Time For A Change

Since posting to this blog clearly hasn't been working very well (correction: the posting works great, it's the post writing that is the bottleneck) I've decided to try something new to help me stay of top of things. "What is it?" you ask that will make me post to this blog more often. Nothing.

That's because I'll be posting to a new blog. I'm happy to say that http://adailydoseofdavid.blogspot.com/ is up and running and that I have posted for two days in a row! My theory is that if I'm home every day with David, I should be able to post about one interesting thing that David or I does every day (weekday that is).

So check out the site and get your daily dose of David :)

What's in a Name?

Several people ask for the explanation of David's name, that I read immediately following the brit. Here it is:

Our son, David Scott Shain, has the good fortune of being named for several people. He is named for my papa, David Weiner, who passed away in 2005; my grandpa, Samuel Shain, who passed away in 1992; and my grandma, Susan Shain, who passed away last October, during Sukkot. Scott is also a favorite name of Michelle’s grandma, Jean Smith, and the middle name of her uncle, Tom Smith. Tom never had children of his own, and we’re happy that his great-nephew will share his middle name (and with a little luck also his 6”4’ stature).

For David’s Hebrew name, we’ve chosen שִׂמְחָה דָוִד. דָוִד comes from the Hebrew root ד-ו-ד, which means “beloved.” It was my Papa’s Hebrew name and I would like to say a few words about my Papa at this time. He embodied the meaning of his Hebrew name as he was beloved by everyone he knew. I remember the extreme sense of loss I felt when he passed away. I was overcome with grief and I tried to understand why my sadness extended even beyond my deep sense of personal loss. Finally, I realized that at the root of this feeling was the fact that with his passing a force for good was gone from the world. Because that was what my Papa was. Good. Pure good. His heart was filled with the love of his family and the joy he felt at selflessly helping his family in every way possible was palpable. Whether it was walking the Ponkapog golf course collecting lost balls, singing songs in the kitchen or watching a Red Sox game, he wanted nothing more than to be with us and we returned this sentiment 100 fold. He never missed a family occasion, traveling frequently between his home in Florida, our house in Boston and my cousins in Chicago. My papa was a true mensch and while I can only hope that our little David will inherit my Papa’s love of helping others, I know that he will be just as beloved as my Papa was.

We chose the name שִׂמְחָה - the Hebrew word for joy or happiness– for David’s middle name because the name שִׂמְחָה begins with the same letter as my grandma’s Hebrew name, שׁוֹשַׁנָּה, and my grandpa’s Hebrew name, שְׁמוּאֵל.

During Sukkot, we often sing,
וְשָׂמַחְתָּ בְּחַגֶּךָ וְהָיִיתָ אַךְ שָׂמֵחַ

“You shall rejoice in your festival, and you shall have nothing but joy,” from דברים ט"ז, Deuteronomy 16. This past Sukkot, as my family mourned the loss of my grandma, we did not feel much joy. But a few weeks later, when Michelle and I found out that she was pregnant, we knew that joy had come to us from that difficult time. We also felt that this name was appropriate because my Grandma had a love of life that was infectious. Whether it was going out for ice cream or playing golf she enjoyed every minute of it. I will always cherish the memories I have of sitting with my grandma and grandpa learning how to play cards while eating chocolate covered graham crackers in their kitchen. Since the time I was born, my grandma always referred to me as adorable. Even towards the end of her life, as her memory began to fail, she would still call me adorable every time that she saw me. I know that somewhere she is looking down on this beautiful baby boy, who brings everyone around him such simcha, and can see just how adorable he is.

Weight Just A Minute

I know that people are waiting for brit stuff, but first I want to write about something that strikes me as pretty surprising. As a newborn, doctors like to keep pretty close track over David's weight. He was born at 7lb 7oz and subsequently dropped to 6lb 12oz which is completely normal. If he had lost any more weight the doctors would have been concerned but by his next appointment, David was already up to 7lb 1oz.

