Weekend with Jenny, Ed and little Caden!

Michel was away the weekend before last so Bentley and I made a trip down the Jersey shore to visit one of my lifelong friends, Jenny, and her adorable family. They have a great house just minutes from the beach with an amazing park around the block. It is so special to share this next season of life with Jenny who I've known since 2nd grade!

The boys are 3.5 months apart and were so cute together. Thankfully Caden is a happy go lucky guy (seriously one of the happiest kids I've ever met!) even with all of the hair pulls and toys that Bentley stole from him! Bentley got a little excited with all of the new toys. :) But Caden was such a trooper. Jenny and Ed, you are doing an amazing job with that adorable guy!

Jenny took tons of pictures, so I am sending you to her blog for the pics from the weekend!

http://littlecadenslife.blogspot.com/2010/10/jess-and-bentley-come-to-visit.html

Life in New York - Part 1 continued

Pictures in the park (Madison Square Park). These are some of my favorites from our time here!

My parents came while Elisabeth was here and brought things for Bentley to help him survive his time in NY! Warm clothes and books - perfect for the NYC fall!

Christian (Michel's brohter) was also in New York for a few days while Elisabeth was here...it was a treat to have three of the Lusakueno siblings together!

Life in New York - Part 1

I've been waiting to post when I have time to do an update on our summer in Charlotte, post the pictures from our trip to Mauritius (back in June, ridiculous I know) and give a long update on life here in New York City (we are here for 10 weeks for training for my new job). Well, there isn't time for all of that now but I have a free evening so will post part 1 of our time in NY! All in all we are surviving and figuring out life as working parents. Michel has been able to work from his company's New York office and travels down south every couple weeks. So we have hardly been a part. Amazing! God is good. Bentley is going to an on-site day care that my job offers and it has been a huge blessing. The teachers there are fabulous and he has started coming home with artwork! Of course it is a HUGE adjustment leaving him each day. Bentley is not the only one shedding tears when I leave him. Usually by the end of the week I am borderline depressed because I just miss him so much. We cherish our time on the weekends and I actually look forward to my little human alarm clock going off at 6:30am on Saturdays and Sundays because I know we have the day together as a family!

Tata Babette (Aunt Elisabeth) was here for a month and watched Bentley for our first 3 weeks in New York. Talk about a blessing and lifesaver! She and Bentley obviously bonded and she was so great with him. It definitely made my transition back to work a little easier.

Bentley had his fair shair of shopping while Tata was here!

So the first few weeks he spent a lot of time at home with Tata in our 1-BR apartment. Clearly he found ways to entertain himself!

Ending here for now because Blogspot is not letting me upload more photos right now and if I don't post this it will not happen for another few weeks. :) More to come.

1 Year Old!?!

On August 7th I woke up remembering back to 1 year ago...the day we packed our bags and went to the hospital, thinking Bentley would be born! He would be born the same day as my parents' anniversary, so we thought. 45 hours later, on August 9th at 6:15 in the morning, he decided to make his long anticipated entrance in dramatic fashion! In some ways it feels soo long ago, and in other ways it seems like just yesterday. I can remember the moment he was born so clearly, and can still hear his cry and see Michel's face as he hugged me with pride and we looked at each other through tears, amazed by the miracle we were witnessing.


Wow, what a year it has been. We are still witnessing the miracle as we watch Bentley grow each day. I am writing this after a week at the beach in North Topsail, NC with my family. So I am already feeling a little emotional (or "homesick" as my sister and I say) missing my family, but also feeling so blessed for such a great week at the beach. So tears are now streaming down my face as they have many times this past week as I've paused to reflect on our little/big Bentley. One name, one word can draw so much emotion and love in my heart. He just is...Bentley! An amazing, fun-loving, sweet, fearless, big-hearted (and big) boy who loves people and loves to light up a room. He definitely takes after his daddy in all of these ways, and it's nothing short of amazing to get to be his mama!

Some of the things I love most about him right now at 1 year are:
- his dancing (he swings his arms out wide and puts them straight behind his back and runs in a circle...kind of hard to explain so I need to post a video of it!)
- his kisses and hugs, many times unsolicited which are my favorites
- how he "jumps" without getting his feet off the floor and almost falls over trying to squat low enough to give him enough momentum
- watching him read books by himself in his room, pointing at the pages like I do, and talking in his own language
- his love for all animals and his uniform "growl" no matter what kind
- pointing to his belly and lifting his shirt to pat it
- watching him splash himself in the face in the bath and the pool
- running into the ocean and purposely doing a faceplant in the water because he loves it so much
- praying and saying "Ahm" at the end for Amen
- playing hide-and-seek and him getting so excited to come into the room and "find" me
- holding up something to his mouth that I have told him "no" for and then shaking his head no and saying "nah, nah, nah" and putting it down


And one of my absolute most favorite things is watching him greet Michel at the end of the work day when he gets home. He gets soo excited and does his vibrating laugh so hard he can hardly breathe, says "da-da, da-da" and claps his hands together and then runs to him. It brings tears to my eyes everyday!


