Just when I thought it was too good to be true, it got better.

This afternoon another neighbor of ours, Charlie Trotter, dropped off this very generous gift. Three bags full of food and drink from his shop…

Charlie Trotter's To Go

This picture does not do it justice. Those are not normal sandwiches. Everything Charlie does has a unique flavor twist. For example, the turkey sandwich was a ‘Roasted Turkey Breast with Horseradish Aioli, Caramelized Onion and Arugula’.

This afternoon Lara and I dined on roast chicken, a garlic potato puree with asiago cheese that was to die for, a healthy salad followed by not so healthy but oh so yummy indian spiced peanut brittle and chocolate meringues.

The army of friends keeps coming and shoring up the Cailsoff troop.

Laurie's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I already mentioned Lauren Marks’ brisket, which fed us for 3 days, warming beautifully each time. On the fourth day I still craved it.

This weekend we bumped into my friend Laurie on the street. When she offered this delicious rhubarb and strawberry pie, I answered, “We are accepting all donations.”

Jack’s comment after having a slice of the pie with a little vanilla ice cream was, “This is yummy, we should tell her to make us another five of these.” 

The Latham Family Casserole

We also were given a casserole so unique I’m not even sure what to call it. Sara, who brought it over just described it as a pasta, chicken cheesy thing. It was a hint spicy, and chocked with a surprising variety of vegetables too. And it came with wine! Another great dish that I’m going to have to get the recipe for.

Finally this evening Tami brought us kabobs and rice. As she told us, she is Israeli, so she does that well. And I know she used to own a restaurant. So we were very excited to taste her cooking. And even with our expectations so high, we were still completely blown away with the results. Normally when Adam comes home he forgoes dinner until after he puts the kids to bed. This time I came out of the bathroom where the older kids where bathing to find him digging into the spread. I couldn’t blame him, I was eating it one handed with a kid latched on my boob earlier. I couldn’t wait either!

Tami's Kebabs, Rice, Salad and Dipping Sauce

When my sister came to help, I was very excited to have an extra set of hands. Someone to help carry kids, dress them, change diapers, cook, do laundry.

But the best thing about help is the unexpected help you get. Like an outsiders perspective.

Not only was Lara excellent help with all things above, she knew just when to whisk an crying kid from me and distract them with humor or new games. She figured out I needed new clothes that wouldn’t rub my c-section scar. Yes, I am so tired I could not actually think of this myself.

One of the most helpful things she did was putting the babies in the crib. My first two kids got carried everywhere. It never occurred to me to put them down. But with twins you must. And the more you try it, the more it works!

And she continues to surprise us.

This morning Lara and Adam took all the kids to Starbucks so I could sleep. It was not a good night, and despite both Lara and Adam’s offer to help, I decided to do it alone with the twins.

Afterwards they took the kids to Jack’s baseball game.

How We Roll

I woke up 3 hours later in a panic that the twins were starving and the milk was still in bed, three blocks away.

But all was fine when I arrived at the park. After I fed them both, we played a bit with the Camerons and decided to go to Dim Sum for lunch. Tomorrow they are celebrating cultural diversity week and I wanted to go to Chinatown and buy fortune cookies.

The Cameron thought Dim Sum sounded good and suggested the place they go to in Uptown. Perhaps the Asian store near the restaurant would sell fortune cookies? We met them there, ate a ton. Then Jack had to poop. But he refused to go at the restaurant. He hates pooping anywhere but home. But I hadn’t got the fortune cookies!

I tried to cajole him into going at the restaurant. I told him we couldn’t get the cookies if he needed to run home. Adam was asking Jack to forget it. Then Adam suggested we stop by our local Chinese restaurant and buy cookies from them later this afternoon.

And here is where the helpful help piped in, “You realize we are at a Chinese Restaurant right now?” 

Duh! We bought 20 cookies on the spot for $2! Thank you Lara!

Dim Sum at the Furama

Karen and Sam

Today Aunt Karen came for a visit. We were honored she came by, as it was only a short 36 hour visit to Chicago to visit her brother and their newborn baby.

Karen is married to Andrew, Adam’s college roommate and my family friend. Karen also serves a very important role in our lives – Adam and I met at her wedding.

Since their wedding we have all become fast friends. Karen and Andrew (along with 10 other of our good friends) spent 11 days in Hawaii with Adam and I on our second date.

Last year we rented a villa with them in Cayman and vacationed together.

We now have two sets of kids that are the same age, which is a bonus when it comes to keeping  your friends close. Your interests in activities and vacation spots run parallel.

It has occurred to me that this month marks the one year birthday of my blog.

It amazes me how it has taken form. How much it has changed and how it continues to surprise me.

My readership continues to grow. It’s still a small amount of people reading it, but in the beginning I was lucky to get 8 visitors a day. Now it’s more like 30 people a day. Last week I had a surge of over 100 people on one particular day.

