Broken.

 

Well that was one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life. Shabbat afternoon, the big 3 and I walked to the Engelharts, and decided that we would go to Park Chavalim. While there, we did the usuals – slides, swings, spinning things, etc. Eitan found the 3^rd grade girls he loves and played with them. At some point, Eitan wanted to do the cilmby things, and he has never managed to do the monkey bars. I helped him a few times, and then told him to do it himself. He was scared to fall, so I told him to practice falling a few times which he did, landing on his feet. Then I saw Hadar and Meital running to the swings, so I went to go help them.

All of a sudden, I look back, and hear a frightened scream – and watch, as if in slow motion, my Eitan slipping from the monkey bar, and falling on his arm which is twisted under his body. I start sprinting, knowing it’s a really bad one, and he starts crying and screaming his head off (rightfully so). I put Meital in the stroller, Hadar pushed her, and Eitan was on my shoulders. He was badly hurt, and I knew it was broken or at least badly sprained, and the worst part – that it was my fault.

We went back to the Newmarks, told Shifra, and I drove Eitan to Terem (still Shabbat). There they did xrays and told us there were two small breaks, that would heal within 3 weeks in a cast. They casted him up. Eitan was very brave the whole time and didn’t cry at all once we calmed down. Then there were 20 minutes left of Shabbat, so we sat in the park and talked about what we could have each done differently, and how to get through the next 3 weeks in the best possible way. We didn’t know exactly when Shabbat was over, so Eitan told me that he learned once there are 3 stars in the sky its over – so we drove home once we saw them.

Later that Motzash we went to sing for David Ori before his Brit which was beautiful – Beeri was jumping around and having a great time.

Then, at the end of the Brit on Sunday morning, I walked Eitan in to school. The amount of love and attention he got was so cute, and started to heal my own heart. He was escorted in by 5 3^rd grade girls with their arms around him. Good for him.

Kids are given to you in perfect condition, and every scratch you feel like you ruined a perfect creation, so this broken bone of course was even more so. Especially when its your fault.

But I love him, I am proud of him, and we will do whatever it takes to help him through it. And we will focus on baseball IQ instead of physical practice for the next few weeks.

UPDATE: He is good, a few weeks later. Throwing even stronger, didn't lose anything. Proud of him for pushing through. 

A Dream Manifested to Come True

Back in May time, I had a vision. Even though Shifra was 2 weeks earlier than Shirli, I really wanted the births to be together - how fun would that be to be in the hospital at the same time?? I shared the vision with all relevant parties and even included it in the family podcast. October 19th, my dad's birthday, we would all be in the hospital with babies

Sure enough, October 19th at 5 AM, Shifra wakes me up to say her sciatica is painful and its time to go. And also that Fry and Shirly are already there. I jumped out of bed, and we drove over to Har Hatzofim. While we were in the waiting room, I went to go pee, and saw Shirli's mom, who told me they had the baby! So I immediately went to the delivery room and got to hold the little man. So fun, and so cute. We took a pic and sent to Zaxi Taxi which confused the heck out of Nava. 

Then it was our turn to hold up our end of the bargain. We asked for Zeruz, and were able to get one. Shifra's mum came late in the morning, and my parents came to meet the little baby. My dad was thrilled to have a birthday twin, and was hoping to have an epic birthday ending with birthday triplets. I had the yummy burgers in the hospital with my parents for lunch, and then came back. Not much moving with Shifra, and the clock was ticking, but I was still confident we would get it in. Then, after an hour of accupuncture, she went from 3-7, they broke the water and quickly were at 9, and a push and a half later the baby was out. During the accupuncture, I saw the news about two soldiers from Modiin including my friend's brother which I had to store away for later. Once the baby was born, I told her all about Eitan, Hadar and Meital, and I think she liked to hear about them. Nava was already in the hospital so she came down to hold the baby downstairs, and my parents left the wedding they were at to come back to the hospital for a second time that day.

Shifra did an amazing job, and we begged to be put in the same room as Shirly. They weren't too keen on the idea downstairs but upstairs they had been saving the bed all day for us so it could be awesome. Sure enough, we convinced them, and Shirly and Shifra got to stay in the same room. They put up signs that said things like "similar names, pay attention", and they got to keep each other company. Then I went home to sleep and be with the kids in the morning and give them candies to give out to their friends and say they had a new baby sister. When I came back in the morning, Shiff, me Fry, Shirli were hanging out, with the curtains open unless there was nursing going on. It was so fun, what a dream come true. 

