Merry Christmas From The Israels

We spent the first few months of the year anticipating and preparing for the birth of our daughter. Thanks to the chilly Kansas City winter, it gave both of us a good excuse to hunker down, nest, and begin to prepare the nursery. We gave the nursery a Paris theme because Caitlin’s favorite book from her childhood, Madeline, was set in that city. We managed to hang some Parisian cityscape wallpaper with only one minor meltdown (a true feat for any couple), and Caitlin’s mom made a Madeline-themed mobile for the room.

After many weeks of excitement and counting down, the big day finally came: Poppy entered the world in late April on a Friday morning via planned C-section. She was born happy and healthy, and after spending a few days with the hospital, all three of us went home and introduced Poppy to Neville and Bentley. Neville loves Poppy but is also very jealous of the attention she gets, while Bentley simply tolerates her existence and would prefer to be left alone to nap.

We spent the first two weeks after Poppy’s birth at home and delirious in our sleep-deprived state. Each of us took time off work so we had a combined 5 months at home, with Caitlin taking the first 12 weeks and Brian taking the next 10. It was such a special season of our lives being able to watch Poppy grow from a sleepy, hungry newborn to a highly interactive, smiley, hungry infant.

Fast forward to now, and Poppy is almost 8 months old. She is thriving in daycare, and her teachers call her the happiest baby ever, saying she grins and squeals at everyone who comes in the room. She apparently has a group of babies who always manage to find each other throughout the day, and they’ll sit and chatter with one another. She’s trying a lot of solid foods right now; her favorites include pancakes, oranges, chicken drumsticks, lamb, meatballs, shrimp—a true Egyptian with her love of meat.

Brian is still working at McAnany, Van Cleave & Phillips and continues to be quite into Lego (he has been dubbed the Lego Litigator, after all). During his paternity leave, Brian really leaned into his new fatherly role; he can change a diaper in under 300 seconds and can wax poetic on the importance of sealing a deck (he only wishes he was joking). In all seriousness, though, he really loves being a girl-dad, and singing to Poppy is one of his favorite things. Some days, Poppy and Caitlin hear Brian singing “Poppy Cordelia” to the tune of “Hava Nagila,” while other days, it might be an altered version of the Gilligan Island theme song (some are better than others). One of his latest hobbies is reading The New Yorker (which, between that and becoming a dad, officially cements him as an adult).

Caitlin changed jobs in September and took on a new role as the director of content for the American Academy of Family Physicians. Within the first few days of starting her new job, she flew to Phoenix for a conference with Brian and Poppy in tow. Brian and Poppy explored the city during the day, and we quickly discovered the SlumberPod was the best baby purchase of the year. Caitlin has recently taken up cross-stitching and embroidery in the evenings and, despite having a baby, has somehow managed to watch every new episode of Real Housewives released this year.