Duval Family Update January 2009

Hi Family and Friends,

I hope this e-mail finds you doing well and living out all of your new years resolutions! 

Since the last time I wrote, a lot has happened in our little lives over here in Italy.  As most of you know, we are expecting our second baby.  I am now 15 weeks along due on July 15th.  So far, things have gone well.  While morning sickness has not passed me by, it has given me a bit of a break compared to last time.  Having a little one to run after definitely puts things into perspective and laying on the couch just doesn't cut it.  We are very excited to find out the sex of the baby on February 11th.  If it is a boy, he will be named Bentley Thomas Duval and if its a girl she will be named Catherine Riley Duval.  I have a feeling that it is a girl but we will see what God has decided!  Either way, we are very excited about this new addition, we are just hoping that they will give us a bigger house or the baby might be sleeping in the laundry room...haha.

We are also VERY excited to go to Germany to ski the Alps with my parents in February.  The military does a wonderful job providing for us and one way that they do this is by having american run resorts around the world reserved only for the military.  Ever since we arrived here in Italy, all we have heard about is Edelwiess, Edelwiess, Edelwiess.  So, we're going!!!  We have our cabin rented, our rental car reserved, plane tickets bought, and now we are just waiting on little man's snowsuit, my parents arrival, and the date to arrive and we are OFF!  This will be the first time Paul will be off work in over a year!  He has 9 days, HOW AWESOME!!!  The resort is located in Garmisch, Germany just 50 miles from Munich and 35 miles from Innsbruck, Austria.  I can promise you that we will have MANY pictures to post on Phanfare!

There is still no word on Paul's officer package.  At this point, we are just waiting for someone to be kicked out or to quit.  If he does not get selected, we will remain in Italy and he will decide whether he wants to re-apply this year or not.  While this process has been somewhat discouraging at times, one thing is for sure, we are learning to be flexible!  Paul is getting a chance, unlike many others his age, to decide what he really wants to do for the rest of his life, while still providing for his family.  He has so many options it is crazy!  Only time will tell...

And lastly, the littest man of our home is growing like a weed!  He is now 9 months old, did you hear me, 9 MONTHS OLD!?!?!?!  Seriously, if pregnancy could go by as fast as these 9 months have, life would be golden!  Anyhow, he has mastered the art of the army crawl and is rarely in the same place for too long.  With our tile floors, he has discovered that for efficiency's sake, it is much faster to just push himself backwards instead of pulling himself forwards.  So, if you come to our home, you will most likely see a baby on the floor going backwards!  He's a riot.  He is also quite the fan of singing at Church.  Besides his random day of craziness, he does pretty well sitting still during Mass.  BUT, when it is time to sing, you will most likely hear our little boys voice "singing" with the rest.  Quite the source of comic relief!

Well, I think that about sums it up for our family update.  We are all doing well.  We would love to hear from you so please write us back! 

Love,
Jeanne      

Halloween 2008

Happy Halloween!  We hope that you are laughing as much as we did when we took this picture!

Love,

Paul, Jeanne, and little Paul

Duval Family Update October 2008

Greetings from Italy!

I just wanted to send a brief update with all of the news that has come our way since my last update.  First of all, I hope you all can tell how much smarter I am as I have FINALLY GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE!!!  After getting married, moving to California, a deployment, moving to Italy, and having a baby, I kept my word and I have finally completed my Bachelors degree in marketing.  I can't even tell you how relieved I was to wake up on Monday morning and to have NO SCHOOLWORK!  It's great!
I have also become a certified COMPASS mentor for the Navy.  COMPASS is a program for military spouses to learn about the Navy and for spouses to assist other spouses in their transitions and deployments.  It was a great experience and I am looking forward to mentoring other Navy Spouses!

Secondly, Paul has been VERY busy (imagine that).  He was selected as an alternate for his officer commissioning program.  While it is not EXACTLY what we were hoping for it is still quite an accomplishment and I am so proud of him!  Out of 900-1200 applicants, Paul was one of the few who was selected at all.  So, where does this leave us.  Well, God has quite the sense of humor!  I guess he's not finished teaching us patience!  Paul is currently in the process of filling out college applications, doing physical exams, and making degree plans.  Like a normal selectee, he must send all of the paperwork in and then we wait for someone to either drop out or be kicked out (which actually happens all of the time!).  So, we are busy doing all of his paperwork and applications and then we just wait some more.  We will know a definite answer by December.  To be quite honest, we are hoping that we stay in Italy for one more year as we REALLY want to do more traveling.  But, whatever God wants is what we want. 
In addition to that, Paul has become a certified Department of Defense financial counselor!  He has not only learned A TON but he has had a great time!  He will now be the financial counselor for his command (both enlisted and officer).  There are efforts to try and make financial counseling a mandatory appointment upon checking into the command which means that Paul will be one busy guy helping his command get their money/investments in order.  Again, so proud!

