Here is the newest Wilson grandchild!
Micah Jeffrey Tittelfitz
Born Feb 1, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Weight: 7 lbs 12 oz
Length: 20 in

Physical therapy

Who knew that putting a baby in a headlock is one of the exercises for infant torticollis?

Fortunately, Lily's been a champ about putting up with it all--including photo shoots during tummy time and big flowers on her poor, bald little head.

Nuts about our family

Ever since Krista began the RN program at BYU I've been calling her up and asking her advice at all hours of the day and night on all sorts of health issues including constipation (Sage's), IBS (Mark's), and goiter growth (anonymous). She's always gone out of her way to provide over-the-phone-diagnoses, check up later on our conditions, and even consult medical books and professors for additional information.

As grateful as I was at 2 a.m. for Krista's suggestions for helping Sage get over her constipation, today I found myself offering a most fervent prayer of thanks for Krista's medical training and willingness to share her skills. I was babysitting a friend of Sage's today when we decided to make some Whatchamacallits. Forgetting about the friend's peanut allergy, I let the girls spoon the dregs of PB rice krispy mix out of the bowl while I washed the other equipment. Before I was done filling up the sticky dishes to soak Sage's friend told me her throat hurt. With horror, I realized my terrible mistake. I rushed to find some Benadryl and call her mom.

In the next half an hour (which seemed like an eternity), the poor girl's nose began to drip, her eyes began to swell, she threw up several times, and she began to have difficulty breathing. And I made 4 frantic phone calls to Krista. If Krista ever decides to bag the NP thing, she'd make a great 911 phone call answerer. She helped me stay calm, know what signs to watch for, and what dosage of Benadryl to give. And she called me back a few times to check on the girl's symptoms.

Tonight I was gratefully contemplating Krista's contributions and I realized that I rely on every family member for certain things. Just today I forwarded Danielle a friend's questions about a piano they are considering purchasing. And thanks to Kim, our computer runs faster now that the .ds virus has been eliminated. And Rebecca racked me up a whole bunch of compliments on Sunday by agreeing to play a musical number with me in my ward (even though she's pregnant and has no more than 1/4 normal lung capacity by the looks of it). And Suzy is always good for administering an intense back and shoulder massage with the world's strongest fingers. And Rich is the only one who knows how to get the internet to work on the slower computer at Mom and Dad's house. (I know because I accidentally disconnected it, thinking it was my USB, three months ago and it hasn't worked since). And Heather is always good for dancing the tango with and making me feel like a dunce with her high ACT score, and for getting something fun going. And Dad always has a log of Cheddar cheese to dole out on my way out the door. And Mom always seems to know exactly when I need a nice email or I'll quit. And Jordan never complains about how often we ask him to help move us (and spearhead the process). And Bryce is always willing to share his handheld Tetris game that he keeps in the bathroom (as long as no one brings down his average). And Adam makes the most delicious nachos and tries to say that anyone can make them that well. And Mark is always willing to help me with my immigration problems and intercede when I'm about to get deported.

In the words of Dash, "I love our family."

Lily's first piano lesson

We start them young around here. Hanon, Bastien, and Irene Peery, here we come.The good news is that Lily didn't even get any tear drops on her lesson.

The big 3-1

Not only did Heather get about 31 inches of height on this heel click in front of the Dome of the Rock, but she also racked up 31 points on the ACT! Nice one, big smarty pants! (No one tell Harvard. It's too far from Utah.)

The Twin Tanks

At their two month checkups, Lily scored in the 95th percentile and Amy was well above the 95th percentile....for WEIGHT! These two cute little tanks are helping their mommies build massive arm muscles with their 13.2 pound (Lily) and 14.2 pound (Amy) bodies. Amy is now just one diaper size behind Cindy and Eliza, and gaining fast.

If you take a look at these pictures, you'll see that chubby is the new thin, for babies at least. And if anyone has any suggestions for channeling their future growth into the hair department, please leave your number.

An update from Mom

This morning when I opened the drapes, I saw this beautiful view again and had to snap this photo.
Although there continues to be turmoil in Gaza, things remain quite calm here in Jerusalem. Yesterday the center even allowed the students to go into the Old City and shop (as long as they were in groups of 5). We miss traipsing all over the country as "The 17 Wilsons."

We pray daily for a speedy end to the armed conflict and suffering. In the meantime we are safe and enjoy the beauty our location...even on days when we can't get around much.

Love,
Mom

We almost made CNN

Today we visited the "City of David" site and got to wade through Hezekiah's tunnel. We stopped to have lunch at the end of the tunnel and met the director of one of the archaeological digs taking place right near the tunnel. He proudly announced to us that they had just found a jar of well preserved gold coins from the Byzantine time period. We walked by their excavation site on our way home. Then we came home and found CNN.com's article. So we feel pretty famous, for walking past such a famous site.

