l Lanie and Ari Kellman's Webspace

Sunday, February 05, 2012

Update? Is it Rosh Hashana already???

Ok, so last night I made an inconsequential update to my Google account which sent out an update notice to the 5 family members who get those. That combined with Danya's getting into the business, have inspired me to actually post something! Don't worry, it's just a tease...
As we ready for the new babies, I am considering starting up this blog again. No promises, but here's to hoping...

Wish us luck!

(Ari)

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Rosh Hashana 5772


Yup, it's that time of the year again, so here's our annual Rosh Hashana picture.

Shanah Tovah U'Mitukah to all and a Gmar Chatimah Tovah. Here are the older pictures for easy reference:

5771
5770
5769
5768
5767 I
and 5767 II
5766

Sunday, September 05, 2010

Shanah Tovah




I guess it must be Rosh Hashana time, as here's our annual Rosh Hashana picture. Maybe the coming year will be filled with more blog posts (though I wouldn't hold my breath).



Shanah Tovah U'Mitukah to all and a Gmar Chatimah Tovah. Here are the older pictures for easy reference:
5770
5769
5768
5767 I
and 5767 II
5766

Sunday, February 21, 2010

On the move

Eliora's been walking up a storm lately, to the point where its now her preferred mode of ambulation. Here to show her progress is a video from 2-10 and one below from tonight, just 10 days later.

Enjoy!



Sunday, February 07, 2010

Sabba boogeying

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Eliora Plays Catch

Welcome Back to our blog!
Enjoy watching Eliora play catch with Bubbie...

Monday, September 21, 2009

Shanah Tovah


All I can to that date stamp below is, "wow". It's been a while, but with an impending vacation to pack for this is not going to be a catch-up post. Just one to catalog this year's annual Rosh Hashana picture. Shanah Tovah U'Mitukah to all and a Gmar Chatimah Tovah. Here are the older pictures for easy reference:
5769
5768
5767 I
and 5767 II
5766

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Eliora Smiles and the Long Weekend

First, we were finally able to catch Eliora smiling on camera. She has been smiling a lot recently but we hadn't been able to get a picture of it until now.


She also started laughing the other day and its SO cute. Is there anything sweeter than a baby laughing?

Early in the week we decided to go away with Dov, Arielle and Noah Feldman for the long weekend. Since our only requirements were a nice hotel with indoor and outdoor pools and a short drive from here we ended up in Princeton, NJ. On Friday, after packing what seemed to be everything we owned we picked Maayan up from school a little after 11 and drove to meet the Feldmans at an outdoor outlet mall that was somewhat near the hotel we were staying at. They had some good Memorial Day sales and we hung out there for a few hours. I think we spent about $4 on the little kid rides there since Maayan kept asking and since we she was being good we gave in until we ran out of quarters.



From there we went straight to the hotel which took a little longer than expected since the directions were a little confusing (and by that I mean, they were wrong!) When we finally got all of our stuff into the hotel rooms Ari took Maayan to the pool for a few minutes (literally) and we rushed to get everyone bathed and ready for shabbos. Shabbos was nice and relaxing. Since we had adjoining rooms, on Friday night we put all the kids to sleep in our room and ate in Dov and Arielle's room and then they just moved Noah to their room when we were ready to go to sleep. I was really nervous that Eliora would wake Maayan when she got up to eat during the night but Maayan seems to be a pretty deep sleeper and didn't seem to be bothered by the crying. I think I was the most bothered by sleeping in the same room as Maayan--she is such a loud sleeper! She is constantly moving around and she snores a little bit too. At one point I saw that she was sleeping with her head on her bed (an air mattress we brought) but the rest of her body was on the floor! On shabbos morning Ari was really nice and let me sleep until after 10 and he took the girls into Dov and Arielle's room. We had a late start to the day which made the day go by really fast. After lunch all the kids had gone to sleep so we all got naps and then hung out by the pool until shabbos was almost over. After shabbos Maayan wasn't tired since she had slept for almost 3 hours so she didnt end up going to sleep until 10:40.

