Weekend

Part of keeping a relationship vital and vibrant is time together...this holds true for kids and parents, friends, and partners. Between the moves and renovation, and living further from my parents, Haim and I have not had very much couple time lately. You do need to grab it however you can....10 minutes can be just as meaningful as 3 hours....but we've both been pretty chaotic and with Maya going to bed and waking up with us, even snatching a couple of minutes has been difficult lately. Thus, Haim and I decided to have Maya spend 1 night every other weekend with my parents at least until the baby is born. She loves the time with them, and so do they...and we do need the time together for us too. A win-win situation!
So, last night was our first date night in a while, and it was great. It's really wonderful to be able to look over at your partner in the middle of a boring movie and think "wow, I enjoy being with this person just as much as the day I fell in love with him." To go through almost 5 years, several home renovations, about 7 moves, a child (2 of them soon enough), and a very challenging year (2008) and still feel connected and in love is a real blessing....This weekend has really been wonderful, and it's not even over yet!
Friday we had our first shabbat dinner guests over...2 dads flying solo with kids (one mom just had a baby, the other is on a well deserved vacation), and another couple with their child. Karlee and I (with Maya and Andres) met Simon and Ava at Anniversary Park around 6, where they kids played and had some bounce house and face painting time. Then all back to our house where Andy, Wenzel and Sidney joined for dinner. Haim cooked and cleaned up too, so the house was really nicely laid out when everyone arrived, and I had barely lifted a finger except for the morning challah.
A delicious dinner and the controlled chaos of 4 kids under 3 and only 2 moms ensued. It's just different genetic programing, the way moms and dads deal with kids. Both ways are important for kids, but I really do notice a difference.
Saturday morning Maya woke me up around 7:30 ("Mom, it's morning time!" she sings out, while literally prying my eyes open with her fingers) In the last days I've been trying to do house work with her in the mornings, instead of nap on the couch while she watches an hour or more of PBS cartoons...I guess that tactic was a result of pregnancy and moving, but there are certainly better ways to spend a morning...none the less, Haim had to run over to a property that we are fixing up to rent, and I was exhausted, so TV and couch was the name of the game...at a certain point, you have to just keep yourself healthy and sane!
Haim came back around 10, with a plan to meet Simon, Ava, Wenzel and Sid at a public water park, so I started packing lunches and making a quick breakfast. When all of the kids and dads left around 11 the house was ringing with delicious silence. I had some peanut m&m's for breakfast (with tea) and chatted with tash on the phone for a long while...and finally decided to do some chores and paperwork.
Haim returned around 3 with Maya totally passed out; he said they swam and played for 4 hours straight. The daddy time is so important at this age.... at all ages really! Marci picked her up for the overnight as she was just waking up and I hung out and rested while Haim napped. "Date night" had begun!

After lazing around the house for an hour or so when he woke up, we decided to go to a movie, which had been the tentative plan all along. Of course, our car battery died as we tried to leave the house, but we got a jump from a neighbor, bee-lined to the car parts store for a new battery (this was not the first stall, and it had been on its way to heaven), and just as we got in the car with the newly replaced battery a south florida torrential storm poured down...good timing)!

We went to see Bruno, looking for a laugh, but the movie tried too hard, and penis jokes can only amuse me for so long… Bored, we defected to Harry Potter…which was long and entertaining. Got out around midnight, and Haim was hungry so we went for a pizza and ran into some old friends and talked till they closed the bar at 2. Thank god for 2 large cokes or I never would have stayed awake....ahhhh, sugar and caffine, the magic elixer!

At 7am we heard funky chicken noises (I guess they were trying to help me not feel lonely for Maya) and looking outside, only saw two, but heard 3 very distressed ones… we threw on some clothes and once outside discovered the back gate had blown open in the storm and 1 lady was out and had walked through the alley and around to the front yard! She was sqalking to her buddies inside and trying to get back in! She saw me and ran to me SOOOO happy and I brought her back into the yard and crawled back into bed.

After another 2 hours of cat naps and we both woke up starving and thinking about these amazing Moroccan doughnuts called sfinge (click here for pic)...crunchy outside and chewy inside…so I’ve found a recipe on someone's blog , confirmed it with Haim's mom, andhave just made the doughto bring over to my parents to fry when we pick up Maya (let Marci clean up the oil mess!)

Can't wait to see my baby, we've had some really nice time together without her, but I need some baby snuggles now!