We have arrived

Because we are crazy like that, we have had a busy week. First, we were severely delayed on the way home from Florida... due to rainstorms in NYC we got home with 4 cranky and exhausted kids after midnight. After very little sleep, Thursday and Friday had me disassembling and then reassembling the contents of all my kitchen cabinets so an exterminator could aggressively treat out kitchen (and the rest of the apartment). Due to construction in the building, we had been dealing with some unwelcome visitors and the situation was getting out of hand. I am hoping this finally took care of the issue.
Friday was also spent packing, running last minute errands and trying to get the apartment cleaned up before our Sunday flight (more on that later).
Shabbos was my birthday- ta da. I was a bit too tired to get really excited for it, but it ended up being a nice day. My kind husband gave me the gift of sleep and did some extra diaper duty and the kids had made me nice cards. Still on my wishlist for my birthday:
-sleep (will probably not be getting much of that
- massage- will definitely be doing that. My back is still giving me problems.
- some more alone/quiet/mommy time, whatever you like to call it ;)
Notice how all these gifts involve some sort of self-care/indulgence. Every once in a while a care-taker has to take care of herself/

Sunday was the big day- our long awaited flight to Israel for our yearly trip. Honestly, I was a bit too stressed/anxious about getting ready to be really excited for this trip. But now that we are here...it's so nice.
The flight was about as good as you can expect when traveling with 4 little kids. No delays or waits, a bassinette and an extra seat and mostly cooperative kids with no major tantrums/meltdowns. The stewardesses and passengers around us all fell in love with Baby AY and commented on how cute and smiley he is. He is all of those things but after 6 plys hours of holding him almost non stop, I was quite ready for his royal cuteness to sleep a bit!!
We are all kind of exhausted and jet lagged but psyched to be here to see family and friends...after we get some more sleep!!