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In what’s become a tradition, we headed off to Rochester for Passover this year. The weather was in the 70s - no 6 inch snowfalls as happened a few years back on one of these visits - and Sam could not have had a bigger blast hanging out with his older cousins. Six-month-old Noah was able to meet five-month-old Carter, and Denver aunt & uncle Bobby & Gary joined in the fun too. The Sagans made it in from Boston (thanks to a late Passover falling after tax day), so the party was bigger and better than ever! The photo above shows grandma Sherrie and grandpa Marty with all their grandkids - a rare moment having them all in one place. Here is a slideshow of the week.

Tags: , noah, sam

beach wear, originally uploaded by jetrotz.

Amy tells me that this blog is suffering from second-child-syndrome - that I’m neglecting son #2 in the quantity of news posts about his antics and general cuteness. So this is intended to remedy that.

Noah gets cuter and cuter by the day. Above, you can see him sporting one of my favorite new expressions - this ‘who me?’ look as he bashfully casts his glance your way as he tries to shove one (or at times, two) fists into his mouth. Yes, he does seem to be teething. He’s wearing his new bucket hat I brought back for him from my recent trip to South Beach - he’s ready for Summer!

What else? Well, he’s rolling over on his tummy with regularity now, giggles, laughs and smiles at pretty much anything, and earlier this week, seems to have realized that those hands are connected to him - holding them up in front of his face, reaching out quite purposefully, and generally entertaining himself with his own appendages.

Tags: noah, ourkids, rolling, teething

I’ve been very slack, so here is the first of several updates. Seth came down to Atlanta with Gabe, Zach and Caleb in early February, as did Amy’s cousins from Toronto. We did the usual stuff - hanging at home, the Aquarium, Zoo, a quick visit to Joey’s office etc. Here are various photos from that visit. Slideshow is here.

Trotz Family Hannukah, originally uploaded by jetrotz.

Well, better late than never. This photo comes courtesy of the photographic skills of my good friend Joel Silverman and our first annual Hannukah photo shoot exchange. He shot my family, and I shot his. I think this one turned out beautifully and hope mine did as well.

Happy Hannukah everyone!

Tags: Family, hannukah, holidays, menorah, portrait

Close on the heels of Noah’s arrival, the latest addition to the extended Trotz/Handelman clan arrived on Thanksgiving-eve, a bouncing baby boy to Amy’s brother Eric and his wife, the ‘other’ Amy Handelman. At 7 pounds 3.8 ounces, baby and mom are doing just fine. This new Rochester resident quickly increases the grandparent factor from 8X to 9X in just a few short weeks for Marty and Sherrie. Will they be great-grandparents next? That’s probably at least ten years down the line though…

Tags: baby, born, Family, rochester

It’s been a hectic couple of days, but we are finally home. Noah and mom were discharged from Piedmont Hospital on Tuesday, and while Sam was enjoying the end of his weekend with friends, babysitters and preschool, we were wrapping up our precious package, tucking him into the car and heading back to the old homestead. Sam initially seemed not to mind the new addition to the household, but as Tuesday wore on he was clearly bothered by the new little being in the house who seemed to be monopolizing all of mom, dad and grandma’s time. There were more than a few crying jags on Sam’s part, mostly spurred on byNoah’s crying. He walked into the room once and tapped Noah’s forehead saying ’stop crying, stop crying,’ and when I pulled him aside to try to cheer him up he told me that Noah’s crying ‘bothered him.’ Funny thing that, it bothers me too! Anyway, I’m sure with the appropriate spreading of affection (and reinforcement via chocolate chip cookies, ‘natch), all will be well in the Trotz household. Click here for the photos.

Tags: baby, homecoming, noah, sam

So Sam joined us for some quality time this afternoon, and Joel was able to grab several great photos of the Trotz family all together. I love this photo of Amy looking on at the trio of boys who now comprise a majority in the household! (Amy still rules, of course!) Sam was so sweet - getting super excited about giving Noah his first present ever - a cute JellyCat duck Dad picked up on a business trip in September at the Laguna Niguel Ritz (Sam’s first stuffed animal was a monkey from the same company on a trip Amy and I took to the Ritz on Amelia Island). Sam was equally excited that Noah had thought ahead and bought Sam a gift of two books as well. The gallery is here.

Tags: baby, Family, first, gifts, noah, sam

As we prepare for the new baby, I realize I’m blogging far less often about Sam, so we are going to try to rectify that. He passed a big milestone today - I taught him how to tell a joke.

• Knock-knock.
• Who’s there?
• Boo. Boo who?
• Don’t cry <daddy, mommy, etc>

He even ‘gets’ it - giggling everytime he tells it. Very astute for his 2.5 years, methinks.

Tags: humor, jokes, sam

This year’s Admonsters excursion (to conference #17 to be exact) took me out to the environs of Albequerque and Santa Fe at the Hyatt Tamaya resort in Bernalillo, New Mexico. We decided to make this a family affair since very soon Amy will be on a no-travel regimen (due date is October 31, only 10 weeks away). Amy’s parents also joined us for a bit of R&R&Sam. To top that all off, Amy’s aunt (who is from Albequerque) and uncle came down from Denver - and their son Jonathan came out from LA. So all in all it turned into a little Handelman/Siegel/Gardenswartz reunion.

We had a great dinner with Bobbi’s 90-year-old father and the rest of the clan on Friday night, headed up to Santa Fe on Saturday along with 100,000 of our closest friends for the annual Indian Market and Art Show. It was a madhouse, but a great way to see the full scope of what the area’s artistans have to offer. One celebrity spotting, Curtis Stone of TLC’s Take Home Chef.  Despite rumors of both Oprah and Dennis Hopper being seen around our hotel, neither was confirmed.

Check out this photo gallery of our time there.

Tags: advertising, Family, new-mexico, santa-fe, Travel

My very talented sisters-in-law who both live up in Amy’s hometown of Rochester, NY have launched a website for their already-thriving hancrafted jewelry business there. Amy and Lisa are marketing and sales professionals who, with the inspiration of Amy’s mother SueAnn, decided to launch this venture. icandyjewelrydesigns.com recently went online, and showcases a wide variety of styles they create. They have a wide variety of original designs with the latest trends well represented, included custom beaded designs, lariats, turquoise and other styles. Anyway, I took many of the photos for the site, so check it out. Visit them here.

Tags: Family