And lastly, little guido man's first tooth has popped through!  After he bit me yesterday I knew that something sharp was in there.  We looked and there it was!  His second tooth is sitting right under his gums.  I can't believe he's growing so fast!  I THOUGHT I JUST HAD HIM!!!  We continue to have fun as he learns and grows.

Well, I think thats about it from the home front.  No deployments, No babies, AND NO MOVES!  Wow, it's be a while since we've been this calm.  It's kind of nice! Remember to keep smiling and have a great day!

Love,
Jeanne  

Duval Family Update September 2008

Hi Family and Friends,

Well, we have officially made it through summer and are now into the glorious temperatures of fall!  It's amazing!

The last few months have been quite hectic with Paul's work schedule.  It has definitely made me realize what it means to be his wife.  Given the fact that on most days he is gone for about 14-15 hours, I spend most of my days making sure that everything is squared away when he gets home so he can eat, relax, and get into bed (having a clean uniform, sandwiches, and coffee in the morning) within about 2 hours.  I have realized that my job entails making his days easier!  Its the least that I can do since he works so hard so I can be a stay-at-home mom!  These last few months have really made me learn to be VERY thankful!

Besides the day to day, Paul has recently gotten braces in anticipation of his jaw surgery in about 24 months!  We are so thankful that the Navy is giving us this opputunity.  As the doctor said, 'its basically a $50,000 bonus check'.  His experience of getting braces was quite different than mine as he was eating chicken within 24 hours, while I remember being in absolute pain for a couple of days!  He has also become a lector at Mass and is looking into coaching soccer or baseball in the spring.  We are also anxiously awaiting the results of Paul's officer program due out in mid October.  Life has come to a stand still until we know what we are doing.  The military has definitely provided us an adventureous life!

Compared to Paul, I am not doing too much.  I can proudly say that I am 4 weeks from completing my undergraduate degree in Marketing!  I am so ready to be done but am trying to finish strong!  I am also trying to get involved in some Bible Study's and women's groups at Church but so far I have either been out of town or had a doctors appointment during EVERY MEETING!  Maybe I'm just not SUPPOSED to have friends...haha!  Although, I HAVE registered to organize a progressive dinner for Paul's command in May (if we are here, sneaky, huh?  haha).  I thought it would be fun!

Anyways, little man is doing great!  I am trying to keep up the pictures but it has become a bit challenging.  He kind of does the same things over and over!  We are still having so much fun with is especially since he has gotten older and has more personality.  I am so excited for my brother, Eddie, to see him since he has been gone for the last 3 months...A LOT HAS CHANGED! 

Well, please drop us some e-mails!  We miss hearing from you!  We still use SKYPE on a daily basis and are always looking to show little man off.  Just as we did, we want him to grow up with a strong relationship with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins (and most of our friends are considered aunts and uncles).  I hope this e-mail finds you doing well and be assured of an e-mail once we know where we are turning next! 

Love,
Jeanne  (and little Paul, he's screaming in the background!!!)     

Duval Family Update June 2008

Hi Family and Friends!
Well, we have successfully made it through the busiest month thus far!  First of all, traveling with a baby demands quite the preparation!  We are used to being able to do the 'throw and go' technique so when I spent A WHOLE WEEK preparing for our trip back to the states, I think Paul thought I was crazy!  I mean, there were sticky notes with lists ALL OVER OUR HOUSE!!!  Luckily, the planning paid off and we had everything we needed for the two weeks away from home.  We wanted to thank everybody who took the time to see us while we were in New Hampshire and Atlanta.  We really appreciated it and thouroughly enjoyed seeing you!  For those of you who we didn't get to see, we missed you but hopefully it will work out better next time! 