Bentley, we are blessed to call you our son and are so grateful to God for giving you to us. You have already taught us so much and are helping to refine us in order to become more of the parents and people that God created us to be. We are amazed that we have the privilege of sharing in your life as your parents!


Here are a few pictures from his birthday party at the beach. We did a safari/Madagascar 2 theme since he loves animals and it takes place in Africa. Thank you Grandma and Aunt Julie for picking out his party ware! There are more photos posted on Facebook.

Definitely devoured his first cupcake!

Tigger is his new buddy...he gives him hugs and kisses every time he wakes up!

LOVED his keys from Aunt Jackie

Aunt Julie and her boyfriend Geoff showing him how to get in his new pool toy


Ready for hoops in his new sneaks (Davidson colors!)

He would not put his new laptop from Grandma and Grandpa down! The songs on it are already stuck in my head.

Learning with Papa

Sporting his new shoes at dinner that night.

Rewind to...Belgium and France

The first stop on our two-part voyage overseas was in Brussels, Belgium with a weekend trip to the French countryside. Michel is the youngest of 8 (EIGHT, not a typo) children. For some of you this may explain his tendency to be the little brother and kid around. His fun-loving nature is one of the things I love best about him! We visited Michel's brother Christian and wife Khadia and their two boys Paul and Theo who live in Brussels, plus we got to see Khadia's parents, Mami and Papi Soumare. We loved seeing Michel's brother Eric in Brussels and Lille, and Tonton Guy-rene and his four beautiful daughters who live in Lille (France), and Tonton Alexis and his two awesome kids Nicolas and Olivia outside of Paris. It was my first time to Lille, where Michel spent his years from age 11-14. I am well aware of the fact that we came from different parts of the world and had such different childhoods, so I love visits with Michel's family when I get to learn more about his life back home and I can imagine him as a little boy.

I had no expectations of it being a relaxing trip, and wondered what we were thinking a few days before as we still had to pack up our apartment, move our stuff to Charlotte, and drive up to PA and then to NY to fly on our first of 4 long flights with a 9-month old! But Bentley did great and was able to sleep on most of them. Thankfully he didn't adjust to the time change in Europe so he went to bed at midnight and slept until 11am every day! I let myself sleep in with him which was amazing and exactly what we needed. For those who have youngsters who typically awake at the crack of dawn like Bentley does, go to a later time zone and enjoy late nights and late mornings!

Here are a few pictures from our trip. Unfortunately we lost our photos from the Europe part of our trip, but thankfully my brother-in-law Christian is a photographer extraordinaire so I got some from him!

All smiles on vacation!

My bro-in-law Eric, being patient with my bad French!

I had my first birthday overseas and the Lusakueno family went all out. A close family friend, Christopher, is a chef at a top restaurant in Brussels and so they had him come cook for us! This was my birthday dinner...nothing short of amazing.

Bentley clapping after we blew out my candles. The chocolate cake was delicious!

A nighttime stroll in Brussels. So fun to be able to stay out late with the little guy!

Christian and Khadia, Michel's big bro and sis-in-law...so cute!

Mami Soumare carrying Bentley African-style around the house. She was also giving him airplane rides on her legs...amazing!

Bentley loved Khadia and would choose to go to her over me! I love them laughing together!

Tonton Guy-rene's family in Lille...Bentley was in heaven with all of his girls. Can you tell which one married into the family??

Family outside of Paris...Tonton Alexis, Nicolas, Olivia and Christian with us.

Time to say goodbye :(...with Paul and Theo at the airport

A Sweet Season

In the past three months we have wrapped up our MBA work, graduated, went to the beach with friends, moved out of our apartment, spent time with my family in PA for a few days and then took Bentley on his first of what would be 8 plane rides and 4 countries to visit Michel's family in Europe and Africa! A few days later we were off to Florida for a long weekend to visit friends and go to my cousin's wedding, and then back at my parents' for the next two weeks. After Michel added closets to our house in Charlotte, we are finally "home" here and getting settled! Way too much to blog about in one post, so I will start with some reflections on this past season of life and follow up with some additional posts about our travels.

