Almost a Year...

I cannot believe that Oliver is already 11 months old... 10 months was a very fun age for us, though.

He really mastered feeding himself finger foods, and he especially loves green beans:

He started staying awake longer and longer between naps, allowing us to get out more often. One day, we even went to meet Dad after work and have dinner in the La Defense area. Here is Oliver and his daddy in front of the building where Chris works:

The weather was GORGEOUS this month, and we enjoyed time at the park almost every day:

Sometimes 2 or 3 times per day! Trying to get in our vitamin D:

He even ventured out on his own to watch the soccer games:

And we had playgroup at the park one day, where Oliver and Frank got a little rough and tumble - too cute!

He fell in love with mealtime even more. I guess we'll need to break the habit of putting our feet on the table at some point, but for now it was just too cute!

He started pulling up on things, starting with the dishwasher:

He suddenly became a boy rather than a baby (too fast!) while he sported daddy's sunglasses:

Played his friend Isaac's guitar:

And wore his Mickey Mouse birthday hat while we sang to Isaac at his party:

He became an expert at getting to a sitting position on his own in order to play with his toys:

And he finally started crawling up on all fours (rather than army crawling)... sometimes. He actually still seems to prefer army crawling most of the time because it leaves his hands free to take things with him:

He found an orange in mom's purse and just went for it:

And he was an absolute doll as we rented a car and visited the Loire Valley for Easter weekend (more pictures to come soon). He sported his sun hat (complete with chin strap so he couldn't pull it off) and seemed to enjoy being pushed and carried around in his "litter" (as we began to call it when we took him up and down stairs):

Overall, 10 months was a VERY happy age for Oliver Avery Paxton, and we breathlessly await what's to come.

SPRING BREAK!!!!

So maybe this wasn't quite the wild 'n crazy spring break trip that some dream about... but I think we all had a pretty good time. Since my brother-in-law Ben and my good friend (and former coworker) Casey are both teachers, spring break seemed the best time for them to visit. And Momma Joy (my mother-in-law) certainly couldn't pass up the chance to see her Oli Wally. So a full house we had for the week.

My sweet boy was in HEAVEN:

With constant playmates and attention, I think he was ready for me to move out and these folks to stay permanently.

While Casey was much more faithful at taking pictures throughout the week, I took a few our last couple of days. We enjoyed a chilly boat ride down the Seine:

Where Oliver and Casey managed to keep each other warm:

And the river became magical as dusk fell...

We even snapped some photos as the boat was docking under the Eiffel Tower:

The following day, we walk from the Arc de Triomphe all the way down the Champs Elysee to the Place de la Concorde:

And visited the Orangerie museum in the adjacent Tuileries Gardens:

From the Tuileries, you can look across the river to the Orsay Museum (which you see in this photo); though we did not visit the Orsay on this day of the trip, we visited it at the beginning of the week.

We did, however, stop for some of that incredible hot chocolate at Angelina's, just a few steps from the Tuileries. While there, Momma Joy and Oli had a great time:

From there, we visited the Louvre, where Ben (whose education background is in history), had to take a picture with Hammurabi's Code:

The following day, Casey caught the early flight back to Houston, but the Paxtons all visited several areas of Paris. We walked by the Hotel de Ville (just one block north of Notre Dame) on our way through the Marais area:

And we spent the afternoon in Montmartre. At the base of the steps leading up to L'Eglise du Sacre Coeur:

In the scene of Utrillo's famous Boulangerie with a view:

And just outside Picasso's former workshop where we caught a (rather good, I might add) jazz band:

A very fun time. I'm so glad it worked out to have them all visit for that week. Thanks for coming and for putting up with our tight quarters! We miss you all!

Bon Voyage, Stephanie!

Oh no! Stephanie's gone!

As I mentioned in this previous post, our sweet friend Stephanie has moved to London. We miss her at play group! But before she left, we had one last play group to say goodbye. As always, they were adorable together:

After lunch, we took a little trip to Jardin d'Acclamation, which the little ones loved:

And Frank sported his awesome sunglasses:

The best part was the hidden little area with a baby swing, which the kids totally ate up:

And, SUPER nerdy mom that I am, I decided to finally try my hand at my imovie program... The result: