Discovery Green

Houston is not Paris. Not by a long shot. But we came back from Paris determined to make the most of it...

We had heard great things about Discovery Green - the new(ish) park downtown that is eco-friendly and has cool concerts and such. I can't say that it compared to the Tuileries or Luxembourg or Champs de Mars, but it was nice and had some neat views of the Houston skyline. We decided to go one weekend when we first came back (i.e. early December), and I was determined to get some family pictures:

And yes, I believe this is the only picture of me during this pregnancy... I guess I should get a few before Elliot is born, shouldn't I? Oliver was not really in the mood for picture taking, though:

So we did our best:

He was much more interested in running down the ramp:

And playing on the wall with Dad:

Maybe not the glorious family photo shoot I'd had in mind, but a nice reminder that family time is family time, no matter what side of the ocean you are on.

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!

Oliver: 13 Months

Well, he officially hit the 14-month mark two days ago, and he took his first steps today!! We've been in Nice (on the French Riviera) this week with some friends of ours (more on that to come later, I promise) who have a little girl who is just 9 days older than Oliver. She, though, has been walking for some time. I thought (ok, I admit, hoped!) that Oliver might take after Karis and begin walking while we were on this trip. Alas, he waited until after Karis and her parents flew back to Cambridge this morning to give it a try. But he did it! Just a few steps down the hallway, but we are expecting more when he gets up from his nap. The mental block (being able to stand on his own, walk really well while holding one hand, drive his little car around, and generally be able to do all the skills required to walk except taking the actual steps) seems to have passed. We're thrilled!

Anyway, some pictures from this past month... This month can best be summed up by one word: parks. We took an all-day trip to a park in the suburbs for a sports day with other churches:

And Oliver and I spent almost every day at the park. Sometimes he stacked his buckets:

Usually he wandered off like this...

And sometimes he practiced his standing skills (and, for the record, I was very unhappy about the creepy pigeon that kept coming so close to my child... rats with wings, I tell you!):

We also graduated to the actual playground area at Champs de Mars. He's not technically old enough, and he's usually the only kid crawling rather than walking, but he has a blast just watching everyone (I circled him so you could find him better... sorry for the poor iphone-quality of most of these pics!):

TWICE while at this park, Oliver started fights. He wasn't actually a part of these fights; he just was so popular that EVERYONE wanted to play with him. I kid you not. These little girls played with him for in the sand for about half an hour...

After that, they moved to the carriage and took turns patting Oliver on the head.

Then another little girl had the gall to try to play with Oliver, too, and an actual fight ensued. One girl shoved another, and that girl hit back. Me, totally amused by the popularity of my son, actually started filming. Does that make me a bad person? I'll spare you the video, but suffice it to say that we will be watching that this little one doesn't get too big a head... Oh wait... well, at least that he doesn't get a big head metaphorically.

When it rained (which, unfortunately, was pretty often this month), we did all we could to stay entertained in the house. Here's his look of satisfaction as he stands up all by himself:

And his new soccer ball was a source of much fun:

Even more time-consuming was the intense desire to empty drawers. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I often let him do it on rainy days because he was so bored in the house otherwise! One day, I found him in my room; he had emptied my pajama drawer, managed to "dress himself" in a pair of my shorts, and had moved on to emptying the bedside table...

We also moved him permanently to the bathtub as he has pretty much outgrown the sink, and he loves it!

The lighting in my bathroom is great, too, as there is a frosted window that fills the wall behind the tub. You can see my reflection in his eyes!

He loves to set all his little bath toys along the edge of the tub:

But most of all, he LOVES to splash. He really gets into it!

Each month gets more fun... I mean it. It's more running around, more work to entertain him, more food to keep him full, and more loads of laundry, but it's WAY more fun. Wouldn't trade it for the world. :)

Over a year...

I've decided, in an attempt to force myself to keep posting pictures of my child at a somewhat regular rate, to continue giving you monthly updates, even though he's already past the "year" marker. I think we can continue to explain his age in months for now, don't you? So, the following pictures are from Oliver's 12th month (which ended on Friday, by the way).

