life with a baby

so sorry i've been gone for so long. i am very fortunate that i've been able to take a longer break than originally planned to spend lots of time with little oliver. we had guests all summer which was SO wonderful, but when they all went home we had to get ourselves back to real life. it took awhile before we could get into a routine that worked for us (he likes being awake...all the time!) and for me personally, it's been hard not only being a new mom, but a new mom in such a different land and so far away from family and friends.

luckily the past few weeks have been much better, with oliver sleeping through almost the whole night, and two naps during the day. he and i go on walks with the pram or sometimes out to meet expat friends or mothers' groups. we have become this mini-team, and we charge forth with our daily tasks that we accomplish together.

i can already see him growing up so much already, i try and memorize every moment of joy he brings into my life. even though he can't stay little forever, i know every day brings brand new memories and the happiest of smiles, and i wouldn't trade it for the world.

presenting...

he came exactly on his due date...an amazing feat as both his parents are infamous for being late.

we had names picked out and were planning on knowing instantly once we met him what he should be called. but we were too enamored by the amazingness that is a new baby and we delayed making a final decision. luckily for us in denmark they give you up to six months to name your child. every danish neighbor he met completely understood why he was nameless. so we took advantage of this cultural difference and spent the first few weeks just spending time with our little one, getting to know his personality and practiced saying names until one sounded just right.

so...with my favorite picture of him to accompany the news, we officially present OLIVER! the name fits both his looks and personality perfectly. his middle name is vietnamese and means happiness, optimism and positivity. a perfect name for our happy little baby bebo!

50 days

time is just flying by dear bebo, and we cannot wait to meet you!!!
50 days left to go...you must be excited too because you were kicking and punching up a storm today. (it doesn't bother milo in the least, ha)

32 on 3/2 and time marches on

i turned 32 this year and went to lunch and dessert at paludan bogcafe and la glace with my favorite expat friends, chris got me a waterproof bookbag from the freitag flagship store in zurich (as a solution to my frequent annoyance with denmark's unpredictable weather), had dinner at the delicious quattro fontane, and got lots of overseas birthday love via facebook, email, and even regular post which just makes me so thankful for all of the wonderful friends and family in my life.

margaret (a friend since 4th grade) came to visit in march as well, and it was really nice. we often say our friendship always starts up where we left off, no matter the amount of time or distance since our last time together...and that's neat to have.

my "golden" year is great so far, wanted to just say a big THANKS!!!

gotta catch 'em all

my extremely talented friends at paper bicycle have started a fantastic new venture named light grey art lab and i am excited to be one of the 151 artists in their next group show--the pokémon battle royale! all of the artists have put their own personal style on the original 151 pokémon characters so it will definitely be a fun show to see. i had lickitung...and he REALLY wanted some ice cream.

the opening reception is friday april 20th, 7pm at light gray art lab and it's free to attend PLUS there will be refreshments, music and even giveaways! i will only be there in spirit (and artwork), but if you're in the twin cities i hope you will go check it out. (more details here)

no time! there's never any time!

ok jessie, this is just not true. but it's easy to make yourself THINK you don't have time...trust me, i convince myself this all too easily.

i recently read an article called "are you as busy as you think?" and it reminded me that it's easy to exaggerate and convince yourself that you're TOO busy and there's NO time, when factually there are many hours every week (nay, every day!) that you are probably wasting. i've been trying to use their "choose your language" tip and it's pretty helpful, though also kind of a downer. for example:

when you say: "i don't have time to cook a good-for-me dinner."

it means: "i don't make time to cook a good-for-me dinner because i'm lazy and i prioritize this over my general health."

see? sort of depressing. but you can see how this helps put things in a better perspective. it's always good for me to get re-energized about time management reminders as we are star-crossed lovers, who never seem to meet up. [insert shaking fist at proverbial "time"]

ps. image is from a SAVED BY THE BELL themed party O. M. G.

god morgen solskin!

it has been exceptionally sunny lately and i am loving it! no longer does it get dark at 3pm, and though winter FINALLY came a few weeks ago with some snow and cold temperatures, i will gladly bundle up for a beautiful sunshine-filled day.

yesterday i also passed my danish module 2 final exam, jeg havde en god dag! before i went home, i started at one end of the strøget and just walked around...window shopping and stopping to treat myself to lunch at one of my favorite places, paludan bogcafe. it is so cozy in there--like sitting in an old library, and the food is always delicious.

happy valentine's day!

happy early valentine's day

i have to share this card i saw on pinterest because it's so awesomely pixilated and fun! the blog it was found on (how about orange) and the blog it was originally posted on (mini-eco) are super happy colorful blogs, so make sure to check them out.

revealed!

we nicknamed the baby "bebo" and kept referring to them as "he" by accident, and lo and behold we were right the whole time! the other crazy part is i had a dream when we were still living in our temporary apartment and in the dream i turned to my mom and SUPER casually said "fyi, it's a boy, so think aqua and white stripes" and then walked away just as casually. AHHH!!!

145 days left to go...we can't wait to meet you, sweet little boy!!!

write more

while living far away from family and friends, we are lucky that technology keeps us so connected. with skype and facebook--it's *almost* like we never left. however, one of my resolutions this year is to actually use my extensive stash of stationery and cards and WRITE, WRITE, WRITE to my cute pen pal giulietta, my swiss cousins, and my email pen pal maeve (who i have traded extensive chaptered novels with weekly, thanks friend :)

found via pinterest see more on etsy: marykatemcdevitt

a swiss FOOD christmas

part II of our wonderful weekend in switzerland. there are SOOO many food pictures, i might need to do a part III...! are you drooling yet???

1: clementines, christmas cookies and warm apple tart
2: fresh baked warm, cheesy, gooey, flaky ramequin from the outdoor market
3: homemade fois gras with fleur de sel
4: christmas dinner course styled by my cute aunt
5: the main christmas dinner course(s) by more cute aunts and my grandma
6: chocolate lava cake with raspberry sauce by my cousin khuê (i helped ;) 

a swiss christmas

i can hardly believe it's already the middle of january, i feel like christmas was just last week. since our weekend with my european family was so fantastic, i've split my favorite iphone photos into two groups...stay tuned for part II!

1: la grande-duchesse de gérolstein operetta at the opéra de lausanne

2: the [VERY hilly] rolex learning center at école polytechnique fédérale de lausanne

3: mandatory jumping picture

4: a beautiful sunny day in downtown lausanne
5: my cousin khuê helped us knit wool and the gang trophy headbands

6: my adorable grandma when we surprised her with the baby news! (she later told me she thought i gave her a framed picture of a landscape, HA)

happy new year!

once we announced our baby news, a friend asked me if I could add more life-changing events to this year. we've had amazing fireworks shows outside our window all evening and will be skyping with our families early in the morning to re-celebrate midnight in the US...as there is only thirty minutes left of 2011, i'm keeping my fingers crossed we have a peaceful, non-eventful remainder to the year ;)

i have a lot of really fun plans for 2012 (a contest or two???) and i'm looking forward to what the new year will bring. thank you all for your support and love, wishing you a fabulous new year! cheers!!!

SURPRISE!!!