Once Paul IV and I arrived back home on June 3rd, we had 5 days to prepare for the baby's baptism in Rome and the arrival of Uncle Patrick and Aunt Kristi (and their growing baby...so fun!).  The Baptism was beautiful and very simple!  My brother, Eddie, really did an AWESOME job arranging everything.  We consider ourselves very blessed to have the oppurtunity to baptize one of our children in Rome.  How awesome!  Maybe we'll make it a tradition...haha...yeah right!  Anyways, the baptism, reception, and departing gelato were wonderful and then Patrick and Kristi came to Naples with us for the rest of the week!  Besides the one day that I let Patrick convince me to DRIVE in downtown Naples (crazy!!!), it was a blast!  Paul and I were also able to go out one evening which was a very nice surprise!  
Once Patrick and Kristi left, Paul and I thankfully had three days of NOTHING!  He didn't have to work, he wasn't transitioning to or from a night schedule and we just chilled out!  That was also the weekend of Father's Day!  What and awesome day!  Our day included pancakes, presents, superman, a nap, the first son/daddy run, bocce ball, and ended with an AWESOME steak dinner (thanks to Paul R. Duval III AWESOME grilling skills!)  We really had a ball!
Since then, we have just been recovering and I have been trying to get caught up on my house!  My goodness, I didn't know three people could have SO MUCH LAUNDRY!  But, thankfully, we are starting to get back into the swing of things.  The baby and I are going to start taking part in a group here for moms and volunteer at the USO (you get discounts on the trips that they offer...shhhh).  I also start school on July 7th in order to finish up my last 11 credits before graduating with a B.A. in Marketing in November.  Additionally, Paul has been working on his officer Package that is being sumbitted THIS WEEK!  So, the wait for October 15th is on, again! 
Well, besides that everything is going well.  The baby is sure growing fast!  He is a big smiler and laughs all the time!  I'm trying to give him more tummy time so he'll learn to start scooting (right now he just lays down if you put him on his belly...haha).  His latest achievement is being able to connect his hand with whatever he is reaching for.  Pretty cool!  He is sleeping from about 10PM-11:30AM every night (waking up for one feeding at around 9AM).  It's amazing!  He makes our life VERY easy!  We're just worried what the next one's going to be like!  
I hope everyone is getting the links to the pictures.  I have really enjoyed putting them up and keeping you all in the loop.  I also have fun picking out the background music for the slideshow...I'm a dork, I know!  If I am putting them up too often, let me know.  We really spend a lot of time laughing with little man so we want to give you the same opputunity (at least for a good smile).  So far, everybody loves them so I'll keep them coming!   
Okay, thats it.  I'm done!  I hope you all are doing really well!  We think/speak of you often and you are always in our prayers.  Make sure to keep us updated on the happenings back in the States and keep the pictures coming!!!

Love,
Jeanne 
            
P.S. We're fielding offers if anybody wants to come to Italy and keep the baby while Paul and I go on a cruise to Greece, Turkey, and Sicily...haha.  ;-)

Duval Family Update March 2008

Hi Family and Friends,

Guess What!?!?! I'M NOT PREGNANT ANYMORE! I had a friend tell me the other day that it seemed like I was pregnant FOREVER while all of our other friends pregnancies are flying by. I couldn't help but agree with her as I had convinced myself that I was going to be the first woman in history to be pregnant for the rest of her life!!! But, thankfully, our little man arrived! As the pictures show, the baby is doing wonderful! As of Tuesday, he weighed over 9 1/2 lbs (up from his 8lbs 3oz birth weight). Quite the growing boy. So far, he has been an awesome baby...adapting very well to the schedule set in place and sleeping very well at night. Luckily, there has only been a couple of nights where I have had to get up more than once. I know, I know, 'just wait, it'll come'. Thats what everybody has been saying. But for now, I am counting my blessings and praying for it to continue.
Besides the baby, everything is going well over here in Italy. Paul has finally changed to his 3 days on/3 days off schedule. It coincided perfectly with my mom's departure as he had three days off after she left. So, I went from having two helpers, to one, to just me and the baby. It was perfect! Watching Paul as a dad has probably been my favorite part of having a baby, so far. Just like my dad, he has a special talent for rocking the baby to sleep at night! And boy do I appreciate it! When we first got home from the hospital Paul quickily reminded me that he was the oldest of 5 and that he used to do the baby thing all the time...'you know, like 10 years ago.' I quickily reminded him that his youngest sister was 18 and that at the time he was 6! haha. I think he was shocked at how time flew by. Even so, he definitely learned a lot being the oldest in the family and really helps me with everything. At this point, I believe the boys favorite thing to do together is watch the red sox games. Good male bonding, right?
Thankfully, we have been able to somewhat bridge the gap between the countries with our webcams. We have really enjoyed being able to show the baby off and see the reactions of our friends and family. I think my favorite, thus far, was my 2 year old nephew. Truly priceless!
Well, I don't believe that there is too much more to report. We are doing very well and truly appreciate all of the e-mails, cards, and phone calls. We definitely understand the challenge of being excited about a baby that you can't see but know that your excitement has been GREATLY appreciated. I hope this e-mail finds you doing very well and we look forward to hearing from you soon!

Love,
Jeanne

He's Here!

Hi Family and Friends,

We are very excited to announce the arrival of our son, Paul Roger Duval IV.  He was born on April 7, 2008 at 5:21 (Italy time).  He weighed in at 8 lbs 3oz and is 20 inches long.  Thank you so much for your continued prayers and will send more pictures soon!

Love,
Paul and Jeanne