As I look back over the past two years I am in awe of all that has transpired. Our time in Chapel Hill has been all about God's provisions. We have watched him faithfully provide amidst some big question marks in our minds (especially the question of how we were going to be parents while both getting our MBAs). Our first year was an amazing time for Michel and I to do life together, to be exhilarated about all that we were learning, to meet amazing friends and couples that inspired us, and to truly enjoy each other as best friends. We realized how crucial this time was in year two as we adjusted to our new life with Bentley! The past year has been nothing short of crazy, beginning with our 10-week internships in New York and Atlanta, which spanned the last 10 weeks of my pregnancy! Then we raced to Chapel Hill and thanked God Bentley did not come in route! God was so good to give us a week back home before Bentley came 1 week late. And then 10 days after he was born we started back to classes...next thing we know it is May and we are graduating. Yes, it has been a whirlwind, but the joy that Bentley's life brings us is unspeakable.

In the midst of the chaos we've felt God's blessing and peace like never before. God gave us just what we needed to get through. Much of his provision came through the family and friends He placed in our lives. My sister Jackie got a nursing job and UNC and we spent the past 5 months together, which was a huge blessing. Friends brought meals, lent us your car (we went 3 months without one when our's broke down...some of you will be glad to know we finally got a car!), watched Bentley, lent baby gear, helped run errands, called to check in, etc. To all of you, thank you for your friendship and love. We know we have formed lifelong bonds and we are grateful that our paths crossed in Chapel Hill!

We are thankful for the short intermission to rest and enjoy each other and our family before work begins (for me in September, for Michel this past Monday) and we start the next season of life. More to come, but in the meantime here is a video of our baby-turned-boy walking! He actually took his first steps on his own in Mauritius. It was really special to be with Oliver, Audiah and baby Michel (Michel's brother, sister-in-law and nephew who is 1.5 months younger than Bentley and named after big Michel!).


First steps in Mauritius...



Walking at Grandma and Grandpa's house, with his Aunties, after we got back...

There Goes March...and half of April

As you can guess from my lack of blog posts, where has the time gone??? We are in our last quarter of business school and it is proving to be a hectic one. But the end is in sight...I am starting to sense a big deep breath and some relaxation around the corner! At the same time I am sad about leaving the amazing community we have established here and this season of life in general. It has been so sweet for so many reasons...that will take another post to elaborate on though! For now, here are a few highlights from the past 6 weeks.

Michel is taking a capstone type of course that ties together all of his coursework and focuses on sustainability in business. This is one of the reasons why life has been so crazy this quarter, but he gets to do lots of cool things so it is worth it. The first week he did an Outward Bound trip. Now those who know Michel know that he is not the camping type. In fact, he had never been camping before this trip, and Outward Bound is like camping on steroids, the ultimate experience with no tents, rock climbing, ropes courses, etc. Needless to say I was glad to have him back in one piece! I snapped this pic of my outdoors man the morning he left (being silly of course). He also travelled to Kenya recently for a week to attend and speak at the Microcredit Summit. I was so proud of him, and a little jealous I missed it so he had to recap every minute of every day!

We've had lots of family visits which has been awesome while I've been holding down the fort at home! Jules, her boyfriend Geoff and his brother Matt came for a few days over their spring break and we had a blast. Bentley laughed non-stop the entire week! They also brought Band Hero...need I say more?

I love my sisters!!

We also went to VA Beach to see Nate, Janelle and the boys, and my dad came down, so more family fun! I LOVE seeing Connor and Cooper interacting with Bentley. They become more and more interested in him a he gets bigger. They show him how to do things (like play computer games) and share their toys...it is so sweet. And more Band Hero was played (my brother Nate is below trying to play guitar and sing at the same time...needless to say he was booed off).





Another amazing happening in March was Bentley got chubby!! I had honestly lost hope this would happen. We were doing weight checks every few weeks since 4 months, and finally between 6 and 7.5 months he went on a rampage and gained six pounds, weighing in at 20.5 lbs! We were so excited, and looking back at pictures from early March to now you can see quite a difference! Hah. Here are a few.

The precious face we see every morning...he loves teething on his crib.

He loves playing "drums" on the sofa

This was his "Happy Birthday Papa" photo

I had Michel put him on his arm because he had taken a similar picture when he was just a few months.

Here is 7.5 months:

Compared to 10 weeks:

Check out that belly!

Maybe he's had 1 too many Cheerios! He loves them so much. Getting the thumb and forefinger down was a huge improvement to the "fist in mouth" approach!

This one cracks me up because he appears to be flicking off he camera...one too many pics maybe? Hah.

Now that it's warm we have Cheerios picnics outside. Gotta love the spring weather!

Still working on that sippy cup

This is my current favorite!!