what a week!!

This week really started with Saturday. That's the day that Koby and I took Septa to 30th Street Station and then Amtrak to New York Penn Station. It was a whole day of firsts, for both Koby and me: #1 Koby's first Septa train ride #2 Koby's first Amtrak train ride #3 Maani's first time using Red Cap service at 30th Street - did you know that escalator 7 only goes up? and that the elevators at 30th Street all need a key to operate? #4 Koby's first time nursing VERY publicly (the first seat on an Amtrak car where everyone sees you) #5 Koby's first escalator ride in a stroller - you try finding an elevator in Penn Station! #6 Koby's first time in NYC! so many people to look at, so little time! #6A including a huge ELMO, which we paid $1 to photograph. Aunt Julie, you've made us elmo-crazy! #7 Our first visit to Aunt Alexis's and Jake's apartment #8 the first time that Maani saw the most beautiful snowflake dangling in NYC.

We - finally - met Mark at 7 PM and drove to CT to visit with Mark's dad and step-mom, Grampy Jay and Missy. Koby was in jammies when they arrived from their dinner, but we stayed up to say hello. We had a fantastic time in CT - thanks Missy and Grampy Jay for everything... the delicious food, the warm kitchen sink bath, the company, and the love. We also visited with Jenny and John. We can't wait for Koby's little cousins to arrive, well, we can wait, we want them to be very healthy little ones :)

Koby came home with lots of presents, and a fever. He's sleeping now and on baby tylenol.

Here are some pictures from the week.

the Pre-Hanukah Celebration

We spent the morning at Joe and Do's celebrating Hanukah a few days early. Koby hung out with his second cousins Mara and Emma. And, of course, his Zants Avie, Shanni, Alia, Ellie and Leah (we missed you Aunt Alexis and Zant Rachel!)

Emma lit the Hanukia with the help of her cousins.

It was sometimes hard to follow Koby, he was getting passed around so much. The real Hanukah starts on Tuesday night, so we'll light more candles then.

success??

Koby nursed at 9:15, went to sleep, woke up at 3, hung out with Mark for 30 minutes, cried, screamed, played with his activity center for a bit, and then went back to sleep. Yay! Then he woke up at 5:45 ready for breakfast. Which is why I am writing this at 7:45 on a SATURDAY MORNING! (koby is still having his post-breakfast snooze)

So, success for me, I got to stay in our warm cozy bed. Success for Mark, he got Koby back to sleep. And success for Koby - well, sort of. I think we can name it success when he doesn't wake up at all in the middle of the night.

No picture this time - didn't want to wake the babe to show everyone how he sleeps so, um, well. That would just be mean.

Koby's first 1/2 birthday

We celebrated Koby's first 1/2 birthday today with Koby's favorite meal - rice cereal! Koby's been eating the cereal for about 3 weeks now. We started when Meme and James visited, and we've been going strong ever since. His bib says I love my Grandpa(s)

Another exciting thing that we're trying now that Koby's reached the 6 month mark - sleeping through the night. When Koby wakes in the middle of the night, Mark heads into the nursery to soothe Koby back to sleep. The first night it worked great, Mark spun some toys on Koby's activity center and he went back to sleep after about 10 minutes. The second night, I thought that Koby was screaming for too long, so I came into the room. Well, if I thought that Koby was screeming before I came in, I was wrong. He saw me, and knew that food was closeby. Mark said that he thought he had a chance of putting Koby back to sleep until I came into the room. oops. Last night, Mark was soothing Koby for 35 minutes before giving up hope, so a midnight snack was had. Hopefully better news to report next time.

fun pictures!

Daddy and Koby at Aunt Do and Joe's house!
Koby wearing Aunt Ginnie's bib, and sitting on melissa's blanket!

everybody's doing it

Koby's a full 5 1/2 months old now, and it's about time we got on the technology bandwagon. I read in a magazine that new moms always send out emails about new pictures uploaded with the disclaimer to let them know if you don't want to receive the pictures anymore. Well, I'm not so good with the mass emails alerting everyone that our pics are up to date, so let this be the warning - don't check back if you're not into new mom stories and lots of pictures of Koby!