Food, glorious food

Likes: sweet potatoes, carrots, avocado, rice cereal
Dislikes: potato
Eating style: not too messy, hums while he ‘chews’
His inspiration: the twins feeding each other




Highlight so far:

London Bridge is not falling down

Townes and I just checked on our 3rd walk of the day. We’ve begun settling into our new situation quite nicely this week. Our apartment is in a great location- easy to get to things but fairly tucked away. I’m sure the airlines will get our stroller to us eventually but, in the meantime, we’ve been B’jorning for about 6 hours a day (broken up into parts by naps and feedings). Today Townes ate his sweet potatoes in the Victoria & Albert Museum gardens then napped while I had scones at Harrod’s. How British is that? The best part about the move is not being so far from Coy. However, last night he got home at 8:30 and then left this morning at 6:30...tough to get time with the boy on that sort of schedule. Hopefully things will calm at his office a bit soon because we were spoiled last week by having all day every day with him during our trip to Italy with our friends, the Langans.
A picture of us at a Brunello winery in Montalcino:

(And, no, they did not think it was strange to bring babies to a wine tasting!)

The trip began with the world’s worst GPS system. It insisted on taking us on the scenic, rural routes which is a pleasant idea if you have a bit less than 7-8 hours to go with a baby in the car. Therefore, we were forced to rely on my weak navigational skills at several crucial points in the journey. We only had to make 3 or 4 u-turns overall and there were no tears- this qualifies as an improvement since past trips!
Villa Pia was our Umbrian home for the week. Nancy had found will searching for baby-friendly places to stay. She found this one on a ‘British Bolthole‘ site which explains why we were surrounded by Brits. The concept of the place was great- it had everything families with kids under the age of 3 could want or need. Every night dinner was served to about 18 couples who were sitting with the baby monitors nearby and not a child in sight. Townes was a bit young to care so, in retrospect, we probably should have tossed him into a backpack and been a bit more rugged. But it was great. He ate his first vegetables, went swimming for the first time, and was passed around by a lot of Italians. They do love babies in Italy and Coy got a kick out of handing Townes off to strangers who were delighted by his smile.

A dubious boy entering the pool for the first time:


The Langan duo in the dining hall:


Diaper change in an alley of Assisi:


We stumbled upon this still-active Franciscan monastery when our GPS led us astray. We didn't mind though- we had a peaceful stroll.


A view from the drive into the villa:


La vita è bella

Happy Half Birthday!

As many of you know, I am a fan of half birthdays while Coy thinks that they are a ridiculous attempt to garner more presents and attention than one deserves in the span of a year. But even a party pooper would have to agree that this is a half birthday worth celebrating. Townes is 6-months old today! There's so much I should describe here- how much he's grown and changed, the range of emotions we've felt as we've learned the ropes of parenthood, all our hopes for him.

But it's late here and the boy may be older but he's still not the best sleeper. So here's some pictures instead:


























Townes has been having a lot of fun with his grandparents this week. My mom arrived a few weeks ago to take over the babysitting duties. Here's a picture of the happy trio after their trip to the zoo yesterday:



Awesome:

June already?

Sorry about the lack of blogging from our end. It's been a very busy month. A Buckley update is certainly in order.
So I've been back at school. Our niece Alysson moved in for the month of May to take care of Townes. And my mom just arrived this Saturday to take over the task for June. Townes has been learning so much- his awareness of the world around him has exploded. He holds things, he laughs like crazy, he likes to watch all modes of transportation as they zoom past.
In the meantime, Coy has been working Monday to Friday in London for about 4 weeks now. He accepted a rotation there that will last until the end of September. I'm sure we'll remember why that was such a great decision once the boy and I have moved there when school wraps up in a few weeks. For now, we just miss him.
So yes, these pictures are for any of you out there who still bother to check in on VivaPierre but they're also for a doting father who is able to make his son laugh harder than anyone.

Asleep on a walk:


Here we are with Alysson, the Wonder Nanny (not to be confused with my mom, the Grandnanny):

Could you please turn that down?

Sharing an apartment with a 4 month old is bound to be a noisy venture. Townes can crank his cry up to pretty serious levels. However our main problems with noise are coming from outside our home. As always, we have two trams running back and forth all day competing with cars, motorcycles, and vespas for a constant buzz of traffic. Our neighbors brought home baby #2 a few months ago and it took me awhile to distinguish the cries in the middle of the night. Ben still fools me on occasion when he really gets going. But it's Ben's 3 year old brother that at times makes me want to curse in German. Little Eric likes to use the hallway as his front yard, inevitably during nap time. And let's not forget the neighbor downstairs who practices piano for a couple of hours a day. Yet all of the noises have been drowned out completely by the construction that has begun last week and is scheduled to finish in January 2010. The building that touches ours is expanding, a project that apparently requires that the work day begin at 7am. Here's a photo taken from our porch last week immediately after Townes woke from his nap:


So what's a mom to do when all these noises are joining together?

That should help.

Zardoz

I think I've just seen the most awesome movie of the last 6 months: ZARDOZ starring Sean Connery and directed by John Boorman, probably best known for Deliverance. I don't think everyone would relish ZARDOZ as a Sunday-night closer -- I know Kacey didn't.

By one assessment, Sean Connery's costume in ZARDOZ was deemed one of the "dumbest decisions in movie history":


I'll let you be the judge of that.


Here's the trailer if you want more of Sean Connery in his red diaper:

Brunch Trio

Went to brunch for a friend's birthday. Not just any locale, but inside a greenhouse complete with a Spanish musical trio:

Party at Pickwick

Considering the fact that we gave our family two days notice that we'd be coming into town, it was pretty remarkable that so many people were able to gather at the lake. We had such a crowd that my folks had to rent the double-wide down the way. You know it's a party when there's a trailer involved.
Pushing the memory of my mama's cheese grits and my daddy's breakfast spread out of my mind, the highlight of the weekend was meeting Susannah Nell Southern, Lindley's third baby. Susannah is exactly two months younger than Townes and we couldn't resist propping them up for a mini photo shoot. (There were seriously so many flashes popping that I was on seizure-patrol for the popular little duo. Permanent retina damage is a bit tougher to call.)


Lindley also wins a prize for dedication considering that she drove from St. Louis with 3 kids under the age of 4. Second place goes to the original Susannah who drove all the way from Texas with her husband Jon. It was wonderful to be with everyone who could make the hastily-planned weekend. Chris and Katherine's crew and Uncle John, aka El Oso Negro, were greatly missed.

Here's Coy teaching Ella and AW the finer points of casting a line from the porch:

We also had a birthday cake for my brother who had to wrestle with Dub about who got to keep the toy trucks that decorated it. Cy and Old Susannah had a photo shoot of their own!

If Orion had a saddle, I think this attempt at dogback riding may have been a success.

(I should have also mentioned in the last post that our trip home was made so much more comfortable by all the wonderful things that Amberly and Marshall made available for us. The loaner bouncey chair, pack and play, and stroller were very helpful. Baby Susannah and T took turns in the chair and the stroller at the lake. Thanks again!)