Welcome to the world Amalia Devorah
Hey, I've just ended almost 83 weeks of pregnancy (with a measly 12 week break in between having my son and getting pregnant with my daughter!) I don't think I need to apologise for my lack of blogging these last few months!
Obviously my most important news is the safe arrival of our daughter, Amalia Devorah. She was born on June 7th at 8.34am and weighing in a healthy 3.4kgs. Amalia is an old Hebrew name which means "God's Creation" and Devorah was Amalia's (paternal) great-grandmother. She didn't have a name at all until she was a couple of days old, but we're very happy with our final choice. We hope she is too when she is old enough to yell at us, "what the hell kind of name is Amalia??!!" Sorry darling.
Amalia Devorah and me
As you might also expect, it's been a pretty hectic last few months. Liev, our son, is doing brilliantly, thank God and he's now walking - ok, like a little drunk man, but he's loving his new found freedom and we're forever running after him trying to prevent imminent danger.
He's now going to daycare which he seems to really enjoy (well, most days) and especially seems to enjoy the Moroccan cuisine he eats each day freshly made by Zahava, the lovely lady who looks after him. Having him out of the apartment each day certainly makes life easier for me and frees up my time to look after Amalia, who for the most part (and I hope I'm not jinxing this!) is a very chilled little girl who sleeps and eats very well. She does possess a fine set of lungs though which she tends to exercise on a daily basis at least once.
I am not 100% sure what Liev makes of her. Initially, I think it was rather a shock to his system to see another little person at home. The first couple of days were rather teary and he was very clingy (totally to be expected). But now, almost four weeks on, I think he is rather enamoured by her and he loves to rest his head on her and cuddle her. Oh that melts our hearts...
Liev and his baby sister
My mother was here for a whole month and I seriously don't know how we could have managed without her. When she left last week I really was quite devastated. How were we going to cope on our own? Over the years, I've lost count of the tearful farewells I've had to make to my family, but somehow it seems to just get harder each time. I've been in Israel for three and a half years now and this was my mum's third visit in that period of time. The first time I was still single, the second time (only a year later!) was for my wedding and this visit (two years after the wedding) she arrived to meet her grandson for the first time and was here for the arrival of her granddaughter. What a blessing is that? Liev and my mum truly bonded, it was a beautiful thing to observe and utterly heartbreaking when my mum left. I am just grateful that Liev is still so young (he just turned 1) that he didn't understand she was leaving and doesn't yet have the memory to preserve her or note her absence.
Liev and his Safta Zelda
It never ceases to amaze me how life just has this weird way of working out. The last year or so have been tough for us. We had to move apartments and we settled on a place which was really unsuitable for us and we've grown to really hate it. My husband changed jobs and was full of hope that it would provide him with a long awaited career boost only to discover it was a dead-end. Money has been getting tighter and tighter and with baby # 2 just around the corner, we were really stressing about our crappy situation.
I really believe my mother's visit was a good omen. Almost as soon as she arrived, good things started to happen. My husband got invited for an interview for a great job. Then he got called back for a second, and then third interview and before my mum left we found out he got the job. On top of being a great job, it has several excellent perks - including a car! Yeah!
The job is in Tel Aviv and commuting would be hell, so we're moving to the Big Smoke in a couple of months, once Doron is settled in the new job and we've managed to find a good apartment. Initially, I resisted the idea of living in Tel Aviv, but I've actually come to be quite excited about the change. We've got a lot of good friends there, so that's a bonus to begin with, plus I have really missed living close to the sea and I can't wait to go for walks along the beach with my family. Culturally, Tel Aviv has a lot more to offer than Jerusalem (sorry dear city of mine, but it's true). I think it will be a good change for us, I really do.
So all in all, things are looking good. I miss my family desperately and we can't wait to go and visit them in Australia (probably in March next year) and thank God so far my dad is responding well to his cancer treatment. You'd think it would be easier for me to live so far away from them now that I am married and have my own family, but it's the opposite. I find it incredibly hard to live so far away. Now that I have children, I feel so sad that they don't get to enjoy having their grandparents around them. I didn't have mine around me when I was growing up in Hong Kong, so I know what it feels like. I don't think I want that for my kids, but I don't know how I solve that problem. That's something to deal with in the future I guess.