On Sunday we had originally planned to go to the Land of Make Believe but then realized that it was pretty far so we then attempted to to strawberry picking which we were all pretty excited about. Unfortunately when Ari called the farm in the morning they said that they had suspended picking for the day since so much had been picked the day before. We didnt really understand how they would magically have strawberries on Monday and not on Sunday but oh well. We went to the farm anyway since it sounded like there was stuff to do there but not so much! We managed to fill the time with feeding some animals and some ride on toys.





Chaim and Robyn Schneider and their girls met us there as well as another family who Dov and Arielle know were in the area for the weekend. After the farm we all went back to the hotel, ate lunch and then changed for the pool. The water in the outdoor pool was too cold but the indoor pool was heated and ended up being empty most of the time we were there so that was nice.

After a while at the pool we went to the Schneider's for a BBQ. We had a great time there and left about a minute before a huge downpour began. The rain only lasted about 15 minutes but it was not very pleasant driving weather. Eliora decided that it would be fun to scream as loud as she could for the first 10 minutes of the drive (she didnt think the rain was enough of a distraction) but Maayan finally got her to take a pacifier and she fell asleep. Maayan didnt last much longer and we had a quiet rest of the drive home.

Monday morning Maayan woke up at 10:30 which was really nice and we had a pretty lazy day. At Maayan's request we made pancakes, played in the apt, bathed the girls and then got ready for BBQ #2 for the weekend(previously known as the 3801 BBQ). We had the BBQ with the Schenkers and Tarziks in the playground of our building. Eliora slept through her 2nd BBQ and we all had a nice time.




Funny story from one of the times we were in the car. Maayan had been asking us what color you get when you mix 2 colors. At one point she was asking about white and another color and we told her that the other color gets lighter when you add white. Then she asked about yellow and orange and Ari said you get lighter orange. Since she must have thought we heard orange and white she then said 3 times very loud and slowly as if English was not our first language, "No, I said YEH-YO" (her version of yellow). It was funny especially since she realized that it was funny and started to laugh.

We didn't do much today, Ari got Maayan up and dressed this morning and from what I could hear from our room, Maayan was "too tired" and didnt want to get out of bed. I wonder what she will be like as a teenager?! We had a mover come to give us a quote and Ari and I have just spent most of the day doing things around the apt and suddenly its almost time to go and get Maayan from school--the days just fly by.

Ari Graduates!

On Wednesday (May 13th) Ari had the NYU all university graduation with about 15,000 other people. There was really no reason for me to go since it would be a big schlep and I wouldn't even see him. Ira did meet Ari there, I think more b/c it was at the new Yankee Stadium than that it was his graduation. It was kinda warm out and after they graduated the business school Ari came home.



That night I had a girls night out so Ari stayed home with Maayan and Eliora by himself for the first time. Everyone did fine and Ari even got Eliora to take a whole bottle.
On Thursday Ari got Maayan to school and then we got ready for our long day. Graduation was at Radio City Music Hall and Ari had to be there at 1:45. I picked Maayan up from school a little before 1 and got her changed into a dress which she was pretty excited about since every day she asks to wear one. For the first time in a VERY long time, I was actaully early! We got to Rona and Ira's to pick them up about 20 minutes before I had planned. We waited in line to get into Radio City for about a half hour. Eliora was sleeping most of the time and Maayan ate some snacks and was entertained by Bubby, Grandpa and Saba who had met us there. When we got into graduation, I handed over my ipod and kids headphones to Maayan since that was going to be her entertainment for the next 3 hours. Luckily, she was really excited about it and spent most of the time watching her shows. I think its really cute that she knows how to use the ipod without anyone teaching her, good job Apple! The best part was that she would notice that people were clapping and then she would start to clap but it was often after everyone else had stopped. Eliora ate and slept only for a few minutes, the rest of the time she was happily passed between, Saba, Bubby, Grandpa and Uncle Michael. Of the 800+ people who graduated Ari's block was the first to be called up so we didn't have to wait too long to hear his name. Maayan heard his name but was a little upset that she couldn't see him but got over it when we told her the important part was hearing the name. After a while Ari came back to our seats and took Maayan up to where he was sitting so he could show her off.



