St. Anton

I am so bummed that I didn't have my new Christmas present with me this past week (my very own Canon Rebel Xsi camera which is on its way to Z with a friend who picked it up in the US for Andy :) - we just got back from 3 wonderful days / nights in St. Anton, Austria and there were so many beutiful photos we could've taken while there! St. Anton is one of the best ski resorts in Austria (last year we were also in Austria during Christmas holidays but in Ischgl). We rented a chalet with some of the same group as last year and a few new folks as well (Kim & Nick - the Aussies, Pete & Bianca - more aussies, Sean & Petra - Swiss/US/Czech friends). We split the week with our good friends Braden & Anna since they were arriving home from the US and as I wasn't sure I could fill a full week without being able to snowboard :) But fortunately someone in the family got to snowboard and he had a great time! This was officially LB's 13th country that she has been to since I've been pregnant, pretty amazing right?

Merry Christmas!

Thank you so much Mom & Loren, Dad & Allison, and Vicki & Bruce for filling up our tree with presents! We love you all and love all our presents too : )
Love, Andy Shannon & LB
Christmas morning
Andy & Josh Christmas dinner
Day after Christmas walk down the Limmat

Baby stuff...and a big belly.

After 32 weeks and three wonderful baby showers we are on our way to a very cute baby corner (and an even cuter baby :). I say "baby corner" because for those of you who've been here, our apartment is not quite big enough to give baby her own room - so she gets a corner...for now.

Thank you to everyone who helped get us all set up! A BIG thanks to Josh, Jason, Esther, Erin & Ange who gave us this great changing table as a shower gift!

(Still some work to do once we pick up the crib - but it's a start).

Changing table

Cute drawer #1

Cute drawer #2

32 Weeks!

Welcome to the world....

I've gotten a couple of complaints that I am not blogging enough (sorry, Ev). I tried to explain, now that I'm a little hung up (not allowed to fly anymore) there isn't much exciting to report! It is hard to go from blogging about weekend trips to Turkey to blogging about how many sugar cookies I baked in one weekend...So instead of writing about my cookie-baking, relaxing, house organizing week, I thought I would take this opportunity to welcome a couple of new little guys to the world:

First - Bennett James Olsen - born December 7th - 5 pounds 2 ounces.
Bennett is the son of our great friends Joel & Julie Olsen back at home...such an amazing story about how Bennett (truly taking after the meaning of his name, "little blessed one") made it into the world. He was about 8 weeks early, but very healthy and doing great!

Second - Marshall Townsend Buckley "Townes" - born December 17th - 8 pounds 7 ounces.
He is the son of our good friends Coy & Kacey Buckley here in Zurich. I just got to visit him this morning and he is so precious, already a good sleeper like his daddy.

So there you have it, life is definitely transitioning to babies babies and more babies :) This one still has about 9 weeks to go, and she is doing great. She measures a little smaller than her weeks in utero, looks like she might end up taking after mommy instead of daddy in the height department.

Lots of love to those at home, we miss you...

Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree

We attempted to get a "real" Christmas tree this year but Zurich (unlike the US) doesn't put their trees out weeks in advance of Christmas! Since we were more than ready for a little holiday cheer in our apartment, we opted to put up the usual little Charlie Brown Christmas tree that we've had since our 1st Christmas in Zurich...This is our third, if you can believe it! (Nothing against our little tree, I do love it!) Oscar is enjoying it and has even managed not to break a single bulb...yet...

The Christmas season in Zurich is so beautiful and festive, I will make a point to take some photos of the main street with all their pretty lights and post them in the next few weeks. Merry Christmas everyone!

P.S. We have officially made it 3/4 of the way through being preggo. 30 weeks down, 10 to go!