Proud

I typically walk BY to kindergarten every morning. He rides his balance bike, and I push the stroller (and wear a baby carrier). At certain parts of our walk, cars are allowed to park on the sidewalk. Since BY on his balance bike is narrower than me pushing a stroller, he can often pass cars on the sidewalk, while I am forced into the street.

A few days ago, there were a few cars in a row where this happened. As the first car separated us, we called a cheerful, "Goodbye!" followed by a "Hello!" a few seconds later as we emerged from next to the car. At the next car, we again wished each other goodbye and then, "Hello again!" I was about to respond with a terribly witty quote from Go Dog Go, but BY beat me to the punch: "Do you like my hat?" he asked.

We laughed and laughed. I am very proud.

OMG

I have previously mentioned that The Newest Kiddo (TNK) was born quickly. I was already grateful that we made it to the hospital. (Looking back, I realize that I must have finished transition in order to say without shrieking or screaming, but only with absolute definitude: "Oh, no. I am NOT having this baby in this car.") However, I didn't realize just how lucky I was.

I am now filling out an eCRBA application for TNK. This is essentially an online US birth certificate application, and the response options for the first question stopped me in my tracks:

Hi There!

Baruch Hashem, I gave birth to a healthy girl just over a month ago. As everyone kept blessing me, she was born quickly and easily and healthily. She was even born in the hospital, but just barely.

**

About a week before I gave birth, Husbinator, BSM (11), and BY (5) went away for Shabbos to attend our good friends' oldest son's bar mitzva. I stayed home with FF (8) and Curly Girly (20 months). (Did I give her an internet nickname?) BSM came back having learned something about Life and about Himself, and which demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is growing up: it is more fun to throw candy at the Bar Mitzva boy than to collect the candy that has been thrown.

**

I now know why Ema always describes me and Sister as being 20 months apart, as opposed to almost two years apart. I, too, was blessed with a 20-month-old and a newborn. That is not the same thing as an almost-two-year-old and a newborn. 

**

This is also the first time I've had three kids under 6 years old: my older kids are spaced a little further apart. It is different. I am doing my best to be patient with myself and see what works. Between the flu (first a full-on case for the 20-month-old that I didn't manage to vaccinate, then a mild case for vaccinated me), Purim preparation, looking for daycare for next year, and Pesach preparation (in that order), I can't pretend that I'm not stressed, but overall, I think I am indeed being fairly patient with myself and open to figuring out what works.

**

Will blog more some other time.

The Weirdest Feeling

I just got a text message from Bituach Leumi (National Insurance, similar to the Social Security office, but they do much more), and... and... I said "Oh!" and my eyes genuinely teared up, and my heart was filled with... with... gratitude? Because of a communication from the most complicated government office I have yet to wrestle with???

Translation:

Hello, 

The National Insurance wants to make it easier for you during this period and check if it's possible to automatically deposit maternity pay to your account, without you having to file a claim.

To this end, we request your permission to contact your employer to send us a  Form 100 (details of your monthly salary), and we will handle this for you while you are on maternity leave.

Your approval can be obtained through the following link: 

Please note: Alternatively, you can contact your employer independently, and request that Form 100 be sent to us.

Regards,

National Insurance

Yes. Yes, I very much would like maternity pay without having to find and fill out the 8-screen form and 16 bajoodle uploads of missing mystery documents, each in the correct format and size. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Thank you.