A little before 6, Ira and Rona left with Maayan since we had a 6:00 reservation at Clubhouse Cafe and Jenny would be there any minute (graduation was scheduled until 5). The rest of us waited for graduation to be over and then walked over to the restuarant. Dinner was good and Eliora was nice enough to sleep the entire time. Unfortunately that night didn't exactly help our quest to get Maayan to be around 7 but we did get her to sleep pretty fast once we got home. It was a long day, but very nice and we are all very proud of Ari.





Not a big surprise, we overslept on Friday morning so Maayan got to school even later than usual. After Ari got Maayan to school Ari, Eliora and I made our last trip to Costco to get the remaining few things on our list for the simchat bat on Sunday (more on that later). Ari had something at Accenture in the afternoon and I cooked for shabbos. Shabbos was pretty quiet, it was the first week since Eliora was born that Maayan didn't go to shul with Ari and she waited until Eliora and I were ready. We got there before it was over which was an accomplishment and ended up hanging out for a little bit after since we were in no rush to get home. In the afternoon Maayan played with a friend in the building.

Sunday morning, Ari played softball and then got home in time to take Maayan over to the RJC for sports and bring the first bunch of stuff over for the simchat bat. He ended up hanging out there until sports was over and before he and Maayan got home my dad arrived followed shortly by my mom who had just come in for the day. Ari and my dad went to get the balloons we had ordered. It was realy windy out and when they got to shul the 8 bunches of balloons were now all tangled and we had 2 big bunches. My dad stayed at shul to start setting up and then spent about 20 minutes trying to get them apart without getting too far. A little bit later, my mom, Maayan, Eliora and I got to shul to continue setting up the food (Thanks Mom and Abba for all your help!) and then Ari came and decided that he would just cut apart the balloon bunches and re-tie them so that took a little while. The party was really nice and apparrently people eat a lot less than we had expected and we had a lot of food leftover!
Since we were so busy enjoying ourselves at the party we didn't really have a chance to take many pictures so once Rona sends us the pictures she took I'll post them.

After the Simchat Bat was over, we had to find new things to occupy our time, so we spent most of the week running errands. Returning the extra stuff from the party that we didn't need. Since most days we didnt get out until late morning/early afternoon the days went by pretty quickly.

Since Im getting behind again with my posts this will have to do for now...more to come on the holiday weekend.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day began when I was woken up by Maayan around 4am asking,"is it wake up time yet?". After arguing with her and trying to convince her to just stay in bed a look at a book I used the "its Mother's Day, you need to be nice to me", I left Maayan's room and Eliora woke up to eat--luckily my day got better from there.

When Maayan got up she was very excited to give me my mothers day present. She was really good and kept it a surprise! She made me a necklace and it was in a jewelry box...

Very cute. The best part of the present was the card. This is what it said:

My mommy's name is Lanie but I don't call her Lanie, I call her Mommy. Mommy looks like all of us, my whole family. Mommy has the same hair as mine. Only me and Abba have the same eyes as her. Mommy likes to wear a skirt she also likes to wear a t-shirt. When its shabbos we like to read books and when it's not shabbos we like to play Polar Bear goes in the pool.When I go to school Mommy stays home and sleeps with Eliora. The whole day she sleeps while I'm at school...she told me yesterday. She makes yummy yummy noo-noos [noodles] for shabbos. They're my favorite, they have ketchup on it. She loves me because she likes me. You know what she does for me? She makes me yummy food. I want to say thank you because I love her.
Happy Mother's Day!
Love, Maayan

How cute is that?!?! And no, I don't sleep all day.

After giving me my present, Maayan went to her sports class then we all went to Central Park for a little bit to meet some of Ari's school friends. We would have been at the park for longer but of course we looked for a parking spot for a while before just going to a garage (gotta love the city). It was a really beautiful day out and Maayan was very excited to use her new kite. After a long while, Ari was finally able to get the kite going and Maayan got to fly it for a minute before it went down- I think we can use some kite practice before moving to the suburbs!



