Happy Anniversary!

Happy 1 year wedding anniversary to me! Happy 1 year wedding anniversary to Pidgeon! Happy 1 year wedding anniversary to us! 

Wow - I can't believe its actually been an entire year.  There has been some really good stuff, some bad stuff and just life in between. 

The Good

We had a fantastic honeymoon in the Dead Sea

We got pregnant (yea!!!)

We both finished school

We both passed all our school exams

We're still madly in love with each other (which is very nice)

We've grown together as a couple, which is even nicer

We've both been through medical crisis and realized that we can count on the other person to be there for us

We went to the States for Pesach and had an awesome time, despite the morning sickness

We're still each others best friend

I'm so thankful to G-d that we found each other, and I hope that we're still at the point where we don't take each other for granted yet (hopefully, that day will never come)

For once in my life, I am dreaming of a family, and it's wonderful to be able to dream a dream that P"G can come true

The Bad

We both put on some serious post-wedding weight, although now I just call my weight gain baby weight. We need New Year's resolutions to lose weight STAT!

I don't feel any closer to Pidgeon's family, in fact, I feel as awkward as ever

Life in Between

We went to London together, which was one of the best trips I've ever taken in my life! I miss my Starbucks here in Israel.

I still get that awed feeling when I light candles on Friday night and Pidgeon comes home from shul, sings, makes Kiddush and we have Shabbos dinner. When I was single, and during the depressed single years, I used to fantasize about that moment and what it could be like. And, having it come to fruition for me is truly amazing. It's like when you want something so bad and you dream about it and then it happens, it takes a while for you to actually realize it's real. I still get that feeling, even when it's just the two of us and I come to the Shabbos table in my scrubs. It's pretty incredible.

So, let the celebrations continue!

We had a lovely Shabbos in Ashkelon and then, on Sunday, we drove to Cinema City in Herzliya. We made it there in time for the 2:45 p.m. showing of The Dark Knight which was extremely dark and disturbing. I, of course, compare each and every new Batman movie to the original Michael Keaton version and it was basically no comparison this time. They were so vastly different. It wasn't exactly a pick me up kind of flick, but it was very entertaining nevertheless. We were starving by intermission, but we had some heavy duty dinner plans, so we both sucked it up and chewed some gum to keep our appetites for dinner.

And, it was a very good thing we did, because we ended up at the Herzliya Marina at the kosher Papagayo's. For people unfamiliar with the Papagayo concept, it's basically an all you can eat set menu. For 145 shekel a plate, we went with the meat menu. We tried to be strategic though, about the eating, since you don't want to fill up on crap before all the good stuff comes out. But, we were starving, so we had to start with something. We passed on the bread, but we both got fruit smoothies for drinks. That, in hindsight, was a bad idea since it was just air and fruit and water and it was a waste of stomach space. We then digged into the salatim which were very good, and a plate of sweet and sour sauces battered chicken wings. I usually am not a wing person, I never was really into wings, but I was hungry so I ate two. And then, the meat came out in the following order:

1 sausage (spicy and delicious)

1 strip of skirt steak (done well and also delicious)

1 chunk of marinated chicken breast

1 chunk of marinated steak fillet

goose hearts (I passed on this one, I'm not a fan of organ meat)

1 grilled and battered chicken drumstick

chicken livers (I passed on this too)

lamb kabob (I took a bite and passed it over to Pidgeon. It was too rare for me)

Sliced steak entrecote WELL done (which was actually for once, too well done for me. Tasted a bit like shoe leather)

At this point, Pidgeon and I were BURSTING with all the food and we contemplated turning the green sign to red (which signals to the wait staff that you are done and that they shouldn't bring you any more food) but I insisted we continue. I mean, for 145 shekel a plate, I wanted to make sure I got all the food I was paying for. Not the smartest thing I've ever done, but, I'm a New York Jew and I wanted to get my money's worth. So, we asked the waiter what was left to come. He said there was Asado on and off the bone and that we must at least try one. He was also very surprised that we made it this far, but there was no way I was passing up on that Asado. So, they brought the Asado without the bone to the table and carved us pieces right then and there. I got the smallest piece I could get, as did Pidgeon, and then we just caved and turned the green to red.

Now, I was really not feeling so great at this moment. I've been on all protein diets before, but never consumed this much meat (only) in such a short period of time. Even the 5 potatoes they brought us with the salatim went untouched practically, because we were holding out for the beef. So, I told Pidgeon I wasn't feeling so great, and I headed towards the ladies room where I prayed to the porcelin god. 

What a waste of 145 shekels! Pidgeon felt bad that I got sick so quickly and, instead of walking around by the water and through the marina mall, we just packed it in and headed home. It was a good idea because by the time we got home, I was just wiped. I managed to unpack our stuff though, before crashing pretty quickly. 

The worst part was that my parents paid for our Papagayo dinner and, so when they asked me how it went, I lied and told them how great it was. I mean, it was a wonderful dining experience, I just pigged out and paid the price. That's one secret I think I'm going to keep from them, I know my Father well, and I could do without the pigging out lecture. Next time, I think we're going to just pass on the whole Papagayo experience. I do much better when I can order what I want, and just leave what I can't on my plate and then wrap it up and take it home. That's the problem with Papagayo's - no doggie bags.

Yesterday, we basically spent the day a part. Pidgeon went to the office to continue working on his project, and I stayed home to be the little housewife. I did a huge load of laundry, washed dishes and cleaned up around the house. We stopped by Pidgeon's parents later at night, before dinner, so I could pick up my blood test results. The GREAT news is that my sugar test came back normal! Thank G-d! I was so worried about gestational diabetes, on top of everything else I'm dealing with, that I'm just so thankful it came out ok. The abnormal results were with my blood and Pidgeon's Mom said that it means I'm anemic. I have to call my hematologist to see if the results are because  I'm just iron deficient or if it's the Clexane. But, I'm not worrying. My sugar is good people and that means I can eat CAKE again!

Nice!

So, Pidgeon's Mom asked us what we're doing today to celebrate and we just looked at her blankly. We don't have plans. We have a 5:00 p.m. heart echo test for the baby and, depending on the results, we figured we go from there. Although, we somehow managed to pack our day today with errands. Already this morning, before 9:30 a.m., we had Mei Eden delivering our monthly allotment of water, the cleaner guy came back to refund our money and pick up an outfit they accidentally gave us that wasn't ours (love when that happens) and the cabinet builder here to measure the alarm system in the room so he can build a cabinet that will cover the system (so that, P"G, the baby won't be able to get to all the wiring) along with 2 shelves on top for baby books. We're hoping the price will be decent and he promised we'll get it by the Chagim, which is basically in two months time.  

Our other plans include going to the post office to pick up Pidgeon's anniversary present, heading over to 4UGifts to finish off our registry. We still have almost 2,000 shekel that we need to spend and I'm looking forward to replenishing the dishes we both shattered in the past year. After that, we have a 300 shekel credit for a wedding gift we returned in town that we're going to redeem and maybe, just maybe, we'll go check out some baby furniture stores in Talpiot.

Not exactly a romantic anniversary in bed, but just being together is all I really need today.

Yom Tov from Baka!