier or smarter or whatever. anyway, we'll see.

day 2