Check out the T-Shirt Joelle put on Aviva today 
My name is Daddy, and I approve this message!
May 14, 2009Splish-Splash I was taking a bath!
May 13, 2009
Splish splash, I was taking a bath
Long about a Wednesday night
A rub dub, just relaxing in the tub
Thinking everything was alright!
(modified from http://www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/splishsp.htm)
Imitation of Mommy
May 10, 2009http://www.viddler.com/player/487c198b/0/30292116
(Visit the actual blog post to see the video if you can’t see it)
Happy Mother’s Day!
May 10, 2009NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 10, 2009, as Mother’s Day. I urge all Americans to express their love, respect, and gratitude to mothers everywhere, and I call upon all citizens to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Presidential-Proclamation-Mothers-Day/
Aviva didn’t need the President to urge her to honor her mother (or grandmothers or great-grandmothers), but she’s happy to listen to the President (this one, at least!) and share her love publicly:
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- Happy Mother’s Day, Mommy!
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- Happy Mother’s Day, Grandma Sue!
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- Happy Mother’s Day, Bubie Maralyn!
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- Happy Mother’s Day, Grandma Barbara!
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- Happy Mother’s Day Great-Grandma Edith!
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- Happy Mother’s Day, Great-Grandma Bess!
Rejoicing in the Daughter (Simchat Bat)
May 8, 2009Traditionally, in Judaism, there’s a ceremony for baby boys, held on the 8th day after birth – a brit milah (a “bris”), or covenant of circumcision. It encompasses both a ritual circumcision, along with a formal baby naming/Judaic welcoming ceremony, and of course, a meal. Up until fairly recently, there hasn’t been the same ceremony for baby girls – there’s been some Shabbat-morning based observances, but nothing quite as communal or celebratory. Thankfully, that’s changed over the past 20-30 years, and there’s now a growing trend of having Simchat Bat ceremonies – or “Rejoicing in the Daughter”. This is much more freeform than the bris – as it’s not a biblically-mandated ceremony, you can make it much more of your own.
Last Thursday (April 30th), we held a Simchat Bat at our home in order to rejoice in Aviva, formally name her as Aviva Tzipora, and welcome her into the Jewish community (and, of course, to introduce her to close friends and family as well as eat!). The size of our living room put a cap on the size, so we apologize post-fact, as we were not able to invite everyone.
The ceremony was pretty special, as we performed the naming blessings while standing under our chuppah for the first time since our wedding – in fact, it was the first time the chuppah had been used since then. It was also extremely inspiring to have Joelle’s dad and my mom read letters to Aviva telling her all about Joelle’s Grandfather Ellis, and my Bubie (Grandmother) Jeannette – Aviva Tzipora’s namesakes. Joelle’s mom provided Aviva with her own kiddish cup to be used for years to come, and it meant the world to me that my grandfather was able to make it into town to perform the K’vater role by bringing Aviva into the room.
We recorded the program in video form (36 minutes long – Thanks Ernie for doing this!), and it’s up at http://averbuch.net/aviva-simchat-bat-video (along with the program – thanks Rabbi Rachel for putting this together and leading everything!). However, as it’s very personal and emotional, I am not posting it quite publically – it’s a password-protected page. Just shoot me or Joelle an email/facebook message/phonecall/etc (keeping in mind that we’re pretty busy taking care of Aviva, so responses might be slow) and we can get you the password if you’d like to view the video.
Cribbing it Up
May 7, 2009While our goal is to get Aviva to sleep in the co-sleeper in our bedroom, we are also trying to put her to nap in the crib in the nursery as well – get her used to sleeping in both, if you will. Of course, so far, much of her sleeping is in our arms or some other form of hold, but she has made use of both. Often, she awakes from a nap quite fussy/hungry, but occasionally, as she awakes, she has a really cute quiet-alert time period. We usually (it’s funny to say “usually” when it has just been two weeks) go and pick her up right away, so we can interact with her when she’s in this state, but this afternoon, we decided to see what she would do when left on her own. She seems quite interested in figuring out her limbs, if you ask me. Note: it’s quiet for the first few seconds, but then one of Aviva’s favorite CDs comes on in the background – it’s a CD of Jazz/Swing arrangements of famous nursery rhymes.
http://www.viddler.com/simple/fbf7e2a0/0/88194000
As usual, if you are reading this in an RSS reader, you may need to visit the original post to see the video.
Updated Family Picture, as of April 23, 2009
May 6, 2009Updating my post from December 2008, it is time for a new family picture:
(Via Stick Figure Family)
In all seriousness, here’s a picture we took on our walk yesterday up to Kerry Park – one of the great viewpoints in Seattle; conveniently, it is only a few blocks away.
Aviva and Ayelet – Oldest Friends, Take Two
April 28, 2009We are pretty lucky out here in Seattle to be near people from my past – which, to be fair, is pretty far away from most of my and Joelle’s families (Detroit and DC areas respectively). Not only does my sister live here, but also so do a great group of old friends, from infancy through college and beyond – including perhaps my oldest friend, Carrie. Our parents have pictures of us together from when I was about one week old (she was almost two months at that point). Her husband, Josh (or as many people know him, Rabbi Hearshen), is also a close friend, and we were friends from way back from being young in Detroit area as well. They had a beautiful daughter, Ayelet Nomi, back in November (she happens to share a birthday with my sister, Elana). Now that Aviva is here, we of course wanted to get them together to play, so they continue the generational story of being friends from the earliest of ages. Carrie and Josh were wonderful enough to bring us over dinner last night, and we got some great photos of the two girls together – make sure to view the full album to experience it all!
Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? I see a Telephone Singing to Me!
April 27, 2009Joelle’s sister lives in Jerusalem, and when we visited last year, she introduced us to “Brown Bear“, her favorite story that she reads to Joelle’s niece, Rina, nearly every night – it’s got a nice rhythmic sound to it, and it’s quite soothing. So once Aviva was born, we of course wanted her to share their favorite story, even though they can’t be together in person. So a quick phone call later, this is the video we were able to make:
(as always, you might need to visit the actual post to see the video)
Goodbye Hospital, Hello Home!
April 27, 2009Joelle, Aviva, and I left the hospital on Saturday, and headed towards our house. Before we left, we had a pretty special moment saying goodbye, that we were lucky enough to catch on video – look how awake she is watching us! (You might need to visit the actual blog post to view this).
(By the way – I have a feeling this blog is going to be very Aviva-heavy from now on – but I guess you could have guessed that!)