(you need to look carefully, but Ari and Maayan are in there with the kite)

We were only able to stay there for a little bit and then we were off to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Nancy's for the annual Kellman Mother's Day Lunch. Since it was a nice day we were in the backyard and Maayan had a great time playing with her cousins. Eliora slept most of the time (while being held by different family members). On the way home we stopped to pick up chinese food for dinner which was pretty disappointing.





On Monday morning Eliora was wide awake at 4:45 since she had slept almost the whole day on Sunday. I finally came out into the living room around 6 and after a little bit she fell alseep in the swing and I went to sleep on the couch. Ari got Maayan ready and took her to school while Eliora and I took another nap until around 11ish. The rest of the day was spent doing laundry and cleaning up around the apt. Ari picked up Maayan from school at 3:00 since there was no babysitting b/c of a staff meeting (I usually get her around 4:15) and then he got ready to go to his last class!! I think Im much more excited about him being done with school than he is. Since it was a nice day out I took the girls to the playground next to our building for a little bit and then got Maayan to bed at 7:20. Since she has been so tired lately and we almost always have to wake her for school we've decided that we are going to try to move her bedtime up to 7pm so I was pretty happy with 7:20.
Eliora went to sleep around midnight and didnt get up until 5:30 so that was pretty nice for me.

Today for Lag b'omer SAR had a walk-a-thon to Seton Park. The kids Maayans age took a bus to about a block away and then walked the rest of the way. Ari, Eliora and I went to meet them there where they had a picnic and concert.




When we got home we did some stuff around the apt. then Ari went to school to pick up his cap and gown (YAY!) and Eliora and I got Maayan from school and then played in the school playground for a little while before coming home.
While we were in the playground, there was a boy (around 8-9 years old) who Maayan loudly pointed out was wearing Crocs with socks saying, "Mommy, we don't wear Crocs with socks!"

Eliora is sleeping in the swing and I'm going to attempt to get her into the bassinet and go to sleep--wish me luck.

Welcome Eliora Chaya!

Well, quite a bit had happened since the last post. I'm going to attempt to recap as much as my tired mind will let me.

On Tuesday, March 31st I picked up Maayan from school and told her that she was going straight to Bubby and Grandpa's for a sleepover. She was really excited that she didnt even ask where Ari and I would be. I felt the need to take this picture since in my baby book there is a picture of my mom dropping off Lisa and Arica at Bubby's house the night before I was born.



From there Ari and I went out to dinner at Mikes Pizzeria which we hadnt yet been to. We ordered way too much but ate most of it anyway! We came home and I finished packing up my stuff since we had to leave really early in the morning for the hospital. We left for the hospital before 6 and stopped on the West Side to leave our car so that Ira would be able to use it to take Maayan to school in the morning, luckily we got a spot pretty quickly and then took a cab the rest of the way to the hospital. When we arrived we made sure to tell the nurses that I wanted a private room and I was there to have a baby (yes, in that order)- she then told me that the rates for a private room had gone up the night before to $850 a night! This was quite the shock since when Maayan was born it was somewhere around $200 a night. Of course there was no way we were going to pay that so I was going to have to deal with a shared room. Everything went well with the prep for the c-section, mainly just a lot of waiting and at 10:38am we had a beautiful baby girl weighing in at 7lbs- (well if
you want to be exact she was 6 lbs, 15.8oz, but at that point the hospital rounds up to 7.)
Ira picked of Maayan from school and brought her to the hospital. While she was excited to see the baby I think she was a little scared of the hospital and it didnt help that I had an IV which made her not want to sit on my bed or come close to me =( Rona also came on her way home from work. After their visit they took Maayan home with them and Ari went to school for a class at night. On Thursday when Ari brought Maayan to visit she was much more excited to be there and she got to hold Eliora for the first time.



Don't really remember what else happened on Thursday and Friday during the day, mainly slept, fed Eliora and talked on the phone. When Ari brought Maayan on Friday afternoon we were talking for about 20 minutes when Maayan said to Ari, "Abba, you said when we got here we were going to buy Mommy flowers" and with that they went to the gift shop and came back a while later with a balloon bouquet that Maayan picked out. Leave it to Maayan to remember--in Ari's defense she was getting a lot more sleep than he was!

