Goodbye, 2014 - you were great!

I know I'm a few months overdue on posting, but had to share this video reflecting back on another amazing year.  I continue to feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people, memories and opportunities in my life.  We're on to 2015!

Eleven Months!

I know, I know, this is REALLY late, but it's been a busy month!  The fact that I'm posting it before his birthday is considered a win in my book!

Our baby boy is 11 months old and continues to surprise us everyday.  He is SO smart (every mom says that, right?) and although it can be exhausting, I hope he never loses his innate curiosity!

We had a big change this past month when I went back to work part-time and Ethan started going to day care.  The first day was hard, but he loves his babysitter, Maria, and all the other kids he gets to play with.  I'm enjoying going back to work, seeing my colleagues, and working with children again.  In fact, it's the best kind of work because I just get to help kids and not worry about all the other "stuff" that has permeated the teaching industry.  ("Stuff" was a kind word...)  Picking him up from daycare is the best part of my day and we still get in lots of playtime before bedtime.

We've been trying to pack in as much fun on our weekends as possible.  Our first adventure was to the Boston Public Garden, where Ethan got to ride the swan boats!  He loves being in motion (he does NOT sit still), so he enjoyed the boat ride although he wished it went a teensy bit faster!  We also got some great pictures on the Make Way for Ducklings statues, Mike's favorite childhood book!
Parker and Ethan visited the animals at Drumlin Farm and got to ride around in style in Ethan's new red wagon!  They love goats, cows, pigs and horses!  We also went to the SoWa market in the South End where Ethan scored a new, handknit Patriots winter hat (hopefully they'll be playing better by then...)

Mom and Dad left him one weekend to go to a good friend's wedding and he was in excellent hands with his Aunt Jackie and Grandma Beverly.  We were very grateful for the chance to "sleep in" until 8:00am!!!

The most traumatic thing that happened this month was Ethan got his first haircut!  Mommy was very nervous but he loved the experience and of course he looks adorable.

He continues to eat pretty much everything.  There isn't a fruit he doesn't like, although he's partial to blueberries, bananas, and grapes.  He enjoys peas and sweet potatoes.  Oddly enough, he doesn't care too much for chicken nuggets - his palate is clearly very refined!

He still loves to sing and dance and his favorite song has switched from "The Hokey Pokey" to "If You're Happy and You Know It."  We finally put together the play room and it's baby heaven.  It's as baby proofed as possible and he loves to have full reign of the room.  His favorite toys include the music table, the circus tent, the blocks, the shape sorter and of course, anything that does not look like a baby toy!  He plays a funny game where we say "Where's Ethan?" and he crawls super fast into the tent and then hides for a few seconds before bursting out in laughter.  He loves to stack blocks and has gotten pretty good at making towers that are 3 or 4 blocks high.

He loves to pull himself up to stand and although he isn't walking yet, he is starting to get faster at cruising around the furniture.  Hope he is walking by Christmas (although second-time moms all tell me that I want him to walk as late as possible!)

He is obsessed with lights and ceiling fans and if you ask, "Where's the light?" he automatically looks at the ceiling and points towards the light.  He also can point to his nose when you ask him - so smart, I told you!

The next post I write will be for his first birthday!  Remembering a year ago at this time and having no idea what to expect...how did we get here so fast?!  Until next time...

September 2014

September brought many new changes and exciting adventures for our family!  We started the month at the Public Garden and took Ethan on his first swan boat ride - Mike and I both had great memories of this when we were younger so it was fun to pass the tradition along.  Even though I tried hard to resist, I took Ethan for his first hair cut!  It was almost harder than dropping him off at daycare for the first time, but I have to admit, it looks so cute!  He really thought the whole experience was a lot of fun!  We went to Drumlin Farm with Parker and they got to ride in Ethan's new red wagon.  Click here to see pictures of all of our fun!

August 2014

It's September 1st and summer is really over.  Fall is my favorite season in New England, so there's plenty to look forward to, but I'm sad to say goodbye to such a wonderful summer!  August brought more fun to our family.  We went to Long Island and Ethan got to meet my college roommates.  Ethan went to three different farms and got to feed the goats.  Ethan and his buddy Parker went to their first fair and won some stuffed animals (thanks to their mommy's skills!).  One of my favorite moments was when Ethan had his first of many annual trips to Fenway Park!  Click here to see our adventures!

Ten Months!

Can you believe this guy is ten months old?!

As usual, we've been on the go for most of this past month.  We had a wonderful trip to Nantucket and many visits to the beach and the pool.  We survived two trips to Ikea (just writing that word makes me shudder) and started to put together Ethan's playroom.  Mike and I celebrated our 5th anniversary and although it was our most-low key celebration to date (thankfully, no surprise doggies this time), it was the BEST because we could share it with Ethan.

Goodbye, army crawl - this guy is crawling for REAL and good luck catching him.  If you thought he was curious before...we can't baby proof fast enough!  He is a big fan of iPhone chargers and recycling bins.

He is able to pull himself up to stand on the furniture and he loves it.  Standing is his new favorite thing and he can't do enough of it!  What is not as fun is the hysterical screams that ensue if he cannot figure out how to pull up on something.  Luckily, they only last about 3 seconds before he's distracted by another activity.

It is so funny to see the look on his face when he masters something new.  He turns and looks at us with this huge grin like "yeah, I did that."  It is ridiculously cute.

Of course, Ethan can't just play with the kind, gentle, loving dog (Brady.)  No, he is much more interested in pulling Chewie's fur.  So far, so good...Chewie seems interested in Ethan, but doesn't quite know what to make of him.  We have to keep a very close eye on them because we just don't completely trust Chewie - but he may surprise us!