Why do I share all of this information with you? Because today, a visiting nurse came to our house to weigh David and her scale said that he still weighed 7lb 1oz. The fact that David hadn't gained any weight in several days wasn't an emergency, but the nurse felt that we should see our pediatrician just in case. As you can imagine, this didn't give Michelle and I any warm and bubbly feelings. When we arrived at the doctor's office a nurse re-weighed David. Low and behold, David weighed 7lb 6oz.

As you can imagine, Michelle and I were pretty relieved. However, we were also slightly disturbed. In a situation where a couple of ounces can make a pretty big difference, not to mention guide a course of medical action, how can scales be that far off? Maybe they should include a margin of on these things and save us all a lot of worry.

David Scott Shain

In case I forgot to mention.....

Our son has a name: David Scott Shain || דוד שמחה שיין

Pictures and thoughts on the Brit coming soon....

Nobody Mentioned That

Babies should come with warning labels that read:

Caution: Caring for this baby may result in crystallized urine getting on your nose.

Not that anything like that happened to me....

Home

We got home form the hospital yesterday and have been settling in with the help of friends and family. And by "settling in" I mean actually settling in, planning a Brit, planning a Shalom Zachar, going to the pediatrician and buying stuff that we probably should have bought beforehand. It's pretty much been a whirlwind and we are still learning how valuable naps are in the child-rearing process (both ours and his).

Some hospital pictures are now posted on facebook, but here are a few in case you missed them:

News! News! News!

Extra extra, read all about it. Baby Boy Shain born today. Extra extra read all about it.

In a future blog post. For now I have to sleep.

Details and pictures to follow.

No News is....No News

For those keeping track:

No baby yet. Due date is Monday so keep checking back for updates :)

Another Madoff Victim

As the time before the baby grows short it's time to get my blogging muscles in shape.

And what better subject to address than that of the notorious Bernie Madoff. After he received a maximum sentence of 150 years the press has begun to turn its attention clients who could potentially asked to return "returns" that were in reality other people's money.

First off, let me say that I think asking people like Carl and Ruth Shapiro, who have lost over a half a billion dollars in the Madoff scandal and who are known for their generosity, to return money is silly. But if we are going to start asking people for money I would like to know why nobody has suggested that the IRS should return money to Madoff's victims. After all, the IRS collected money from victims on "gains" that didn't actualy exist, on income that Madoff didn't actually generate and on profits that Madoff's business did not actually earn. Maybe that would make more sense than asking people who have already lost millions to pay in a little more.

Moving On

As the saying goes, "all good things must come to an end" and such is the case with our house-sitting arrangement in Newton. As many of you may know, Michelle and I are going to be renting an apartment next year in Sharon. It's a little farther away from work/school/friends in the Brookline area, but you get more bang for your buck in Sharon and the community has been extremely welcoming. The apartment is also conveniently only about 10 minutes from my parents house in Canton giving us easy access to both the swimming pool and babysitting help.

For those interested, our new address is:

63 Pond Street
Apartment #13
Sharon, Ma 02067

We'll get a new home phone number as well, but we aren't sure what it is yet. I'll let you know as soon as we hear.

As Innovative as a Rock

In today's Boston Globe, Boston Mayor Menino was quotes as saying:
"We need different, more innovative tools to manage costs and diversify revenues at the local level"
In appreciation of a bill passed by the Massachusetts senate which allows cities and towns to increase the tax rate on hotel rooms and restaurant meals.

Having completed my first year of the MBA program at Babson I can confidently say that a tax increase may be a tool to increase revenue, but it's certainly not innovative (or creative for that matter).

Perhaps somebody should tell that to the Massachusetts state legislature (who voted to raise the sales tax 1.25% and lifted the sales tax exemption on alcohol).

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

I'm in the process of writing a report at work, and in order to do the literature review, I needed 8 books from the library. I had asked this morning if any undergraduate research assistants were available to get them for me, but as of 2:00 this afternoon, no undergraduates had materialized. Then, just as I was whining to my office-mates that I was too pregnant to schlepp 8 books by myself, an undergraduate walked in the door and said, "Hi! I heard you wanted someone to go to the library for you."

