Champions of the World!!

The Phillies are Champions of the World. That's right, in Chase Utley's words, "World Fucking Champions!" 28 years since our first and only other World Series Championship, the Phillies rallied up the city with an unprecedented pride. I am not sure where my vested interest came from, nor my unhinging confidence, but I believed in this championship long before the playoffs began.
It was a historical series, mostly because game 5, the resulting clincher, began at 8:37pm on Monday night in horrid conditions of a cold rain. Although it should have happened much earlier, the umps called the game into suspension due to puddles at each of the bases and hydroplaning occurences while running in the middle of the 6th inning with the game tied 2-2. It took 48 hours from the start of the game to resume, after a delay of an unlikely October snow storm that had a catastrophic effect on our front lawn. At 8:37pm on Wednesday night the game resumed at the bottom of the 6th inning, Phillies at bat on a beautiful Fall night.
The Phillies went into the world series as the underdogs, at least in Vegas. From watching the series I have no idea why. Tampa Bay had the best regular season record in baseball and a supposed offense that had everyone murmuring. The Phillies, however, made the series look easy in spite of leaving a ridiculous number of runners in scoring position, and failing to capitalize more times than not. Yet, they were dominant. They were dominant because they are a good team. The 6-4-3 double play was made to look easy because of Rollins and Utley. The arms on their outfielders made home plate seem close and the legs on Victorino made the outfield seem smaller.
The pitching staff was incredible, which is funny to avid fans who have complained about pitching for too many years. Cole Hamels was the MVP, deservingly. Jamie Moyer pulled through with an unbelievable performance. The bullpen was untouchable and Brad Lidge managed to have a perfect season. A perfect season.
At the plate, the stars shined differently every night. Some nights the heroes were the obvious ones, like Utley's 1st inning homer or Howard's two homer game. Other nights the hereos were the underdogs or even off the bench. All 25 players played a role in the victory, which is exactly what you need to be world fucking champions.
And, as expected, the city is high on the Phillies. If it feels this good for the fans, what, oh what, are the players feeling?

Big Boy Beds!!

After many weeks of nighttime torture, weeks of Ryder fighting us on bedtime, we have moved on to big boy beds. Ryder had become a master of climbing in and out of his crib, in the pitch dark. We had hours upon hours of fights with the toddler, from going to bed, to waking up in the middle of the night and joining us in bed, to waking up at the crack of dawn. Recently, however, we began getting some relief. For reasons we do not know, he began to stay in his crib again. We decided to reward this behavior with a big boy bed. Perhaps, it was the crib he did not like? Today was night one. Chase did great, but this is no surprise since he never gave us a problem. Ryder did really well. He needed to be returned to bed three times but then was down for the count. Let's see if he makes it all the way through the night.

Saturday Morning

This is how a recent Saturday morning went in our home. A 7:45 am wake up, a half hour of Barney in Mommy and Daddy's bed, a pancake breakfast, and a trampling of a brother. Despite how it may look, both boys were laughing as Ryder bounced on Chase, on the trampouline.

You've gotta love the weekends.

A Crib for Two!

Our night time issues have been finding some resolve as Ryder has managed to stay in his room the past four nights. I am not sure if it is the stickers incentive, the promise of a big boy bed, or maybe he has just surrendered. Regardless, we have seen improvement.
Tuesday night I put the boys to bed a bit later than usual. Todd was out for the night. They chatted and sang for nearly an hour before they fell asleep. I was just happy they were in their cribs. When Todd got home, we went to check on them and this is what we found:

Turns out Ryder did not stay in his crib, but it was too cute to move him or to be upset with him. Maybe all along he just wanted someone to sleep next to.

Pumpkins, Apples, and Fall Fun

What an autumn it has been. We have had some beautiful weather and a whole lot of fun. As the season would have it, we've been apple picking, pumpkin picking, and enjoyed a roll in the hay. This is definitely my favorite t

Funny conversation!

