Poor Baby

Poor little Jack has been sick almost the entire time we've been here in Peoria. He was just getting over a double ear infection when we came, then got one in the right ear before Thanksgiving, developed a cold over the weekend, and today was diagnosed with a horrid infection in the left ear! So he's now on his third round of antibiotics in a month (thankfully he loves the meds and laps them up happily).

Since Andre has been away this weekend, I was worried Jack would be doubly miserable without Daddy around, but despite not feeling 100%, he has been so sweet. Thank you Lord! Yesterday, the late afternoon sunlight was gorgeous and Jack was playing so nicely by himself, that I snuck up on him with Dad's super duper camera to take a few photos. They all turned out beautifully and I was so pleased with them until I realized that a delightfully runny nose was evident in each and every one! Yuck.



But still...

Special Visitors

Today was a "Red Letter Day", as my Nana used to say! Not only do we have my cousin Luke coming later this evening, all the way from South Africa, but we had more special visitors come to see us this morning. My very special college friend, Wendi, came down from Chicago with her husband for a few hours and after not having seen her for four years, we had lots to catch up on. It was so lovely to see her and hug her and have some face to face time again after so long. Miss you Wends, and thanks so much for visiting!

Jack thought these new friends were fascinating!

Chris and Wendi with me and my boy

'Tis The Season

After a wonderful Thanksgiving, we are now preparing for the Christmas season and I can't wait to celebrate this first Christmas with Jack! Today got us all into the spirit as we made fruit mince pies and decorated the tree while enjoying our favorite carols. (And I decided to go all out with the blog decor this year and be extremely Christmassy. A little over the top but I love it!)



I am still here with Mum and Dad until Tuesday but Andre is now in Pennsylvania with his family for the weekend (it ended up being too pricey for me to go too). Steve and Rachel are here until tomorrow and Ness and Sean left last night. I have a college friend coming to visit tomorrow who I haven't seen in several years and I'm so thrilled to get to see her again! And then tomorrow night, my cousin Luke is flying in from South Africa, to spend a few weeks and we can't wait to see him!! Luke is in medical school in S.A. and is here to do a practicum with Dad.

So that's us this weekend. Hope everyone is having a special and blessed holiday weekend too!

Giving Thanks

We had a relaxing Thanksgiving Day enjoying family, food and remembering the many blessings the Lord has given us!

Here are a few highlights from our day...

Thankful for our sweet Baby Boy

Thankful for all sorts of new things to discover at Nana's house
(Grandpa's doctor bag is particularly tempting)

Thankful for new toys and special cousins :)

Thankful for family all being together this holiday

And a beautiful sunset to finish off the day

Time Away

So, we're up in Illinois with my parents for 10 days, to celebrate Thanksgiving and have a little time away. My sister and her family are here and Steve & Rachel will be joining us all for the Thanksgiving weekend. Can't wait!

It's really nice to have a change of scene for a bit, as I was feeling overwhelmed by all I have going on at the moment. We're just hanging out, relaxing and catching up with each other, playing with the babies, doing a bit of shopping and preparing for the holidays.

We're planning on doing a big batch of baking, which in our family includes fruit mince meat (for pies), the Christmas Cake, and English Christmas Pudding (you may get a delicious taste of all these treats this year Nicole since you're across the Pond!)

So, that's us this week. If I have anything of note to post about, you'll hear from me. Otherwise, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Sweet and Sour

We've been testing out Jack's taste-buds lately, using first a pickle and then an apple, with expected results:

What the heck is THIS??!!!

Well, that's better, folks.

Family Date Out

So Benihana very kindly sent Andre a gift card for his birthday and we used it for lunch today and had so much fun. And Jack, apparently, is a huge Asian food fan!

Family photo

He LOVED the soup and couldn't get enough!

Becoming a pro with the rice and chopsticks

Birthday Celebrations

My sweet Husbie has a birthday today and we enjoyed celebrating with each other and our little man.

Special breakfast of blueberry waffles

And of course Jack had a little something for Daddy too (although it almost got eaten before delivery!)



We had a really fun day yesterday celebrating with some special friends who came for lunch, some of whom we haven't had over since before Jack was born, I hate to admit! So it was great to catch up.

A shot of the guys with everyone behaving, except Nagib!

Another one of the guys with no-one behaving for the camera except Nagib!!

Last night Steve and Rachel very kindly babysat while Andre and I went to Eclipse De Luna for tapas and Spanish guitar music (played by a very accomplished Russian man named Sasha), with Pip, Dave, Meg and Dave who are expecting babies any day now. So we thought it was a good occasion to have one last night out before the babies arrive and celebrate Andre's b'day at the same time.

It was such a fun night and a good excuse to put on the high heels and go out!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!

There's a Concert Pianist at Our House...

Tea Time

Here's a catch up post from Mum's visit last week.

When we first moved to the States in 1992, we attended a small Christian school in Dunwoody and met Mrs. Gilbert and her daughter, Lyndon. They have remained close friends with me, Ness and Mum over the years and now us girls are all grown up, married and having babies. Whenever Mum is in town, she tries to get together with Mrs. Gilbert and this time, they were all able to come over for tea. Lyndon's son Christian is 18 months old and played so sweetly with Jack, who giggled hysterically anytime Christian came near him! It was such a joy to see them entertain each other so well.

Mum and Mrs. Gilbert with their grandsons
(Jack at 8 months, Christian at 18 months)

The boys playing so nicely together

Cuddles

Mummies and babies

8 Months Old

Our little Jack turned 8 months old last Tuesday (I know, this update is a bit late, oops) and had a busy week of it!

He is getting so good at sitting up on his own and is trying to get into the crawling position...


He had plenty of play time with Daddy, while I was busy preparing for some big events at church...


And even began his music career with a few strums on my guitar...


He had a friend over to play...


Got lots of cuddles from his Nana...



And even got a new winter hat to stay toasty this COLD November...(we thought this was appropriate since he suffered his first illness of his short little life, last weekend: an ear infection, poor guy!)


Happy 8 months little Boy!