Mommy! Can I hold Livy?

Anabelle loves being a new big sister. On a daily basis we hear her say "Can I look at Livy?!", "I want to kiss Livy!", etc., etc. It takes all the effort we can give to save Livy from Anabelle's smothering love. Livy is also growing up to be one majorly sleep-deprived baby thanks to Anabelle's love. Anyway, we regularly hear Anabelle say. "Can I hold Livy?!" So here's a bunch of those occasions from the past 6 weeks.

Maria's mom had bought her tickets a couple hours before Maria's water broke, so fortunately the airline let her change her ticket. She came out the day after Livy was born, and this photo was from a couple days later:

Anabelle admiring her baby sister:

Big hug:



"It was worth having to take a bath just to hold my baby sister!"

Sharing the baby with their cousin
It's so much easier having two... I mean Anabelle changes diapers, prepares bottles, and even bathes her little sister:

"Mommy, her breath stinks!"


Livy's not always as happy to see her big sister...

"Livy, I love you!"

Anabelle's sinister side... she enjoys seeing Livy scared...

Not quite as mature as Anabelle, but I wanted a turn too..

I had a list of postings to write, but this one managed to cut to the top of the list

Happy Birthday Livya Yael Lewis! While her birth was so reminiscent of Anabelle's (water breaking in the middle of the night with no contractions, 7 hours of labor, a handful of pushes to get her out), as we look at Liviya, we wonder how can she be related to Anabelle? I mean, she's so quiet and doscile! (at least for the first 4 hours of life).

Her first bath.

Her stats:
Birth date/time: 09-29-09 7:54am
weight: 8lbs 2oz
length: just under 20 inches
hair: dark brown and curly
eyes: probably brown
favorite pastime: sleeping and eating
interesting piece of trivia: She has a cousin that was born in Arizona just a few hours earlier

Dinosaur dig

On our return home from Israel we stopped to see the grandparents. Down the street from my parents' house, there is a museum built on top of a place where they found a bunch of dinosaur footprints. Anabelle had been telling me all summer that she wanted to be a paleontologist
(we took this video as we walked from the park by our place in Rehovot one afternoon in June)

so I let her try it out:

She liked it!

להתראות ישראל (see you later Israel)

So we returned from our year in Israel about 2 months ago, but today when I was thinking about doing a new post, I noticed I'd started this one a while back and never finished/posted it. Anyway, though it's kind of past its date, here I go...

Being in Israel was an amazing experience and we recommend it to anyone. We learned so much and grew so close as a family. We also gained such a broader appreciation for other cultures and a better view of who we are and who we want to be. Anyway, here are some photos from the last few weeks there....

Anabelle had a blast there with friends from church:

And friends from the Weizmann:

Occasionally we'd join some friends from the Weizmann for Bible study. Before leaving, they had us over for dinner and one last reading from Deuteronomy:

Before we left, Anabelle made sure to check out the science museum in Jerusalem:

And Maria said bye to close friends who were also moving back to the states:

We made sure to take one last breakfast at the cafe down the street from our apartment... Anabelle made sure to enjoy the "American Breakfast" one more time (pancakes with fruit, ice cream and chocolate syrup):

We were so grateful for so many good friends who took us in while in Israel

Pigeons and Neglectful Parenting

Bet Guvrin is the site of an old town where there used to be a big ancient pigeon farm, a limestone quarry, and some old tombs. If you look at all of the walls in the pigeon caves, you can see all of the old roosts.

There are all sorts of caves you can visit there. However, I was sad that they have closed off my favorite one. When I was in Israel 11 years ago, there was one that you could only enter if you were to climb on your hands and knees through a long dark tiny tunnel, until the tunnel ends an opens up to a small pigeon cave.

The most impressive site in Bet Guvrin is the Bell Caves. These bell shaped caves were ancient limestone quaries in which they'd dig a hole, and over time cut out limestone blocks from the floor and haul them up through the hole.
Some of these holes got pretty deep.

The sides of some of the cave walls have collapsed over the millennia, leading to some pretty lighting effects.

Unfortunately we didn't realize that Anabelle was sick until she crashed in the last cave... when we felt her, we noticed she clearly had a fever. I've since had to correct her a few time since she now think that you get sick from going in the bell caves. (and I'm still in trouble for noticing she was hot that morning when I got up with her, but not thinking to actually check her temperature before getting her ready... and yes, she even rode on my shoulders for an hour before she crashed...).

4th of July expat style

It's been fun celebrating all of the Israeli holidays this past year, but some US holidays must be celebrated... so for the 4th of July we celebrated it by going to the beach right below the US ambassador's house, throwing down a towel, and watching the sun set.

Tel Aviv Beach Day

Another get together before we leave for the U.S. This time with our good friends Karla, Carmen and David. We went to the Beach up in Tel Aviv and had a great time.


Anabelle is such a beach baby. She loved having several grown ups to play with and bury in sand. Mom enjoyed sitting for a change and just watching Anabelle have fun.



It was a perfect day except for the jelly-fish that decided to get friendly with Carmen. Actually, during the later part of the summer the Tel Aviv Beach gets infested with jelly-fish, so I guess it could have been worse, although I am not sure Carmen would agree.

Bibilical Zoo in Jerusalem

It seems time has flown so quickly while in Israel. It's almost time to say goodbye. So, we're trying to get together with as many friends as we can before that time comes. Thus, we got together with our friends Michelle and Yitzhak (who were also here through Fulbright) at the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem. It seems we got more pics of the kids than anything else, and as I look at all the photos I realize I didn't take any of the adults, woops! Sorry Michelle.





Anabelle and Yitzhak had a lot of fun running around the zoo in melt-your-face-off weather. I thought I was going to pass out, but had fun too.





































The animals had the right idea, most of them were either sleeping or keeping under cover.




The way those two were running around and climbing everywhere, you would have thought it was a beautiful spring afternoon.

We did our best to keep the kiddos hydrated and Anabelle found the perfect hat to hide under (that's ok, mom didn't need her hat, right?)


-Posted by Maria, once again too lazy to log Nathan out.