It was awesome.

I Could Be Governor

In case you couldn't tell from the picture below (the one outside of Grauman's Chinese Theater) I am contrasting the size of Arnold Schwarzenegger's hands and feet. If you look closely you can notice that his hands are a good deal larget than mine (no surprise there) but his feet match up with my size 8.5's!

Next Year in...Hollywood?

Adam and I went to Los Angeles for the first half of Passover this year. We had a lovely time staying with our good friends Suzanne and Marcus in Pico-Robertson, L.A.'s most Jewish neighborhood. And we managed to fit in a little touring amongst all the holiday and Shabbat festivities.

At the La Brea Tar Pits, with friends Mike and Yael from Jerusalem, who were also enjoying Passover in L.A.:

Resting with Mickey Mouse on Hollywood Boulevard:

Outside Grauman's Chinese Theater:

I would like to put in a good word for Shilo's kosher steakhouse, where we had a really excellent dinner last Saturday night. Why can't Boston have a kosher steakhouse like that?

Twitter What?

Many of you may have noticed that most of the recent posting on this site has come courtesy of Michelle. Ok, maybe that's been true for a long long time. But in the last month or two, my inactivity on the blog hasn't meant that I'm not posting anything online. Where, you may ask, am I posting then? To my twitter account of course.

I've been aware of twitter for several years, but only recently decided to join up. From now on, if you want to know what's going on in my day-to-day life you can either follow me on twitter, or check the new box in the top right of this blog. It will always show my last 5 posts. You can also see a longer history of my "tweets" by visiting www.twitter.com/adamshain (you don't need to sign up).

Enjoy!

Plans Take Shape

Pregnancy brings with it many surprises, among them the infamous "nesting instinct," which can kick in as early as the fifth month of pregnancy. The nesting instinct motivates expectant mothers to clean and organize their homes in preparation for the baby. It can be funny to watch this instinct at work -- I remember one of my friends dusting high shelves like a maniac when she was close to delivery.

For someone like me, already slightly compulsive about neatness and organization, it's difficult to tell whether I am experiencing this nesting instinct or just my usual drive to bring order to the chaos. But I've definitely been feeling wholly, irrationally unsettled about the fact that Adam and I didn't know where we would be living next year. So I'm happy to report that we finally have an answer!

We will be staying with Adam's parents for ten weeks this summer while the family for whom we're house-sitting is back in their house; but they will be returning to India, and we will be returning to their house, in August. So I won't have a nursery where I can stencil ducks onto the walls, but as people keep reminding me, the baby won't care about that. And I feel much better having everything settled, with actual moving dates. Hooray for house-sitting!

I love craigslist!

Adam and I bought a crib today!

We found it on craigslist. A single-child family in Winchester bought it several years ago at Boston Baby (now defunct) and kept it in beautiful condition. It's a sleigh crib by Pali, a higher-end baby furniture manufacturer that we would never have considered at retail prices. Solid hardwood with a lovely cherry finish. The best part? The crib, plus a good crib mattress by Colgate, cost us less than half of what they would have cost new!

Double Trouble

I threw my first baby shower last Sunday, for my good friend Lauren, who is exactly 10 weeks further along in her pregnancy than I. I did a bunny theme, with bunny ears, bunny prizes and carrot cake. We played silly baby shower games, like "Celebrity Baby Names" and "Nursery Rhyme-Down", and we ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the cute baby gifts.

It was lots of fun, although there's a part of me that can't quite believe we've reached a place where maternity leave policies, life insurance and the relative benefits of cloth versus disposable diapers are normal topics of conversation.

Baby Bump

Conventional wisdom holds that you should never assume a woman is pregnant based on her body shape. After all, if you comment on a non-existent pregnancy, you could really insult someone. But over the past few weeks, strangers have started asking about my baby. And since it's so obvious, I thought I would post a photo of the bump for all of you who don't see me regularly!

