I am Thankful for.....

So I got to go on my 8th plane ride this week. I am a pro at going through security and being a good boy throughout the trip (at least my mommy and daddy say so, not sure about the other passengers).

We went to Grandmom and Sabba's house in New Rochelle first where we spent the weekend with them, Aunt Tovah and Uncle Mike. It was a lot of fun - especially with all the toys Grandmom found for me. Of course, with all the shiny new light up musical toys the one's I kept going after were the blocks from when Daddy was a kid. I also had a ton of fun chasing after Raja (the Persian cat) and when I got close enough he let me pull his hair!

Mommy and daddy went on what was essentially their first "date" night since I was born - and boy did they have a blast without me - they saw a movie, played some pool and even had a beer. Well I was very angry about being left out so I got a bit hysterical and refused to calm down until they came home hours later. Teaches them to leave me out of the fun!

We transitioned over to Grandma and Grandpas house on Wednesday and spent Thanksgiving with a whole load of people who came over to party. Since we were in town, both Grandma's side and Grandpa's side came - and since everyone pitched in there was A LOT of food. I enjoyed the feast and ate my fair share of turkey!

I played with all my cousins, including Ben who is only 3 days older than me! We had fun with the musical table. I stayed up late so that I could play LCR - the traditional family gambling game.

The next day I was hung over from partying (at least that's what all the grown ups call it when they party too much) but Mommy and Daddy said I needed to smile for family pictures. We went over to Capitol PhotoInteractive and got some very nice shots.

The weekend was very nice and I played with Aunt 'Lissa and Uncle Jason. Uncle Jason taught me all about the human body and about how important it is for him to go to Uganda in a few weeks to work at a clinic. Mommy told him to stop giving me ideas.....I'm not sure what she meant but this Uganda place sounds like fun.

I was very sad on Sunday because we had to bring Daddy to the airport. After a lot of kisses we dropped him off and went over to see Uncle Eli and Aunt Tzi' (and Leelah, Atara, Aderet and Kayla). It was very fun playing with all the toy cars and trucks (not sure how they ended up with so many considering they have 4 girls) and eating vanilla ice cream.

I spent the week exploring Grandma and Grandpa's house trying to find mommy while she was working. They let me play with their piano and I composed a few songs in my spare time. You can check it out on the videos section (click on the "watch my video" button on the top right hand side of the page). On Friday we drove down to Aunt Bat and Uncle Nach's (and Debra, Stevie, Jonathan and Sophia) and spent the weekend playing with a lot of toys. I was especially a fan of the big moonbounce, which Grandma and Grandpa bought for them. Hopefully one day they will get me one too....

My new tricks of the month include walking along the couch, making Indian calling sounds, and popping the pacifier into my mouth all on my own.......and DANCING!!!

I am thankful for my Baby Einstein Sing and Play CD, but I can't find the singers to thank them for their wonderful songs...

I am thankful for the new baby gate daddy put up, giving me something new to climb.
I am thankful for getting the chance to see many of my friends in Boston

I am thankful for my family (and the picture by Capitol PhotoInteractive)

November

So now that the holidays are over mommy and I finally are able to spend some quality time playing on the days she isn't working. This week we went to the playground and I went on a swing all by myself. It was fun but I got cold so mommy took me inside after a while. And talking about cold....
It's cold here in Chicago. I was so cold that Mommy said it was time to get a warm winter coat. Mommy hunted through all of the Old Orchard Mall. We tried on a brown coat and it was too small. We then tried on a green one and it was too big. We went from store to store - but no one had the perfect one. Until Grandmom went shopping in NYC and found a blue one that fit just right! Take a look - do I look good or what?! This down coat will keep me toasty for months to come.

I'm getting better at this crawling thing, so mommy's nickname for me has changed from monkey to trouble. And I know I found something I shouldn't be playing with when she trys to sound serious and calls me her favorite little trouble monkey! But last week we went someplace called the Family Room where I was able to play with anything I wanted. Here is a picture of me at The Family Room doing some of the the fun indoor kids activities that they have. We played games, rode on cars, and had circle time where I sang songs and met some other kids. It was fun and hopefully mommy and I will get to go back there soon.
Daddy has been very busy with school but somehow he still has time to grab me in a bear hug and tickle me with his prickly 5 o'clock shadow. He makes me laugh so hard that it wears me out long enough for me to go into a deep sleep each night and not wake up until 6:30/7 in the morning.

