Fundraising For Eli's School

It's that time of year again. Eli's school is doing the wrapping paper fundraiser. If you are interested (no obligation) in ordering on-line please e-mail me and I'll send you an e-mail from the Sally Foster website. If you would like to order in person I have the order forms and books with me and would be glad to share them with you anytime. Thanks in advance for helping out.

Some Firsts In Our House

Last week was a huge week in our house. Jonah started Kindergarten and he started playing soccer. Below are pictures from both. Eli started school too, but Rob forgot to take pictures of him. Part of the new school for Jonah is a new routine for our entire family. Jonah starts school so early in the morning that Jonah & I leave the house just as Eli and Addison are about to wake up. Jonah loves loves loves his new school. He's so big and independent. On day 3 we were in car line and there was no one from the school there yet to get him out of the car. I told him that I'd have to go park and walk him in. He was emphatic about walking by himself like he does when there's car line (they walk the children to the gate and then the children walk to their classroom on their own). He demanded that I let him go by himself. So, I walked him to the gate and let him walk to his classroom by himself. Yes, I stood there and watched him walk until I couldn't see him anymore. I just couldn't believe that my baby was walking into school all on his own. He's growing up way too fast for me.

Jonah had his first soccer game yesterday, and it was OK. He really liked the idea of soccer, but wasn't very much into playing. He basically stood there watching everyone else play. He kept coming off of the field to tell us he was tired. I will say that they do practice before the game, so he had a reason to be tired, but it was kind of funny that he didn't quite understand the whole get back on the field thing. It was his very first time playing, so we'll see how it goes. If you're interested in coming to see him play please e-mail me or Rob and we'll be happy to share the schedule (he plays on Sundays).

Having said all of this Eli is having a really hard time with all of the change going on in Jonah's life. He has been needing a little more attention lately, which we are glad to give to him. He really wanted to play soccer with Jonah yesterday, but AYSO doesn't begin for him until next year. I think he misses his brother desperately and has to get used to the new way things are going. Otherwise, he has been his great bubbly personality that makes us laugh all of the time.

Just so you feel like you get a little Addison she's doing great. She started eating solids and doesn't get it yet. She still remains the happiest baby there ever was. We really don't know how an angel like her came to be in our lives, but we are the luckiest people ever.

Jonah with his backpack on and ready to go

Jonah in his soccer uniformJonah out playing soccer

Addison 6 Mo Old

Two weeks ago my photographer friend, Angela, came to take pictures of us at the park for Addison's 6 month portraits. As usual Addison was an angel. Eli didn't want to always listen or be in the pictures, but we didn't expect anything less. Eli is a free spirit and that's OK by us. We hope you enjoy these few photos. Thank you again to Angela from PBKisses.


As far as our summer the boys have been enjoying a great summer with camp 3-days a week and time with their Bubbe (my mom) 2 days a week. They only have 1 more week of camp, and then they are going to spend time with Nana & Papa (Rob's mom & step-dad) for 2 days. We're meeting some friends in San Diego for 2 days of Zoo and Sea World fun next week. Jonah is very excited to be going to the new school which he will begin the day after Labor Day. I promise to take a ton of pictures, and will post his first day of school. Have a wonderful rest of your summer.

My Newest Adventure

I wanted to share with all of you my new blog. Those of you who know me well, know I'm obsessed with organizing. One would not know that if you walked into my house right now, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, I love organizational products and everything involved in them, so I decided to start a blog where I could review all things organizational. Best of all it allows me to share my point-of-view with the world. I know you'll say is the world really ready for that, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. I'm going to try to add new things several times a week. Check it out: Fashionably Organized. Don't worry you won't get notified about new posts on that site. This blog will stay my family blog and I'll try to be more diligent here about posting news of the family, and pictures, as the babies grow.

Some New Photos To Share

I haven't been great on getting pictures of Addison out there to the world. I guess it's true what they say about 3rd children. OK not really! It's just been so busy that I keep forgetting to post pictures. Here's some recent pictures of our baby love! She is still every bit an angel. She is currently teething and we can't wait for that first tooth to come in. In true angel form she barely cries in pain. It's hard to believe she'll be 6 mo old next week. Oh how time flies...

The boys have recently taken to sleeping in bed together. This was the first night they slept in bed together. It melted our hearts.

Addison 2 days ago just before she went to sleep

Always a smile on her face no matter what.

