May 22 2013
By Benji Lovitt at 11:57 am
I’ve been an uncle officially for 17 years, since my sister had her first son. Since then, three more nieces and nephews have popped out, giving me at least four reasons to bring gifts from Israel.
As more and more of my friends have had kids over the years (and there have been at least a few of those years, with my somewhat impending arrival to the age which rhymes with “sporty”), an increasing number of children have called me “Uncle Benji” despite a lack of blood relation. I have perfected animal impressions (which includes my personal and undisputed favorite, “the chicken”), I have become quite good at “online babysitting” (entertaining little kids with an Ernie puppet), and I am not ashamed to admit that I have developed such entertaining material that I have been caught recycling it across families in both English and (albeit, broken) Hebrew.
But I have never actually been a father. Until last week. Read the rest of this entry →
Jan 29 2013
By Dasee Berkowitz at 9:36 am
Patience is a virtue, especially when it comes to parenting.
My most recent journey into impatience came last night as my 2-year-old daughter twirled and sang her way into the wee hours of the night.
I had been trying to put her to sleep for three hours, and it just wasn’t working. Given the fact that she had experienced a transatlantic flight, and we arrived in Israel a few hours before (and that she was excited about being in a new place, and sharing a room with her older brother and being out of a crib, and and…) I had to cut her a little slack. But my ability to empathize and (what seemed like) the Herculean task of mustering the patience I needed had grown thin. Read the rest of this entry →
Jan 15 2013
By Rebecca Schorr at 9:42 am
I was so excited for my trip that I am surprised I was even able to sleep the night before my departure.
Far more excited that I had expected, given it wasn’t a vacation to some tropical destination for some well-deserved R&R. Nor was it a trip to visit beloved family or dear friends.
No–it was a 48-hour (52 hours, counting the round-trip bus ride) journey back to me. A recalibration of sorts. Read the rest of this entry →
Dec 18 2012
By Kveller at 11:19 am
Hanukkah is over, but that doesn’t mean the gifts need to stop coming your way. We’re excited to bring you another giveaway, and this one’s perfect for anyone doing some traveling in the future.
Ronen Chen is one of Israel’s most internationally recognized designers, and he just launched an e-commerce site in the US with his Autumn/Winter 2012 collection. Ronen Chen is known for architecturally inspired clothing with strategic draping that falls flatteringly on female silhouettes of all ages.
After you peruse his beauitful designs, be sure to enter our giveaway to win one of these super cute Ronen Chen passport holders. We’ve got eight holders to giveaway to eight random winners, so enter here today and you could be flying in style by next week. The giveaway will run until this Friday, December 21st.
For more updates about Ronen Chen in the US, be sure to visit their Facebook page. Good luck all, and happy traveling!
Oct 23 2012
By Stacey Ilyse at 12:04 pm
Courtesy of Stacey Ilyse.
Hey, I’m Stacey, a mom to my crazy drama queen little girl, Remy, who is almost (gasp!) 1 year old! I also happen to be a professional photographer. The lovely ladies at Kveller have so kindly brought me on board to share tips, inspiration, guidance, and more during your adventures in photographing your kiddos. I specialize in weddings and also, my passion, lifestyle family/children photography. Feel free to check out my work here.
In the meantime, have you ever wondered what the right kind of camera would be for your photo taking needs? Here are my suggestions, based purely on my preference (i.e. nobody’s paying me to say it).
I recommend two different cameras, both made by Canon. Read the rest of this entry →
Oct 22 2012
By E.B. Solomont at 11:03 am
“If it’s a boy, I think we’ll come for the bris,” my brother-in-law in Miami told me a few weeks ago over Skype, just before the arrival of our second baby.
As an East Coast transplant living in St. Louis, I spent the last few weeks of my pregnancy this summer acting as a part-time travel agent, navigating tricky waters to coordinate which family members would come to visit–and when. Read the rest of this entry →
Jul 26 2012
By Melissa Langsam Braunstein at 6:14 am
Over the past year, I’ve flown a lot–way more than I would have anticipated with a new baby. Lila and I have flown up and down the East Coast and all the way to Europe. It hasn’t always been easy–especially when it’s been just us girls–but I’ve gained some useful travel tips along the way:
1. Book your baby’s ticket. Even lap infants need their own tickets. Call customer service after booking your own, because there’s typically no obvious way to do this online. If your child is under 2, she flies for free domestically, but there are taxes and fees if you fly overseas. Lila chilling on my lap added about 10% to the price for our round-trip to Geneva. Read the rest of this entry →
Jul 9 2012
By Alina Adams at 10:42 am
Oxford, England.
My eldest son turned 13 in June. We didn’t arrange a traditional bar mitzvah for him, for reasons I outlined earlier.
However, my son still became a bar mitzvah. He didn’t read from the Torah, make a speech, or hand out glow sticks to a few hundred of his closest friends. He was, nonetheless, according to Jewish law, a man.
Anyone who has met a typical, American, 13-year-old knows how ridiculous that notion is. (Though my son is a responsible boy–he navigates New York City by subway on his own, he takes his younger brother to school every morning, he babysits his siblings, and even other kids for pay, he does his homework without prompting, and earns good grades. But, a man, he is not.) Read the rest of this entry →
Jun 25 2012
By Ariel Pollock at 12:17 pm
So, I spent last weekend in Vegas.
Um, you might say, isn’t that a strange choice for a babymoon? Indeed it would be–but this was no babymoon. I was sans-husband, and in Vegas for a full week–longer than any human being should ever be in Vegas. Especially human beings that have another human being, almost fully formed, living in their belly. But I had a work obligation, so off to Vegas I went, just shy of eight months pregnant. Read the rest of this entry →
Jun 5 2012
By Melissa Langsam Braunstein at 11:48 am
Bonjour, Geneva.
Traveling overseas is intimidating. And I say this as someone whose last several international destinations have included Ghana, India, and South Africa.
I hadn’t ventured abroad since early 2010, for a fairly obvious and adorable reason. But my husband recently learned that he needed to spend nine days in Geneva for work. I didn’t like the idea of our being separated (with a toddler, four hands beat two), and Lila and I had no pressing engagements, so I suggested a family adventure. Read the rest of this entry →
