birthday celebrations

a few days ago, Ben got a care package full of good things:) -- these are pictures of him, going through the box. every night he reads a story from one of the books!

since i was out of town on ben's actual birthday, we delayed the celebrations to today: the both of us spent the evening at one of Chicago's finest, Fogo de Chao.
lots and lots and LOTS of perfectly prepared meat, and an outstanding salad bar. mmmmm!
i think i'm going to be in a food coma for hours. which is probably good, if it gets me to me sleep all night long!

more things are growing...

you may remember that the orchid we got last spring, at the orchid show at the botanical gardens, didn't last very long. i was doing something wrong... overwatering, underwatering, shocking the plant by attempting to re-pot it, maybe just the chicago humidity (or lack there of), who knows.
the internet said all sorts of different things, and consulting with the orchid expert at gesthemane added more information. nevertheless, the orchid lost its flowers one by one in a few weeks.
the internet also said to cut the stems and keep caring for the plant, and that it may sprout a new branch next year.
so that's what i did! kept watering and feeding. over the summer it "worked" on a new leaf, and about 3 weeks ago it started growing a new branch!
and finally, i can see a little bud of flower starting to grow. it makes me happy :)

27 weeks

imaginary chat

an imaginary conversation i had with the baby last night (probably prompted by gray scrooge taking more than his share of the bed at night):

her: ima, can i sleep in your bed?
me: no, we each have our own bed to sleep in.
her: so why do you let scrooge?
me: scrooge is a cat.
her: can i be a cat?
me: maybe on Halloween
her: and then can i sleep in your bed?

back at home

it's good to be home! i had a lot of fun in pasadena (and the weather was nice too!) but i missed ben a lot. so it's good to be home, even though it's cold out, and gray scrooge was so needy i had to pet him all night, and black scrooge was so needy i had to pet him all morning (black scrooge, between you and my belly, there's not a lot of room for a laptop on my lap! how am i going to read the news in the morning?)

anyway, we're planning on going to this restaurant for ben's birthday. yummmmm.

visiting pasadena

i'm thawing in warm California this week, visiting my friends Eran and Orly and their amazing daughter Liat. She's very fascinated with my computer, especially because it shows her pictures of herself and family (from their own online photo album). she sees my computer and starts demanding "baby" and "ati" (Liati) and "tata" (safta), and wouldn't stop until i open it and show her those pictures.
i can only hope that our little one will be as smart!



(i'll clean all the tiny little finger prints off my screen later)

Bend it like Beckham

I don't know if she's gonna be a soccer player, but she sure can kick.
at about week 21 or 22, i started feeling her punching me. i might have felt something before, but couldn't really say that it's it very definitely. now it's obvious. it's so obvious, that when i look at my tummy when she's active i can see it move. then i laugh, and it moves a lot more, but still :)

it's usually nice, we're starting to have a relationship. she sometimes wakes up to "tell" me that she liked what we ate for lunch, or that the seminar/meeting i'm sitting in is boring. sometimes she kicks me so hard that it wakes me up. she particularly likes to punch me when i rest on my back. i'm not sure why - does she like the extra room she gets when i stretch out? or maybe she doesn't like me laying on my back and wants me to change positions? i'll ask her when she comes out.

sometimes i can tell where she is by the shape of my tummy (e.g., one side is sticking out farther) or by how tough different parts of it feel.

...and sometimes, it's not pleasant at all the way she kicks my gut.