Introducing...

The newest member of the Gillespie family! We call her "Beamy". She is super. We adopted her from a family in our stake that is moving to Singapore. We hope she likes it at our house.We are so excited cuz now we can get to church in about 10 minutes as opposed to 45 minutes by bus. It was really hard to find just what we were looking for. I really wanted a 4 door car and they seem to be much more expensive. Not to mention, it is hard to decide which kind of cars to look at when we are unfamiliar with so many of the brands. Well, without further ado, here are some pics of our pretty new (to us) car. And as you can tell, it snowed here this week. Actually, it snowed pretty much non-stop for 2 days. Everyone was pretty shocked cuz it doesn't genereally snow in Geneva much. Too humid with the lake right by us. But never say never. This is the view out the back of the house while it was snowing.

The end of an era :(

James has officially ended his two naps a day era. We are officially a one nap a day family. I am happy and sad at the same time.
I am sad cuz I really enjoyed going back to bed for his first nap every day. On the other hand, I am happy cuz now his one nap is a bit earlier in the day than his second nap used to be and so I am freed up a bit to go out and enjoy myself without feeling like a bad mom for sleep depriving my child. He still goes to bed at 6 pm every night so I have no complaints there. It is just sad to see him growing up so fast. We tell him every day to just slow it down a bit but is not listening.
On another bright note. Maybe this need for less sleep will help with the 14 hour plane ride that we have coming up on Sunday as we travel to Utah. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
Also, after losing a bit of weight while he was super sick, James has started eating lots and lots. I feed him about every 2-3 hours during the day and he eats and eats and eats. And then if I eat anything (even if it just after he has finished eating) he is all over that too. Silly Bimmy.

The Hunt Is Long Since Over.

Remember a while ago when I posted that the hunt for a great appartment was on? Well, it ended that same day. We got the amaizng appartment that we wanted and we moved in the day after my birthday. It took us so long to get internet (over 2 weeks) that I just forgot to post about the amazing appartment that we live in. Those of you who have Skype and have called us have already been given the grand tour but for the rest of you, here are some pictures of our amazing new place. Don't salivate too much and remember that it is only about 1000 sq feet total. So we have downsized a bit. On the bright side. Our house in Allen will seem like a mansion when we get home.
First, where we came from. These are some pics of the hotel we stayed in when we first got here. This is the completely inadequate kitchen area. Notice the lack of fridge? That is because it was a barely working mini fridge that fit under the counter. Not exactly inspiring is it? This is in the living area looking toward the kitechen/entrance. This is looking back from the entrance to the window.This is the view that we had out our windows. Notice the tram in the forground? It pretty much ran all day and all night. And it wasn't exactly quiet. This is what living in the city is all about.This is the new view that we have out the back of our current place. Much nicer hu? There is a great green area back there just for our building. And there are lots of little parks close by. Oh, and no tram out front.
Here are some pics of our new appartment before we moved anything in. Amazing hu?
And last but not least. Here is the appartment after we furnished it with lots of used stuff and lots of Ikea stuff. It cost us about chf 4000 after it was all said and done. Brian can correct me if I'm wrong but that is what I think. This is our lovely living room looking out the back wall of windows. Like our used Ikea couch? We do. It folds out into a lovely double bed for those of you who decide to venture over here. Don't worry, there is a huge screen that rolls down over the back wall to give you plenty of privacy. We also have a little "office" set up on the other side of the room with a desk and such. It is a pretty big living room.This is our bedroom. I made Brian splurge on a king sized bed. I am so glad I did. I love it. Totally worth the extra 100chf that we spent on it. Notice the windows are completely blocked? It is one of my favorite features that the appartments here have. They have these blinds that roll down from above and lock together to block out all light. Even during the day. Love that! And here is James' room. Like the second hand chair that we got at the local "D.I."? We do. His crib here is about half the size of his crib at home. Anyway, we are still looking for a car but I think I am closing in on one! Hopefully. I really want to put a car in my lovely garage. I will post about it as soon as I can get a car. Everyone keep your fingers crossed!