Last weekend was really fun because I had visitors again!

Grandmom and Sabba came to play with me. Sabba read me lots of Dr. Seuss books (there are officially no copies left in the Evanston Barnes & Noble) and got me some Baby Loves Mozart CD's as well. We were having such a good time that he sent everyone else away to go kitchen table shopping so he could have me all to himself. While he was chasing after me (I can crawl pretty fast these days) all morning, everyone else found a kitchen table to bring home(yes - we finally have found a kitchen table and mommy says now I can stop making the dining room all messy and sticky!). Grandmom taught me some songs from Peter Pan and I cannot wait to see the movie (daddy says it won't be a while since I am not old enough for tv yet, but don't tell him that Sabba and I watched a whole quarter of football together). Grandmom was jealous that Sabba got to spend the whole morning with me so she decided to stay a few extra days. Which, to make a long story short, led to my meeting cousin Yali from Israel. He was in Chicago performing in the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra - maybe one day he will teach me how to play the french horn!

Bath time is still a favorite part of my nighttime routine so here are a few more pictures:

I hope you are enjoying my blog so far. More to come so keep checking in!

October already??

It's October and we have been flooded with holidays. This year was a bit tough being away from family, since we did not spend Rosh Hashana with the Rothwax side and we were not able to join Jon's side for Sukkot. However, we made it through with our new friends here in Chicago. Josh has a lot of friends to play with including Ethan (2yrs), Habie (2yrs), Lea(1.5yrs), Leah (1yr) and Ayden (6weeks), and he has met many others at the Mom and Tot's group at shul.

Josh and I (Jon had too much school work/classes) took a hiatus from Chicago to go to NY for a birthday bash for Great Grandpa Rothwax who turned 90!!! We got to see Grandmom on Friday and she spent the afternoon playing with Josh. We then spent shabbos in Teaneck at the Paul residence where we celebrated with the entire family on Saturday night. Grandma and Grandpa spent the weekend spoiling Joshua rotten (and let me take some much needed naps!). Josh got to play with his cousins - and I think picked up a few little tricks from his older cousins Sophia and Jonathan. Debra missed him dearly and hugged him tight all weekend long. Stevie spent the time trying to convert him away from being a Boston sports fan (he figured with Jon not around it was the best time to try). Unfortunately Josh had to go to sleep before the real party began so he missed his other cousins Leelah, Atara, Aderet and Kayla. Luckily Jon was able to join the party virtually and he even sang along for the grandchildren and great grandchildren song.

Aunt Melissa came back to Chicago with us on Sunday and stayed for the first days of Sukkot. She was able to meet some of our new friends over yomtov and we even took her to a Kellogg barbecue where she was able to see some of our Kellogg friends. Of course, Aunt 'Lissa had her camera every step of the way and took some great videos of Josh - here is one of them...


Less then a week later, we were lucky enough to have another 2 visitors! Grandmom and cousin Omri (he came all the way from Israel) came to Chicago for the weekend. Josh got to spend a lot of time playing with Grandmom and reading some of the new books she brought him. He loved sitting on Omri's lap and playing with his long hair. Josh did a bit of showing off for Grandmom as he "swam" in his big blue bathtub. This visit also included one of her famous birthday cakes - and Josh got his first taste of a true dessert.

Meanwhile this has been a month of milestones for Joshua. He has his 2 front teeth and he is eating like a pro (Cheerios, yogurt with fruit, melon, challah, and drinking water from a sippy cup!). He can now sit himself up completely on his own - but the biggest feat of all is that he is CRAWLING!

He follows us around the house - and aims to grab hold of any item that he shouldn't be touching. His favorite toy appears to be the keyboard on this very laptop.