To fully understand the hilarity of the following conversation I must take you back 30some years, to a time even before I can remember (if I was even around.)
When my sister was a toddler she was not so fond of bath time. Being that most Citrenbaum's are far from water-babies this is not such a surprise. Any time it was bath night, Amy would demand in her mighty toddler voice "But I cookin' a baf yesterday!". My dad has repeated this line so many times in my life time that I am not sure if I am part of this memory or simply a recipient of the story.
Last Sunday night my parents were over for dinner. We were getting ready for bath time and my dad was sitting on the steps playing with Ryder. Chase was excited to take a bath, and approached the steps to see the Pop-Pop/Ryder blockade. He said "'scuse me Pop-Pop" as he made his way past. (Kudos to the manners.). My dad said "Where you going Chase" and he responded "I am going to take a bath.". My dad responded, as expected, with a "but I cookin' a bath yesterday.". His reaction was a reflex, a habit of years of practice. It was rhetorical, of course, something my mom and I would have barely heard if it was not for Chase's questioning response. His voice rose just slightly at the end intonating his question, as he looked at my dad and said, "You Did?". We all laughed, which Chase loves, so he laughed too, not knowing what was so funny.

Kicks and Jabs

I am 48 hours shy of 27 weeks. As the third tri-mester peeks around the corner I am becoming increasingly aware of how quickly this pregnancy will end and what once was 4 will become 5!
Zygie is an active bugger, swimming around with kicks and jabs and saying hello. I do not want record of my weight gain but it seems that I am gaining by the truckload.
I shopped for a layette last week, and was overwhelmed by the girls clothes. I love the boys' clothes, but the frills and flowers of the girly stuff is just too cute. I am not a frilly, flowery girl myself yet when I see this stuff I think that's how I would dress my daughter. Of course before I actually had sons I thought I would dress them much preppier than I do.
My ribs on my right side have been hurting and breathing is tough, as is bending over, but these are minor symptoms to an overall great pregnancy.
I have moments of...anxiety? I am not sure of the right word. Either way, I get nervous about how I will spend quality time with Chase and Ryder in those early weeks with the baby? How will I get three kids dressed and out of the house? Will I ever even leave the house with three young kids? I am sure all parents have similar fears as they transition from 1 to 2, I just never knew life with one. I calm myself by remembering that I was nervous about twins, thought for sure it would be impossible to do anything. Although I do not get much accomplished outside of child rearing, I have managed, somehow, life with twins thus far.
I am beginning to feel a bit of a time crunch to get everything done before baby comes but I seem to do better under pressure.
All in all Zygie and I are doing well. I know when I have the thrill of meeting my third born I will simultaneously miss having him/her inside of me, sharing moments with kicks and jabs.

The Phillies Win the Pennant!

I sure picked the right season to be a Phillies addict, though I admit I would have been on the bandwagon by now if I were not addicted.
That's right, in 5 games against the LA Dodgers and their ridiculously talented #3 hitter Manny Ramirez, the Phils clinched a world series berth for the first time in 15 years. The city is going nuts, most people I know are going nuts, and it really is an exciting time in Philly sports. I figure I should document this for the boys, who at 2 are too young to appreciate what's going on, but will probably want all of the details someday. Assuming they are sports fans, and also assuming they are anything like their father, there will come a day when they will rattle off all of the stats of the series as if they sat and watched it themselves. By then, I will remember only a a few players names. But, for the record, the Phils won in LA behind Cole Hamels, their ace. He kept the Dodgers to one run (a homer by the aforementioned Ramirez) and was MVP of the series for his two outstanding starts. Jimmy Rollins led game 5 off with a homerun, just as he had in the NLDS clincher against Milwaukee. Shane Victorino, my personal choice for MVP, had an unbelievable series including game tying homers and game saving defensive plays. The thing with this Phillies team is that on any day any one of them can be the star. I grew up playing team sports and the only thing better than knowing you can depend on your teammates to pick you up if you are down is winning the championship. Let's go Phils!!!

The Icing on the Cake!