A Few Pictures

Our new photographer does a great job, and she was kind enough to share some photos w/me, so I could share them w/you. We had a 3 mo photo shoot for Addison in the beginning of the month and here are a few of our faves. Sorry they are all different sizes. These pictures are from Angela of Peanut Butter Kisses so if you are in SoCal she'll come to you. She's so great and the kids adore her. Thanks again Angela for your FANTASTIC work!

Cloth Diapering article

For those of you out there w/little ones wondering if you want to take the plunge into cloth diapering like I did here's an article my dear husband sent to me. I can't say enough about how easy it is to do. I only wish I had started when Jonah was born. If anyone wants to start and doesn't know where to look give me a shout out and I'll point you to some great stuff on line.

Purim

Today was the Purim* festival at the boys' school. Adorable is an understatement. Jonah was a fireman and Eli was a doctor. Eli took his doctor bag with him to school. He was so funny. He was telling me all morning "mommy I a docta'." I stayed at the school waiting for the festivities to begin. I left Eli with his class about 20 minutes before, and when I met back up with the teacher she said after I left Eli was curing everyone.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. It's hard to get them to sit still. Of course Addison was a dream and slept through the first half and took a bottle the second half.

*Purim is a Jewish holiday and kids get dressed up (much like Halloween).

Bonus picture: Addison 1 mo old

Fireman Jonah to the rescue
Dr. Eli in the house

During the festival Eli wanted to sit with his brother.

Pictures of Addison With Some Visitors

I wanted to share some really cute pictures I have of Addison w/some loved ones. There are more, but I think that they are one Rob's computer. I'll try to get them up ASAP.

Uncle Marty holds Addison

Bubbe was there all day waiting to meet her granddaughter. They bonded right away.

Uncle David didn't want to let her go. Yes, that's me in the background looking all retarded.

Auntie Ellie wants to know when Addison is ready for her first shopping lesson. I don't think anyone was as excited to meet her as Auntie Ellie. OK maybe Jonah but I'm not sure.

Michelle and Addison

Addison Comes Home

Here's Addison coming home on 2/7/09.

Baby Room

I got a lot of requests to see what Addison's room looks like. It's still not 100% done, but here are some pictures for you to get an idea. (Sorry our camera is in the shop, so I had to borrow my dad's and don't quite know how to use it.)

Daddy's Little Girl

Everyone,



At 12:31 p.m. today, Addison Helena Kahn was wrestled from her comfortable living quarters, and introduced to the world outside Candice. It has been a long day today but Candice and I wanted to let all the people we love know some of what transpired during the day.



As you can see form the pictures, I can honestly say she is the most beautiful thing I have ever laid my eyes on but I don't want to sound too biased.



At about 5:30 a.m. today, I was awoken by Candice, who was standing over me. I cannot remember what she said exactly but generally, for the first 5 minutes after coming awake, our discussion revolved around which one of us was going to simply decide to just go to the hospital. Fast forward about an hour and by about 6:30 a.m., we were at Cedars Sinai, on the 3rd floor in Labor and Delivery.



For the first 5 hours or so, we were not sure if we were going to go home or proceed with a C-Section. Candice had been experiencing consistent contractions but really had not progressed with what could generally be described as productive, labor-like, contractions. Out of an abundance of caution, the doctor wanted to see if it was possible to halt the contractions because Candice was still only in her 37th week. She received a dose of terbutaline, and it seemed to work....at first. The contractions seemed to slow down and lower in intensity for about 30-45 minutes, however the effects of the medicine wore off and the decision to proceed with the C-Section was made.



I almost forgot how long of a wait it can be from the time the doctor says "something" is going to happen, until the time that "something" actually happens. Needless to say, the staff was very nice, and things went smoothly. It took about another hour or so before I was brought into the Operating Room to witness Addison's birth.



The doctors got her out with no complications and proceeded to take care of Candice while Addison was checked out and cleaned off. My first thoughts were that she looked like a female version of Eli (all that dark hair and skin with very good color as opposed to the paleness of Jonah), but if you look at her with a hat on, or something blocking the hair, she looks like Jonah.



