Back to Work

So I haven't posted in a while. This is because last Wednesday, I went back to work. That right, my maternity leave is over. The week before I went back I brought my baby to the babysitter to see that he'd take a bottle. He took it nicely. On Wed., he refused. I didn't know what happened. My schedule is such that I can go to the babysitter in the middle of the day to nurse him if I need to. Thursday, again he refused the bottle. Now, I have a lot of hours and I was also given four hours a week that I have to fit into my schedule to sit with girls one on one to help them out. So, I was trying to work out how I was going to do that and to shuttle back and forth to the babysitter (who lives pretty close to the school). On Sunday, I called her to see if I should come or if he took the bottle. She told me to come because he was hungry and by the time I'd get there she'd see if he took the bottle or not. I got there and she had him in his car seat and he was gobbling up the bottle she was holding. We warmed more up and he ate it very nicely. I was so impressed. So he does know how to take a bottle. This makes my life a lot easier. Now I can stay in school and pump instead of shlepping to her and nurse (which take a lot longer than the electrip double sided pump). Thank goodness that I don't have too many classes. I do have a lot of hours though. It was also nice to start slowly. I taught Wed. and Thurs. which meant that I had two days to recuperate. Then I taught Sun. and Mon. and today is my day off. I come home very tired and needing to nurse but my son is usually happily asleep in his car seat. I try to "rest" or relax as much as possible once I get home but that doesn't really happen. It's nice to be back and to get back into the swing of things. I'm happy as long as my baby is happy and as long as I have time in the afternoon to be with the kids. I do wish I had more time to sleep though.

There is a new girl in school who came from Miami. Being the token English speaking teacher, I was asked to tutor her and help her out with some of the basics. I feel so bad for her. She's so lost. She has no clue what's going on. In Miami she studied in Beis Yaacov which means that she doesn't know Israeli Hebrew. It's going to be like starting from scratch. Luckily she also undertands Spanish and there are two Spanish speaking girls in her class. I hope this makes it a little easier on her. Yesterday she was crying. I think that everything was just overwhelming her and frustrating. I hope that she is able to get olim hours and a teacher to help her out so that she can start to make up lost time. It's not easy making aliya at that age. I always say that either people should come when their kids are really young (like gan age) or when their kids are all older (like college age). Anyway, let's hope this schoolyear is fruitful and that I am successful at teaching the students middot as well as English.

Last Minute Shabbos Guests

The night after Chanukah, my former roommate from seminary got married. My hubby, baby and I went to the wedding. It was a lot of fun. We saw people we hadn't seen in years from our circle of friends and acquaintences. One person we saw was A. A. told us that she had been looking into our yishuv. She and I were talking about it. Last week, she called me up to tell me that her owner wants to sell her apartment that she and her hubby are renting in Neve Yaacov. That means that she'll have to be out of there by Feb. 10th. She's desperately looking for somewhere to move. We spoke at lenth about our community. On Friday morning she calls me with some questions about the forms. She also mentioned that she'd like to come for Shabbos. I casually said, "Oh, well next Shabbos we're supposed to go away to friend but maybe this Shabbos would be good." She realized that I didn't really mean it. A little while later she calls me back to ask me if it would be at all possible. They are desperate after all. I call my husband to see what he would say. Now we were planning on having a nice quiet Shabbos. We haven't had one of those in a while. He said it was okay. I called A. back and we discussed how to split up the menu. I'm so bad at dividing up work that I ended up doing most of the work.

I had already finished my cooking actually. I had put up the chicken and the soup and was planning on making couscous. We decided that we'd have chullent (that I'd make), pasta salad (that she'd make) and baked potatoes. So I quickly tried to get as much done as soon as possible. We suddenly went from a relaxed Shabbos to a guest Shabbos. I was more relaxed because I know that they're laid back people and wouldn't really judge me by what they saw that I did on a moments notice. I cleaned the guest room and the living room. Things were rushed. Luckily, somehow we were able to get ready for Shabbos early enough for my husband to show them around. They really appreciated that. Shabbos was very nice. They took quite a number of walks around the yishuv. They didn't mind the hills. They seemed like they liked it. Now they're trying to send in the forms and find a place to live. Her hubby is learning and she's working so they don't have too much money. It looks like they're hoping to find a caravan. I hope for their sake that they are successful. It would be nice to have a good friend in the neighborhood.

I have never in my life done anything so impulsive. I couldn't believe myself. I just said yes and somehow made everything work. Usually, I start planning for Shabbos on Tuesday and cook on Wed. and Thurs. I was amazed at my ability to cook for us plus two on such short notice. They were so thankful and they had a good time. The kids went to sleep late so they were kind of nutty by the end of Shabbos. Other than that I think that everyone enjoyed it.

War Update

So I've been a little out of it lately. I've been busy taking care of the baby, the house, myself, the kids, etc. I've been listening very closely to the news. I've been following the news also on various blogs. I haven't posted anything because most of the time that I'm on the computer I'm holding or nursing the baby and so I can't type.

This morning, at 7:30 approx., three rockets were fired towards Nahariya. Two were injured. Right now the school in Nahariya are closed and people are warned to be near their mamadim. The rockets were old and so far it seems that they were not fired by Hizbollah. Let's hope that this is a one time thing.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the soldiers and citizens. We hope and pray that this war will be over very soon with all of the goals reached in the best way possible.