Oliver Update

20 months old... I truly cannot believe it. He'll be 2 before I can blink. He is full of new words and new ideas every day. Last night, I put him to bed around 7:30, but we heard him still talking around 8:15, so Chris went in to tell him to go to sleep.... He found Oliver sitting in the middle of his crib (with his blanket, stuffed animals, and pacifiers scattered on the floor around his bed) repeating over and over, "Nana, puppies, Nana, puppies, Nana, puppies...." If you could only hear how he articulates the word puppies. I know I sound like a pathetically mushy mom, but it has got to be the cuties thing ever. He is happy, friendly, outgoing, and loved by almost every single person we meet. The whole church knows Oliver (by name), and we've only been going for four weeks... I cannot express how blessed I feel to have such a sweet boy.

Anyway, I am so far behind on pictures of him (and I haven't taken many quality ones in these recent months... too much else going on to keep up with that, sorry!), so here are just a few quick ones to keep you up to speed. One of our last Saturdays in Paris we walked for a few hours, taking video of the market, the neighborhood, and our apartment. Oliver was ready to walk by himself as we made our way up our street:

Thankfully, he was still pretty good about holding hands when you asked him to:

This sweet kid managed to stay relatively entertained by his very few toys and lots of household items while I tried to pack up our apartment before moving:

One of his first words was "choo choo," and the obsession with trains has continued to this day. Here he is just after our arrival in the US cheering that one of my mom's friends brought him a train to play with:

He adjusted SO WELL to life in the US. As my cousin David put it, he "seamlessly transitioned from crepes to tamales," and I couldn't be more thankful. He sleeps so well in his new room and often lies down on pillows or stuffed animals on the floor once he has his pajamas on and says, "night night, Mommy." How precious is that?!?!

He was quite "helpful" while I was Christmas shopping, picking out two purses in particular that he was convinced we needed:

He learned quickly which drawer contained the toys at Nana and Papa's and managed to climb into it to more fully enjoy his goodies. I wasn't quick enough to capture it with my phone, but when I first walked in, he was sitting down amidst them all with a ridiculous grin on his face - in heaven:

He also LOVES to be outside. I was so blessed a few weeks ago when a former student of mine and her family offered to keep Oliver for a few hours while Chris and I finished a few things on our house (I'll have to fill you all in on that one soon). He had a BLAST at their house! They have a huge yard, which he thoroughly enjoyed:

And he even got to play with a puppy and tupperware inside...

Plus he apparently found something remarkably entertaining - could their expressions be any more similar? We are so blessed to have such kind friends.

I admit that my 32 pound son certainly can drive me crazy and wear me out, but I also confess that I could not have asked for a sweeter boy. Disobedient at times? Yes. Way too heavy for this pregnant momma to carry? Definitely. Whiny when he's tired and hungry? Of course. But precious beyond all belief, and we are so thankful for him.

Thanksgiving

We actually flew back to the US the day before Thanksgiving, allowing us to spend that Thursday with our family back home. It was such a blessing! But before we left Paris, of course, we had to repeat last year's Thanksgiving party with our (mostly) American friends. Although I was busy hosting (and therefore sadly neglected my picture-taking duties), Mila was kind enough to snap photos for the day. We were graced by the presence of 10 Americans, 1 Frenchman, 1 Brazilian, 1 Belgian, and 1 Nepalese/Indian... plus 8 children. Utter chaos, but SO FUN! We were so blessed by these sweet friends while we were in Paris, and we miss them terribly now.

Like I said, I failed to take pictures, but here are just a few I snagged from Mila. The boys hung out in the living room while we finished preparations in the kitchen. Here we have Tim, Jude, Zach, Chris, and Joe:

Mila caught me while slicing the ham:

Oliver LOVED sharing pumpkin cheesecake with his mama:

And Aubrey and I had to get a pic of our matching pregnant bellies and outfits:

Such a blessing to spend good time with friends right before we left... We are so thankful for you all!!

Trinity International Retreat 2011

Almost two whole months since my last post... embarrassing. After multiple reprimands from friends and family, I have decided to make a desperate attempt at getting caught up, at least somewhat. As a side note, praise the Lord for Mother's Day Out (which, of course, is where my son is today, allowing me my only shot at a little computer time). Anyway, I posted about the Trinity Retreat last year, and this year's retreat was no-less wonderful. Forgive me as I post unedited pics with relatively little commentary in my attempt to catch up... but know that this weekend was important enough to us that we specifically designed our departure to the US around being able to attend the retreat. No joke. And we were not disappointed...

The retreat center (also in Normandy, though a different location from last year's stay) was beautiful:

And included a volleyball court:

Which we made very good use of:

Fabulous playground equipment:

And peaceful places to walk and appreciate the beauty of God's creation:

I got particularly carried away when Oliver found the old horse fence... fun to play with the light and angles, though I confess I wish he were not in sweatpants and his giant coat. Ah, well:

Though I was negligent in taking pics during many of the activities, I did catch Aubrey and Peter looking adorable in the dining hall:

And Tim and Rachel singing Billy Jean during karaoke:

We had the blessing of childcare provided by a sister church, so we enjoyed incredible worship and teaching from Al, Tim, and Todd; we visited a nearby antique/junk sale (which was so fun!); we played some seriously fabulous group games (organized by yours truly ;), and we even enjoyed a salsa lesson from one of our church members who is a professional instructor. Overall, it was a time filled with joy, laughter, encouragement, challenge, and (for us) great sadness that we were leaving this family we had fallen in love with over the past two years. To all of our brothers and sisters at Trinity, may God bless you richly and continue to give you the grace to love Him and others... until we see you all someday in heaven (and hopefully before!).