Water for Elephants

While this elephant may be rather large, it’s still a baby. And I’ve still got baby-fever. :)

How insanely cute and amazing are these photos?!

Tomorrow I’m heading out with Manasseh for my birthday (a little belated, I know :)), and these photos reminded me of our evening out last year… Can’t believe how much has happened since then!! Dubai, a pregnancy, a move, a job, a project, a birth… phew! :)

365 Grateful

I got some interesting feedback on my birthday post. It seems these moments of reflection and gratitude seem to ignite some form of inspiration for everyone… Many women told me how reading it changed the way they looked at their morning; their day; their children. I know it works for me – in essence it’s the whole reason I started this blog: to journal, document, and reflect on what I’m grateful for. And it has worked wonders! As mothers, wives, and homemakers, our lives become so busy, rushed, and non-stop that we seldom get the opportunity to stop, reflect, and celebrate! We just keep going and going…! I wanted to share with you a project – one of the most wonderful projects I have ever happened upon, in the hopes that you can take something for yourself out from the general concept, and increase the quality of your happiness.

I want to start this myself, care to join me? Plus, Instagram makes this cake! :)

Birthday Bliss

There is simply nothing quite like the morning of ones birthday. It’s the essential motivation; forcing us to think about where and why we are, and how we feel we are doing.

I read an interesting editorial recently about “happy moments”, and while I’ve thought about compiling a list of my own before, I know if I don’t document them when they are still fresh some of the feeling fades (though I still plan to write past moments with as much detail as I can remember). The idea of being able to read and revisit some of your happiest times is really, to me, the resolution to that introspective birthday feeling we all get…

There is nothing on earth like waking up to this (on my brithday!):

I’m lying in bed sleepy and dreamy, and while I don’t know what time it is, the sunshine filtering through the shades says it’s morning. I’m suddenly aware that my baby is nuzzled next to me – feeding. I don’t know how long she’s been latched on for, or when I un-swaddled her, but she looks wide awake and content. I look down at her, smiling directly into her deep blue eyes. She looks up, gazes for a moment, and returns my love with a big toothless, milk-drunk grin. As she smiles, my nipple falls from her mouth, and milk dribbles out her mouth down the side of her cheek and onto the bed. It is instantly one of my favorite moments ever. When I look over at the bed next to me, I see my husband, sound asleep, and next to him a little pair of feet peeking out of light pink pajamas. I lift my head and see my 3 year old daughter, snuggled in tightly next to the love of my life. At that moment, I am the happiest and most content girl alive.

So! Here’s to birthdays – causing us to take account of our lives, and thanking God for the goodness in them!!

Calling Mommies & Babies!

I posted previously about Babyccino when I was first launching the Monday morning “Mommy & Me”. Now that we’re starting up our 3rd series, I figured I’d let you all in on how it’s been going…

The whole concept of getting together with local fellow mothers was really at the crux of the entire birth of Babyccino. The women in this community wanted a time and place where they can all get together, provide some interactive time for their children, while sharing motherhood with other women, and catching up with friends…

I figured I’d share these photos with you and hopefully inspire those of you in other communities to start up something of this nature as well. Having recently given birth, I’m constantly reminded of the dire need a new mother has to interact with other moms and simply get out of the house. It can be as simple as getting a few ladies together in a living room to share a pot of coffee while the kids play with toys on the rug! The point is to get out with your baby, meet with other mothers, and share the many trial and error stories of motherhood as well as share the many laughs that come along with raising children. Not to mention knowing your kids are benefitting from a social morning out along the way!

I also want to give you local women who haven’t yet made the trek out to check it out a little kick in the pants! :) Come and join us for this next series as we help the little ones explore and discover the living world around them through 8 growth-themed Spring sessions! Come for the coffee; stay for the fun! Sharing motherhood is one of those things that really are priceless…

Also, I wanted to give a huge shout-out of thanks to all attending moms who have seriously made this whole experiment super-fun and successful!! Thank you all for joining in and bringing along your adorable and smart little people each week!! This could never have happened without you!

For more details or information please email Babyccino@ShaareiTefila.org.