After watching Addison get her first bath, and shuffling between Candice in Recovery and Addison in the Nursery, Candice got into a room about 2.5 hours after Addison was born where she got to meet her Nana and Papa, and Bubbee and Tata, who all think she is gorgeous, and that they cannot wait to spoil her in the manner she deserves. She also got to meet her Uncle Marty, Uncle David and Aunt Ellie who cannot wait to take her shopping.



As some of the pictures show, Older brothers Jonah and Eli were introduced to their younger sister and both boys could not be happier. Granted, they were also really interested in the Chicken Fries we got for them, but Jonah is very excited to have a baby sister.



Candice will remain in the hospital until at least Saturday (probably) and then all the fun really begins. We'll post more soon and take lots of pictures but right now I'm going to sleep. We look forward to sharing more with you all soon.

House Updated

Here's a video of the house as of about 2 weeks ago. We've unpacked some more and I'll add more videos as we go along. We still have things to do, but I thought you guys would like to see our progress. The baby's room is no where near ready, and is pretty much in the same state you see it here. I figure we'll get it done last minute.

Happy New Year!

2008 Environmental Products I Loved

Happy New Year everyone!



As a follow-up to last years environmentally friendly products I loved I thought I'd do another one for 2008. We have continued our quest to reduce our carbon footprint in so many ways. While we're not always successful I thought I'd share this year's fave finds.



I think there are 2 that top our list this year. The first of the two is a vegtable/fruit wash. We have used both Biokleen's Produce Wash and Veggie Wash. It has really made a difference in getting our fruits and vegtables cleaner then ever before. It even takes off the waxes and pesticides left behind when farmers preserve these items. I don't really know what we did before we had this, but I'm sure glad we found it. As an added bonus all of the ingredients in these washes are all natural.



The other of the 2 was NO VOC paints. When we bought the house I made it my crusade not to bring too many chemicals into the house. Besides being pregnant, Rob, Jonah & Eli all suffer from various degrees of allergies. We needed to be as smart as we could be, within our budget, about the things we used to refurbish this house. David (my brother) pointed me in the direction of many articles written on-line, but also pointed out that he had read Lowe's brand Olympic paints have been rated up there with the best of the best at an extremely affordable price. I did my pricing and he was right. Lowe's came out the cheapest hands down. What was even more surprising was that they had well over 250 color choices and the coverage of the paint could compete with any of the VOC paints out there. If you are looking to paint one room or your whole house I cannot recommend enough trying the no VOC Olympic paints at Lowe's. In case you are wondering we were able to even buy the no VOC primer, trim and ceiling paint too. As a reminder when you do paint with a VOC paint although you cannot smell the chemicals after a few weeks studies have shown they linger in your home for up to 3 years.



Next on our list of favorite environmental products is toilet paper. Yes you read correctly. I figured since this was something we weren't going to stop using ever, I'd find one that was safer for our planet. I tried Seventh Generation and am pleasently surprised at how comparable it is to the 2-ply we used to use. You can find it at many stores included Whole Foods, but I've found ordering it on-line to be cheaper.



I couldn't get myself to try cloth wipes for the tushies, so I thought I'd try Seventh Generation wipes as an alternative to the Pampers Sensitive we were using. Although I still have Pampers around to get rid of, we are definitely going to be switching to the Seventh Generation wipes with baby girl. Now if only I could get Eli to potty train. (Yes, we are going to be cloth diapering baby girl, so if you need any advice in this arena e-mail me.)



For those of you giving kids a bath, and those children have sensitive skin I want to recommend Aura Cacia Baby Body Wash & Shampoo. They also have foaming Kids Wash and Shampoo, but that doesn't seem to be tear free which can be a deal breaker. I'm happy to say though, that both have not had reactions to this brand which is a major plus in our house.



Although, this can be expensive I've discovered a luxurious organic clothing brand. It's called Blue Canoe. I only own 2 items from them, but I will be ordering more from their sales as soon as I can. Their organic cotton is absolutely the softest thickest cotton I've ever experienced.



Getting away from plastic toys in your house? I highly recommend anything from Plan Toys. We were lucky enough to get 2 items in our house this year and the boys adore them. They are well made, non-toxic, green friendly toys. They're available at many different big retailers including Barnes & Noble.

Well, in a year when I do this again I hope to be able to tell you about more great green products I love. We're even scoping out organic formula for the baby. If all else fails and you can't go green the way you'd like remember that every little bit helps. It doesn't have to be everything, but anything is better then nothing.

Happy New Year everyone!