Le Marche de Noel

Well, we finally ventured out again yesterday. We just haven't gone many places lately with the weather being so cold and James getting sick. So I told Brian that this weekend we needed to get out and go somewhere just to shake things up a bit. We heard about a Marche de Noel (Christmas Market) that was going on in Montreux on the other side of the lake from us and it sounded like as good a place as any to check out. We rented a little car and off we went (with our rented GPS) to find the market. It took about an hour to drive around the lake and it was rainy and gray but we got there with no problems and then went to check things out. When we got there we immediately sat down to have a bit of lunch as James was hungry. He had a pretzle and some grilled chicken while Brian and I enjoyed some cheese fondue, hot chocolate and hot apple juice. It was very yummy. You can see James was too busy eating his pretzle to be bothered to smile for the camera. You can also see his red little nose as it was pretty cold out.Then we set off to check out the rest of the market. I must admit that most of the market wasn't super Christmas focused but there were a few fun things to see. I was looking for a couple of specific Christmas items that I thought I might not find but Brian has such a good eye that we finally spotted exactly what I was looking for. (I can't tell you what I was looking for as they are gifts to people at home).
James did get a bit irritated and finally fell asleep in his stroller for about 30 min. toward the end of our stay. Miracle! After checking out all the booths we strolled through a couple of stores that were close by and found another perfect gift for someone back home. Here he is in his irritated stage. He just made some irritated noises and then started sucking on his fingers like he usually does when he is experiencing something unpleasant. All in all, it was a fun day and we enjoyed getting out of the house together, even if it was raining the whole time. We were also going to try to go to another medieval market that was going on at a chateau just a few minutes away but we just didn't end up with enough time. We plan on going to that one next year... The market was right on the lake which was beautiful even though the day was gray.

To: Him, From: Her and Bimmy

Happy Birthday!
Today Brian turns a whopping 30 years old!
That is all I'm going to say as I am older than him and he wouldn't want me to say anything else about him anyway.
We lub Him so much!!
Lub,
Her and Bimmy

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, we really celebrated our Thanksgiving on Sunday with a few other families but since today is the "real" day....
We really lucked out this year. We were invited to do Thanksgiving at a friends home and all I had to make was the mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (it did not turn out using the european ingredients that were available to me. totally sad.), an appitizer of veggies and cheeses, and a non-pie dessert (i made some sugar cookies and homemade frosting). So, as you can see, all the hard stuff was made by other people. They made the turkey (it was amazing) and homemade rolls (you can't have Thanksgiving without them) not to mention, they made some super yummy pies too. All in all, it was a great day! Even James chowed down on the carrots and celery that were cooked with the turkey. He thought they were so yummy and every time we didn't get them on his tray fast enough, he would bounce up and down in the high chair and start making his little noises to let us know to hurry it up. It was hand over fist eating for him. I am a bit sad that we are the only ones (on both sides of the family) that are not going to be home for Thanksgiving this year but then we haven't been home for about 5 years so I should be used to it by now. I'm not. I think next year I will try to go home right before Thanksgiving and then come back right after New Years. That way I can get all the big holidays in one extended vacation. And I will get to do some Black Friday shopping. This will be the first time I miss it.
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays cuz it is all about family to me. It is the one holiday that anyone that is American or is in America can get into. It crosses religions and cultures and everything else that other holidays don't seem able to do. It is all about being Thankfull and being with your family. Who doesn't have at least 1 think to be thankful for? I know I have lots. Too many to list. So, let me wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! Can't wait to see those of you who will be in Utah during Christmas time. Well, I will actually be there from Dec. 14th till Jan. 23rd, so if you will be there during that time, lets get together!
Oh, and James is doing a bit better today. We took him to the doctor this morning just to make sure he was all good and they said that he just has a really nasty cold. Darn cold season! It did snow here last weekend...

Sad Bimmy News

Well, it has finally happened. Bimmy is totally sick. Well, we all are. Brian even stayed home from work yesterday. This is the first time he has actually been sick. I don't count little runny noses which he has had 3 of those already.
This time counts cuz he is really acting sick. He took 3 long naps today and went to bed at like 5:40 pm. Yesterday, he went to bed at the same time and didn't get up for the day till 7:40 this morning. Yes, he is officially sick. He has a mega runny nose and a cough. And worst of all, he has a little Bimmy fever. His cheeks got all pink and rosy and he really just wanted to snuggle all day long. Luckily for me, he hasn't been too cranky, mostly just way tired and he really didn't have much energy at all today. Needless to say, today is his least smiley day (since he started smiling). He even fell asleep in my arms (that NEVER happens) this afternoon at the start of his 3rd nap. I feel so sad and I have been doing everything I can think of to make him more comfortable. I gave him a nice lukewarm bath and I gave him lots of water and offered as much food as he would eat. Here is a pic of him sleeping this afternoon. I took his clothes off on purpose so he wouldn't be too hot and get overheated. That is what "What to Expect the First Year" said to do. I also tried some of my less "conventional" methods. Yes, I broke out my homeopathic home kit and gave him some fever remedie. I also mixed a bunch of Juice Plus in with his cereal and upped his dosage of probiotics, all in an effort to boost his little immune system. Hopefully, he will be back to his normal, happy, Bimmy self soon.
On the bright side, despite his boogers and cough, he has had no breathing troubles. So I am counting my blessings. Boogers and coughs are annoying but breathing problems are another, way bigger, problem. I will keep you posted on his speedy, hopefully, recovery. If he isn't doing better tomorrow, I will take him to the equivalent of the Insta Care here. Apparently, pediatricians don't do sick visits. They just have you take them to the Emergency Care Clinics. Weird hu? At least it doesn't cost us any more than the doctor visit would. Switzerland does some things a bit different. Not bad, just different.

Happy Birthday James!

Saturday, November 15, 2008, was Bimmy's birthday! Yes, 1 year ago (at 2:43 p.m. Central time) he was born. I can't believe it has been a whole year. I'm not sure what to say about it. We didn't even get dressed for the day. It was so fun. We just kinda sat around and chilled all day. Here he is opening his presents from one of his Gramma's that arrived just on time for his birthday. He loved all his present from everyone. Thanks so much!
I made him his first cake (read first sugar ever). It was a carrot cake made with as much organic ingredients as I could find. And olive oil instead of regular oil. He mostly made an enormous mess with it but he sure had fun doing it. Before. (No, there was no frosting. I'm not that nice of a mommy. He didn't seem to miss it).
During.After. Most of it was just flung joyously to the floor. Then we spent the rest of the day doing more nothing. It was a great 1st birthday for Bimmy! Here are a few pics of him from the last couple weeks. ( Since my last post). Enjoy.
Here he is playing in our "backyard". There were tons of leaves and at first he didn't dare move through them. Then he got over it and started playing.Here he is uncleaning his room that I just cleaned. It is really one of his favorite past times. He just loves to pull the books onto the floor and revel in the mess he has made. He sits right in the middle of it and just shuffles things around till they are perfect.Here he is playing at the park. Notice the dirty mouth? Yes, he insists on tasting everything. It totally grosses me out but I'm getting over it.Here he is showing off his newest ability to immitate on demand. Sorry it is sideways. That is Brian's fault.

We can't wait to see what the next year will hold for him...stay tuned to find out...
Oh and for those of you who wonder if James ever stops smiling. (I get asked that a lot). Yes sometimes he does stop smiling. Here he is about 10 seconds after he got up on Sunday morning.And here he is about 3 seconds later. What can I say? He is just a ham. He loves to cheese it up like his momma. Thanks, Aunt Karen, for the great birthday jammies! I love them!

