Visiting Ima and the New Baby at the Hospital

On his first day, the new baby had some highly excitable visitors - his siblings

After school, Elisheva, Ezra and Elazar came with Abba to the hospital to check out the new baby. They wanted to get a good look at the youngster, so they could properly indentify him to authorities if something in there room goes missing.

Most of all they came to see Ima and see how she was doing and were so happy they could finally sit on her lap again.

Here is the day-after picture of the new baby taking one of his eight daily naps

Welcome to Olam HaZeh #4

Stats:
Born Thursday, January 21, 2010, 6 Shevat 5770 5:30 AM
Shaarei Tzedek Hospital, Yerushalyim, Ir HaKodesh
Weighed in at 8 lb. 5 oz
Below is a picture of the new baby at 8 minutes old, soaking in some rays and working on his tan in the baby warmer. I tried to get him to smile, but the new baby wasn't being too cooperative. B"H birth went smoothly and Ima and the baby are in good health.

Uncle Yudi Made Birthright But Missed The Birth

Uncle Yudi somehow managed to get himself a free ticket to Israel via Birthright. Initially, we put Yudi in Cherem for not bringing us a suitcase, but he made up for it by running some errands for Fay and pitching in around the house when he stayed with us for a couple of days after extending his trip. If anyone finds Yudi's wallet, feel free to leave a comment on the blog. Always a pleasure to see Yudi, especially for his Gersten nieces and nephews, of which he had 3 when he left Israel and 4 when he landed in Newark. Maybe next time Yudi. Fortunately, Bubby and Grandpa are on the way.

Mazel Tov to the Baltimore Gerstens on the birth of Henya Gersten

Yes the date above shows that this post should have been two months ago, but today is when I finally got some pictures forwarded to me.

Mazel Tov to Uncle Avidgor, Aunt Tamara, RT, EY and PD on the birth of Henya, named in memory of Savta. We hope to see Henya grow, provide comfort for the entire family, and give zechus to her namesake, along with her siblings and cousins.

Aunt Merril, Jessica and Grandma come to Israel

Now that Rachel is in Medical School in Israel, Aunt Merril brought Jessica and Grandma Libby to visit. They spent a few days based in Tel Aviv, but then came to Yerushalayim for Shabbos and the last few days of their trip.

We joined them, Uncle Eliezer and his family and Cousin Lara for Shabbos at the Sheraton Plaza Hotel (Newly renamed the Leonardo Hotel) on King George Street in Jerusalem

It was wonderful to spend time together. The meals were nice and we tried our best to have a family Shabbos meal in the giant ballroom. (This picture is not from the Shabbos, but Elazar just looked cute so we stuck it in)

We went to the Shabbos Park in Rechavia on Ramban street with Ezra, Elazar, Abba, Aunt Merril, Jessica, Aunt Basheva, Esti, Tova and Aliza (sorry no pictures available due to the Sabbath)

After Shabbos Grandma wanted to "check out the action at Ben Yehuda", so Ezra, Elisheva, Abba, Rachel, Jessica, Merril, Lara accompanied them. The Beitar Gerstens had to go home and Ima went home with Elazar.

Ezra was easy to find in the crowd with his bright green sweater. He practiced his frog jumps and Rachel did a good job playing catcher.

Then the kids were treated to some ice cream at Katzefet (formerly known as Fro Yo). Ezra and Elisheva were shivering, but it was all worth it.