Which is why it is time for me to officially hand this blog over to him. From now on enjoy our news and updates from Josh's perspective......

September I can hardly remember

September has gone by in a whirlwind.

Jon has started school, I have started work, and Josh has started his nanny. They are keeping Jon busy although through the first week it seems to be a bit more like color war than anything else. His real classes start next week. I am working 3 days a week from home - so far so good and I get to peek in on Josh which is nice. My director David has set up Skype in the office so I can virtually be there whenever I feel like it. I have gotten good at the button down top and sweatpants look ;)

Josh is taking well to Claudia, his nanny from Romania. They go on walks most days and he is usually chatting her up throughout the day. She loves to read to him and he loves to jump around in his jumparoo and play on his playmat. He is also very excited to be living so close to his Aunt Aliza (aka - Aunt Leez). She drops by at least once a week to play with her favorite nephew.

Mom/Grandma and Dad/Grandpa came to visit in the middle of September. And boy did we put them to work. Mom kept Joshie entertained, reorganized my kitchen, redecorated Josh's room, and made enough soup to feed us through the winter. Dad became Mister Fix-it- taking down shelves, painting, fixing broken doors, fixing the garbage disposal, checking out the HVAC system and a thousand other things. Oh yeah - he also spent a few days taking me around to look at mini-vans. We finally settled on one (although it was not an easy task). So it's official - I am am now a proud minivan owner. I feel like a soccer mom living in the suburbs (and I really will be one once Josh learns to walk!). Sadly, all fun times come to an end and the grandparents had to return home.

The holidays are upon us and days have begun to go by quicker than we can remember...

Our Kellogg Family Trip

During the last week in August, we went on a family trip organized by Kellogg to Michigan where we stayed at a resort with other young families in Jon's program. We had a blast, met some really nice people and already feel settled in with a network of friends. Josh now has 2 younger ladies in his life - Ava (4 mths) and Rebbecca (2 mths). He also has 2 older guy friends Jack (7 mths) and Gavin (6 mths). Jack has shown Josh how to eat adult food and sit up. Gavin has taught Josh how to eat his feet and suck his thumb. Josh seems to be taking it all in stride and trying to do all 4 of these things.

The most exciting part was Josh went into the swimming pool for the first time. He had a great time in his float and looked very stylish in his pool attire.

Our first few weeks in Chicago

Hi!

It has been decided that moving far away from most of our family and friends is not an excuse for us to not keep you up to date with what's going on in our lives. In order to keep you all in the loop, enjoy viewing our regularly updated blog!!!

We have been very busy over the last few months. It all began in June, when we took a short planned 4 day trip to the NY area for cousin Jacob Berkowitz's bar mitzvah and then to cousin's Batya and Nachi's house for shavuot. Somehow from there we ended up spending an extra week in the area and making a visit to Chicago. We returned from the midwest with a baby who strongly disliked his car seat and an accepted bid for the purchase of a house in Evanston, IL.

(pic: smiling first time homeowners)

As excited as we were about a new frontier in our lives, it was very difficult to say goodbye to everyone we love in Boston. It was especially hard on Josh, who's friends Ben, Meira, Levi, Annabelle, Kira, Avery, Etiel, and Efraim he misses dearly. In a whirlwind of activity, we somehow packed the house and were able to make one last memorable weekend together with our close friends in New Hampshire. While this weekend getaway was quite different than the last (considering no one was pregnant last time and this time every single one of us had a child!), we had a blast and we will never forget it. The kids too will always have the pictures to remember each other by.

(LtoR: Levi, Kira, Josh, Meira, Etiel)

Jon and Abba/Sabba did the long drive out together, while Josh and I took a flight out. It was great to have Sabba here in those first few days - best of all he introduced us to some of the great restaurants in town. Within a day of him leaving us, we were not long without company, as Melissa (aka - Aunt 'Lissa) joined us to help care for Josh while we took care of house related activities. She continued to help us check out all the amazing restaurants in the area. I heard through the grapevine that she even thought the selection here was better than Teaneck ;)

Our moving truck finally arrived and we spent the next week and a half unpacking and beginning to settle in.....