Monday, January 22, 2007

Back for...now

I'm not sure if I'm back for good, or back for now...we'll see.

Here are a few things that have been going on

1. We moved back to Jerusalem two months ago. So Jerusalem Revealed no longer lives in Ra'anana. I miss the calm and quiet of Ra'anana - but that's about it. I sure don't mind that I no longer have to drive 1.5 hours each way to get to school. I sure don't mind the plethora of available eating options here in Jerusalem. And I definitely don't mind babysitters (my parents) that live a 3 minutes drive away.

2. Akiva, whom we call 'Kivi', 'Kivi-Weevey', 'The Weevey' or 'Kievs' is....growing, developing, becoming a real person. It still sort of shocks me every once in a while...I look at this giggling little boy and think - "I (with a bit of help) made him. I take care of him. And I haven't forgotten him anywhere yet." He looks mostly like me, but certain expressions make him look a little like Bryan. He is very ticklish, has quite a personality, is a total blabbermouth (now there's a surprise - my son, the big talker), can be very stubborn but is quite gentle. Amazing how at 5.5 months his very essence is probably all right there.

Kivi is still not sleeping through the night - until 2 nights ago we were dealing with 3 wakings a night, that required either Bryan or I to put him back to sleep. Last night, after a late-night viewing of Tsotsi, I gave him a "dream feed" at midnight. He woke up at 3:20 am, but we let him whimper for a minute or two, and then he went back to sleep.

Tonight, I put him to sleep really early, like 6:30 pm. He woke briefly at 7:15, so I fed him again. Then I laid him in his crib wide awake and guess what? He put himself to sleep! Perhaps we are turning a corner - otherwise I will lose it soon.

We recently went to South Africa for a wedding, and while there had professional pictures of Akiva and the family taken - I leave you with 3 of my favorites: