Decade

On January 25, 1999, Ben and I were 18. We were freshman at St Louis University. Ben was pre-med and I had was trying to decide between about 10 different majors. We were young, really young, and we were falling in love. Ben took a chance with me, and we've been together ever since.

Now, 10 years later... We're married, living in the Netherlands, have a baby, and are about a million miles from where we started. We're still lucky enough to be happy and in love, and fortunate enough to have this anniversary fall on our regular date night Woooo! We had big plans!

Okay, so our plans weren't so big. But for a couple of tired new parents, they were pretty special. We had our babysitter show up a few hours earlier than normal, kissed Wes on the forehead and giddily ran out the door and went to the movies!

We had some time to kill before the movie, so we played around a little...

My shoes match my water and my candy container!

Ben humors me...



We saw Revolutionary Road, which we enjoyed very much, but Ben thought it was maybe a little depressing for a romantic date night movie. Afterwards, we tried out a nice restaurant in Maastricht, Restaurant Mes Amis and ate lots of delicious food and had a nice bottle of wine. I had a carpaccio of salmon with a mustard dill dressing and then duck breast with a shallot sauce and Ben had a duck mousse wrapped in duck breast with a balsamic syrup as a starter and truffle stuffed chicken with a port wine sauce. And for dessert? We shared a small piece of mocha cake with white chocolate ice cream and chocolate mousse. Oh my gosh. So good.

Like I said, we're about a million miles from where we started - from Saint Louis, from eating macaroni and cheese in our dorm rooms, from the carefree life of a couple of college students.
1999

2009

But we're still us and we're still happy. So I guess we're pretty lucky.

Christmas, part 2

The day after Christmas, we loaded up the car early in the morning and drove to the airport for our loooooooooong trip home. I've always kind of liked international flights - they show movies, serve meals, give you a free glass of wine with dinner, and then I doze off for a few hours and wake up to breakfast or ice cream or something. This time, it just felt long and tiring. I guess that's what happens when you take a 4 month old on a 9 hour flight followed by a 3 hour layover (that turned into 5 hours when our flight was delayed) and then another 2 hour flight. Long.

Wes was actually pretty good, don't get me wrong. In fact, we had complete strangers come up to us in the airport and say that they had been on our flight and our baby was so great. So I guess that's good. But from where we were sitting, Wes was restless and wanted to stretch out on the floor as he usually every day. And then he barfed. I cannot begin to explain this instance of barfing, but let me just say that I had to take him to the bathroom to wash him off in the airplane sink and Ben had to run and get a huge stack of paper towels from the flight attendant. And also wash the carseat when we finally got to St Louis. It was no good. Poor kid. He was fine though, just celebrating his first international flight with overconsumption of formula. Too much food + immobile baby = gross.

Happily, when we got to St Louis, my parents and brother were there waiting for us, and we got to hang out a little with them that night and then we met up with them, plus my two nephews, for lunch at my grandma's house. It was wonderful.
My grandma got to meet Wes

Wes got to meet Ethan and Aidan

Gamma and Papa got to see the baby

And I got to be surrounded by the people I love most for a couple hours.



And then, we headed to the mall to meet up with with Ben's parents, who FINALLY got to love their sweet grandson in person.

Wes's Grandma had been waiting for this for a very long time.

Grandpa was pretty happy to meet him too.



The next day, Wes had a meet and greet with more relatives and family friends than his little baby brain ever imagined possible. A few of the highlights...

Wes with Uncle Greg

And Aunt Raegan

Great-Grandma Morrison

Great-Grandma Roseberry

Four generations of Morrison men

After that day, things calmed down quite a bit and we just hung out. Wes continued to meet people, went to a couple basketball games, and spent lots and lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa. He was one happy and spoiled baby, getting ton of "Granny kisses" and playing with tractors with Grandpa.



Ben and I were a little spoiled too, with good food and time with family, and even a baby-free night to go out to dinner and a movie (and Target!). As nice as it is to be sleeping in our own beds again now, we were very sad to leave the U.S. behind again. It's strange how living abroad can make up extra-critical of the U.S. and extra-appreciative as well. But no matter what, what we miss most is all our family and this trip reminded us of how eager we are to move back to Minnesota next fall.

Christmas, part 1

Sorry for the lack of updates. We had a busy holiday, as you will see in a minute, and I've been just plain tired. Also, I had about 5 hundred bajillion photos to upload and sort through and I've just been moving slowly.

So, Christmas. I mentioned in my last post that we were in Paris and about to head back to the U.S. The long version of the story is that several months ago we were planning on having Ben's family here for Christmas, but then their travel plans fell through. We were all sad, Ben and I moped around a bit, and then we said, "Hey, maybe we should go somewhere for Christmas, somewhere like Paris!" Fantastic idea! It cheered us right up! It wasn't as good as being with family, but who can complain about wine and fresh baguettes?

Then, after we booked our Paris apartment, Ben's family generously offered to buy us plane tickets back to the U.S. for the holidays. You know, because they really missed me and Ben. Or maybe, just maybe, it had something to do with their first grandbaby that they were DYING to meet. (I'm pretty sure it was 95% for the grandchild, and Mama and Da got to come along because Wes can't fly alone. Whatever, we'll take it.)

So in the end we got the best of both worlds. We got to spend Wes's first Christmas in Paris and it was wonderful! And then we got to visit the U.S. and see my family, Ben's family, and Target! I don't think our holiday could have been much better.

In my last post I filled you in briefly on our Christmas festivities, but now that we're home, I'll give you the full version with photos. And then, soon, I'll write about our trip home, but I don't think I'm ambitious enough to write all that today.

So, Paris. Ah, Paris. We did as we usually do, and rented an apartment for three nights (through Perfectly Paris, highly recommended, as always) and just planned to hang out and relax.


We did venture out a little to get groceries, go to one of our favorite restaurants, and grab a glass of wine at a cafe.


But then Christmas day we mostly just hung out at "home".

We opened presents


Had a lovely breakfast. Did you know that boulangeries are open on Christmas morning? We didn't. We bought our breakfast the day before. But now we know, croissants don't take the day off!



We went to church, an English speaking Catholic church! Just like home! We got to sing our favorite Christmas songs, in English! Joy to the World! And on the way back to the apartment we strolled through Parc Monceau and took some family portraits for Wesley's first Christmas.


He's a polar bear!!! I still can't get over the cuteness of this outfit. He's been wearing all the time lately because it's pretty chilly out, and every single time it makes me giggle a little.

Made peppermint bark to take to our families.

Wes learns about measuring spoons...

What?



It was so delicious. The recipe is here if you want it.

Then Wesley was so kind as to nap all through dinner, champagne drinking and dessert.
Speaking of dessert, the très fancy mini buches de noel that I mentioned in the last blog post.

And when in Paris, skip the mistletoe and kiss under macarons!

We ended the day with a walk up to Sacre Coeur with Wes to look at Paris at night and just enjoy being there, before we had to pack up and take off the next morning.


Next up, our big trip home!

Joyeux Noël!

We spent the day (and the past couple days) in Paris and did a whole lot of nothing. It was magnifique! Wesley had a wonderful first Christmas, got a new toy or two, and feasted on bottles. As for Ben and I, we got some fun stuff too, and had a lovely, quiet (baby napping!) dinner of duck and sauteed mushrooms and shallots and champagne, with mini bûches de noël from Lenôtre. Perfect.

Tomorrow morning we leave Paris for our trip back to the U.S. and we are very excited. Wes has conquered France and is moving on! So many people to charm, so little time.

We will eventually share pictures. We brought many cameras, but no usb cables, so photo updates will have to wait.

Merry Christmas!

Better than a dog!

Wes is constantly amazing us with his charm, his good looks, his intelligence, the new tricks that he learns...

It's been forever since our last update. Alright, maybe not forever. Maybe just about 2 weeks or so. Whatever. It seems like a long time.

So why have we been so absent from the internet? Busy? Traveling? Lost in the Netherlands somewhere? Nope. Just boring. We're really, really boring. We've been, uh, watching tv, surfing the internet, reading books. We've gone to Starbucks, but that's hardly news.

The only exciting person around here is Wes, and he's only exciting when he takes a break from his sleeping/eating/pooping routine and does something different... like rolling!

He's rolled over once or twice, here and there, but today? Today he was on a roll! (pun intended! har har har!)






And can I show you some pictures just because he's cute? Yes? If you said no, you should have quit reading 5 minutes ago. Or maybe sometime in August.

More pictures!




I think we'll keep him.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year for Thanksgiving we decided instead of sharing something we're thankful for, like many people do at dinner, we would each make up a list. We knew that if we just said one thing, it would be something like, "Blah blah blah baby blah blah so happy etc etc". That's predictable, and predictable is boring.

So we each made a list, and we want to share them with you. And we hope that you, in turn, will share with us some of the things you are thankful for today.

Things Ellen is Thankful For:
My health and the good health of the people we care about
The opportunity to live in abroad and travel and explore more of the world than I had hoped to see in my life
My mixing bowls, mechanical pastry bag, food processor, and kitchen-aid mixer
Wesley’s laughter
Paris, and the fact that I’ve been able to go about a bajillion times
Our home
A family that I love and that I love being around
Great in-laws, something that most people don’t get
Having a small handful of people my life who just get me
Evenings spent on the couch drinking coffee and tea with Ben
Silly dancing in the kitchen with Ben and Wes
Having a husband who will just listen when I need to talk, and give me silent hugs when I don’t want to talk.
The beautiful world that God gave us
The way Wes smells after a bath
How it feels to curl up in a warm, safe bed with Ben at night
How it feels to wake up curled up with Ben
How it feels to wake up to a happy baby
Banana souffle
A husband who cooks and cleans and takes care of babies, and does all those things well and willingly
The way Wes holds onto my fingers
Starbucks chocolate cake


Things Ben is Thankful For:
My beautiful wife
A near perfect baby
Falling asleep with Ellen on my chest
That I found someone who understands my quirks
A home I am happy to come home to every night.
The sound of Wes laughing
All of the things Ellen does to make our home better.
My iPod
Almost ten full years of happiness
All the great places we have been able to go
One hot mama
All of the great treats Ellen makes
Mashed potatoes, yum.

Happy Thanksgiving!