Arriving soon

October is an exciting month for Lulu because in just a couple weeks, maybe sooner, she will become a big sister!  Here is a photo collage of my expanding belly over the past several months (22 - 38 weeks).  We can't wait for his arrival!  

 

Nursery school

Yesterday was a BIG day for Lulu ... it was her first day of nursery school!!  Not many two year olds handle changes very well, so it's been hard for Lulu to be away from home (koko, her pacifier, and mommy!), but slowly but surely I am confident that she will begin to love her new friends, teachers, and hopefully school in general.  

Hard to believe this was the same little girl only two years ago ...

TWO

Lulu is TWO today!  Happy birthday, sweet Lulu.

Concert number two

Summer 2012

Although we haven't been very good at blogging, Lulu and I have been keeping ourselves pretty busy this summer ... here's a photo collage of what we've been up to!

We visited Mamine and Papinou in Marseille and spent a lot of time in the pool.

Lulu got her first haircut (luckily her curls didn't disappear)!  

And Emily came to visit us!

We have a busy Fall ahead of us: Lulu turns two, starts nursery school, and we're eagerly anticipating the arrival of Lulu's little brother mid-October!  

Independence day

Lulu wishes you all a very happy 4th of July in her red, white and blue!!!

Counting

Lulu's first attempt at counting.  As you can see, the number two is her favorite!

Cleveland

This week has flown by and sadly that means our US trip is coming to an end ... tomorrow Lulu and I fly back to London.  We have had a fun week with Grandma and Grandpa.  Here are some highlights of what we did this past week.

We relaxed with Grandpa.

Went to the Botanical Gardens ...

... and held a butterfly!

Snuggled with Grandma.

Practiced some French verbs.

And played with bubbles.

Thank you for a wonderfully fun week, Grandma and Grandpa!  We'll miss you.

We survived

After a long 7 hour drive from Philadelphia (thanks, Mom!) we made it to Cleveland to finally see Dad!  Lulu had a lot to say about the car ride, so she called all her friends as soon as we got home to give them the details. 

Philadelphia

After making the rounds in NYC, our next stop was Philadelphia.  Our chauffeur, aka Mom, drove us from Gigi's to Nana's house where we got to spend time with Nana, Auntie Mi, Seb and Zalo. 

Great company, delicious meals, and we even had the chance to meet Sebby's girlfriend, Giselle.

New York City

Lulu and I finally arrived in New York last week and Mom came to greet us at the airport.  We spent a few days with Gigi where Lulu spent the mornings watching the birds and squirrels eat their breakfast. 

Gigi made an April Thanksgiving feast that we shared with Uncle Steve, Lynn and cousin Ava. 

Lulu and Ava burned off their turkey and mashed potatoes playing together in the family room.

We went into the city to visit Bea and do some shopping.

And then Lulu and her (brave) grandma took the bus home together and left me in the city to meet up with some old friends for a relaxing dinner!  

Next stop, Philly!

Happy Easter

Lulu wishes everyone a very Happy Easter!

We're packed and ready for our US trip ... see you all soon!!  

An update

Time has been going by so fast that the last month feels like a blur!  Mid-March we went on a family vacation in the French Alps.  Lulu was able to enjoy the beautiful snow topped landscape, but she didn't seem to want to play in the snow as much as I thought she would!

We took many walks down into the little town center ...

Soaked up some sun.

Watched Clara learn how to ski (or at least watched Mamine watch Clara in this photo)!

Played a lot with Clara ...

And Papinou turned 70 while we were there so he celebrated with a para-skiing jump!!  Quite courageous! Happy belated birthday, Papinou!

For now we are back to reality, though getting ready for our upcoming US trip.  Watch out Gigi, Nana, Grandma and Grandpa, in less than a week Lulu will be running through your houses reminding you what it's like to have a 19 month old around!  A word to the wise: start Lulu-proofing now!

Lulu's friends

Since we've been in Fulham Lulu and I have made a very nice group of friends that we meet up with a couple times a week.  All the girls are very close in age, so it will be fun for them to grow up together.

This Saturday we leave for the French Alps to spend a ski holiday with Romain's family.  We have a six hour train ride to get there ...  this afternoon I think I will need to start thinking about what apps to download and toys to bring to keep Lulu entertained!   Luckily we are traveling with Axel and Hilary, so Lulu will have Clara and Elodie to help make the time pass by faster.

Brrrr

The past few weeks in London have been cold and windy with snow off and on.  It's for this reason that Lulu and I have gone into hibernation and haven't done much blogging.  We've been catching up with friends and trying to stay warm with tea and hot cocoa.

This was the view our front window two weekends ago ...

That being said, today offered a sneak peek of the beautiful springtime weather that is waiting for us just around the corner!  Since the sun was shining strong this morning, we took a nice walk through Bishop's Park over to Putney to pick up some bright skinny jeans (bubble gum pink and coral) for Lulu's spring wardrobe.  At least one of us will be in style!

Before we can break out our spring clothes, however, we will have to suffer a few more weeks of cold weather.  We will also get the chance to really see some serious snow next month, as we are going on a ski (... or sledding for Lulu and me) vacation with the GBs.  In preparation for the trip, Lulu has been playing dress up with her cold weather gear.

And while she's not dressed up in her down layers, she's busy playing peek-a-boo in the kitchen cabinets!