Muddy Little Bimmy

Can you guess what I did today while the weather wasn't too frigid or rainy? That's right! I played at the park. On the ground. In the mud. I ate grass, mud, wood chips, rocks and had some water to wash it all down. It was super fun! I love the park!

Happy Bloggerversary to us!

It has officially been 1 year since we started this blog in honor of James impending arrival. I can't believe how fast it has gone and yet I am excited to see what the next year brings as well. So, 1 year and 74 posts ago (including this one) this whole thing started. Hope it hasn't been too boring for y'all.

Random things that have happened in the last year (not in any particular order).

1. James was born. This was totally the most important event.

2. We moved to Switzerland.

3. Brian was promoted to manager at work.

4. Becky turned 30!

5. James more than doubled in size. (Good thing it wasn't me).

6. James got 7 teeth.

7. Becky had her first hospital stay and surgery (when James was born) of her life.

8. Brian has tried tomatoes more than once in Switzerland. (This is pretty much unheard of as tomatoes are the "forbidden fruit" according to him).

9. Brian has also eaten "raw" meat here. (This is a major step for him as well).

10. Becky speaks less than Brian at church. (That is cuz I can't speak French well yet. I will be making up for lost time soon).

11. We actually had home teachers show up at our house once. (Kinda weird. What are you supposed to do with them? I haven't really had home teachers come since living with my parents in Bountiful).

12. Becky has learned how to function without a car using public transportation. Not happily but she is dealing.

13. Becky went back to college to finish her degree.

14. We had our first visitor here in Geneva! Thanks, Geoff, for visiting! This is a hint for the rest of you.

15. We got our first "care package" from home. Thanks, Mom, we loved everything you sent. This is also a hint for the rest of you!

16. We inspired lots of family and friends to start blogs of their own so we can keep in touch with them better and see what's happening in their lives. Including Brian's entire family (even Tra la la la la) and one of Becky's sisters.

That is all. We can't wait to see what happens in the next year...

"nigh, nigh"

Well, we have had a bit of a crazy week. Crazy cuz it has been cold and so I haven't been as keen to go freeze my hiney off at the park for hours on end. James on the other hand, would love to do just that. At least, until he realizes that he is freezing and then he starts to cry. He also decided that he can't just crawl normally like most babies. He decided that he likes to combine 3 different styles. He still occasionally uses his "army" crawl that he favored for so long, he also uses the "normal" crawl that we all know and love and he also does a hands and feet crawl that is pretty funny to watch. Check it out in the video below.

I have been torturing James all week with trying to get him to talk more. I know it is too early to really get on his case but I can try. So, every time he came up to me this week and clearly wanted to be picked up, I would say, "Uh uh uppp", very clearly. He said it a few times, usually in the morning when he was in the mood to humor me. Occasionaly, he would start to whine when I tried to get him to say something, usually in the afternoon when he was not in the mood to humor me. The only thing that he says really consistently is "da da". He says that all day, every day. He also does a lot of nonsense babbling and it has increased a lot lately which is why I started the torturing in the first place. So, tonight when I picked James up and told him that it was time for nigh, nigh (our word for bedtime) he happily stuck his fingers in his mouth and put his head on my sholder. This is totally normal for him. Next we proceeded to his bedroom for his last 5 min. feeding and when I went to put him in bed he pulled his fingers out of his mouth started waving at me and said, "nigh, nigh". It was the cutest thing I have ever seen! I just wish I could have caught it on video for everyone (mostly Brian) to see. Unfortunately, I don't usually (well never) video bedtime. That would be way to distracting. It is not part of our "routine". Anyway, I just wanted to share that James is starting to talk a bit and I will be posting as he says new things. So far the words that I can understand that he has said are (in order of frequency) da da, ma ma, up and nigh nigh. He also does a whole bunch of babbling and tries to mimic sounds that we make but I don't really count those.
New subject. So while we have been chillin indoors mostly this week we have had to become creative in our choices of entertainment. These are a few of the things we have done to keep busy. We got out the twix it clips and made them into toys. Can you see how entertaining they were? We also ran naked through the house. That was tons of fun as you can see. James thought he was super cool for getting up onto the tv stand all by himself. He is so my kid, he totally loves to frolick naked whenever I allow him to. Usually it happens after baths for a few minutes. James also enjoyed taking all his toys apart and randomly depositing them throughout the house. He loves pulling all his books of the shelf and "reading" them. Anyone have any other ideas about fun, inside activites that we could try during the cold days?
On another subject entirely, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! James and I were invited to an excellent Halloween party this week. James got all dressed up as a cowboy and had a blast watching the other kids.He kept stealing a binky from another little boy there and "tasting" it. Funny that he won't use a binky if I give it to him. They made the most fun, spooky lunch and it was great to get out of the house for a few hours. We are going to go to another Halloweek party tomorrow the the English ward is putting on at the church. No, we are not in that ward but yes, we were invited by their bishop so we are going. Hopefully James will cooperate and let me take more pictures of him as I was only able to get 2 the other day cuz my memory card was full after that. Hope y'all have a great Halloween!