In front of the site of the Pool of Siloam (end of Hezekiah's tunnel)

Hezekiah's tunnel was the tunnel dug underneath the city of Jerusalem during 700 B.C. It was designed to provide water to Jerusalem from the Gihon Spring, which would allow Jerusalem to survive much longer during a siege. We got to traverse Hezekiah's tunnel today. We sloshed through water for 533 meters of the tunnel with a few casualties of bumps and bruises to the head and near heart attacks when we turned out the lights and Jordan and Bryce launched attacks on the rest of us, unsuspecting victims.

Here's a few pics of Hezekiah's tunnel.

Thanks to Mom (and Dad) for keeping the babies. And to Krista and Bryce for posing.

Bethlehem and the West Bank

Today, armed with our passports, we took a taxi into the West Bank to spend several hours in Bethlehem. The city was full of Palestinians who were anxious to give us "great discount" on their world-famous olive wood nativity scenes, ornaments, and other nativity decor. They have been hit hard by the effects of the recession in the United States, as the number of tourists has decreased significantly.

We began by touring the Church of the Nativity--the cathedral, jointly owned by three churches, that was built over the site of Jesus' birth.

Pictured below is the place believed to be the literal spot where Jesus was born. So, of course, we had to put our newborns down there. I don't think the priest was very impressed.

This is a preserved portion of the mosaic floor from the Byzantine (376 A.D.ish) church of the nativity.

Lunch at a yummy shawarma place. Lamb on the left, chicken on the right.

Jimmy invited us to tour his olive wood factory in Bethlehem. Here is one of the big piles of olive wood set outside to dry. The wood has to dry for 3-7 years before being carved.

Here is a machine that carves 6 identical figures at once. The worker is just tracing over an already carved figure. This movement is reproduced by six other blades farther down the machine which produce 6 carved figures.


Here is a picture of the non-OSHA approved "factory" where men (with no earplugs) were smoking while they carved and sanded wood figures with huge piles of sawdust at their feet

Very large figures made from a single piece of olive wood are difficult to come by, since the olive tree branches are not very large in diameter. Here are Richard and Dad holding very large statues, which would be very expensive.

Kim drinking from the Holy Olive Wood Grail. Don't worry, it's not wine.

A view of the Bethlehem from one of its hills

Doling out the fruit snacks

Krista's getting good at nursing on the run!

Becca met a funny old lady who predicted the gender of her baby. Read here for more of the hilarious details.

Today Richard and Bryce wore the baby slings. The weather was a little cool, so Amy and Lily spent most of the day in the sling under the boys' jackets, with only their heads peeking out. They attracted so much attention. One man pointed happily at Richard, "Baby! Very good!" It was fun to watch the faces of the Palestinians break into huge grins as they noticed the boys and babies. I think it's safe to say they haven't seen two Baby Bjorns in one place at the same time.

Mom suggested that perhaps the part that amazed the Palestinians the most was that it was the boys that were helping with the babies. Her Palestinian visiting teaching companion lives in the West Bank and said she hoped to not marry a Palestinian man because they don't help in the home. Here is one Palestinian woman who stopped to take a picture of the boys and babies with her cell phone. It was fun to be noticed and stared at for something other than our skin color.

Or our tongues sticking out.

Happy family

Now if we could just get Danielle here...(she should be in NY now, and here by tomorrow afternoon. Let's hope her try #3 is more successful than the other two).

A few Americans in Jerusalem

This morning Dad played tour guide and showed us some of Jerusalem's sites.

Our short-lived taxi ride followed by a lot of walking around hilly Jerusalem

An amazing mosaic at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The Family von Trapp, I mean, von Wilson, on the way to see an olive wood shop

One of the most popular olive wood stores for Mormons in Jerusalem, run by Jimmy.

The carvings were amazing. Some were as much as $22,000 (a model of Herod's temple). He also showed us extremely old coins with stamps of Ceasar and Alexander the Great.

The baby carriers

The Dome of the Rock
(Notice the thousands of ashuaries (boxes for bones of deceased) in front. Apparently these can cost as much as $50,000 to purchase. Also notice the funeral ceremony going on in the bottom left corner with the Hasidic Jews.)

(Becca caught this picture of someone sneaking out a trap door!)

The Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem
(the towers with green domes are minarets, which loudly play the prayer calls multiple times a day)

A tired group heading home with fresh pitas, strawberries and wood carvings

Just because they're cute. And because there's a tiny line of Hebrew in the background.