On Shabbos after shul Ari walked over to the hospital (he and Maayan were at his parents, so the walk wasnt too bad) with lunch for us and he stayed most of the day. It was very nice and quiet. He left around 6 and shortly after he left I was surprised by Lyat who came to visit. It was so nice to see her and was great to have a visitor for the rest of shabbos. Sunday morning Ari brought Maayan back to Riverdale and she went over to play with Dani so Ari could come to pick up Eliora and me to come home! Of course it took longer to get out than we had expected and right
after we got home my parents arrived.



Sunday afternoon Ari and my dad went to buy some much needed clothing for Eliora as we realized that all Maayan wore when she was a newborn were onesies since it was August and 90+ degrees out. Most of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were spent getting ready for pesach. On Monday morning, Eliora was named at the RJC. Originally I had planned to go and bring Eliora with me but after a very rough night when I was awake every hour I decided that Eliora and I were going to stay home. Tuesday, Eliora had her first doctors appt. where she was pretty good. Maayan came along b/c they sent her home from school on Monday b/c she had fever. Both girls were fine and I came home with Eliora. Ari, Maayan and my parents went out to lunch.
Wed. night was the first seder and we told Maayan that if she wanted to stay up she needed to take a nap and she ended up sleeping for 2 hours I think. Maayan did a GREAT job at the seder. She sat nicely at the table, sang the songs that she learned in school, stood on her chair to sing the ma nishtana and really participated. We were really proud of her and its good to see that all the money for tuition is worth it! She ended up going to sleep around 11:30. In the morning my mom came over to take Maayan to shul but she wasnt awake yet so we sat and talked for a while, eventually Maayan emerged from her room at 11:45am! It was like having a teenager. We quickly got all ready and thought we would meet everyone at shul but as we got downstairs they were coming in so we took a walk around the block instead since it was nice out.
Thurs. Night Maayan stayed up late again for the seder and was really good. The seders were nice, I dont remember much else though. Friday Maayan went to shul with my mom and Eliora and I stayed home. Dont remember much about shabbos except that when we were eating lunch Maayan said she was tired and she went into her room and went to sleep, she ended up sleeping for a few hours which was so weird since she really doesnt nap much, I guess she was tired from going to sleep so late the few nights before.
Sat. night we said goodbye to Saba and Savta as they were going to be going home on Sunday morning.



On Sunday of Chol Hamoed Rona came to get Maayan and took her out for the day, they went to a museum and then to her apt to play. It must have been quite the day b/c this is what Maayan looked like when she got home...


I dont remember much about chol hamoed, we didnt do too much since Ari had a lot of work to do for school and I wasnt driving yet. For the last days for pesach we ate at home ourselves with the exception of the last lunch when the Tarziks came over. It was very nice and quiet. After pesach was over we got the kitchen back to normal fairly quickly as we didnt have that much stuff.
Friday Eliora had a checkup to see if she was gaining weight and she gained a whole pound since her last appt. As Ari said, "who doesnt gain weight on pesach?" After her appt. Ari went to school to do some work, Maayan went to play with Dani and I took Eliora for her first trip to Target. I was a little afraid of putting her carseat into the cart since Ive never done it and it looks like its going to fall out so I just used the snap and go and I have to say its amazing how much stuff you can get into the basket of that stroller! (Yes, I have put Eliora's seat in a cart since then but it still looks weird to me). It was a successful trip and the rest of the day was spent getting ready for shabbos.

On Sunday we went to a birthday party for Netanal and Eliana Kalman where they had a moon bounce and cotton candy. Maayan had a great time!





On Monday it was back to school for Maayan! YAY! She really missed school over vacation and I missed her having something to do everyday. I really cant say that I remember what Ive done during the day for the past few weeks.

Some days Eliora and I have been out all day and others we sleep half the day and do stuff at home. Its been nice that since Ari was winding down at school that hes been home to take Maayan to school in the morning so I dont need to get up and get Eliora out early.

Things that I DO remember from the past few weeks:
Yom Ha'atzmaut--SAR had a big BBQ on the field so I took the girls to that (Ari had school). It was really nice, Maayan had a great time and it was nice to see people from work who I hadnt seen since Eliora was born.


