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aspens, originally uploaded by jetrotz.

Yes, we’ve made it to Colorado. I stopped the car along the very narrow portion of Colorado 82 to grab this image - where the highway drops to a single lane at points, with no signs or other warnings - where we saw this very dense stand of Aspens. The pass was an amazing drive - including the oh-so-frightening lack of guardrails on some of the 10k+ foot switchbacks, although I could have done without the altitude sickness both Sam and I experienced. Talk about wooozy! Photo gallery is here. 

Tags: aspen, colorado, noah, sam

Noah hit a big milestone about a week ago - pretty much overnight, he figured out how to pull himself up on his crib, which led to tracking down the hex wrench to drop the mattress down. He’s so pleased with himself as you can see here, vocalizing happily whenever he gets vertical.

Tags: baby, crib, first, noah, standing

So I know you all are clamoring for more of cute guy #2 around here - so I’m obliging you all with the second Noah update in only a matter of days. The last few weeks we have finally ‘gone solid’ - well, if you can call solids mashed sweet potatoes, peas, carrots and other pablum. But after an initially reluctant start (his first feeding is captured above and in this slide show) he has taken to it like a champ. All you parents out there know that this means changes on the other end as well (uggh), but it’s a necessary step.

Speaking of steps, I also wanted to include some photos of Noah hanging out in his exersaucer. He *loves* that thing, and it lets him get his ya-yas out - he’s such a bouncer it’s crazy. There was this lovely light coming into the house late one afternoon, and I just love these photos - the image above is my favorite photo of Noah to date. Full slide show is here.

Finally, there is this photo I shot while testing my new camera (more on that separately). I swear it looks like Noah is delivering Shakespeare in this image. This, by the way, is his new pose - he hasn’t quite handled sitting up, rather he has adopted this ever-so-casual ‘Joe Namath lean’ as we’ve come to call it. Cuteness personified, I tell ya!

Tags: baby, first, Food, noah, sitting

Tomorrow our little pudgy guy hits the 7-month-mark, and much to his parents surprise, has decided to take mobility into his own hands - or knees, as it were. He has figured out how to scoot around quite well, quickly progressing from a lot of backward-crawling (inefficient, to say the least) to a full fledged - I’m gonna get that toy across the room and you’re not going to stop me technique. Amy insisted that I must blog this, as I’ve been quite remiss in my Noah updates. So there you have it! Photos, and some video, coming soon, I promise!

Amy’s Update: we are now into real food! Noah prefers freshly mushed pears to the jar variety, and it’s less sloppy which makes clean-up so much easier. I guess I should steam some carrots next. We’ve started a few hand signs to get him used to “more”, “eat”, “milk” and “all done”. It worked with Sam and made communicatin a breeze.

Tags: baby, crawling, noah, update

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

4 weeks and sleeping, originally uploaded by jetrotz.

Another cute moment captured in Noah’s young life. Taken at 29 days as he napped in his crib in his future nursery. He’s still spending the majority of his time in our room in the pack-and-play or in someone’s arms. He does love the human touch, I tell ya.

Tags: baby, black and white, noah, nursery, sleeping

Well the first big day in Noah’s life (other than being born, of course) has come and gone. Last Sunday was the eighth day following Noah’s birth, so in keeping with the Jewish tradition of brit milah (בְּרִית מִילָה), the covenant of circumcision which began with Abraham’s circumcision of his son Isaac, some 30 of our closest friends and family joined us at our home.

The bris (the yiddish term) is a ceremony of ritual circumcision performed by a mohel in the presence of family and friends, followed by a celebratory meal. Fellow Brandeis alum and our Rabbi Hillel Norry of our synagogue Shearith Israel officiated. Dr. Daniel Goodman, who also performed the job admirably with Sam, was the mohel. And Joel Silverman provided a stupendously beautiful and impressive whole poached salmon. Anyway, here, in three parts (to get around Youtube’s 10-minute limit for single clips) is a video of the ceremony (shot by Johnny-on-the-spot Matt Simon, drafted at the last minute for the task) - note that no gore was captured whatsoever, so even the squeamish among us should be able to handle it! The words of Rabbi Norry are truly beautiful, Dr. Goodman also spoke eloquently on the subject and I rather like the tradition of reading aloud the letter Amy and I wrote to the newest member of our family. We will show him this video when he is old enough to understand our words.

Part One (4:55)

Part Two (7:30)

Part Three (5:27)

Tags: baby, bris, circumcision, noah, Video

With family in town, an extreme lack of sleep, a nasty cold for yours truly, etc., I’ve not posted here in a few days. So here are some updates.

All week, Noah has had his uncles from Savannah in town - Jerry and Seth - as well as Grandma Rita. Visiting from the great Northeast (Rochester, that is) were 8X grandparents Sherrie and Marty - who in a matter of days will be 9X grandparents when the other Amy in the family has her first next week. But I digress. Click here for the gallery.

Sunday was Noah’s big day, when, as is the custom after eight days, our friends and family converged at our home for Noah’s bris. He was a trooper, and it was great to see all our friends and loved ones who could attend, and know that those who could not had us in mind. Click here for the gallery.

Now anyone who has two children has probably gone through the jealousy phase. Sam has been remarkably resilient, although he’s had his moments. The best cure for this is, of course, lavish attention from grandparents, so they accompanied Sam to the frogs exhibit at the Fernbank Museum this week too. Gallery is here.

And having been cooped up inside with the exception of one trip to the pediatrician, Amy was itching to get out on Tuesday, so we bundled up Sam, Noah, Amy plus Marty and Sherrie for a trip to the Georgia Aquarium. Sam seems to enjoy it more with every visit, and Noah seemed to really enjoy the lights and movement of the fish. More photos in the gallery here.

Tags: aquarium, baby, fernbank, first, noah, sam, week

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