Ethan is a big fan of the "d" sound - lots of "dadadada's" and now we think he is (sort of) saying "dog!"  He has discovered pointing and will point to the dogs and make a noise that sounds like the word - could be parents overreacting but I really think he's saying it!  No "mama's" yet.  Not even close :(

Ethan got his first cold on his ten month birthday and we managed to survive it (I only called the doctor twice, lol!) No fever, but an upset stomach (luckily he happened to be in the old carseat when that lovely experience happened) and a constant runny nose.  Poor guy had some trouble sleeping but (fingers crossed) is back on track.  This may seem strange but I didn't even mind when he woke in the middle of the night because I got to rock him back to sleep and as many of you know, Ethan is NOT typically a cuddler - it was so nice to get some snuggle time in, even if it was 2 am!

Because of his cold, he really didn't eat much the past week, but he really has been loving fruit.  His new favorite is watermelon and he seems to like raspberries and grapes too.

My favorite new trick of his is when he waves goodbye.  It is so sweet!  Although, let's be honest, I think everything he does is sweet :)

I start work in just over a week...so I'm going to cherish the last week of summer with my best guy.  More adventures to follow...thanks for reading!

July 2014

Note: I am trying out a new photo sharing service called ThisLife.  I was having issues with Flickr's privacy settings and this one seems to have some really cool features (you should be able to right-click on a picture and save it, if you wish!).  When you click on the link, it will bring you to a new window with a large photo from my album.  There is a small button on the bottom right that says "View."  Click on it and hopefully you all are able to see these photos but please let me know if you can't for some reason! I have transferred all the old links to this site, so my Flickr account is no longer active.

July was a busy, busy month for the Bloch's!  You already saw our pictures from the Fourth of July in Cape Cod.  The following week we went to Nantucket, which is our favorite vacation spot.  It was so fun to share these memories with Ethan (and since he won't remember any of it, I took lots of photos - ironically, I only had ONE of the three of us though!)  Even though we couldn't eat at our favorite restaurants, we discovered a few new gems and visited some oldies but goodies like the Downyflake, the Juice Bar and Cisco Brewery!  He loved the beach and dare I say, it was even "relaxing" to go to the beach with a baby (ask me again next year once he's walking!).  We got back and finally had some down time.  We went to the beach and the pool with our baby friends, visited with some of mommy's friends that she hadn't seen in awhile, and Mike and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.  What a fun month!

Click here to see all of our July adventures!

Nine Months!

Another month, another milestone...this little rascal is crawling all over the place!!!

We've been pretty busy this last month.  We celebrated my birthday and Father's Day in Ogunquit, Maine.  Mike and I both loved spending time here when we were younger and are happy to continue the tradition with Ethan.  This was Ethan's first stay in a hotel and he did great!  The pool wore him out so much that he slept great even though he was in a different setting.  We walked the Marginal Way, ate lobster rolls (oyster crackers for Ethan) and drank rum punch (bottle for Ethan) at Barnacle Billy's, and Mike and I got to relax on Adirondack chairs overlooking the ocean while Ethan slept soundly in the room.

Good friends of ours got married on Martha's Vineyard so we had our first weekend away from the baby - tear!  He went to Grandma's house in Swampscott and had a blast!  He came home with lots of new toys, including a ride-on fire truck that he LOVES and does not need any held riding.  It was tough to be away but it was also nice to be without responsibilities for 72 hours!

We spent July 4th in Mashpee at our Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Don's house.  We love going to the Cotuit parade every year and were so excited to take Ethan for the first time...but Hurricane Arthur got in the way!  Oh well.  Auntie Bobbie's baked ziti made up for it...Ethan loves pasta!  Ethan had a great time playing with his cousins, going for walks and bike rides, and of course, swimming in the pool!

Swim lessons and baby classes have ended, but we are still busy with lots of play dates.  He sees Parker as often as possible - they love swinging in the park!  There is also a park near Coolidge Corner that we love and he got to meet up with his other baby friends for a picnic and some fun.  We celebrated his friend Madison's adoption with a yummy brunch at Zaftigs.

He is down to two naps a day and they must be in his crib -  he is not an "on the go" napper which is good and bad at the same time.  Maybe it will keep me from shopping so much during the day :)  He is sleeping a little later these days - 8 am - and as wonderful as that is, I know it can change any time so I'm just trying to appreciate the 12-13 hour nights now before it stops!  He can sit up in his crib now and sometimes when I put him down, he sits up and plays and laughs for a long time before he falls asleep.  It's pretty cute.  Unless I need him to nap!

He continues to eat anything that you put in front of him - I don't think there's a food he has disliked so far!  The current favorite is definitely baked ziti.  He devours it and will eat all the pieces of that before he touches anything else.  Can't remember if I mentioned it before, but he has EIGHT teeth now!

He really has developed a mind of his own.  He is curious about everything and seems to understand the word "no" because it is always followed by tears and screaming!  Luckily, they don't last long.  All of a sudden he is crawling everywhere and you can't take your eyes off of him for a split second.  In the few days since he's really gotten the hang of it, we've already had quite a few scares!  As soon as we get back from vacation, we have to focus on baby proofing.  I have a feeling this child is going to be quite the rascal and get into everything.  For his birthday, he would prefer only electrical cords :)

His 9-month check-up isn't for another week and I'm very curious to hear about his height and weight - to us, he seems huge!  But we don't have much to compare it to.  My guess is 23 lbs.  I'll keep you posted!

We love this guy more and more each day.  It's amazing to see him learn and discover new things (I stared at him for probably 20 minutes the other day watching him realize that when he lifted the lid of his toy, music played - it was mesmerizing to watching him figure it out!)  Our adventures continue tomorrow as we head to Nantucket for a week...another favorite of ours that we're hoping Ethan will grow to love just as much as we do!  Pictures to follow...thanks for reading!!!