My first fall cold

This has been a bit of a rough week for Mr. Ethan. His first fall cold, co-insiding with the bottom teeth coming in.
He keeps waking up from his naps with his nose full of snot..and he is snoring at night time. We feel so bad for him.
He's been getting lots of specially prepared chicken soup--hope it wont last.

Along came a tooth....

Friday night Marla came home (having not seen Ethan all week), and noticed a new development:
A lower right tooth!
There are teeth after all.
It is too small to get a pic of yet, but stay tuned....


We had a great fall weekend here in New England, the leaves are beautiful. We headed 25 minuted south of Boston to the Blue Hills reservation, and took a short hike. Here's a few pics of the weekend:

Not a baby anymore!

These Days, Ethan is growing up fast.
He is crawling up a storm, and learning how to pull himself up to standing.
We have to be really careful, because he is a little too adventurous at times--trying to pull himself up on a wobbly chair--or letting go of the furniture in order to clap his hands only to come tumbling down.



At least his skull is getting thicker!
Changing his diaper has become a real challenge--why should he lie still when he can flip over and crawl off the edge of the dresser?
We are constantly trying to prevent one suicide mission after another. His favorite thing to crawl towards is the lamp's electrical cord. He is also a big fan of the computer cables, and electric outlets--thanks goodness we have put those caps on the sockets! I don't know if all 8-month-olds are like this, or if it is more of a boy thing.

He has also learned how to spit out his food if he is done or doesn't like it. Lilia had to change him 3 times in one day after he did this! He's getting rambunctious... I didn't realize how easy things were when he couldn't move around!

In other news, fall is starting to arrive. We dug out a few winter-ish things we have from San Francisco, but have realized we have a lot of shopping to do for the cold!

A Visit to Chicago

Last weekend, we took Friday off and headed to Chicago to visit Grandma and Grandpa Ferschl.


They were amazed by how much Ethan had changed in 2.5 months--last time we were there he could only roll over--now he is sitting, crawling all over the place, and getting into general mischief.
One of the highlights of our visit was a drive to Milwaukee, where Great-grandma Ferschl got to see Ethan again.


We also visited with great uncle Jim, great aunts Cathy and Judith, and cousin Nik.
We couldnt spend time in Chicago without some pizza, (especially since we have not found ANY good pizza here in Boston), so saturday night we went to our favorite, Piazno's for deep dish. Uncle Jeff and his girlfriend Janice joined us.


So we saw lots of people in a short time. We were sad to leave.....we wont be back until Christmas.

Our Second Visitors

It has been a busy week!
Last weekend, Marla's friends from college, Becca and Jun came for a visit. They both got to meet Ethan for the first time.
He charmed them with his new trick: clapping his hands together. Now, mind you he doesn't always succeed, but he tries!
On Saturday, we unfortunately had rain (this seems to be a theme in Boston, Saturday rain), so we headed to the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum.
Isabella Stuart Gardner was a private art collector, who opened a museum in Boston in 1903. Upon her death, she donated all the artwork to the museum, with the stipulation that the exhibits never be altered. So it remains nearly unchanged for 100 years. The museum has a beautiful courtyard, where we snapped this photo:


Sunday was beautiful, and we got to walk around town a bit. All in all, a great visit.


Today, Ethan had his six-month check up at the pediatrician's office. Yep, a little late, but with our move, and insurance change, it took a while to get scheduled. He now weighs in at 20 pounds 12 ounces! That's 77th percentile--a big kid!

Vermont: Our New Favorite State!

Since we got married on Labor Day weekend two years ago, we have started a the tradition of going away to celebrate our anniversary.

Last year, when Ethan was far more portable (Read: about the size of an apple in my belly) we went to Phoenix. This year we stayed closer to home and took a three hour drive to southwestern Vermont.

I have to say, though Ethan is a pretty good sport about travelling, it is far more complicated to bring him along. His stuff alone occupies 85% of our trunk...but I digress..

We spent the weekend at Mt. Snow, which in the wintertime is a big ski resort. In the summer it is much more laid back, with hiking, mountain biking, and general relaxation. We lucked out with the weather. Though fall isn't officially here yet, we could feel it coming--no more humidity, and crisp mornings. A few of the trees on the hillsides were just starting to change color--a few more weeks and it will be spectacular here I bet.

Ethan's fall jacket seemed to camouflage well with the couch at the hotel room:

Vermont (or at least the area we saw) was very beautiful, quaint towns with white wooden churches, rolling hills, and a lot of fun outdoor activities. We hope to spend more time there before we leave New England!

Our First Visitors

This past week, we had our first Boston visitors! Jason's parents were here Friday-Thursday. It was great to see them. They were amazed by how much Ethan has changed. On Saturday, our plans were foiled by hurricane Danny, which drenched Boston all day long.
We did have the opportunity to skype with my parents and Jason's--check out this shot:


By Sunday though, the weather cleared up.
We took a drive to Newburyport, which is a coastal town about 45 minuted north of us. We enjoyed checking out Plum Island, (though it was too cold to really go to the beach) as well as the town itself. It was a great little New England town with lots of shops and a neat harbor.
On the way home, we stopped at Benson's Ice Cream in Boxford, which my friend Sue recommended as she grew up nearby. It was fantastic--all homemade. Yum!



During the rest of their visit, we unfortunately had to work, but they enjoyed seeing the local sites, and spending time with Ethan. Here's Ethan in grandpa Greenberg's hat:



On Wednesday night, Jason and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary.
We went out to dinner with his parents, and are planning to head to Vermont this weekend!