Below is the current postcard with the future dates and rates. Check it out!!

babyccino spring 2012

(Photo credits to Rachey Simons – thank you!!)

Paperless Post

Yesterday, while working on a Babyccino birthday, I was deciding how to go about creating an online invitation, and discovered the very beautiful and enchanting world of Paperless Post. I landed there thanks to an invite I received via email a while ago (thanks Atara!!)  featuring the cutest, not-at-all cheesy firetruck! While I was never very keen on using Evite, the immense simplicity and practicality of a site like that was much too attractive to pass up – even though their awful invite designs make almost everyone nauseous. Well, there’s now a cure – the folks over at Paperless Post have seriously delivered!!! A wonderfully designed website, a genius method of purchase, classy and tactful function – all wrapped up with a slew of insanely beautiful invitations!!

Not only is the art just breathtaking, but the variety of formats are a breath of fresh air! Check out the paper texture in these e-cards:

Plus, somehow they manage to make even the most basic party themes chic and gorgeous!! Robot party anyone? Red balloon? Aren’t they just adorable??

I’m so looking forward to my next party!! :)

The New American Haggadah

“The Torah is the foundational text for Jewish law, but the Haggadah is our book of living memory. It doesn’t merely tell a story, it demands a radical act of empathy — I would argue the most profound demand made by any book of any kind.” - Jonathan Safran Foer

I am totally stoked to get my hands on a copy of The New American Haggadah! When I first heard that one of my very favorite authors, Jonathan Safran Foer (Everything is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Eating Animals) was writing a Haggadah I thought it would be somewhat a quirky side-line commentary on the classic… turns out I was supremely in the wrong. Word on the street was that Foer had actually thought to create a classic through the classic – a tool to accompany a common-folk seder.

“I didn’t know what I was originally imagining, something that felt more like an anthology, more like a reference tool than a primary Haggadah. But the more I worked on it, the more I became afraid of that. … What the world does not need is a Haggadah that pats itself on the back. It needs a Haggadah that gets out of the way, that starts a conversation and gets out of the way.” - Jonathan Safran Foer 

My curiosity about this new-aged Seder companion turned into sheer excitement when I heard that the famed Israeli typographer, Oded Ezer, would be doing the art!! I think the most amazing thing about this particular Haggadah is that the only art inside of it is typography – just the (far from simple!) hebrew letters from the ancient text itself!

“Jews have been designing Haggadahs for more than one hundred generations, deliberately, or not, these designs have inevitably reflected the time in which they were made. The notion behind the design of this book was to merge, visually, the history of the Jewish nation with the traditional text of the Haggadah. Toward that end, the letterforms on each page reflect those used in the period reflected in the timeline at the top of the page. In this way, the book is a graphic record of Jewish history.” - Oded Ezer

Just for fun, I  thought I’d share some more of Oded’s awesomeness:

(I totally want this Helvetica print for above my desk!)

Also, his strips of black letters always make me think of Teffilin straps…

You can read more about The New American Haggadah here.

P.S. I’m very much looking forward to getting a dose of commentary from Lemony Snicket! :)

Round Things

It recently dawned on me how, incredibly, pregnancy made me feel like I was constantly with someone for 9 whole months! When I go out alone now (without baby, Freida, of Manasseh) I feel this insane sense of loneliness and keep placing my hand on me belly – trying to feel some kicking action! It’s the weirdest thing!! Aside from that, I’m so glad to be back to normal… and while I let my fingers linger on my empty belly a little longer than normal, I really am overjoyed about feeling like my own self again and knowing that I can now get back in physical shape.

Sariti, a  party-planning friend of mine was inspired a while ago by my balloon post and the Geronimo concept in particular, and did a Bat Mitzvah that was totally tricked out with gigantic balloons! After the party she called me to let me know how depressing it was to let all these beautiful balloons go to waste… so I headed over there for a little impromptu afternoon photo shoot – just for fun!

She was in utter awe at this balloon wonderland, and I just let her walk around the room and explore while I snapped some candid shots…

Thanks for the fun photo op Sariti!! :)