. . . when life gets in the way

I know, I know, it's been a while since I've posted. And I wish I could say it was for some awesome reason, like, we went to the south of France on holiday! But . . . alas, theres no one really good reason but more like lots of small ones: I got busy, taking Liam places, appointments, going shopping, dinner with friends, etc. Actually, now that I list the reasons, it's been kinda nice. We're much more settled into life here and I've been comfortable enough to take Liam out more, and we've really just been doing life the last couple weeks. It feels like we're settled more into routines and getting used to what each day brings. It doesn't hurt that Liam is sleeping through the night of course! STILL so happy about that. : )

Dinner with friends

I guess I'll start with two weekends ago . . . last Saturday night our friends Sam and Bart came over for dinner and Keith cooked Cuban food -- Sam was pretty impressed with the black beans, which is a huge compliment considering she just got back from Miami and has had the real thing recently! : )  They also brought an adorable pair of pajamas for Liam and a pumpkin for us! I'm thinking of ways to decorate the pumpkin, or maybe we'll just do an old fashioned carving for Liam's first Halloween . . . speaking of Halloween, I need to pick out a costume for Liam, so suggestions are welcome! We have a Harvest Festival to go to and also a Halloween dinner at Sam and Bart's -- let me know your creative ideas! Right now he may be a lobster, but I'm not sure.

Busy Week

Last week I also had my final appointment with our midwifery, where they did a last check-up, talked with me about my recovery, how life with Liam has been, and if I had any questions. They were very pleased with everything, and happy to see our baby boy! I'm all cleared for whatever shenanigans I want to get into from here on out . . . (including exercise. bleh.)

I also got Liam's birth announcements, and was a little less than thrilled. : ( I spent two days communicating back and forth with the company I ordered them from trying to correct a mistake that they made, but the announcements had already been shipped to our family and friends. They tried to make it right, but it was really too little too late. They are sending me some corrected ones so at least I can save them for his baby book and whatnot, but it doesn't take away my disappointment with the service we received. Oh well. Live and learn.

Anyway, at the end of the week I had my monthly lunch at La Place with the ladies from the NAWC, followed by a little shopping around the Centrum with Megan and Lucy. Liam was a trooper and stayed happy all day while I looked around and then picked up a[nother] printer from Media Markt. We now have four printers in our house -- please don't ask me why we need these printers and why one isn't good, and this one's good for this reason, but we still need one that does this . . . yada yada yada. Keith may be able to explain it better, because I sure as heck don't understand. Regardless, I was able to buy the printer and have a Media Markt guy carry it all the way to the register and out to the parking garage to put it in the car for me -- so nice. : )

Shopping

This past weekend we also had some shopping to do. The winters here can be brutal, but not because it snows a lot (it flurries, but not much sticks). Rather because there's so much wetness in the air, it feels colder and chances are we're going to be cold and wet more often than not. So Keith and I needed a few extra coats to survive the cold (those who know me know that I have lots of coats, but I totally needed a few more -- and it doesn't hurt that they're super cute, yet completely functional ; ). We walked to our winkelcentrum and were out pretty much all day Saturday, and again Liam did so great -- he loves going out in his stroller, and I love the fact that we can walk to lunch and shopping, and never have to deal with getting in and out of the car and parking lots and all that nonsense. It's funny, because I got gas today for the first time in forever, even though it's been on empty for over a week -- Keith hadn't even driven the car in that long because he bikes or we walk everywhere. Just another thing I love about this city.

Dinner with (other) friends

Sunday night our friends Meredith, Mike, and their precious daughter Dina came over for dinner. Keith made spaghetti, and we all relaxed and hung out for the evening. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but Dina is an absolute riot -- she is two and a half years old and her vocabulary is out of this world! She talks like a grown up and asks questions and tell us things . . .  it was so much fun to be around her! One quick example of her cuteness came after washing her hands:

Meredith: "Which towel should we use for drying our hands?"

Jessi: "This one here."

Dina: "Why that one mommy?"

Meredith: "Because that's the hand towel."

Dina: "The other towel is for feet?"

Oh my goodness, the cuteness never stopped! She even brought finger puppets to do a little puppet show for Liam -- so stinkin' sweet. Dina also loved Murphy (who is similar to their dog, Lacey), and was super comfortable around him, chasing him, trying to get him to play with her -- it was adorable to see her try to get him to fetch, though I think she did more of the the fetching than Murphy did! I got some really cute pictures of Liam and Dina together (see below!), and it was great to have them over. Next time we plan to get the dogs together too. : )

One last thing  . . .


Today I took Murphy to get groomed and hit the grocery store on my way home, and realized that it was the first time in 9 weeks that I have left the house without Liam. I don't know whether to be sad that I left without him or sad that it took me 9 weeks to do it! I think the latter. Sigh.

So my next post is all about Liam and what I've learned from being a mom to a 9-week old, but I'll leave you with a few pictures of Dina and Liam. . .

Love,
~Jessi