For reasons I can't even fathom my mother-in-law does not like chocolate. I have a few friends with a similar distaste for the sweet I love and I don't understand. But, what she does love is cake, particularly the icing. She happens to be a fantastic baker so it works out well for her, and us, come holiday time. Somehow, she has managed to find several desserts that are so good I, dare I say, don't miss the chocolate.
Every now and again, we will catch Jill swiping her finger along the edge, where the cake meets the plate, to get a taste of the icing. I equate this to licking the bowl after baking a cake, but I prefer the chocolate. She has taught her grandsons the joy in this, who seem to have the same sweet tooth as most kids, yet I am hoping they do like chocolate.
Anyway, we were at our Yom Kippur break fast eating entirely too much food and yet still reserving some room for the delicious desserts yet to be served. And there is Ryder, fridge door opened, him one shelf up, swiping his finger across the icing of Jill's whipped cream cake. And, he was doing this with such delight it made you want to climb into the fridge right along side him. I must tell you that is some good icing so who could blame him, but we did stop him from the action and instead served him an actual piece.

I am a princess!!

Today was a special day at school. The boys were Shabbat Boys, and as if they were celebrities premiering their first movie, an entourage joined them in school. We (mommy, daddy, mom-mom, pop-pop, aunt Amy, Madden, and Aunt Carri) joined them in their classroom, where we did the prayers over the candles, wine, and challah and of course shared a special treat (munchkins) with the boys', their friends, and their teachers. We then went with them, and the rest of the Pre-school, to the sanctuary where we enjoyed a mini service with the Cantor and the Rabbi. The boys did great. For starters, they did not cry, not one tear, when I dropped them off. I am not sure if this is because they are evolving, perhaps getting used to school, or because they knew we were coming back in an hour to spend their Shabbat with them. Either way, the drop off went smooth. When we came back, and walked into the classroom, they were thrilled to see us. Ryder pointed to each of us one at a time and announced, "mommy's here, daddy's here, Aunt Carri's here," etc.






In the sanctuary, they were excited to go up on the Bimah, they (along with the other Shabbat kids) held up the props, opened the Ark, and paraded with the Torah. When they sang the chicken soup song and the Cantor asked Chase what you put in it, he said out loud "Chickens" which is perfectly appropriate. When they asked Ryder what to put in, he got shy and would not answer, so his brother spoke for him, and shouted "Carrots." Though I am sure he knows this from singing the song each week, it was amusing to have others think its because he knows how to make chicken soup:)
Back in the classroom, the teachers brought out costumes. All of the kids got really excited about this and started dressing up. I was thrilled when Chase held up the batman costume and exclaimed, "I want to wear this!" Of course once I had him dressed he smiled and said "I am a princess!" Interesting. He chose to get out of the batman suit soon after and did don himself in more than one princess gown. Ryder also tried on the same myriad of costumes, and seemed similarly excited about them all, even the princess costume. Ok, so boys will be boys most of the time and 2 year olds will be two year olds all of the time.

25 weeks

Officially I am 25 weeks pregnant. I am no longer exhausted, but I do still lack motivation to do chores after about 3pm, certainly after 8pm. I no longer crave nectarines or peaches or anything specific, in fact my cravings come in moments and often for something random. I do still love eating ice cream...too often. I am getting bigger each day, and where I thought I'd be so little carrying a single baby, well that is not proving to be the case.
I feel Zygie's movements much more often now, as if he/she is doing water aerobics inside of me.
Everyone still tells me I am having a girl. The Old Wives Tales point to girl. I still think it is a boy. Either way we are happy, we just need to come up with names.
They say you should not sleep on your back once you are past 16 weeks, yet every morning I wake up on my back. Tying my shoes is becoming more difficult as we head out of flip flop season, and I am finding some shirts are just not long enough to cover all of my belly, leaving me to show a patch of skin of this not-so-sexy midriff.
My breathing is a bit labored when I walk, but overall I feel really good and have no complaints. Pregnancy does OK by me.
We had another, and I believe our last, ultrasound. We had gone back so the tech could get the necessary cardiac pictures that Zygie did not cooperate for the last go round. Successful it was. We also got to see our baby wave and kick its feet, and of course see how much it has grown. Looking like a baby now, and weighing nearly two pounds, Zygie is becoming more and more like the child we will meet in a few months. Todd still thinks Zygie looks like me (and Ryder), but I am not so sure...what do you think?