Sleep Deprivation Redux

(By Aaron)

You may remember how sleep deprived we were about 2 weeks after the girls were born. Well, I guess we're not totally out of the woods yet.

Penny has been sick, and not sleeping well. Her nose is runny and it takes her a long time to finally relax enough to breathe and doze off. Last night, after crying for about 30 minutes, Julie took her into the bed to nurse her to help her fall asleep. (We know - nursing to help a child fall asleep is a bad precedent. We want them to be able to put themselves to sleep.)

In this particular case, nursing helped both Penny AND Julie fall asleep. I came in to go to bed around 11:30.

Me: It's time to go to bed.
Julie: What time is it?
Me: 11:30
Julie: What time is it?
Me: 11:30
...
Julie: What time is it?
Me: It's 11:30.
...
Julie: No. What time is it in our time?
Me: 11:30.
Julie: Huh? Oh.

:)

SLO - Alanna and Neil's wedding

We packed up the girls for a road trip up to San Luis Obispo to celebrate as two of our friends exchanged vows. A couple of my favorite pics from the weekend (none captured at the actual wedding so we'll have to wait for the official pics to come back):

Brunch with to the Governor

A few weeks ago we had brunch at our new favorite spot just walking distance to our home - Tiato. We didn't know that the Governator was also dining just a few tables away until he left. However, in looking at the photos this evening I found that we caught him in the background of a pic. Can you spot him?

Swings!

We braved the late summer heat and went to the park this afternoon. The girls seemed to love their first time in the swing! The baby next to us was pretty jealous that she didn't have a sister to lean on.

Baptism and Brit Bat

When Aaron and I first talked about getting married, one topic that immediately followed was if we wanted children (which the answer was a resounding yes from both of us!). Along with that conversation came discussion about how we would raise our then-yet-to-be-conceived children. While Aaron doesn't consider himself particularly religious, I see that he greatly identifies with his Jewish heritage and culture. And though I don't attend a church regularly, Aaron sees that the foundation of my Lutheran beliefs are an important part of who I am. So we agreed that we would attempt to teach our children about both Christianity and Judaism, about how the two religions are connected, and about what it means to our family to observe traditions from both.

Fast forward a few years...

On Sunday, we invited our family to join us to take our first formal steps with us on our journey to educate our girls. We asked my Uncle Mike to perform a baptism ceremony and as part of the service we incorporated a Brit Bat led by Aaron. A Brit Bat is a naming ceremony where we explained the meaning of the girls names and gave them each a Hebrew name.

We reserved a space at a park in Marina Del Rey and about 35 family members joined us for the occasion. The service turned out even better than I had originally envisioned and we all enjoyed a picnic afterward.

Has anyone figured out how to squeeze more time in each day?

24 hours simply isn't enough. The blog has been getting the back burner to a few pressing projects around here:


- Construction is nearly done! We've had our first overnight guests even though there are some final items to be completed (touch up paint, hooking up utility sink, etc). We're super happy with the results and will post pics soon.

- I am starting to settle into a work 'routine.' I've been back at work (just part time at first) and trying to figure out how to balance work and life again. It's not easy, and I still need to tweak my plan, but I'm getting there.

- Planning for visitors. Both of my parents, my grandparents, and a few aunt and uncles are coming to town this weekend for a dedication of the girls. Think baptism with a Jewish twist.


And then of course just generally trying to maintain sanity!

Summer vacation in Oregon

A special long weekend at the end of July brought Aaron, the girls, and I to Seaside, Oregon to spend time with my mom, Papa Dave, both of my brothers and each of their families. It was a wonderful coastal getaway where we simply spent time enjoying each others company.