Tooth #3

Yesterday morning we woke up and Hersh's left front upper tooth had broken through the surface of his gums overnight!  We were quite surprised; he slept wonderfully, did not have a fever (like he had with the previous two teeth), and hadn't given us any indication that he was in pain.  Needless to say, this is pretty exciting!

We've had a pleasant week, filled with walks, cooking, and even a day trip to Bratislava.  Hersh has been enjoying eating frittatas, and Jacob has been eating blood oranges, which drip juice all over the apartment--an indication that they are really good!

On Sunday we took the train to Bratislava, where we met up with our friends Joey and Jenn.  They are living there, and were kind enough to take us to an authentic Slovakian lunch and show us around the "old town."  We then walked along the Danube and through a brand new shopping mall.  Bratislava is an interesting place. It is small, has some character, and has a lot of old, but charming buildings, right next to very large, modern, new buildings.

Hersh is pulling up and cruising along just about anything and everything that he can get his hands on.  He has also started thinking that things are just hilarious and scrunches up his face as he smiles and laughs--it's delicious!  He also babbles a lot, and will sometimes imitate words that we say--for example, this morning he and I went back and forth with the word "lion" because he was playing with a lion stuffed animal.

Hersh and I are also enjoying babyschwimmen more and more each week, and I have pledged to try and learn one of the songs (all of which are in German) per week.  Right now I am working on "Es Regnet" or "It's Rainig," which is the song we sing when the babies go under the watering can in the pool.  Jacob has very graciously downloaded the song from YouTube   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaFvfyAfYX8 . Here are the words:  "Es regnet, es regnet, es regnet seinen Lauf, und wenn's genug geregnet hat so hört es wieder auf."  If you learn the song, we can Skype and you can sing it to Hersh, he'd love it!

It's hilarious!

Standing and Cruisin'!

Organic Blood Oranges.

 On the train to Bratislava:

Fried Cheese--traditional Slovakian dish.

Halushki-traditional Slovakian dish.

9 month pictures down by the Rivermarket

When we were in Little Rock we had 9 month pictures taken of Hersh.  A wonderful photographer, that was referred to us through a friend, met us down by the Rivermarket.  The session had been rescheduled twice due to snow, and Hersh was at the end of a double ear infection the day we took the photos.  Nevertheless, we could not be any happier with the photos!  We cannot believe how quickly our little man is growing up.  Hope you enjoy this sampling!

Sunny with a chance of wind!

Today was a beautiful day.  It was one of those days that reminds you that spring will eventually come, (maybe it's here?) and sunny days will once again be the norm.  Since the sun was shining and the temperature in the 50's we decided it was the perfect day for the first hike of the season. 

We took the Strassenbahn out to Rodaun and walked to Perchtelsdorf, where we wandered up into the Weinerwald.  The trails were busy.  We were passed by many Austrians, most of whom had walking sticks, and none of whom had packs or water.  Also, most of the people of the trail were 20-30 years our elder.  The sun shone all around us and we could see the snow turning to slush.  The most dramatic part of the day was the wind.  It was sooooooo windy.  We were in an open field and then in the forest, and the wind was so loud and strong we could not hear each other. It felt like the wind was pushing us downhill as we trudged uphill.  Hersh snoozed as we hiked and when he awoke, he enjoyed the trees blowing in the wind. 

We then came home and had a delicious dinner of a tomato, artichoke, cream sauce with penne and broccoli.  A delicious finish to a delightful day. 

Clear skies, open field.

On the trail.

Very slushy.

Powerful sunshine.

Jacob wanted this picture taken so that he could quote Robert Frost.

We like hiking!

Happy Hersh!

Hershel and his Abba.

Sunny but windy!

Hershel and his Imma.

Getting all cleaned up after a long day of hiking!

!

Dinner is served

You know you live in Europe when....

...the locker rooms at the swimming pool are co-ed.  That's right, today Hersh and I attended his very first "Baby Schwimmen" class.  Hersh was a bit skeptical of the water at first, but in the end he had a wonderful time and we are really looking forward to next week!  But, the most surprising part of the whole experience was the co-ed locker room.  The locker room was filled with moms, dads, and babies.  Everyone was changing, it was very casual, very European.  At first I was surprised, but then I reminded myself, whatever, these people are European.  So I proceeded to get changed and go about my business.

Our plane ride back to Vienna went very smoothly.  The plane was only about half full, so we had 6 seats to ourselves.  We were able to bring Hersh's carseat on the plane, where he proceeded to sleep for 7 of the 9 hours of the flight!

I apologize that there are no pictures with this post,  but I couldn't take pictures in the locker room, so you will have to take my word for it!

Here is a link to pictures of the pool:

http://www.wien.gv.at/gallery2/m53/run.php?g2_itemId=22751&g2_language=de

Back to Wien we go...

It's hard to believe but our 5 weeks in the States is quickly coming to an end!  Tomorrow we board the plane and fly back to our home in Vienna.  This past week Jacob was at a conference in Miami and Hersh and I stayed in Little Rock.  We enjoyed the amazing Little Rock weather--sunny and in the 60's--by taking walks and spending time with our friends.  Then on Friday, Hersh and I flew to Maryland to spend the weekend with Lowell and Nina.  Jacob met us here on Saturday evening, and Hersh was glad to see his Abba (so was I)!

We are now packing and doing last minute errands--grocery store, Target, Dunkin Donuts iced coffee!  We are looking forward to getting home and settling back into our Viennese life.  We have a few fun trips planned for the next couple of months and think that we will receive our first visitors.  We are also keeping our fingers crossed for an early spring.

Here are a few snapshots from our past few days:

In Little Rock we went out to lunch:

Hersh was a bit wary of why Bauer and Vivian were standing beside him.

We had these beautiful faces to dine with!

We were very happy at the end of the meal!

Close up of Hersh shnoozing.

Playing the piano at Sabba and Savta's house.

Standing!

We had lunch at the diner in Maryland with Aunt Nina, Uncle Lowell, Uncle Jacob and Aunt Dorie!

 Then we visited with Aunt Jordana!

Hersh turned 9 months old while we were in Maryland.  At first he seemed surprised that he is already 9 months old!

But then he thought, "it's pretty fun to be 9 months old!"

MMMM.....Indian Food.

Hersh really liked the Indian food too.

On our last night in Maryland we had dinner with our good friends Ricky and Sarah!