"Very Superstitious"

Now that I'm in my 22nd week of pregnancy, I've been thinking a lot about superstitions. In the Jewish community, superstitions about pregnancy and babies abound. Most couples keep the news that they're expecting private until at least the end of the first trimester. When they do finally go public, the traditional response is the Hebrew phrase "B'Shaah Tovah," which means "in good time." You're not supposed to say congratulations or mazel tov over a pregnancy -- it's tempting fate.

Lots of people also avoid buying things for the baby before he or she is born. Some couples will bend to expediency and buy a few necessities, like a car seat and some diapers, while other couples literally buy nothing, sending family and friends running to the stores after the delivery. Baby showers are generally avoided. Jews of Eastern European descent won't name the baby after a living relative, lest the angel of death become confused and take the baby when he comes for the older person. For months, my mother-in-law's favorite phrase has been "Kain ein horeh,"which is Yiddish for "No evil eye." Her mother says it, too.

It all traces back to medieval European Jewish folk traditions, most of which were frowned upon by the rabbis and scholars of mainstream Judaism, but which nevertheless survived. These traditions involved angels, demons and other spirits, and people invented ways to protect themselves from the demons and evil spirits. Remember the spitting in Fiddler on the Roof? Warding off the evil eye.

I have to say, after a few months of intense exposure to this stuff, I've come to have a bad opinion of it. It was really hard for me to keep my pregnancy a secret from most people during the first trimester -- I was going through a lot, and it was lonely keeping it to myself. And as someone who prepares for change by gathering lots of information and generally being prepared for eventualities, I really feel the need to buy baby gear before the baby comes.

Maybe the whole superstition thing has to be ingrained early in life. I don't know, but I am officially rejecting all of it. (Kain ein horeh.)

Purim 5769

Last year, Adam and I were on vacation for Purim. We spent the day walking around in the warm Jerusalem sun, delivering mishloach manot to our friends. This year, Purim was a regular work day for me and, even worse, an exam day for Adam. But we still managed to have some fun. A few highlights:

• Purim night with the Washington Square Minyan. We dressed up as Antony and Cleopatra. (Cleopatra had two children with Marc Antony, so the pregnancy bulge did not spoil the costume!)

• Daytime megillah reading with the Newton Centre Minyan before work. Don't ask me what time I woke up.
  
• Matanot l'evyonim through Yad Chessed, an amazing local organization that runs a Purim program where needy families in the community get certificates to the Butcherie (a kosher grocery store in Brookline). Thanks to Brandeis Hillel for organizing this!
• Mishloach manot put together with items from BJ's, the wholesale club of the east coast. Wouldn't it be great if Israel had BJ's? 24 perfect little packs of peanuts for under $10! It's amazing!
  
• Seudah (festive meal) with Meg and Eli and Taam China, the finest kosher Chinese food in Boston!
  

It's a Boy!

Adam and I had our "Level II Ultrasound"/"Fetal Survey" today. Below is a picture of our structurally perfect SON! Who, apparently, sucks his thumb.

What Do You Think?

Things have been busy of late. School. Work. Other non-blogging obligations. But stay tuned, because soon we'll have some really blog-worthy news. At least if you think the gender of our unborn child is news-worthy.

That's right. We should hopefully know boy or girl on Monday!

So this is your last opportunity to make a prediction. What do you think - Girl or Boy?

Quickening

I can feel my baby moving around! It started this weekend and continued today. It took me several times feeling that popping/fluttering sensation to become convinced, but now I'm sure it's the baby. It seems to happen if I'm sitting still, and it is the most amazing feeling in the world!

Not-So-Relaxing Sleep

My pregnancy book, Sears Parenting Library's The Pregnancy Book, told me that pregnant women spend more time in REM sleep and consequently are more likely to dream and more likely to wake up and remember the dreams. I've found this to be very true. The night before last, I had an incredibly vivid dream in which Sasha and Malia Obama had been kidnapped, and I couldn't locate them, although locating them seemed to be my job.

A few days before that, I woke up at 5:30 in the morning having dreamed that I had taken my baby to services on a Shabbat morning and put him (yes, we had a boy in the dream) in a baby playground swing. Then I went inside for services, totally forgetting about the baby until several hours later, when I was ready to walk to lunch. In the dream, I panicked as I remembered the baby and rushed toward the baby swing. I could see that his little body was there in its little blue sleeper, but before I could tell if he was okay, I woke up screaming.

