Things I am thankful for

Although I am not really a fan of Thanksgiving, it is always nice to take stock and appreciate all the great things I have in my life. So in no particular order, some serious, some more in jest, here is my list of things I am thankful for this year:

-My little AY. Turning a year and bringing so much joy into our life. He is at an age where he is busy exploring and is keeping me on my toes, but it is fun to watch him discover things, play with his siblings, and to hear his infectious giggle. Of course I am thankful for my other children, who say the funniest things and always find new creative ways to give me minor heart attacks

- that my kids love spending time with my in-laws. We took a train out to their home today and they were so excited for our little trip. I love that think they view taking a subway and then a train as an adventure (I know, we don't get out much) and that they were looking forward to this little outing for so long, planning it and talking about it at school.  They even spent the morning making special cards to bring my in-laws as a present

- That my big guy is making progress.

I love this kid. Some days he frustrates me so much I want to scream (this is not really unique to special needs, the other kids have that amazing quality too) but the truth is he is really growing a lot. His speech is expanding every day and he amazes us with the things he tells us. We are ever so slowly seeing progress in the last few hurdles of toilet training. He is obsessed with football (and the iPad), loves his baby brother and playing with his cars. If he stopped waking me at 5 15 that would be awesome, but he truly is a great kid and I am thankful for him.

-My Ergo baby carrier that lets me have my hands free when I need them. We decided to leave the stroller home today on our trip, which was a good decision because the train was packed and it also saved time. Enter the ergo. When I need to run down to get the kids from the bus, I often use it too. In the afternoons when AY gets cranky and does not want to get put down and I have to make dinner/give baths. etc, I use the (you guessed it) Ergo.

Riding on my back

I do have a moby wrap and a sling that I use sometimes but this is really the easiest and most functional. Thank goodness for babycarriers.

-My husband. He is supporting me on my venture to obtain a nursing degree which means a lot to me. I know it is not easy for him that I am less available and busier, to have to pitch in more with childcare when my babysitters are not reliable (don't get me started...) and of course to pay for all of it :) But we are doing this thing together, slowly and steadily. It's nice to be a team- in this and all other areas.

-That my dad came to visit for the week bearing gifts- most importantly Belgian Kleinfeld chocolate. Now that is something to be really thankful for....

What are you thankful for?

The Toilet-Saga

I don't know if anyone wants to hear about our toilet trouble but I will tell you anyway.
For almost a month now, our toilet in our main bathroom has been out of commission on and off.This toilet has always been a bit temperamental but at least it worked. Now, nada!
 It started on a shabbos about a month ago when one of our shabbos guests put baby wipes in the toilet and caused it to back up. Because it was the weekend, we had to wait till Monday to have it fixed...only to have it break again the following shabbos. The super came up again on Monday and fixed it. He also said it was the kid's fault and that if it happens again, he would not come back to fix it. And that we should not put any toilet paper in the toilet. Excuse me?
I should mention that because we live in New York City we pay an arm and a leg for this apartment. I am  embarrassed to say how much. And they just raised our rent. So you would think that for all that money we would be entitled to a working toilet that actually flushes toilet paper.
We do have two other bathrooms, but one is in our bedroom, the other in my husband's office. These are rooms we usually try to keep the kids out of. So now every time someone needs to use the bathroom they need to come get me so I can unlock the door. As for trying to toilet train Y- guess who is not going to the bathroom every half hour because it is just too complicated.
Here is where it gets tricky. The toilet worked for about five days until the following Shabbos when the boys in a moment of mischief thought it was hilarious to flush plastic spoons down the toilet while I was not paying attention. Surprisingly, they went down without a problem. The problem is, after the spoons, nothing else did anymore. So we had a broken toilet all weekend once again. And this time it was our fault. But still...
Despite his threats, the super did come up again. He was able to fix it temporarily but three days later it stopped working again...thankfully not on a Shabbos! It still took till Friday to get someone to come take a look at it. The super came up last Friday and declared it fixed.  He also told me if it happens again, he would have to replace the toilet. I said "please do!!" About half hour after he left, the water was backing up again.
Which brings me to today. We had spent almost the whole week trying to get him to come upstairs and finally today, on Thanksgiving, the super came back, toting some big machine. He found one more plastic spoon backed up in the toilet and gave me another lecture about keeping the kids away from the toilet.
Can you guess what happened about an hour after he left? Exactly!
The whole thing is so absurd, I am not exactly sure if I should cry or laugh. I am dreading calling him back tomorrow. He will be really annoyed even though we have not doing anything wrong. At this point, I want a new toilet. Whatever the issue is, it is obviously not being resolved with a plunger or even some newfangled machine.
I do not know a lot about the cost or labor involved in replacing a toilet but what I do know is that I am about to have a baby in the next week or so and will have a lot of people in my home- babysitters, parents, etc. So a functioning toilet that is easily accessible and not behind locked doors would be very helpful. And again, given the rent we pay, not such an unreasonable request, don't you think?
Any tips on dealing with the super/management company are highly welcome...oh and Happy Thanksgiving too!

Thanksgiving

I have to be honest. I have become American in many ways but one thing I just don't get is Thanksgiving. Growing up in Vienna, we never celebrated Thanksgiving, even though my mother is American. When I was living in NJ with my grandmother when I was in high school, we never did Thanksgiving either. Ditto for when I lived in Israel.
Then we moved to New York and everyone is busy making Thanksgiving dinners and plans. I never knew religious orthodox Jews actually celebrate this secular holiday. And all the hysteria in the media about the traveling, the cooking, the family...there is a lot of drama.
My husband sees it as not really celebrating a holiday, rather just an opportunity to get together with some family and have a nice meal. The only issue with that is that other than my in-laws we don't quite have any family living in the US. But we work with what we have, so every Thanksgiving for the last 4 years, we take the train out to my in-laws and have a quiet and cute meal with them. Our kids run around the house and watch too much football. Then we take the train home and try to get out exhausted crew to bed at a decent hour.
Whatever your opinion on Thanksgiving, I was thinking that being grateful and thankful is always a good thing to do, so here is a short, by no means exhaustive list of things I am thankful for:
1) My husband- I don't really post about him a lot. Not because there is nothing to say, rather because there is so much. He deserves a lot of credit. For being a good husband and father, for supporting our family and enabling me to stay home with our children and mostly, for putting up with me and all my craziness :)
2) My children- I admit to being a bit of a kvetch and so I whine and vent. About the crazy things my children do, their shenanigans, their boundless energy, the mess and all the care they necessitate. But the truth is, and I am sure you all know this even when I am complaining, I love them to pieces and I can't imagine my life without them.
3) Our apartment- This might seem like a shallow thing to be thankful for but having enough space for our children and all their stuff is not something to take for granted when living in NYC. On November 30, it will be a year since we moved into our new place and we are really happy here. Especially because the doorman said our kids are the cutest kids in the whole building :)
There is obviously much more to mention- health, friends, etc. but I think I will leave it at that for now. What are you thankful for?