Since this post has taken me so long, I have both Eliora's birth and her 1st month picture in the same post...kinda sad huh?



Last Monday, Eliora and I were in Target (shes been there a few times since her first visit) and I got a call from Lisa saying that she had just had a baby girl! YAY! Another niece/cousin! Eliora didnt hold the title of youngest in the family for very long. We are very happy for the Balsams but sad that we wont get to meet Merav for a while.

The Sunday after pesach Maayan started going to a sports class at the shul on Sunday mornings. They play different games and she seems to have fun. Its good b/c it gets her up and dressed on Sunday morning and by the time she gets home we are ready to start our day.

Funny story from last week that I was smart enough to write down so that I would remember- We told Maayan last week that we are moving to Chicago over the summer. We had waited b/c we felt like she had a lot of changes going on & we didnt want her to be overwhelmed. She took it very well and was really excited! She was all excited that shes going to a new school (so much so that she randomly sings/chats the words "Yay, I'm going to a new school" in the car) which we find funny b/c (a) she really likes her school and (b) she probably thinks that you go to a new school every year since she has for the last 2 years. Guess she will figure it out eventually (Though as a side note, next year will make it 4 years in a row since she's going to be in the Nursery building for only one year).
Since we've told her she will randomly ask about things that are going on the moving truck and we basically tell her that everything is going. The other day she was sitting on the toilet and I was in another room and I hear, "Mommy, are we going to take the toilet with us when we move? I told her no, that the new house we will live in will have a toilet and this one stays here. She then proceeded to ask the same question about the sink and bathtub. Then she moved on to the toilet paper. I told her that whatever toilet paper we had in the apt we would take with us but for some reason she just kept asking about it, she must think there is some kind of toilet paper shortage in Chicago.

On the whole, Maayan has been a very good big sister, very loving and very caring. She serves as a backup cry, always making sure to tell us that Eliora isn't happy when she hears her crying.



I think thats all I've got for now. I know I've said this before but this time I'm really going to try to update more often. That was quite long, is anyone still reading this?

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Quite a long break

Since its been a REALLY long time since Ive updated the blog, I thought it was about time. There is no way that I'll be able to recap a half of a year but here are some random pictures since my last post so that when Maayan sees this when shes older she doesnt think we neglected her.


Maayan starts sleeping in a bed

The Balsams come for a visit





"Little Teenager"





Bowling for the first time



Haircut


Half b-day party at school

Princess for Purim

Yesterday we had parent teacher conferences for Maayan. What I thought was the funniest thing: She likes to announce her arrival (which I can totally picture and is probably why she likes to be late, so she will have an audience). Her teachers also said she plays well with others and is often the leader (but isnt bossy so thats good). She has a very good vocabulary and the speech therapist who comes to evaluate every week says that she doesnt need therapy even though she is difficult to understand at times, it is normal for her age. One thing we were really surprised by was that she and some other kids play some sort of pretend taking care of dogs/cats- we thought this was weird since she is terrified of dogs! We will see one coming down the street and she will jump to the other side and hold on to one of us since the thinks "its going to try to eat [her]". -Maybe this is her way of trying to get over it?

Here is a funny conversation that Maayan and I had this morning in the car on the way to school:

Maayan: I think we are going to have a boy baby and a girl baby.
me: The doctor told me that its only going to be one baby (we've had this conversation before)
Maayan: Why?
me: Because thats what Hashem wanted to give us
Maayan: But I want to have 3 babies
me: Most people dont get 3 babies at one time, they are a lot of work to take care of
Maayan: But I can watch one, Abba can watch one and you can watch one!
me: thats very nice but we are only going to have one baby now
Maayan: Actually, I only want two
me: Two babies make a lot of noise (knowing she doesnt like noise)
Maayan: Its ok, Ill just cover my ears when its noisy
I just hope that after the baby comes she doesnt say, "Actually, I dont want one at all" since she was able to change from wanting 3 to 2 pretty quickly!

Hopefully the next post will come much faster than this one did!