Baby, Baby, Baby, Oooooh

That song is in your head now, isn't it! Hahahaha! Enjoy your ear worm for the day.

In all seriousness, though, I hate baby naming. I can imagine baby naming to be just as hard if we were going to give this nugget an English name - but we're not. Just like his brother, Yoav (who we call 'YoYo'), nugget will have an Israeli/Hebrew name.

Could you imagine if he didn't? How awkward would that be? "These are my kids: Yoav and John". Weird.

Anyway, we've been wracking our brains to come up with a name for Baby Nugget. It's kind of a big deal. We need a name that is pronounceable, readable, easily-spelled, and happens to be cool.

Some of the contenders are...

I'm sure we have more contenders but who can remember them all. Let's face it, I have the memory of a fly right now.

Still, naming a baby is important. I like to ask my sister, Kim, "what do you think of the name..." - on a regular basis. Sometimes I like to get her take on it before I ask the hubby.

I need suggestions, people! Give me some cool Israeli baby names!!!

House and Home

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!

Now that the news is out of the way, I want to get some things off my chest.

I never thought I'd ever be able to buy a house. When I was in my 20s, I didn't have 'purchase a house' as a goal - mostly because I never thought my finances would be stable enough to do it.

Crazy, right? I know some of you feel the same way.

I'm very proud of my family, right now.

Craig and I moved back to Michigan in August 2012 - just about 9 months ago. In that time we started saving, planning, and acting on our dreams. We held off on getting just any ol' job because we wanted jobs that challenged us and fulfilled us. We wanted careers. And we wanted careers that rewarded us financially.

In Israel,we lived paycheck to paycheck. We barely made enough to save any more and we barely made enough to live. It was hard. Granted, we didn't move to the US because life in Israel is harder than it is here - it's not. Life in the US is also hard. I won't get a Federally-mandated maternity leave. Instead of 14 weeks of paid leave (paid for by the gov't), I get 8 weeks and some of it is at 50% my salary. Taxes are high here. People are just as angry here as they are in Israel. The difference? Israelis voice their displeasure and move on. Americans? Not so much.

We left Israel to be closer to my family. I did not want my kids growing up the way my Dad grew up (with very little interaction between them and their immediate family). Granted, I have the luxury to make that choice - my grandparents did not.

Still, moving to the US enabled us to get better jobs (where we are appreciated and not 'used' for our English vocabulary). It enabled us to buy two cars, raise our son within a few miles of most of his cousins, and buy a house.

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!

I still don't believe it. Who does that in only nine months??? On top of it, I'm nearly 7 months pregnant now. I'm AMAZED that my blood pressure is at 117/71 (as of Monday). That's pretty low considering how much stress I'm under.

Yesterday, just before closing, we did the walk-through. And by 'we', I mean I walked through it with my Dad and the sellers. I like the people who owned this house. They took care of it. My dad said it's a lot of house for three and a half people but it's a house we'll grow into. It's a house we'll be able to have for many years to come. It's a house we can raise our kids in. And it's a house for parties. I like parties.

This is the house we get to call our own:

Courtesy of Homes.com

We are living the American dream!

Pigeons and Pregnancy

What do falcons and pregnancy have to do with each other? Not much ... unless you work in my office. Currently, at the Campbell Ewald ad agency, we have some squatters. Not the homeless variety - more like of the avian variety.

That's right. We have birds. Pigeons to be exact. Well, they aren't pigeons, they are falcons but I will call them pigeons. And one of them laid three eggs. We have CE falcons...

I don't like birds. 

Well, that's not entirely true. I don't dislike birds, I just don't care for them too much. And any bird I don't like is automatically labeled a 'pigeon'. Seriously, I don't really like birds. Unless they do this:

Funny girl.

Craig thinks this is a cool concept though. He also thinks it's funny that pregnancy is like an epidemic here - SO many of us are pregnant, we should all have our pictures taken with lady love above.

So, it seems CE has a new mascot ... at least it gives me something to talk about, right?

Financial Challenges and Death

Wow, it's been a busy week and it's only Wednesday. Anyone else feel like that?

Lots of things are going on around the Glaser household. For one, my Bubbie passed away. She lived 100 great years and if there's anything I can take away from her passing it's that life is beautiful - even when it's ugly, so smile through it all and you'll be OK.

Someone at shiva (week-long mourning period in Judaism) remarked that I didn't seem particularly upset by Bubbie's passing and, truthfully, it was one of the most annoying things anyone said during shiva... and there were a lot of annoying remarks. Of course I'm sad, I miss her terribly, but she lived to be 100 years old and had a smile on her face constantly. For her, I'd rather celebrate her life than mourn her death. She deserves that much.

Aside from that, we're in the process of buying a house. What a process it is! I hate it, every moment of it. They dive into your financial life and pick through it with a fine tooth comb. It's super annoying and while I totally understand why they do that, it's still annoying. I'm waiting for the mortgage people to say 'OK, now all we need is a blood sample!'

