Grossman family west

We had a check-in meeting with Lindsey, our Doula, whom we had not seen since Avi’s birth day. Although she didn’t get much blog airtime during the birth, she played an instrumental role for both me and Holly. At the very least, I wouldn’t have been able to provide the detailed play-by-play while Holly was laboring. Beyond that, though, Lindsey offered invaluable support, was a wonderful advocate for Holly, and was a balanced, positive spirit in the birthing suite during some of the most intense moments in our life. Perhaps the best complement comes from Holly herself. Despite the fact that medical realities pushed us into a birthing experience that wasn’t quite as planned, Holly said that she “loved her experience” and “has no regrets” thanks to Lindsey.

We’re thrilled to recommend her for anyone looking for a Doula in the Bay Area. Please email us if you’d like her contact info (you can email us from the About page).

Lindsey, our Doula, with Avi.
"I remember you when you were this big!"

For those who have been asking, the mohel made his standard 2-day-later checkup housecall today and our man Avi is looking good. Sorry, no photos.

Mom and Avi heading out on a walk

This afternoon, Mom and Avi explored the great outdoors for the first time–taking a walk around our neighborhood. It was a brisk 53 degrees today, so everyone had to dress warmly…

We’re thrilled to pass on the wonderful news that Avi has a new cousin! Carson Anthony Persinger was born on Sunday, February 8, 2009 at 4:46 pm PST to Holly’s brother, Mark, and his wife, Liz. Carson weighed in at a healthy 7 lbs, 3 oz and 20.5 inches. Pictures now on Flickr. We all couldn’t be happier for them and Avi is excited to meet his new cousin in April!

Today was Avi’s Bris. We spent a lot of time searching for a mohel: there are a number of psychological phases you go through when you’re tasked with finding someone to take a knife to your 8-day-old son’s precious parts. How do you find such a person? Yelp was no help at all and Find-A-Mohel.com wasn’t even registered (can you believe that someone is all over www.1800dentist.com but Find-A-Mohel.com is still available?!?). We ended up getting a recommendation from a woman in Holly’s pre-natal swim class. When we called to “interview” the recommended mohel, all of our combined brainpower could muster one meaningful interview question: “How many of these have you done?” Rabbi Chanan Feld’s answer: “I don’t know. More than 6,000.”

Sold.

Anyway, we still hadn’t met him face-to-face and Holly had her fair share of nightmares. All fears were allayed, though, when we opened our door at 9:45 AM this morning and welcomed this man into our home:

Rabbi Feld, master mohel

Seriously. From there, it was all a breeze. Can’t you just tell by looking at him? And he lived up to all expectations: Rabbi Feld left the crowd of 20+ impressed with a wonderful and brief service and a flawless “surgery.” He has our highest recommendation for anyone in need of mohel services in the Bay Area.

Enough about the man with the knife. We were delighted by all of the friends and family who joined us from across the country: zayda, grammy, and great aunt linda from Boston, Second Cousins Dan and Rebecca from Seattle, friends and family from all over the Bay Area, and a surprise visit from some of Holly’s bestest friends from Seattle, Misty and Birgit, whom we found sitting in our den at 10 AM. The surprise brought Holly to tears. Pictures of the entire day are now up in our Photo Gallery.

We’ve been lucky enough to have Family visit this week from all over the country: Aunt Debbie (Joel’s sister) from a nearby SF neighborhood, Second Cousins Dan and Rebecca from Seattle, Grandma Gigi from San Diego, Zayda and Grammy from Boston, and Great Aunt Linda from Boston. Lucky Avi (and luckier Joel and Holly–thanks for all of the help, everyone!) Check out pictures in the Photo Gallery.

Avi and Gigi (who surprised us in the hospital)

For those who were having problems with the videos on our website, the problem should now be fixed. (If you’re interested in the technical details, I was using an outdated Silverlight.js file, which was installed by default using Expression Web 2. Thanks to Tim Heuer’s blog for the help here!)

We took more pictures of little Avi today. They’ve been added to an existing slideshow…

It was a bit of a grey, rainy day in San Francisco, just dark enough for a Grossman Boys nap…

Grossman Boys Napping

For you metric fans, that’s about 2.94 kilograms. Thanks to some high-intensity feeding, Avi is now gaining weight, much to the delight of all! Great work, mom and avi!