time flies

Wow, time flies. I had my boy. There were some complications (too much amniotic fluid, they thought), and one Doc offered me a late-term abortion (40 weeks and 3 days!) based solely on that. Twice. We said absolutely not the first time, but she persisted. What?? it was crazy, and I cringed every time I saw her after that. the whole birth thing was traumatic, the medical staff reminiscent of the 3 stooges, ending with a c-section that was very likely unnecessary. We'll go to a different hospital next time. The baby was a bit too yellow, but we took him out in the sun a lot and were able to circumcise him on the 8th day! (as a side note, concerned people actually yelled from their car across 2 lanes of traffic that I shouldn't have him out in the sun. Thank you, complete stranger for judging me!) My DH was able to be his Mohel and we named him David Yitzhoch. We put the video of the brit on youtube and got SO MANY negative comments, we finally disabled them. Crazy. People seriously called me a child abuser for allowing my son to be circumcised, as per our religious tradition. This has been a crazy time.

But he is a wonderful, sweet baby; worth every crazy thing.

so, I'm having a boy...how strange.

I've been pretty quiet since Passover, the reason mainly being that I am dealing with an amazingly tiring pregnancy. It wasn't like this with my first two. I think much of the change is because I'm finally having a boy, not a girl. I knowpeople say, well, you have two kids now, so of course you're tired, etc,but seriously, the whole experience is different. I'm carrying different, craving different things, having different difficulties (low blood pressure? what??), everything seems different this time. Honestly, the whole idea of having a boy seems a little strange.
I had always planned on having ALL boys. I love the way they interact, playing boy games, everything about boys. So, I had to really change my thoughts about my girls, although I can't imagine having anything else now. Girl clothes and toys really are quite fun. So, to go from all the pink, frilly, girly-ness to now thinking about someone growing inside me that is so fundamentally different than I am, well, it's a whole paradigm shift that I'm still working on. I've got 8 weeks left to wrap my head around it, but I figure it won't all really come into focus until the moment I hold the little guy in my arms. And remember that I have to avoid getting "sprayed" while changing diapers.

You cleaned your what?...Why?

In a continuing effort to amaze my non-Jewish readers, I am going to discuss the most stressful event of the Jewish Year, Passover. Why is this holiday so stressful? you would think Yom Kippur would be the stressful one, not eating or drinking, 5 prayer services in 24 hours, your last chance to get in good with the higher power for the year...but no. It's the cleaning for Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) that nearly does in every Jewish woman, and many Jewish men, every year.
Let me explain what has to be done. Everything you own must be gone through, cleaned and/or gotten rid of if it contains Chametz (any of the 5 grains or their derivatives, like grain alchohol, citric acid, etc.). Pasta, unopened bags of flour, most medicines, and a whole host of other things must be used up or thrown out or possibly ritually "sold" to a non-Jew for the duration of the holiday. All your dishes, utensils, pots, pans, and appliances must be cleaned thouroughly and put away in sealed cupboards. every surface in your entire home must be wiped down with caustic cleanser (bleach works well) including under the beds, Under the Washer and dryer, under the refrigerator and stove, on top of the fridge, etc. All books taken from bookshelves and shelves wiped down (I found 6 cheerios and a ton of crumbs on our bookshelves this year). Strollers cleaned out, high chair completely cleaned, the list goes on and on. after everything you own is perfectly clean, you go into your kitchen and really get down to work. All counter tops have boiling water poured over them, all cabinets are wiped out, your sink gets really boiled and bleached, your stove and oven treated by torch to burn away any remaining chametz after cleaning them. If you can, you torch your pots to make them perfectly clean of chametz, although many people just have a Passover set of dishes, utensils, and pots. then you cover everything in heavy-duty foil (heaver than anything I've ever seen in a regular grocery store, like tin-pan heavy) until it feels like you're cooking in a space ship. Buy new dish drainers, sponges, and other kitchen accoutrements (if it's touched hot food during the year, it must be replaced for Passover) then you're ready to start cooking for Passover, which is it's own challenge. But that's another post...
Just so you can see, here is what a passover kitchen might look like (not my kitchen, but a good example)

Because I don't really want to abandon my blog...

I really enjoy blogging. But I feel like I have so much other stuff going on that is so much more important than blogging, I just don't know what to do. So, if I post, I post, if not, tough luck.
That is all.