Jeanette, Lisa, and Larry's blog

Tired, but home.

He was released from rehab on Friday.

He's happy to be home. He's not sleeping well, but at least he's home.

So, the Rabbi wants the baby to get a Mikveh to ensure that she's totally Jewish with no questions, ifs, ands, or buts.

Sounds good. I figure no problem, she takes a little swim - she'll be good. She loves getting a bath.

Silly Larry.

On the west coast, there's this thing called "Waterbabies", in which they throw newborn babies in the water so that they start learning to swim immediately.

A Mikveh is kind of like that except there's no lifeguard and you're praying out loud.

So, we get to the Mikveh and I'm supposed to go into the pool with Jeanette.
No problem.

And then I'm supposed to put her in up to her shoulders.
No problem.

And then I'm supposed to blow in her face.
No problem.

And then I put her 100% underwater and let go for a second.
SAY WHAT?!?!?!?!?

I looked at the Rabbi when he said that with that "I'M GOING TO DO WHAT?" face.
He's used to that.
Then I'm going to say a prayer and then do that two more times.

Well, after momentarily considering walking the $#%@ out of there, Lisa's much calmer about the idea of doing this than I am, so I figure it will be okay. Frightening, but okay.

Well, I go into the water with unuspecting happy little Jeanette, blow in her face and then dunk her and then quickly bring her back up.
She comes back up and gives me this stunned look that says "What the hell was that?" I give her this look that says "Please don't get a complex because of this - I can't believe I'm doing this - I might need therapy after this".

She doesn't cry one bit. I think she was too shocked to know what to do. I gave her a big theraputic hug and said the prayer and then we did this two more times. She took it a lot better than I did.

Jeanette was smiling a few minutes after the Mikveh. Incredible kid - she's unflappable on most things, including drowning attempts it appears. If it wasn't 10am, I would have been hunting for beer. I think we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts on the way back.

The best part of this is that I thanked the Rabbi for this and then wrote him a check.

In short, just say no to Mikveh'ing your baby. At least one of you will freak out.

Let's see.... What's happened since the last update.

1. Friday 10/20 - Jeanette got Mikveh'd. She's now fully Jewish for the conservatives. Reform was fine anyway, but the conservative Rabbi for the baby naming suggested we do that for the conservatives.
If you ever are suggested to Mikveh your baby, don't. I will explain the "I'm going to do what?!?!?!" later.

2. Wednesday 10/25 - Rob and Becca got married. I think we all felt a strange disturbance in the force when that happened. Pictures will be coming.

3. Saturday 10/28 - Jeanette got baby named. She was REALLY cute at the temple and at the party afterwards. Pictures will be coming.

Gee, this looks pretty good so far..... then what happened?

4. Tuesday 10/31 - Larry goes to doctor for minor item. Doctor tells Larry to lose some freaking weight 'cause he's too damned fat. He gave me a quick graph of my weight over the past five years. Looks like a roller coaster going straight up over the past year.

5. Wednesday 11/1 - Larry's Dad has heart attack.

6. Friday 11/3 - Larry's Dad has quadruple bypass surgery. They told us it was going to be a triple bypass, but when they got in there they found another artery to clean out.

What's Larry's first thought? Rocky Road ice cream.
What's Larry's second thought? Maybe a salad instead.

So, I blew about $100 on cookbooks from the American Heart Association. I'll be posting the direct Amazon links soon.

Dad's okay - he's in a rehab facility for a few days until he's good to come home - possibly this Friday. His phone number is 631 439 3723. Mom visits every day in the afternoon, so call him in the early evening hours.