Baby Shower and Father's Day

Jamie's baby shower was on Father's Day weekend so Ethan and I headed to the Cape Friday afternoon and Steve joined us that night. He played with Louise and Alex while I headed to mom's house to bake cupcakes and get ready for the party! After running errands and decorating a couple of dozen cupcakes, I rushed over to Mattakeese Wharf to catch Stacey the birthday girl as she headed out for the night. It was a very rushed hello as I arrived as they were leaving, but it was wonderful to see her and give her a birthday hug.


The shower for Jamie was great! Lots of folks brought yummy food and we ate and drank and gifted the mommy-to-be. Suzanne sent up another of her fabulous quilts and has since made matching valences and bed skirt!



It's been fun to be pregnant together for these past few months. Our babes will be just 3 months apart!

Grandmas!!

Girlfriends!

Mom and I were very proud of our cupcakes.

The boys showed up at the end of the shower and feasted on the left over treats.

After the festivities, we headed back to Grandpa Cilff and Louise's house and were joined by Jayna, Carina, Todd and the Lachiatto boys Carter and Trevor. This was the first time the boys met and they hit it off immediately and crazily. They were wild!

For the first time in a long time we were actually with my dad on Father's Day. Ethan spent a whole lot of time in the pool and not far from Alex's side. Alex is so patient and wonderful with the little man, and Ethan just adores him.

There was a full on whiffle ball game played that day and all of the boys had fun! Us ladies were happy to observe from the comfort of our lounge chairs.

I love catching the munchkin in such serious poses. He was catching for the big boys in this one.

Jamie's due date is August 15th so we're all anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baby Girl Bartz!!

Black Eye, Bubbles and Babies

June started off a little rough for the munchkin. While playing with daddy, he threw himself on a pillow that was hiding Steve's knee and he bonked his head pretty good. It didn't bother him at all and didn't immediately look like anything so we didn't give it much thought. The next morning he woke up with half of his forehead swollen! I stayed home with him to keep an eye on the situation (no pun intended) and ended up taking him in to see the Dr. He showed no signs of head injury so we were sent home with instructions to keep it iced and wait it out.





However, by Tuesday afternoon the swelling moved into and around his eye. It was weird how it kept moving but the Dr assured me that it was normal. That same day I took him back to the Dr for a developmental screening. We weren't concerned about anything but my pediatrician recommended it as something fun to do and learn from. Have I mentioned how much Ethan loves going to the Dr and the Dentist? You would think 2 trips in a day would be a bit much, but he was all for it! The woman took one look at him and asked, in a very concerned way, if I wanted someone to take a look at him. He did look pretty rough so I said that if someone was available I'd be happy to have them look. However, as we went through the screening, E was doing so well she decided his head had to be fine. It was so funny to be there watching and rooting for him as she asked him to answer questions and manipulate different kinds of puzzles. I was so proud and Ethan was on his game. You could definitely see the competitive side in him with his "I can do that" attitude. She mentioned that his fine motor was lacking a bit which was exactly what I told her I thought at the beginning (a mother always knows!), but nothing to be alarmed about. He is still very much into scribbling and not trying to make shapes or letters. We're working on lines now to try to get him under control, but it's tough. He rated very high for verbal skills as anybody who's met this kid can attest to! He's got a lot to say and for the most part says it very clearly. One other thing is that when he nods his head he nods with his whole upper body so I plan to have him evaluated by a PT/OT just to check. With the torticollis he had as a baby, he may still be a bit stiff in spots so we want to avoid any long term implications. Counting went well. He made it to 20 without screwing up but since then seems to have forgotten about 16. Colors, shapes, and simple block building were all a piece of cake and she even did some analogies with him. The tricky one was "a table is made of wood, a window is made of ...". Ethan said metal and then had no idea what else to guess. The woman pointed to her glasses and asked him what those were and then asked him again what a window was made of and he said glass! It was cool to watch him make that connection.



His eye took a few more days to totally clear up and it never seemed to bother him at all. I think he loved the attention though. His teachers made a big deal about him when he went back to school. He did look pretty pathetic.

Bubbles have been a big part of our summer so far. This was the morning that I busted out the mega bubble pack that I had bought for him and both boys had a lot of fun with all the different bubble wands. Ethan loves being in "bubble town" as he calls it. You can tell Steve hadn't had all of the coffee that he needed that morning.

Just a random picture to illustrate that we still have not mastered the art of eating with utensils.

