A blessed visit.

We were so happy and fortunate to have Mom {Nana} here for a whole month!  Michael was thrilled to receive lots of extra attention and love and we all benefitted from her cleaning and cooking.  Unfortunately because of the touch-and-go scenario due to the breech position and lateness of the baby, I was not able to spend much time taking Mom around for sightseeing because of the number of doctor/hospital appointments required. I took her into Vienna once and walked her around to get the lay of the city, then she ventured in a few times by herself to see some of the churches and museums. Next time we will do more adventuring, Mom!

 It was like Christmas when she arrived! Not only in the beautiful gift of herself and her service, but in the books and cars/tractors for Michael, and especially this handmade cloth activity book. Michael loves it. Mom, you outdid yourself! (as usual)

Nana read to Michael about 5-10 times a day. In the morning...

 ...and all throughout the day!

 Michael enjoying a cupcake brought over by his friend, Kate.

 Nana was very good about including Michael in her activities, like sweeping.

Taking the train to Vienna!

Outside the Hofburg Palace.

 On November 9, the ITI community celebrated "Martinigansal" - the feast of St. Martin of Tours, and a traditional goose dinner was served at a local restaurant.

 The children put on a short play about the saint before dinner.

Two other young families from the States who we have enjoyed getting to know.

 Throughout dinner and dessert we were entertained by this accordion player from Vienna. He knew all the popular Austrian songs to play, including Sound of Music. He was very good at encouraging audience participation. Above he is accompanied by Rupert, an ITI student from Salzburg.

He pulled a number of students up to try to yodel. This is Vasyl, a Byzantine seminarian from Ukraine.

 We all enjoyed the festivities and I am glad Mom got to experience a classic ITI community gathering and meet many of the students.

 4 days before the baby came we drove to a nearby Carthusian monastery to pray for labor to start! Unfortunately we missed the last tour time!

Nana took Michael to the park on many occasions.

We love you Nana, and are SO grateful for your visit, and all the hard work you did while here - meals, baked goodies, laundry, shopping, babysitting, prayers - your physical and spiritual presence during this time was simply invaluable! We give thanks for you and love you very much.

Briefly checking in...

Hello, folks. I just wanted to do a short update before arrival of baby boy #2 sometime in the next 2ish weeks! A recent ultrasound showed him to be doing very well, but currently in a breech position...we are trying a few things this next week in order to (God willing) get him to turn and avoid a C-section. Your prayers are appreciated for this intention! Michael grows increasingly excited to meet his little brother and asks about "baby" every day and pats my stomach. He will be such a sweet older brother.

Michael has been quite mentally active as of late and now goes around reciting the entire alphabet and numbers 1-10. He almost has colors and shapes down as well, and likes to fill in words when being read to, especially Bible stories. Sometimes I feel like I can't keep up with that little mind of his! He has also been finding creative ways to play and has enjoyed some fun play dates. Below is his sweet friend, Kate, from Canada.

So grateful for Michael's affectionate nature - he shows his parents every day that he loves us.

Doing better with handling silverware!

Tomorrow morning Nana arrives!! We are beyond excited and thankful for her presence here at this time! Michael has been talking about "Nana, airplane, Nana, airplane" for the last few days, and it is cute to see how much he anticipates her visit. :)



Lately.

Life here at the ITI is chugging along; nothing too exciting to report, so enjoy these pictures from the last few weeks.

 When the weather is quite chilly and Mama not feeling well, Michael is allowed to watch a bit of Bambi or an alphabet/number/color learning video.

He'll watch for about 10 minutes then will want to get back to the tangible life.

Sunday nap with Papa.

From the kitchen:

 Chili and cornbread - have to keep those good American dinners in our routine!

 Pears from the ITI orchard and one of the last butternut squashes from the garden...

...which went into the soup pot - I'm so thrilled to have found a good sturdy immersion blender for a decent price - it really is the little things that set my mind at rest these days. We were joking with another family here about how we came here in search of the simple life, and now all we do is lament the lack of things that we have. :) I will certainly appreciate more what we do have upon our return to the States - it is good to learn to live with less. But I simply DO need another pot/pan; the above soup pot is borrowed and I usually only work with a saucer and a large skillet.

 On the vigil of the feast of St. Therese (the patron saint of the ITI) the cardinal of Vienna, Cardinal Schonborn came to celebrate Mass and meet the new students. Our choir sang and I played the old wooden organ upstairs in the local parish church.

 Wow, I look 100% like my sister Mary when I'm playing, especially with the relaxed jaw.

 I'm thankful Michael listened and stayed off the organ pedals!

 Afterwards we had a meal together.

 

 

There was a student getting photographs of us all meeting the Cardinal - I will have to post those later. He is very kind, and sincerely asked us how we were settling in and how our children are doing.

 Rebecca, an amazing Canadian mom here at the ITI who has been very helpful with survival tips for me.

 Her second youngest, Kate, is a little older than Michael and they enjoy playing together - I just love her outfit.

Kate is very benevolent with Michael and let him feed her some food.

I tackled my first Austrian kinder flohmarkt (children's flea market) one Saturday morning with a few other moms. Andrew is usually the German speaker when our family is out, so this was a good chance for me to practice on my own. Austrians take very good care of their things so sometimes the prices are high and a little haggling is necessary. I was thankful to find 8 of the 10 things on my list: bouncy chair, snow suit for Michael, warm baby suit, hats, a baby carrier-wrap, long sleeve tops for Michael, a few toys, and this real sheepskin rug in perfect condition for 5 Euro, which I have wanted for baby use for some time now - definitely taking it back to the States. All for 40 Euros, and Babies r Us here was selling a snowsuit alone for that price. Good to know these markets come around occasionally.

 Michael has been enjoying a rocking motorbike leant to us by a family here.

 And his small collection of cars which he enjoys lining up.

The face of a tired, teething toddler - and yes, we finally have a molar through with 3 more on the way.

But plenty of goofy still in him.
 

Love to you all!