A bit of my week.

I love waking up to this bright smile every morning.

 These boys are my heart and joy,,,

 We went into Vienna to register for Dominic's passport - the picture is below.

Yes, I turned 30 this past week...Andrew made a little lemon cake and Michael helped me blow out the candle.

 Michael enjoys pointing out which plates/utensils/chairs belong to Papa, Mama, and Michael -
Papa, plate. Mama, plate. Etc. Sometimes he points to "baby" on the floor and then throws in the word "family" there too. It is sweet to see how well he grasps this concept.

Joint baby showers are a tradition here at ITI - this weekend we held one for 4 new (not all first-time) mamas. Andrew came to snap some photos at the end.

 All the single girls had left and we settled all the moms and babies into place for a group photo.

 One mama had already left - but that makes a total of 10 babies born into the ITI family in the past year! Beautiful. These ladies have been such a source of joy and companionship for me.

 Today (Sunday) I went to Vienna with our friend, Annemarie, for Mass, accompanied of course, by my little guy. We took the train in early and got some coffee.

 

We attended noon Mass at St. Stephan's Cathedral and heard some fabulous organ music. We were so happy to be sitting in the area where the sun was pouring in through the windows!

 

 Vienna's Trinity Column.

 

Happy that Annemarie showed me another free restroom in Vienna! Trust me, I'm memorizing these locations...

 Then we hiked over to Belvedere Palace and walked the grounds.

 Looking out to Vienna from the top of the little hill.

 Such a good little explorer.

 Annemarie wanted to take a silly "Asian" picture. :)

 

 Then we enjoyed a light Austrian beer and some Greek food and took the bus back to Trumau; Dominic slept soundly on my chest the whole way. Have been very much cherishing this stage of closeness with him.

Catch-up.

Hi all. Just wanted to take a moment to catch you up with some pictures and a few words. My lapse of blogging was due to an intense German course that Andrew took the last few weeks of January. He attended classes morning and afternoon and spent the evenings studying. We are happy to say that he passed!
Here are some pictures for your enjoyment, mostly of the boys and our wintery days.

We had only one week of snow this winter! Michael enjoyed walking around in it and going to visit the horses which live across the road from our buildings.

 

Just laying around.

And cuddling. And Dominic's terrible cradle cap.

Mama and Dominic after Sunday Mass. Dominic quite loves the carrier as a nap location.

 We spent some good effort with Michael's potty training these last few weeks and it has paid off - he now goes diaper-less during the day. :) Sometimes he likes to take some reading material along as seen below.

Lazy Saturday mornings in bed. I so love seeing their bond developing. Michael always wants to hold and hug Dominic, plant kisses on his cheeks, and refers to him as "cute, baby cute."

At 3 months, Dominic is constantly reaching out for brightly colored objects.

Michael got some special one-on-one time with Mama one Saturday - we made cookies. He did quite well!

 

The new school semester started up on February 10 and we have been focusing on establishing a new semester routine..which turns out to be a little different as I am taking a few classes in the area of marriage and family! It has been great to get out a bit and use my brain. I have especially enjoyed interacting with the students - it has been very interesting hearing the Eastern European students' perspective on family and marriage, stemming from a Communist historical background. I was also given directorship of the student body choir and rehearse with them once a week and organize their singing for Mass once a week. Busy busy, but very good outlets for me.

Last week, spring arrived in Trumau as evidenced by crocuses popping up everywhere! I'm thankful for the short winter and have been relishing the sunshine and warmer temps in the 40-50's!