A few weeks ago our friends Andrew and Jamie came over for dinner with their twin boys Dylan and Dean. As soon as they got here Ethan wanted to hold them. He reached up like he was just going to carry one away, but was happy to settle for a little couch time. As you can imagine, I too held them a lot throughout the evening. It was great to see how interested Ethan was in what they were doing.

A little bit more May

This is a picture of Ethan and his friend Ella from school at Family Fun Night. It was sponsored by the parents group at day care and held at the Tewksbury Elks club. It's always so entertaining to watch these kids interact with each other! They think it's hilarious to see each other outside of school! Especially with a DJ.



One lovely Saturday we walked Lake Quannapowit and ended up at the playground...of course!



I think I was about 4 months in this picture. Showing quite a bit earlier than last time!





Painting in daddy's shirt.




Another way that E likes to help daddy is taking out the recycling. This is a pretty classic picture of the little man. He often loses his pants after school. He takes them all the way off to go potty, and it's just not worth the effort so close to bath or bed time!



And this was a family bbq night.

We'd been talking about having smores all week and E was very excited and serious about making it perfect.

Then he showed me his happy face.

And then his mad face.

And then he just had a messy face.

And that was our month of May!

Germany Round 2

In late May, I headed back to Germany for another visit with the Army guys at Ramstein AFB. This trip we stayed right in Kaiserslautern which is a pretty big, not so pretty city. However, The Blechhammer was an amazing family operated hotel on a lake in the woods just outside the city. We had wonderful meals and really enjoyed our time there.









One of our outings was to The House of Clocks. There was a lot of talk about buying coo-coo clocks (we weren't too far from the black forest), but none of us were up for hauling them back with us. Pranav, however, found this killer hat.







We went out for a wonderful home cooked meal at a restaurant off the beaten path called Idyll. We're not sure what this sign meant, but found it amusing.




It was nice to see that at least part of the world is dedicated to renewable energy sources. Wind turbines are a common sight along the highways.

Our last night was spent in Frankfurt Au Main. We stayed at a lovely Sheraton and walked from there right into this square that was having an outdoor concert with lots of food, beer and people watching! Many drunk middle aged Germans having a good time. We spent quite a bit of time here. Pranav and John enjoyed a frosty beverage.

Here we are all together. I'm not sure what Jim is looking at in this particular frame, but he looks very amused! I was enjoying a wonderful ginger ale mojito thing. I wasn't quite pregnant enough to pull off that shirt, but pregnant enough to not fit into much of anything else.

It's starting to look like this will be my last work trip until I return from maternity leave. Not a bad way to go out!

Some Pics from May

May started out in pretty kick butt fashion with Steve and I getting a night away on the Cape. E was with Grandma Jan and the weather was gorgeous! We were staying at Ocean Edge in Brewster, but we stopped in Dennis on our way. This is Cold Storage beach which is where my mom brought Jamie and I most every day of the summer! We lived less than 3 miles from here growing up so I have many happy memories of this beach and especially walking on the jetty. It was fun to take Steve there and reminisce a little. We also took a trip to the Ice Cream Smuggler where Jamie and I worked back in high school. The collages from our summers spent there are still on the wall! It was crazy to see and the ice cream is still fabulous as well.





Ethan loves to help his daddy doing whatever it is daddy is doing. Washing the car is a very fun time for them and this time was no exception. The cars get only marginally clean, but both end up soaked and laughing.

There was a Marine Week in Boston and we missed most of the events, but we did make it down to the Navy Yard in Charlestown for a little bit of fun. It didn't start out that way. E's face in this picture perfectly depicts his feelings about it in the beginning. There were kids honking the very loud horns and he was not feelin' it. We wandered around listening to him whining for a while and finally went into the Constitution Museum to use the bathroom. That turned out to be a wonderful thing! The museum is very kid friendly and we all had a great time in there!

When we came out of the museum, E was in a much better mood and ready to rock a few marine vehicles.

We spontaneously decided to take the ferry from the Navy Yard to Long Wharf and grab dinner in Faneuil Hall. It was the perfect night for a ferry ride!

E was in rare form after dinner. While we were waiting for the ferry back, he claimed this rock as his stage and entertained us and everyone around us. They've been learning a few yoga poses at school. This is the tree pose.

This was E's tree pose.

These next 2 videos are from when the outdoor bar on the dock started playing music. Apparently Benny and the Jets is one rockin' tune! The first is cute, but the second is freaking hilarious! Family, this is the same I shared on vimeo, but I had to post it here. I laugh every time I watch it. He's such a ham!

The ride home was beautiful. What a fun night! He looks so big in this picture.