Well, it is WAY past my ridiculously early bedtime of 9pm (the only way I can guarantee several hours of sleep each night!) so I had better sign off for now. I can't promise a regular slew of blogs, but I can promise that I'll always check in to let you know about the milestones.
Obviously my most important news is the safe arrival of our daughter, Amalia Devorah. She was born on June 7th at 8.34am and weighing in a healthy 3.4kgs. Amalia is an old Hebrew name which means "God's Creation" and Devorah was Amalia's (paternal) great-grandmother. She didn't have a name at all until she was a couple of days old, but we're very happy with our final choice. We hope she is too when she is old enough to yell at us, "what the hell kind of name is Amalia??!!" Sorry darling.
Amalia Devorah and meHe's now going to daycare which he seems to really enjoy (well, most days) and especially seems to enjoy the Moroccan cuisine he eats each day freshly made by Zahava, the lovely lady who looks after him. Having him out of the apartment each day certainly makes life easier for me and frees up my time to look after Amalia, who for the most part (and I hope I'm not jinxing this!) is a very chilled little girl who sleeps and eats very well. She does possess a fine set of lungs though which she tends to exercise on a daily basis at least once.
I am not 100% sure what Liev makes of her. Initially, I think it was rather a shock to his system to see another little person at home. The first couple of days were rather teary and he was very clingy (totally to be expected). But now, almost four weeks on, I think he is rather enamoured by her and he loves to rest his head on her and cuddle her. Oh that melts our hearts...
Liev and his baby sister
Liev and his Safta ZeldaI really believe my mother's visit was a good omen. Almost as soon as she arrived, good things started to happen. My husband got invited for an interview for a great job. Then he got called back for a second, and then third interview and before my mum left we found out he got the job. On top of being a great job, it has several excellent perks - including a car! Yeah!
The job is in Tel Aviv and commuting would be hell, so we're moving to the Big Smoke in a couple of months, once Doron is settled in the new job and we've managed to find a good apartment. Initially, I resisted the idea of living in Tel Aviv, but I've actually come to be quite excited about the change. We've got a lot of good friends there, so that's a bonus to begin with, plus I have really missed living close to the sea and I can't wait to go for walks along the beach with my family. Culturally, Tel Aviv has a lot more to offer than Jerusalem (sorry dear city of mine, but it's true). I think it will be a good change for us, I really do.
So all in all, things are looking good. I miss my family desperately and we can't wait to go and visit them in Australia (probably in March next year) and thank God so far my dad is responding well to his cancer treatment. You'd think it would be easier for me to live so far away from them now that I am married and have my own family, but it's the opposite. I find it incredibly hard to live so far away. Now that I have children, I feel so sad that they don't get to enjoy having their grandparents around them. I didn't have mine around me when I was growing up in Hong Kong, so I know what it feels like. I don't think I want that for my kids, but I don't know how I solve that problem. That's something to deal with in the future I guess.
Well, it is WAY past my ridiculously early bedtime of 9pm (the only way I can guarantee several hours of sleep each night!) so I had better sign off for now. I can't promise a regular slew of blogs, but I can promise that I'll always check in to let you know about the milestones.
12:04 am
Wow - such an amazing year and a half for you and your wonderful family!!! Congrats Tanya, I couldn't be any happier for you. Things will come together, and you have your most important family right there with you :-) The rest can visit - or vice versa. Thanks for the blog, hope you get some sleep!!! top
1:19 am
Wow! What fantastic news - Mark and I are very happy for you all. Lovely photos BTW! top
8:56 am
I know we just saw you yesterday and were witness to much of the joy (and challenge) you are now facing, but I always love reading what you have to share with us via the written word. We cannot wait until you are here in Tel Aviv, and B''H, our little ones can play together! top