Did any other women out there have unusually vivid dreams while pregnant?

Just a Little Bit More

I know. I know. This blog isn't about politics. It's not my fault that the Prime Minister of Turkey stormed off the stage like a toddler (There I said it!) after Shimon Peres gave one of the most impassioned political appeals that I have ever heard.

It's also not my fault that terrorists are bad people. Now I know that there are a lot of bad people all over the world, but I feel like it's important to set the proper context when delving into the world of politics. We need to know what we are dealing with.

For example, in Iraq, a woman was just arrested for organizing the rapes of more than 80 women. Why would anyone do such a thing? Because after you have the girls raped, you can convince them that the only way to regain their lost honor is by becoming a suicide bomber.

I guess after all of the weak minded targets are gone (because they have blown themselves up) you just have to create more using whatever means available.

Another example, though not nearly as extreme, is the armed larceny of food and blankets by Hamas police in Gaza. Never mind that the aid was being distributed by the UN to needy Palestinian families. Hamas has the guns, so they do what they want.

Too Funny

יו יה
אני שואל
יו יה
אתם עונים
יו יה
האם זה פייר
יו יה
אתם לא יודעים

My colleague Monica tells me that Temple Israel students were dancing to it this past Sunday. Well, apparently it's not just for Sunday schools any more!

A Video Worth Watching

I'm not usually one for political blogging. I would rather use this space to update people about our lives rather than stir the proverbial pot. However, I recently watched a video of a panel discussion at the recent world economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, that centered on the situation in Gaza. Among the panelists were Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Amr Moussa, the former Egyptian Foreign Minister who now leads the Arab League, Israeli President Shimon Peres, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Durin the panel, Peres made an impassioned speech in defense of Israel. I can honestly say that I have never been as moved by hearing an Israeli politician. Especially since Peres has done as much or more for Mid-East peace than anyone in recent history. I strongly recommend everyone watch the video below to appreciate his passion not only for Israel's right to defend itself, but also the country's desire for peace.

Peres begins his speech at about 39:30 (you don't have to wait for the entire clip to load).



For those of you who watch the entire clip and would like to talk about/respond to the Turkish Prime Minister's behavior at the end of the panel, just let me know and it will be the topic of my next blog post.

Michelle's Inauguration Post

Gil Troy, for whom I used to work, put a post on his blog Center Field two weeks ago entitled "Thank you, George W. Bush". For those who aren't inclined to click on the link and actually read the post, the gist was that the Jewish community should show its appreciation for President Bush's strong and steadfast support for Israel now that he's out of office, in a way that we failed to do when he was in office. If anyone is as moved by Professor Troy's words as I was, consider visiting the George W. Bush Foundation and donating to his presidential library.

Scrubtacular

Many of you may know that I am an ardent follower of the TV show "Scrubs." I've stuck with the show through the highs and the more recent lows. I even followed the show across networks (from NBA to ABC).

For the past two weeks, Scrubs has been airing back-to-back and for both weeks, for whatever reason, my DVR has decided to only record the second episode. In the old days this would have caused me much consternation, however, now days, we have this new fangled "Internet," where I can still watch my shows. In place of the TV advertisements, the show breaks several times to show you a single 30 second ad. The same ad repeats for each of the breaks.

On a somewhat ominous note (for ABC) the ads during my most recent viewing of Scrubs were all promos for other ABC shows. This means that they had a captive audience and chose (or even worse - were forced) to show advertisements which generated no revenue. Now, I guess ABC could have decided that these promos would lure me into other ABC shows, but seeing as how I had to visit ABC's website in order to get to the Scrubs episode, I was probably aware of the other programs already.

So either they actively decided to get no money from the show, or nobody was willing to pay.