Photo Tag

Thanks to Shannon, I have been "tagged". This is how it works. I was supposed to go to my pictures and click on the 6th folder and then the 6th picture and post it on my blog and then share what it is about. Well, I only have 2 folders. "James" and "everything else". I chose James and then I went to Month 9 and to the 6th folder there and then to the 6th photo. This is what I came up with. It is James, of course, in the swing at the park by the hotel we stayed at when we first moved to Geneva. This photo was taken on September 10, 2008 so James was almost 10 months old here. As you can see he was having fun in the swing. We went to this park pretty close to every day that we stayed in the hotel. Usually we would start with a nice long swing and then we would stroll around the park watching all the interesting people and animals. James loved watching the older kids play soccer and basketball. He also loved watching the dogs stroll by and seeing the pigeons eat day old bread that people would throw to them.
Now I get to tag a few people. I tag Crystal, Jill and both Emilys. Can't wait to see what your search turns up.

11 Months

James is 11 months today. I don't have any official stats this month either because I still have yet to find a pediatrician. It is on my list of things to do this month. James is doing great. He is happy as ever and is learning new things every day. He has finally perfected the crawl and he is officially better at real crawling than army crawling. He is on the verge of standing by himself but he still doesn't quite trust himself. He still climbs everything and he still tries to eat everything. He now knows when he is being naughty and he gets plenty of joy while being naughty. He really likes it when we say, "uh oh" cuz that means he can grin mischeviously while doing the "uh oh". I have to keep most of the doors shut in the house so that he won't get into too much trouble but he seems to find it anyway no matter what I try to do to keep him out of it. Here are a few pictures of him from the last month. Enjoy.
Here he is enjoying the snow in Murren. He tried to lean over at one point to taste it but he was so overdressed that he couldn't bend at the middle enough to get there. He really liked the snow.

James gets really excited when he is going to eat. I have to give him his own spoon so that he won't try to steal mine. He gets so excited and just starts waving his arms and bouncing up and down in the highchair and laughing. It is funny.Here he is trying to figure out how he is going to get that rice into his mouth.And here he has figured it out. There is a park across really close to our house and James just loves to go there and play. He especially loves it when Brian can come and help him down the slide. He thinks it is super fun.The following are just a couple of examples why I can't leave him unattended for more than about 3 seconds. It makes it difficult to go to the bathroom when he is awake. Here he got himself stuck in the basket of his stroller cuz he was trying to go after the bag of bread that I had left in there. (This happened while Brian was home watching him and I was out.) All of a sudden Brian heard some whining and came in to find this. James was stuck and couldn't figure out how to get back out. I was in the other room for a minute doing dishes and I guess I didn't get the door closed all the way. When I found him and I said, "Oh no". He looked at me and quickly tried to get as much fun in as he could and started trying to touch everything all at once. Good thing I had just cleaned the toilet but he still got a bath anyway. JIC (just in case).