12 Months of Hersh

Many of you have seen this on Facebook already, but here are some pictures of Hersh from each month of his first year:

Happy 1st Birthday Hersh!

Today is our sweet boy's very first birthday.  It is hard to believe that just one year ago our son, Hersh Yosef, entered our lives.  Each day he is a joy to be with.  Hersh is funny, serious, sweet, inquisitive, smart, adventurous, cautious, stubborn, and joyous; and he seems very happy to be along for the ride that is our life.  I can remember what life was like before him, but I am so happy that our life now has him as a part of it.  Each day Jacob and I remark to each other what a wonderful baby our Hershel Bershel Bear is.  We are honored to be his parents and look forward to this next year and all those that will follow.

To celebrate, we went for burritos and then to the beach in Belmar.  This evening we met friends at Jersey Freeze and Hersh tried ice cream for the first time.  It was a good first birthday.

Hersh, we love you!

Matzah on the beach

Ahhh, what a week it has been!  The flight from Vienna back to the States was uneventful, and relatively smooth.  Hersh is a pro at Trans Atlantic flights and other than a 9 1/2 hour flight being a bit boring, we all were glad to land safely on the ground in D.C.  We were greeted by Aunt Nina and Uncle Lowell, and had the pleasure of spending the 1st Seder (Hersh's very first seder!) with Nina's extended family and we had a very good time! We then traveled to the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, to spend the 2nd Seder with Aunt Addie and Uncle Craig.  The Seder was wonderful and we really enjoyed sunny Philadelphia.

We then came up to N.J.  We have been cleaning out my mother's apartment as she recently moved down to Maryland.  In addition to the business of orchestrating a move, we visited the beach, and feel generally at  home in N.J.!  We will be here until the end of the week and will then head to Philadelphia for a Lewis Family Weekend, where we will officially celebrate Hersh's first birthday--he'll be 1 on Wednesday!

Happy Pesach!

The boys!

Hersh and his Aunt Nina.

With our good friend, Katie B.

On the beach in Ocean Grove.

Walking with Aunt Addie.

Dr. Lewis.

Almost 1 year old!

Riding the wave of life

This past week we enjoyed what has become normal routine for us here in Vienna.  A mixture of walks, math, get togethers for Hersh and I with other babies and mamas, cooking, and our 5 o'clock outings on Hutteldorferstrasse.  It's interesting that as much as Vienna was a struggle in the fall, it has become a comfortable place for us to call home for now.  Maybe this is very clear right now because we are preparing to head back to the States tomorrow for couple of weeks. 

Today, we visited a Vienna "must-do."  We took the #10 Strassenbahn down to Schloss Schonbrunn and visited the Ostermarkt.  It was very similar to the Christmas market, and we are glad to say that this is checked off our "we did that when we lived in Vienna" list.  The grounds of the Schloss were just incredible.  Everything is green and lush because of the springtime rain, and we really enjoyed our walk.  Hope the spring sun is shining on you!

Hersh was very busy this morning:

First he helped organize the tupperware.

Then he sat in the toy bin.

And finally he organized the shoes.

Then we were off the Schloss Schonbrunn:

Gemuse Brot and Erdbeerbowle.