And a Happy New Year!

On Christmas Day, we flew to Santa Fe, New Mexico to visit the Paxtons. This was Oliver's first trip back to Santa Fe since Christmas 2010, but he didn't miss a beat. He loved chasing the cats, snuggling with Momma Joy, going on walks with Pop, and playing dinosaurs with Uncle Ben.

Of course, he didn't mind that we got to open more presents:

And everyone took a turn sporting their new gear:

After opening gifts, we snapped a few pics of Oli with his grandparents... Are these the cutest pictures ever?!?!

During our week there, we spent a lot of time outside. Although Oliver had seen snow before, this was his first time to be old enough to play in it, and he had a blast (and yes, he is wearing mom's hat... it seemed warmer than his and with an extra roll, it fit just fine):

He even went for a little sled ride:

He took lots of exploratory walks with Dad:

And though I know this picture has terrible glare (since I was inside, taking it through the window), I LOVE this shot of the Paxton boys hanging out on the porch:

The other momentous event of this trip was Oli's first haircut. I know he still looks practically bald in most pictures, but the rat tail in the back was getting a little extreme:

So one of Momma Joy's sweet friends offered to give him his first big-boy haircut:

We had to save his one curl, though, of course:

And the result? Voila:

SO grown up!

We went to a park later in the week, and Oliver and Momma Joy tried out the rope ladder:

And drove the "boat":

Could there be any more joy on that little face? I admit that an almost-2-year-old toddler is not always the easiest charge, but this one certainly brings so much fun to our lives. And what a fabulous bonus to have such wonderful family to help enjoy him! Thank you, Steve and Joy, for having us, showing us a great time, and loving our little boy so much. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

15 Weeks in the Life of the Paxtons...

We moved home from our two-year stint in Paris, France. We tried to adjust back to heat, cars, fast food, flip flops, and work-out clothes. We celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family in Texas. We celebrated a late Christmas and New Years with Chris' family in New Mexico. We remodeled two bathrooms. We joined a new church plant and began helping with sound, music, and children's church. We unpacked from France, rearranged after my brother moved out, cleaned and cleaned and cleaned, and put our house on the market. Four days and three offers later, we sold our home...

In the midst of all this, we got to see our second son's little face. Elliot Kenley Paxton is certainly handsome, isn't he?

We then found a home to buy, discovered that it needed to be rewired completely, almost lost the home in the process of negotiations, had the closing pushed back, and finally (Lord willing!) are set to close this coming Monday. Whew!!!!!

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There are many details, pictures, and updates that I still owe you concerning all those things, but I wanted to share the basics so that those who want to know can know (all two of you, I'm sure). Hopefully, the other blog posts will be forthcoming. We have two weeks (at least) of work to do on the house before we can move in, so we are planning a late-March move date (since we have to be out of our house by March 31). I am 37 weeks today, and Elliot is due March 29. Needless to say, it has been (and will likely continue to be) quite the whirlwind. Most importantly (and not surprisingly), God has been so faithful and gracious through it all; we are just thrilled to see how it all turns out and what He has in store for us around the corner.

And, to whet your appetite for the great stories and adorable pictures to come, I leave you with this:

A bientot!

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.

Play Group Brunch

My fabulous Paris play group (which was formed from our parenting/birthing class) had the privilege of getting together one last time for brunch before we left Paris. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me, and as you know if you've read my blog for long, I am TERRIBLE at taking photos with my iphone. But it had to suffice...

The restaurant was great. They even had two high chairs (not enough for our group, of course, but that's two more than most Paris restaurants have!), a fish tank, some stairs, an almost-empty room for us, and a courtyard. How could a toddler not have a blast?

We started with some attempts at a group photo on the stairs:

But Oliver quickly found the fish tank more fascinating:

So the others decided to join us (he's such a trend setter!):

And we finished with a group stroller photo in the courtyard:

Yay for this precious group and all it's been for us over the last two years... I will miss them greatly!

Boys, Boys, Boys!

After four generations of only boys born to the Paxton line, we were awaiting with bated breath the news of our ultrasound on Friday. I decided to try a new location that was closer to my home (rather than the American hospital where I had done all my previous scans), and was running over the list of French anatomy words that morning to be sure I could understand the doctor. I figured that at worst, "fille" (girl) or "garcon" (boy) were hard to miss. Luckily for me, though, the doctor spoke English, and there was therefore no confusion when she informed me that we were having a...............

BOY!! So no surprises here. But that's ok. After growing up with three brothers, mostly boy cousins, and a ton of guy friends, I almost feel more prepared for a boy than a girl anyway. Plus, Oliver and Mr. Baby (as he will be dubbed until we choose a more suitable name... or maybe permanently if we do not find a more suitable one... what do you all think of it?) can be best of friends. At 22 months apart (my new due date is March 31, by the way), I'm sure they will have their fair share of conflicts, but we are thrilled to meet Oliver's little brother. We can't wait for you all to meet him, too!

Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement as we work to survive another pregnancy, parenting a one-year-old, and preparing to move overseas. Are we really ready for two kids?