Sorry Darwin

As I was driving to school this morning I nearly broadsided a car who had pulled into traffic to turn left. What astonished me however, was not the actual boneheaded driving. As soon as the car pulled out I slammed on my brakes and began honking. Being a good driver I haven't ever found myself in the other driver's position, but I can imagine that if I pulled into traffic and heard a rapidly approaching car honking repeatedly, I would probably, you know, look in that direction. This girl felt no such compulsion.

I was able to stop just in time, and the car was able to merge about a half a second before I would have reached her (had my brakes failed). Half of me wanted to speed right into the other car. I'm pretty sure that my front end could beat her door in a fight. Maybe that would have gotten her attention.

Visual Update

A quick visual update on the things we didn't blog about as we were ignoring our blog this fall and winter:

My mom and Richard came for Thanksgiving. This was a blessing both because we got to see them and because I was too sick to manage dinner all by myself. We spent Thanksgiving Day touring Plimouth Plantation and the Mayflower II. Here are my mom and me at the Wampanoag Homesite:

And Adam and me at the 1627 English Village:

We were also "blessed" with a huge snowfall three weekends ago. Here is the view from our kitchen window the Sunday after the storm:

I think we got a full foot of snow.

Truly, this was about as exciting as life got for us during the blogging hiatus. I was too sick to do anything else photo- or blog-worthy!

Happy Statistics

Adam and I got the results of or Early Prenatal Risk Assessment today. The ERA is based on a blood test and an ultrasound, and (together with the age of the mother) is used to predict the chance of having a baby with Down syndrome, Trisomy 13 or Trisomy 18. The ultrasound also checks for other birth defects.

Our results put us in the low risk category, with no further testing indicated! Apparently, my odds of having a baby with one of the three chromosomal disorders are lower than a 20-year-old woman's odds. Now I will have to find something new to worry about!

Everybody's Doing It

Another common baby related question that we receive is whether Michelle and I have started thinking about names yet. Rather than answer that question at the moment, I'm going to follow a friend's advice and open the name up to your humble thoughts. Just remember, some people's suggestions carry more "weight" than others, so don't underbid. This is a limited time opportunity. Final bidding will close in mid-July. We are also open to corporate, non-name specific, sponsorships. For example, Baby Shain, brought to you with limited diaper changing interruptions by Ford.

Hey, if Blagojevich is doing it, why can't I?

Proof Positive

Although I didn't experience that "Am I really pregnant?" feeling that some of my friends had during the first trimester -- I had enough symptoms that I was sure every minute -- it was still amazing to see the baby for the first time on Monday. Here is a photo from our 12 week ultrasound:


I annotated the photo for those of you who aren't adept at reading these fuzzy black and white images.

More Information

Yes, we're having a baby! People usually want to know more than that, though, so here are the answers to a few frequently asked questions:

How far along are you?/When are you due?
I'm 13 weeks, which puts me in the second trimester. I'm due July 13.

Are you going back to work after the baby comes?
Yes, I'll be going back full-time. Brandeis guarantees 8 weeks of maternity leave, but if I can get approval, I would like to stay home with the baby through the end of Sukkot, which would be 13 weeks. I'll keep you posted on the negotiations.

Is the baby a boy or a girl?
I don't know yet! Sex is detectable by ultrasound at about 18 weeks. Adam and I will be finding out the sex, if the baby cooperates by being in the right position, and we'll be happy to share the information with all of you after the next ultrasound.

How are you feeling?
Ugh. I had a miserable first trimester, with lots of food aversions, nausea and vomiting, not to mention exhaustion. I was actually losing weight. My wonderful OB/GYN eventually put me on Zofran (Ondansetron), an anti-nausea medication, which helped a lot, and I do feel much better now. But I admit that I was surprised by all the intense physical changes that come with pregnancy! Not to mention the emotional ones. (Did you see the Pampers Peace on Earth commercial? I was absolutely sobbing.)

Can I tell people?
It's on the Internet, so it's public! Most of our friends and family know by now, I think. I told my boss this past week, and I'll tell the rest of my coworkers on Monday. Kudos, by the way, to our parents and grandparents for keeping the secret for 8 weeks!