My one-year-old boy started off the year mischievously. He began by climbing into the armoire in the dining room...

That doesn't sound so bad, does it? But the real deviousness began when we had a babysitter. After a diaper change, the babysitter went to find a new pair of pants for Oli, while he crawled away... With new pants in hand, babysitter set out to finish dressing Oliver who, by that point, had disappeared. When Oliver was nowhere to be found, and as the panic began to set in, a small giggle was heard from the armoire. Oliver had not only crawled in, he had shut the door and found it HILARIOUS that the poor babysitter almost had a heart attack due to his disappearance. Quite the little devil!

The he continued a few days later by diving headfirst off the curb and into the gravel. Sporting his war wounds...

Which were still visible several days later:

That same day, I caught one of my favorite Oliver expressions. As he crawls toward you, ready to dive into your lap, he makes the most hilarious faces. Though the focus isn't great, I had to share them with you:

In other news, Oliver is still not walking officially, though he walks with his car all day long, around and around and around the apartment (forgive his partially dressed condition):

He still eats like his legs are hollow; he is obsessed with ricecakes; he drinks his real milk from cups... He's almost not a baby anymore! But I did manage to catch his photo right after he got his one-year shots (see his little bandaid!); I gave the poor little guy a bottle in his old chair... He almost seemed like a baby still. :)

He also loves his little pals. Though he's kind of an observer and is often happy to play alone (if there are new and interesting things to examine), he is really enjoying spending time with friends. Oscar spent the whole afternoon with us one day, and these two were precious!

I know that there are a million challenges that come with twins, but I have to admit that I saw some of the benefits today (there are NO secret messages in this comment, by the way!) as these two really entertained each other. If they weren't playing together, they were simply watching each other:

And we had the privilege of hosting another playgroup this month, too. At first, I thought our attempt to photograph all four boys was hopeless:

This expression on Oliver's face cracked me up!

But we did actually have some miraculous success, too...

Four one-ish year old boys smiling all at once! Are they precious or what?!?!

And, to embarrass my child someday, I leave you with possibly the most awkward picture of Oliver yet... When Hailey was visiting (more on that to come soon), she managed to capture this:

No matter how awkward, we love him!!!

More Baby Showers!!

I just love baby showers. I confess that I love them more now that I have my own child.... Sometimes attending shower after shower before I had children was tough. I'm just sayin'. But now, so so so so fun. And, in proper "when-it-rains-it-pours" fashion, just two weeks after Katy's shower, we had the privilege of celebrating Joe and Isa's coming baby boy.

Mila did a great job hosting and decorating; she used a rubber-duckie theme:

And made the room very cute:

Most impressive was her rubber-duckie cake... which she made herself:

And, of course, there were TONS of sweets to enjoy:

Katy and Isa showed off their bellies again:

In true Trinity (our church) fashion, we had a very international gathering... And we all had a blast celebrating this little boy! Mila, the Brazilian hostess, and Isa, the Belgian guest of honor:

Adina (Romanian), Isa, and Marie (French):

Katy, Stacy, and Jasmine... all American:

Stacy's little boy, Alexander (1/2 American, 1/2 German), who cracks me up!!! And he was so good at the shower, truly:

Katy and Connie (German), along with precious little Noee, who is only 5 weeks old!

Katy, Jasmine, and Jessica (Zimbabwean):

Isa and Jasmine (Jaz snuck her way into a lot of photos, didn't she?!?! No, really, it's just because she's so photogenic and all the pics with her turned out well. :)

Isa got some fabulous gifts, including adorable little socks:

Some very cute clothes:

And a babycook (which I totally recommend, by the way)... But hers came with this super cool little purse/bag thing. Very nifty:

We also wrote encouraging notes to Isa, Joe, and the little one to come:

And managed to visit and eat some more, of course!

Just before most people left (sorry we missed you, Stacy!), I managed to get a couple of group shots:

So so fun to celebrate this precious little life... Can't wait to meet him in July!!