Uncle Richard

My dad and brother flew in last Wednesday, and we had a fabulous time (more to come on their visit later...). Probably the coolest part for me, though, was watching my little-big brother, Richard, with my son. Richard is the baby of the family (though he towers over all of us), and has therefore never really interacted with infants... But he was a pro. How can you not melt at pictures like these???

And, for good measure, a few more adorable pics of little Oliver:

1. Asleep in the stroller after a walk with dad (and wrapped in dad's sweater because it was cold and dad didn't have a blanket ;-)...

2. Looking stylish in his little hat a matching monkey outfit...
3. Passed out on the changing table...

Oli's First Big Outing

Two Saturdays ago, we took little Oliver on his first big outing. Before that, he had been on short walks around the neighborhood, to the doctor, to church, and to the store... but this was much more ambitious. We decided to visit the eclectic, vibrant part of Paris known as The Marais. We started on Rue des Rosiers, the heart of the historic Jewish quarter, where we all bought falafel for lunch:

We then camped out on the steps of an old school to chow down:

On the facade of the school was a plaque, instructing its viewers, "Do not forget" about the 165 children from this very school who were deported to the Nazi concentration camps and exterminated there during WW2. My mother and I had just finished reading Sarah's Key (which I recommend, by the way), a book that told not only the story of Jewish children at that time but also the role of the French government in their suffering, a sad story indeed:

Ironically, directly across the street was a reminder of the ideals of the French republic - liberty, equality, and brotherhood... all of which seemed to be absent at the time of the deportation:

Once we had finished eating, we made our way through the Marais toward the Place des Vosges and came across a shop bearing a name we liked:

The Place des Vosges, a square dating back to the 17th century, was lovely, and we thoroughly enjoyed some downtime there:

We even visited the garden of the Hotel de Sully, a mansion just off the square:

Our real purpose of going there, though, was to visit the home of famous romantic writer Victor Hugo, author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables. His former apartment, overlooking the square contained, among other things, his very interesting writing desk, which was set up so that he had to stand to use it... which did not look comfortable to me:

Sweet Little Oliver was being such an angel that we even had time for a drink at a wonderfully Parisian cafe right on the Place des Vosges:

All in all, I'd say it was a wonderfully successful first big outing... Just a taste of what's to come (seriously, I have a week's worth of sight-seeing that he participated in still to post, so stay tuned!).

Thankful...

"How come he's so cute?" Chris asks me as Oliver lays sleeping on the bed next to us while we watch So You Think You Can Dance. It's almost noon on Saturday, June 12, and our son (wow! it's weird to say those words) is almost three weeks old. It's been a challenging three weeks (as I'm sure all you who have children can understand), but SO worth it. Today is especially exciting for us because Oliver has reached his birth weight. Babies who do not reach their birth weight by three weeks are considered "failure to thrive" - what parent would not panic at the idea of that label being attached to their precious child?!?! Although we've had some scares in the past three weeks because Oliver was losing too much weight and did not seem to be gaining it back quickly enough, he's finally on the right path. Thank you, Lord! And we are simply mesmerized by him:

Our sweet little boy loves his baths, as long as you keep him in the warm water.

He also has done so well sitting in his monkey seat (thank you Aunt Sarah!!!) while we eat dinner... How cute is he??
Even if he doesn't always look happy, he's pretty content (and can you tell this was when he was losing too much weight?):

He even slept in it in the kitchen while I cooked.... This thing has been invaluable!

He's been having more and more "awake time" and I love watching his eyes - he's so alert and interested in things going on around him:

[I think he looks a little like mini-me in this next picture, but Chris doesn't like me to say that...]

But I'm telling you, this boy can sleep with the best of them, too... Especially in Daddy's arms or Nana's lap:

How can you not fall for that face?!?! I know we're biased... But we are SO thankful for this precious gift. And for what God is teaching us about trusting Him while we raise Oliver.

Newborn Photography

After this past Saturday, I have gained an even greater respect for those fabulous people who manage to photograph newborns, especially those who can take cute naked pictures. We tried to take a few of Oli after his bath, but I wouldn't call the endeavor a huge success... It is hard to keep a diaper under them (he has peed on me too many times for me to trust him on our bed or blankets without one) but not let it show in the pictures! Plus, it probably would have been smarter to do it after he had eaten so that he would be sleepy and content... He may have been clean after his bath, but he was not necessarily happy.

Anyway, despite our struggles and my poor, novice portrait skills, he's so cute that a few of them turned out ok: