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!

Eli's Birthday

I've gotten a couple of requests for links to Eli's wish list. I wanted to let you know that there's a link on the blog all year round for the kids wish lists. Just go to the blog and it's in the left hand tool bar under "wish lists". To make things easier here you go (click on their names): Eli and Jonah.

Our tentative move day is actually on Saturday (Eli's b-day). We'll let you all know if anything changes. I'll try to post new pictures this week.

Jonah's Tubes

Just a quick update for everyone. We have finally scheduled Jonah's tubes to go in on 11/20 in the morning. I promise to post more after the surgery, but I know many were curious as to when/if it would happen. It's a fairly fast procedure, so we'll be home on the 20th and then back to normal on the 21st. Love to you all!

The New House

We closed escrow on Friday and began construction right away. Here are 2 very rough videos of our house in a state of disarray. Video 1 and video 2. We're hoping to move in November 29th. I'll post more videos and pictures as we go along.

This is the view from the kitchen of the dining room and part of the living room

Standing in the dining room you can see the living room

Standing in the dining room looking into the kitchen (that door will not be there)

Big Ultrasound Was This AM

Unfortunately, at the last minute Rob had to go to a meeting and couldn't come with me. I had promised my mom I'd take her with me to this one, so Rob was happy we had already planned that.

I'm happy to report that the baby is healthy in every way. My mom was able to see the beautiful face in 4D and has declared that she knows it looks exactly like Jonah.

Lastly, and I know there are a ton of you on pins and needles, we have confirmed that the baby is in fact a GIRL. She will be named after my beloved Bubbe. Her middle name is Helena and her Hebrew name is Chana Leya. Her first name will be revealed at birth. Thanks everyone for your girly thoughts, it worked.

Happy New Year

Just wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year (those of the Jewish faith). May this year bring new joys never thought of. We love you all!
Robert, Candice, Jonah, Eli, Sascha & of course baby in the tummy

Fundraising For WJCC

I'm not going to e-mail each of you individually, nor am I going to chase you w/a catalog at family events. I know a lot of you love the wrapping paper fundraisers and the boys' school is doing one again. It's www.sallyfoster.com. If you're interested in any way in buying chocolates, wrapping paper or trinkets of some sort please e-mail me (Candice) and I'll send you an e-mail from their website. This way you can order at your own leisure, use your credit card and have it delivered straight to you (shipping charges do apply). If I'm going to see you any time soon and you'd rather order by the catalog please let me know, and I'll bring it with me to wherever I may see you. Please keep in mind the sale ends October 10th. Again, this is no pressure. If you'd like to order and/or would like to help support the boys' school just let me know by e-mail. 50% of everything purchased is donated straight to the school. The school uses these funds to pay for music teacher and gym classes for the kids. Thanks in advance for your order, if you place one.

A New House

As many of you know Rob & I live in a 2 bedroom apt that is beautiful and wonderful, but we've outgrown it. With a baby on the way we knew we needed to buckle down and start looking in this buyer's market.

We found a wonderful home that is bank owned, and quickly made an offer. It needs a new kitchen and master bathroom plus a few other things, but we are happy to announce the bank who owns it has signed the paperwork. We will most likely begin escrow tomorrow. If we can close escrow in the 30 days we need we will be beginning our construction the day after. There are things that need to be done before we can move in and we estimate those taking 30 days.

This is our first house. This is a huge thing for us, and the boys LOVE it. Jonah can't wait to move in, and well honestly, neither can we. We finally have a yard for them and that makes me so happy. We've already begun the elusive search for a swing set for them. Jonah was very particular about the slide being green, but we'll see what we can find. We are even going to have a playroom and that seems to be Eli's favorite room so far.

I plan to video our before, during and after for everyone to see, so wish us luck as we embark on our newest endeavor.

The Boys New Shirts & More

Not the best pictures but do you get the message? OK here's a hint...Eli is not a big brother YET! Yes, you got it. As of today's ultrasounds (see below) baby is doing great and right on time. I am 12 weeks and feeling icky as ever. Baby #3 is due 2/23/09, however with a planned c-section s/he will be here around 2/16/09.

Today I had the results from a test that is known as the 1st Trimester Screening. They measure the nucheal area. Plus I had blood work done 2 weeks ago to test for Down's Syndrome. Everything is great and healthy as can be. We will have the normal ultrasound in about 6 weeks to let us know what the baby is. THINK PINK! Now for more good news: The tech who did the ultrasound today said that if he had to guess he'd say we're having a girl. It is too early to really see that area, so we put it at an 80% chance of pink in our future.

How are the boys doing with this? Well, they are just wonderful. Jonah is SO excited. He only wants a baby sister and he wants her to be named Lola. If you know the show Charlie & Lola on Playhouse Disney then you'll know why he wants a sister named Lola. Eli likes to lift my shirt and say hello to the baby and he keeps asking me to bring it out so he can see it. Jonah has told everyone at preschool that his mommy is sick. Eli has told everyone at daycare that daddy cleans the house and mommy sleeps.

I'm not doing so hot and have been missing quite a bit of work. I'm not having morning sickness, I just have extreme fatigue. I have no energy and basically go to work and then go to bed. Rob has been absolutely amazing. Our house may look like a hurricane hit it and we're eating a lot more take out, but he is always so upbeat. He's been just wonderful, and I'm a VERY lucky woman.

Now I must apologize to many people. I missed a few birthdays in the last few weeks and I really am so sorry. By the time I realized what day it was it was past the date of your special day. Please know that if I had been feeling better I would've been better at acknowledging your birthdays. I love you and hope you all had special days.

We'll keep you all updated as this baby grows. Keep thinking girly thoughts for us. We love you all.

The Love of a Brother

Yesterday I picked Eli up before I picked Jonah up from camp. I brought Eli in with me to get Jonah. Jonah runs ahead to his room and gets his lunchbox and art of the day. He comes out showing me his drawing and says, "I made this for Eli."
I said, "why don't you give it to Eli?"
Jonah hands his picture to Eli, "Eli I made this for you."
Eli takes it from him and looks at it and says, "This so boootiful, Nonah it bootiful." (Nonah = Jonah).

I just had to share this moment with everyone because it really is one I want burned on my brain forever. I love to see how much they love each other, even when I know the expression of love is very temporary. LOL!

Happy Friday everyone!

Round 1: He's Still In

A lot of people are rooting for Robert, so I thought I'd give you a quick update. He made it through round 1 and will be playing Wednesday in round 2. Robert & I will be heading to Vegas tomorrow night for his Wednesday and hopefully Thursday play. I'll be back on Friday. I never thought I'd hope to not get on a plane with my husband, but if he doesn't come back with me that is a good thing. There's a possibility he'll miss Jonah's birthday party on Sunday if he's still playing, but we'll take lots of pictures. I'll keep posting here with more updates as they arise.