Probably not... but we're ready to try. :)

Oliver: 16 Months

I can't believe my little boy is almost a year and a half old! On Monday, he turned a whopping 17 months old... incredible. 16 months was a really exciting time for us. We left the US just before he turned 16 months (and yes, I failed to do a post for 15 months), but I thought you'd like to see this. While we were in Houston, my parents moved down the street, and Oliver decided he would drive the moving truck:

When we came back to Paris, poor Oliver faced the perfect storm: jet lag, seven new teeth (including 4 molars), starting school, a cold, and a stomach bug... Yet he was a doll through it all. In fact, we ran into a friend on the street about a week after we got back, and she snapped these faces on her iphone:

Precious boy is growing every day. Most exciting is his increase in understanding. In fact, last Wednesday I went to pick him up from school, and he had a block in his hand when he ran up to hug me as I arrived. I asked him where the block went and if he could put it away, and he completely ignored me... He turned and waved goodbye and blew kisses to his friends. So I asked him again if he could put the block away, and again, he ignored me. I then said, "Peut-tu le ranger?" ("Can you put it away?"). Immediately, he walked across the room to the drawer where it belongs, put it in, and closed the drawer. Incredible. I've been trying to teach him to put things away at home for a long time, and clearly something that I was doing at home wasn't working... But he obviously got the concept at school!

Last week, we went to Champs de Mars with some friends, and I had to soak in the gorgeous fall weather (I am SO going to miss being able to walk a mere 10 minutes to the Eiffel Tower, sit on the grass outside without sweating, and watch the people walk by!!). Oliver, the oldest of the group there that day, decided to wander and play, which was great as long as he stayed by us:

He then decided he wanted to leave the grassy area and head of towards the Eiffel Tower... we had to put a stop to his wandering at that point... But the independence is amazing to see!

This morning, I went to get him from his bed, and he was pointed at the little animals and flowers on the wall above his crib and I swear he said, "What's that?" I answered. Then he repeated on the next one. We went through each one before he was ready to be lifted out of the crib. He wants to "help" me around the house, too, imitating all my household chores. I let him carry around the dustpan the other night, and he proceeded to carry it to the trashcan, open the lid, and bang the dustpan into the trashcan a few times (like I do to knock of the dirt after I sweep). I couldn't stop laughing.

I know these are all mommy ramblings, and that most of you probably don't care. But I want to remember these things, and I actually have a few minutes to write them down while he is at school, so here they are. I can't wait to see what today and tomorrow will bring!

Oliver's First Day of School

Yep, after years of saying I never wanted to put my kids in daycare, here I am... In France, though, there is an incredible supplementation program based on your income which makes daycare SO affordable! Plus, since we live in a two-bedroom, 800-square-foot apartment on the 4th floor, Oliver is in desperate need of some new and different space for playtime. Yes, there are fabulous parks near here, but Paris fall is notoriously cold and wet, leaving us stuck inside often. Plus, this oh-so-sickie pregnant mom has to walk everywhere that we go. In addition, most of our friends live more than 30 minutes away via metro or bus (again with the walking places and carrying the stroller up and down stairs and such)... Let's just say that Oliver was getting VERY bored with just me. And yes, I am justifying my decision, but I cannot tell you what a good one it was. Really.

Oliver has started at the creche three mornings per week: MWF, from 8-12 (though we usually don't go until about 9, since he often doesn't wake up until about 8:15 - I love the flexibility!). First of all, I love the ladies there; they have all been so kind, not only to Oliver but also to his pregnant and pathetically-poor-French-speaking mother. They always ask how I'm feeling and have no problem repeating themselves multiple times when I don't understand. SO kind! I love the games they play and the playground they have and the way they make the kids clean up their own toys. Plus, since the age group is 15-36 months, Oliver (at 16 months) is the youngest of the group, but the older kids are so kind to him! They have "adopted" him, as the workers tell me, all wanting to hold his hand and help him do things.

Thankfully, my mother was still visiting to help me with the first week. They have an "adaptation" process, where I stay and play with him at the creche the first day, then we slowly shorten the time that I am there. It's a really cool system, and they let my mom stay, too, and we had fun talking to the workers (my mom's French is way better than mine!). By Friday, he was ready for his half day on his own. And, sadly, my mom flew out that day. So, Dad and I took Oliver to his first normal day of school.

First of all, he was a very happy boy that morning. Although our elevator is terribly dark, I couldn't resist taking a few pics of his adorable, giggling face:

We then walked to school (which is just about a 10 minute walk - so convenient!), and Oliver decided he wanted to wear his backpack. He was telling his dad something very important (and completely unintelligible, of course) when I took this picture:

He posed with Daddy for a few cute photos:

And eventually was ready to go:

The creche is at the end of this really cool alleyway, lined with two-story, timbered homes (they look to be 16th century, I'm guessing? But alas, I didn't get them in the photos... I'll take more later, I promise), with gorgeous greenery. So I couldn't resist as they walked down the alley towards school:

I can't believe how fast my little one is growing up!!