That same day, I also received my first comments from someone I didn’t know and it wasn’t computer generated spam.

I wasn’t sure what I should do with it, should I trash it or accept it? In the end I realized I had finally hit on a topic that people cared about. A controversial topic that effected people outside of my circle of friends. So I accepted the comments, though one upset me a bit.

The two comments were for my Double Bris blog.

One was not very nice, something about our poor children being born to parents who were willing to mutilate them. But one peaked my interest. It talked about a more progressive way to have a Bris. They call it a Brit Shalom. It is a ceremony for Jews who don’t believe in circumcision. It really made me think about a religious ritual that I always assumed was essential.

There a whole movement out there of people who are changing their thoughts about circumcision. You can read more about it here… Jews Against Circumcision.

Obviously it’s too late to do anything different. And even so I’m not sure if I would change my mind. But it really got me thinking about the practice of circumcision. What was the reason for it? And was it still necessary?

My first helper arrived this evening…

My sister arrives from North Carolina

I wasted no time acclimating her!

…or perhaps a small army of friends and family to lead any sort of normal existence these days.

View looking down most days (neither kid lets me put them down)

Since I can’t drive, Adam had to come home to take me to my Ob/Gyn appointment today. Jack was at school so we were down to three kids. Ben fell asleep in the car on the way over so instead of us all going to the office, Adam stayed in the car with the three kids while I ran out to my appointment. Luckily they all slept for him and he was able to get some work done.

The doctor cleaned up my cut and put some stuff on it to close off the bit that was slightly open. Otherwise she said my scar is healing great, and had me reschedule for the 6 week postpartum check up.

Afterwards Cindy and Pam called me to see if I wanted to join them at the park. I did, but I couldn’t drive there or walk long distances with 4 kids so I was stuck. Luckily Cindy’s husband had her kids and she was nice enough to load all my kids into our mini van and drive to the park for us. I’m not sure if she’ll do it again, though. Both Aaron and Sam spent the entire car ride bawling.

While at the park my friend Marie spotted Ben doing his signature move in the sandbox – eating fistfuls of sand. She told Pam who fixed the problem, wiped him up and got him out of there. Pam and Cindy also took turns watching my other kids and holding babies while I swapped out the twins for breast feeding for the majority of the time I was there.

Finally we got home to find a hot cooked meal from our friend Lauren Marks down the street. Perhaps the most delicious brisket I’ve ever had. The stuff literally melted in my mouth. I can’t wait for left overs tomorrow night!

Lauren Mark's Brisket

Sadly, even with all the help I didn’t manage to even take a shower today. As I sit here typing this Adam is passed out on the couch with Sam on top of him and I am typing one handed with Aaron asleep in my other hand.

Jack's Mother's Day Present

In the past I was very respectful of the fact that I am just one mother in a long line of mothers in front of me.

But this year, as a new mother of four, I very selfishly kept the plans for the day completely for myself.

In truth making any sort of plan for the day with six different people is daunting. Trying to add any extra people into the mix is mind boggling. I’m starting to realize just how much our mobility will be effected by our new additions.

Adam did the perfect thing this morning. When the older kids woke at the crack of dawn, he rushed them out to Starbucks so I could sleep longer with the twins. When I woke up they were at Adam’s Park. I said, “Great, I’ll meet you there.”

Adam and the Twins

Adam said, “We’ll come get you.”

I said no, I can just walk over. He replied, “How are you going to get the kids in the stroller? We’ll come back and pick you up.”

They came back to pick us up but we still didn’t manage to make it back to the park until 1pm!

These first six weeks after the Cesarean have been a lesson in humility. I have always prided myself on independence, but until I stop taking the pain meds I can’t drive and until my scar heals (six weeks after the surgery) I can’t lift anything heavy.

I’ve also realized I can’t be alone with my 2 year old, Ben, and discipline him in any way. If he is naughty all I can do is ask him to get in the time out chair. If he doesn’t go I can’t lift him up to put him there.

Ice Cream at the Park

Luckily Adam has been super helpful and soon my family members will arrive in shifts to help me throughout the summer.

Mother’s day this year couldn’t have been more meaningful for me. Besides my wonderful bouquet from Jack, his school put together a book of favorite recipes. The kids tell the teacher what they like best of their mom’s cooking. The recipe book is a collection of favorite foods from each kid and so all the other parents see what the other kids say. With the lead up to the birth I’ve been a less healthy cook than I would be normally. And Jack caught me out, his favorite recipe was pillsbury store bought biscuits. Ugh.

Otherwise I recently saw the Hunger Games with my friend Lottie. Such a good movie! I was wondering how it could possibly be a trilogy. Adam got me all the books, iTunes credits (you can never have enough!) and the promise of some much needed new sunglasses.