Fry and I planned the day before to try and switcheroo and see if anyone would notice, so I took his baby and put him in the pink blanket, and he took mine and put it in the blue one. But we could never manage it with the women because the babies kept switching crying. But when my mom came, the opportunity presented itself. I held fry's baby and he held mine. We took pics and then my mom took a closer look and said "No". She could tell. Something about our goofy faces. It was fun though for those couple minutes before she took a closer look. Shifra rolled her eyes. 

Lunch was fine, then I went back later in the afternoon to be with kids. I woke up at 2 am that night to watch Lions Bucs which was excellent. 46 hours later (which Shifra negotiated too), both ladies received their papers and left at the same time. Kids were very excited to meet the new baby, and Meital was super animated. My parents ordered Captain for all the Peace Treaty adults. Then Shifra and I booked our flights for March to the US of A - gonna be amazing. 

What a dream come true. 

A double great bday for pops?

 Waiting in the hospital, time for baby #4. Fry and Shirly already did their part of the bargain, hoping we can double up on Pops' birthday. Good thing we finalized a name last name. 

UPDATE: WE DID IT!!! with time to spare. What a dream come true

The Fours

 Sometimes the kids like to do cheeky things, and they think that I apprecaite them much more than Shiff does. I think it started when I came down wearing a funny shirt that Shiff hates, and they love, so the big kids were saying good job and giving me a thumbs up that was going up and down. Since then, anything that they do thats cheeky they look at me and we all do the up and down thumbs ups. Hadar and Eitan called us the Threes, but now Meital started doing it, so we are now the Fours. 

Problem is when they do something that they are actually not allowed to do and they do the thumbs up, I die laughing. 

I guess thats what happens when a daddy "single parents" relatively for an entire two week vacation :)

My little player

 Noticed a hilarious trend with Eitan in his school. First of all, he is loving first grade, his friend, his teacher, learning new things. But the really funny thing to watch is he can't walk into school without getting and giving hugs with almost every person there. And especially, with the 3-4-5-6 grade girls who all love him. I took him to the sukka hop, and I looked away for a second, when I looked back he was completely squished into 3 3rd grade females who were giving him hugs. Good for him. 

Kreplach

 Every year we go to JJ for Kreplach in the sukka for Hoshana Raba. This year, I took Eitan and Meital for the first time. They absolutely loved it, the atmosphere, concept, and Kreplach. The ironic part is that this might have been our last time, since I am planning on running the same kind of event in Ganei hopefully next year and every year. 

Guitar

 Eitan, today in his shower:

"Daddy, right its fun to be a boy? You can play guitar with your willy."

End of an era as youth directors

 Here is our good bye message. It was time. We were supposed to end over a year ago, but said we would stay until they find someone new. But sukkot was a hard deadline with the new baby coming and the moves. 

Dear Shul,

We still have a few months in the neighborhood before saying good-bye for real, but the time has come for us to step down as Youth Directors. It has been an honor to serve the Shul as Youth Directors for the past 3.5 years. We loved getting to return to the shul we grew up in, and spend our young family’s Shabbats within the same building we met each other and grew up ourselves. So many memories come to mind, including Shavuot learning all nighters, Chanukah scavenger hunts and parties, Onegs, basketball games, sukkah hops, agriculture volunteering, and so much more. It was a true honor to read out the Tefillot for our State, Soldiers, and Hostages every week for the past few years.

A few specific thank yous:

-All the teens (and former teens) for welcoming us into your lives, decisions, conversations, and Shabbat Mornings. 

-Elli O, a true Tzaddik Nistar who works countless(!) hours behind the scenes to make the shul and religious experience for teens the ultimate priority and highest level it could be. Elli - you are the backbone of this minyan, are responsible for it becoming a weekly thing, and you get to see the true fruits of your labor every single week with the 100+ teens that attend. Looking forward to seeing you continue to raise it up many levels. 

-Rav and Rabbanit S, who continue to be a guiding light for the teens and for us on a personal level. 

-The Shul Presidents we had the pleasure to work with: Dov, Ely, and Moshe 

. -Noa A and Aliza B- the groups leaders, as well as all of the groups counselors for continuously improving groups and making it a wonderful place for kids to come play, learn, and daven every week. 

-Various community members who contribute in small ways to the Teens and Teen Minyan that all adds up to create a beautiful picture. 

Keep in touch, we are always available for you guys and girls!