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!

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. :)

Uncle Rhys

Praise God, my brother made it back safely from Afghanistan. We were SO thankful for his safe return! And, as an added bonus, he came to visit us in Paris shortly thereafter. Even better, since my mother flew back with me to help my oh-so-sickie-pregnant self, we had a regular fun house on our hands. So good to enjoy family!

Although we actually had a very cultured and busy visit (include the Orsay, the Pompidou, and lots of yummy crepes, among other things...), I again failed to document very well. Alas, I have only a couple of pictures from around the apartment and then photos of our day at Versailles.

Versailles was a little rough because poor little jet-lagged Oliver didn't sleep well the night before (and, of course, neither did the rest of us as a result), but once we made it out of the crowded madness of the chateau, we were able to fully relish the incredibly gorgeous gardens.

I think they were the most beautiful I have ever seen them (and I think I've been to Versailles 6 times before):

The chateau gleamed in the sunlight:

And the orangerie was immaculately glorious:

Oliver, however, cared only about one thing - the stairs. He was so excited about climbing up and down them that we had a very hard time getting him to go with us into the actual garden:

Eventually, however, we managed successfully:

And even did some exploring:

In the end, I'd call it a successful morning, despite our exhaustion and the hoards of Spanish tourists we were forced to dodge. Back at the apartment, due to our full house, we had a mattress in the living room, which Oliver LOVED:

Lots of tickle fights ensued:

How could life get any better? We miss you, Rhys, and can't wait for the next visit!

10 MONTHS?!?!?! Actually, let's start with 9...

Where has the time gone?!?! I cannot believe that Oliver has been born longer than I was pregnant. Pregnancy seemed to last forever, but I feel like he was just born yesterday. Amazing.

Anyway, I am FAR behind on posts concerning the little guy. And since he just turned 10 months yesterday, I figured now was as good a time as any to try to catch up and at least share pics from his 8th month. We start with some photos from early February (just after our Italy trip). We had a few unusually warm days and Oliver and I decided to take advantage and visit our park at the end of the street. Although we went several times in the fall, this was a whole new experience for Oliver now that he's mobile. He was seriously interested:

And was determined to leave the blanket at explore the unknown, of course:

When it occurred to me that this was my child's first time to actually play in grass (does that make me a bad mom?), I decided to let him go and enjoy:

I even let him taste some leaves (again with the bad mom??):

A couple of days later, we had another playgroup (we love our playgroup friends!). Oliver and Stephanie are always holding hands... Is there something there?

And then Oliver showed off his new-found love of sitting up on his own. He's been able to do so since about 5 months, but he was so uninterested in it that I couldn't ever leave him alone. He would quickly get distracted and flop down onto his head... But at 8.5 months (yes, a full month after he became mobile), he's finally decided that sitting up is ok.

And he even gave himself a round of applause:

Around that time I also decided that Oliver should try feeding himself a little. Me and my OCD had not let my poor child feed himself before because I didn't want to clean up the mess... But we stripped him down to his diaper and gave it a go.

He had more trouble actually getting the apples into his mouth, though, than I had hoped:

But he seemed to have fun, at least!

And he showed off his sippy-cup skills. Long drink:

Pause to breathe:

Even more fun than food is playing with daddy:

His most fun thing is watching himself walk in the mirror (he's facing a floor-length mirror in these pictures):

Does life get any better?

And one more thing he was doing around 9 months is playing hide and seek with his books. Before bed each night we read at least one book and when we finish, we hand it to Oliver to hold for a bit. He started playing peek-a-boo with us around Christmas time. Although he usually stops if I go for the camera, I managed to kind of capture the process here:

At least I tried! Truly, though, I think each month gets better. He's playing, laughing, crawling, eating, sleeping (praise God!) and smiling all over the place. Love him so much!!

Pictures from the last few days...

Well… We made it. And we have a beautiful little boy to thank God for. It was a LONG day at the hospital; we arrived a little before 8 am, and Oliver was born at 8:53 pm… He took his time. The waiting was not too bad at first (when Chris decided to take all those pictures of Rachel who still, at the moment, looks decently comfortable, no?). We decided to spare you any pictures of the last few hours, though. The rest of the pictures are from that evening and this morning. Please forgive us the lack of commentary; we are a little preoccupied at the moment. Enjoy, though!

Some things to be thankful for...

Have you ever had a "lovely" day? It doesn't have to be exciting; it doesn't have to be exquisitely beautiful; heck, it doesn't even have to be particularly interesting... It just needs that perfect balance of good company and peaceful activity that leaves you feeling satisfied. Saturday was such a day. And (as should probably happen more often) it left me thinking about the incredible blessings I have in my life. So, in honor of my "lovely" day, here are some things I am thankful for:

1. My hot husband. Isn't he adorable?!?!

Even more impressive is that he not only bought me a fancy new camera so that I can attempt to learn to take decent pictures before our son arrives, but he even allowed me to practice on him, a sacrifice for this man who doesn't particularly like having his picture taken. He is so patient!

Not only that, he allowed me to practice in a public place - Les Halles Park:

After this one, I "got the picture" and decided to give the poor man a break:

2. Our peaceful neighborhood. In a city with millions of people: old, young; rich, poor; owning, renting, and homeless; French, foreign... all living in very close proximity... Needless to say, it can be difficult to find some peace and quiet. But I am SO thankful for our neighborhood with its park at the end of our street (at the trees):

And multiple bakeries to choose from:

And, my favorite, the stylish flower shop on the corner which displays its flowers out front in different geometric arrangements every day:

Plus the quiet, tree-lined streets:

A gem!

3. My HUGE baby belly. Although I cannot say that I don't complain about it (probably all too frequently), I am thankful for our son growing in there, thankful that he's already made it full term, thankful that he will come soon and be yet another reason to praise God.

Since we haven't been very good about taking belly pictures (and many of you have complained about that to me), I gave Chris the camera and told him to take a few... He got a little carried away, but I thought you might like to see some anyway:

4. This beautiful, historical city. There are not many places where I can take such pleasure in just snapping photos as we wander out of the movie theatre (which happened to have a special deal where all movies were only 3.50 - I'm thankful for that, too!). The tiny streets of the 1st Arrondissment:

The Seine River, complete with Bateaux Mouche (the tour boats) and the Tour Eiffel in the distance:

The beautiful flowering trees of Paris' springtime:

The view of the Conciergerie from Pont Neuf:

Antique-looking boats lined up along on the Left Bank:

All that to say, "Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!"