Since we're in the process of buying a new house, I thought May would be a great time for a little financial check and challenge. In the past, when we lived in Israel, we did a No Spend Month - which was pretty easy because we had no money. I don't think that's the route I want to go this time. Plus, if you do a quick Google search of 'no spend month', you'll find lots of blogs that do it and none of them seem super realistic when you're buying a home.

I want to do a challenge that takes us a step further. I want a challenge that helps us reduce our credit cards while still saving money.

Courtesy: Property Mortgage Investment

Any ideas?

Another thought I had is to buy antiques to fill up our house instead of buying new. Since we're starting from scratch, we have almost nothing. What do you think? We're open to suggestions!

Suit Up at eSuit.com

From time to time I like to bring you awesome readers something new and fresh that might be helpful for your wardrobe and your pocket book. Well, I have a new one for you. Once upon a time, Craig was looking to buy some suits. Do you know how hard it is to buy men's suits for a man who is all of 5'6" and about 130lbs? Super hard. We don't live in Israel anymore and those suits are SO needed here...especially for Craig's work.

We looked around - found a retail store that could accommodate - but we're online people. Craig and I have a hard time buying stuff in the store when we know we can get it online for less. When I searched for online suit sites, I couldn't really find anything - and it sucked. The sites were terrible and we couldn't find anything in Craig's size! I finally found a site that sells discount designer men's suits! It's called eSuit.com and the prices are better than offline retail stores. Since summer is coming, I think we may be in the market for a nice cotton suit for Craig.

It's time for you to Suit Up! Take a look at what they offer.

32 Years Young

Welcome to the obligatory birthday post! What kind of blogger would I be if I didn't write a post congratulating myself on my own birthday! When I woke up this morning, I kinda felt like this:

Compliments of Giphy

Then I realized that even though it was 5:30am, it's my birthday! So, I felt more like this:

Cheezburger Society

Well, I'm 32 years young today - yes, that's my real age! What have I learned since age 31? Let's see...

• I can function on little sleep.
• Moving your family halfway across the world is scary but rewarding.
• When you're having a bad day, don't talk to your spouse, talk to your kid...and your dogs. You'll feel better.
• It's OK to call a place you lived but were not born in 'home'. It's also OK to miss 'home'. 
• You're stronger than you think you are.
• But you have limits. Know them.
• Everything can be solved by using a baseball bat, duct tape, or a hammer. 
• You're smart. Let everyone know it.

That kind of sums up the last year. I wonder what age 32 will bring? A house? A baby? Both? Well, yeah, both. In case you missed a memo, I'm 20 weeks pregnant and we're working on a mortgage for a house!

My wish for today? No analytical reports (or very few) and lots of cake. I want to look like this by the end of the day with my cake:

Source: Film School Rejects

I'm really excited for age 32. I don't have any wisdom to lay upon you except this: enjoy each day. You're going to get stressed out, frustrated, and pissed off - don't let it overcome you. If you do, you will resent each day and that's not why we were put on this earth.

Yom HaShoah memories

"I ran towards my mother, to give her my coat, and I was hit in the head with the butt of a rifle. That was my first introduction to Auschwitz." This is how my grandmother explained the Holocaust to me at age 15.

It wasn't the first time I heard stories from a survivor. I can't remember a time when I didn't know about the Holocaust. It wasn't something my parents shielded us from. We had questions, our grandparents (and their friends!) had answers.

Let me back up a bit. In case you didn't know, I'm the grand-daughter of four Holocaust survivors. I wear that badge with pride - not because it makes me different but because I'm proud of the lives my grandparents created after the horrors they experienced. They came out with nothing and built families. They built lives. They rose from the ashes, like a flock of Jewish Phoenix.

I grew up understanding what the Holocaust meant and how Jews were 'special' back then but special in a bad way. We were targets. To be honest, I only heard about this from my Dad's parents. It was too painful for my Mom's parents...until I turned 15 and kind of forced my grandmother to tell me her stories. Now she's incredibly vocal about what happened to her.

Today starts Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day. And I was put on this earth to remind you, year-after-year, not to forget.

You see, in Judaism, you die two deaths. One physical, and the other a lot less physical. When you stop remembering people, they die a second death. Some of us are named after those who died in the Holocaust -  it's a way to keep people from dying a second death. My mom is named after her grandmother; my father is named after his grandfather. Yoav is named for one of my grandfather's uncles. My uncle is named for his uncle. All of those people were murdered in the Holocaust.

My nephew is named for my paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather - both survivors.

Someone at work told me, recently, that I take my religion very seriously. I told her that I take my religion's history very seriously because the Holocaust is the LAST time we will rely on outside help to save a people. 

The Holocaust is more than just stories about Anne Frank and Oscar Schindler. So, on Yom HaShoah, I implore you to educate yourself. Take a moment to visit one of the following sites and read about those that died, those that survived, those that tried to rescue others, those that resisted, and those that defied human nature to fight evil:
Holocaust Memorial Center
Yad VaShem
Personal Histories (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
The Story of Hannah Senesh
American Holocaust Story