Latest update:

Michael's fontanelle is still a bit high, but it has gone down quite a bit. When he's sitting in his high chair or held up, it's actually pretty flat and you can see it pulsating again!

We'll see if he holds out and keeps being better. He is eating well again, which is great. Apparently, I was feeding him when he wasn't hungry. GO FIGURE. Now, the next challenge is to get him to take the bottle again!

After talking to Sara White, she pointed out something I had not yet realized about Michael. And that was that he is a person now with a personality. He can discern whether or not he is hungry, whether or not he wants to play, go to bed, or have fun. And I've still been thinking of him as this newborn that I had to wake up to feed. So this made me feel tons better!

Anyways, we really appreciate all of your prayers and support through this time for us. It is amazing how God provides you with strength through your family and friends.

Love,
B&P

I am writing you with much sadness because we are very worried here in Paris about our baby Michael. On Sunday morning, we noticed his fontanelle/soft spot on his head was bulging. After consulting our books/internet, it is indeed a very serious problem and I saw my pediatrician. He immediately put me into a taxi and sent me to Hopital Neckar, which is the Infant/Children's hospital here with a specialized infant emergency room. He sent me with a note and called a doctor who was already expecting me when I arrived.

There, they did a very thorough physical examination on Michael and found nothing physically wrong with him. He had no fever, vomiting, or irritability and was his normal funny disposition. They then decided to do a CT scan on Michael to take a look at his brain to see if there was any evidence of tumor or hemorraghing. Brian and I found ourselves quite in tears as they bandaged our first born to a little flat board so he couldn't move and sent him into the CT where he fell asleep. With a bulging fontanelle, the least terrible thing is Meningitis, which is very bad already. Other causes can be bleeding in the brain, head trauma, tumors, and various other awful things. All this and Michael had not eaten for 4 hours already.

After consulting the scans, the doctor said that everything looked normal and there was no evidence of tumors, bleeding in the brain, or anything like that. With no fever, vomiting, diarrhea, or irritability, that everything is normal. No meningitis since there was no fever. They sent us home and told us to watch for signs of any of the previously mentioned things and to return if they surfaced. The doctor also assured us that she has seen cases where the fontanelle is bulging and there was nothing wrong and that the baby was ok.

On our way home, they called us and said they gave us the wrong scan contact sheet from the CT, which immediately made us sick to our stomach that they possibly could have mixed up the scans/results. But they assured us that the doctor looks at the scan as it is being taken and makes his prognosis from a computer screen, not the actual contact sheet. The only mistake that was made was that we were given the incorrect one to take home. They also said that the child's scan that we had was fine, as was Michael's, so the prognosis would have been the same either way. However, I am still worried about it of course.

So now, it has been 6 hours since Michael has eaten and 2 hours past his bedtime and he is of course not feeling well after getting his temperature taken rectally 4 times in less than 6 hours and been poked and prodded at. I have a ton of milke and he eats too fast and vomits it up, which we are then worried because it is one of the signs we are supposed to pay attention to. HOwever, in this case, I believe it is because he was so hungry, ate too fast, and had an empty stomach. He has eaten 5 times since then and has not vomited at all.

We are very very worried and need lots of prayers from you guys because there is no discernible cause for his bulging fontanelle. Even my pediatrician is very worried. He called me at 8:00pm on my cell phone last night to get the results from Neckar and told me to immediately phone him if I see anything unusual in Michael. We are watching him like a hawk for anything abnormal. I talked to my pediatrician again today and he asked if his fontanelle had gone down and I said maybe a little, but it is hard to measure such a thing so I don't know. It is definitely NOT flat like it is supposed to be. He is going to call back tomorrow. Obviously, if my pediatrician is this worried, we are as well.

We cancelled our weekend in Dinan, which is a 4 hour drive away and any meetings/appts for the week so we can watch MIchael. The nanny is also here helping and I have notified her of the things to look for even though I am also here as well.

We are just so worried for our little boy. He is just our sweet little baby who IS perfect so we just can't even think about such terrible things. I am reduced to tears each time. I slept in his room with him for part of the night and have just babied him all day by holding him, playing with him, and comfort nursing him for the both of us.

We wanted to keep you guys in the loop because this appears to actually be a very serious problem. Now, Michael is fussing at the breast, won't take a bottle, not taking formula so he is not eating well either. Calls to the doctor are daily and we are just very worried about our little baby.

Love,
B&P

A Day about MOM
and her
Random (Absolutely Frivolous) Musings

• Shouldn't pick your nose in public lest you accidentally wipe it on your patent leather wristlet. Bougers are HARD to get off of patent leather.
• Yesterday, I broke a porcelain lid off of a jar in a store. The shopkeeper did not look too happy about it. I am glad I didn't know the French equivalent to "You Break, You buy." Je ne parle pas francais has never come in so handy before.
• When am I going to stop wasting my time at BHV?? It is a department store, but it's like going to Randalls to get something you can get at HEB for much cheaper. I think I am lured into BHV by their nice plastic bags with handles. Sadly.
• Michael has had bananas the past 3 days and his poop looked like banana bread and could only be accurately measured in kilos.
• I found my sunglasses today after looking for them for 2 months.
• I tried some mascara from L'Oreal that says it is supposed to make it look like I have fake eyelashes. Interesting selling point...I tried it...and I LIKE IT. They also have some super fabulous lip glosses...one that is easy to put on and tastes like fruit, and another that is in an applicator like LIPSTICK and isn't all goopy! YUMMM....if you want to know how I came upon such fun things...e-mail me. I am not at liberty to discuss it here.

Brian has noted that I've gone from a "glass is half full" girl into a "what glass? There's no glass here" girl. True. But today, I may have had a change of mindset. While I was riding the bus (to the wretched BHV), I looked out of the window in time to see...Notre Dame. Tons of tourists with cameras were milling around, pointing, and looking up in awe. And I realized, I never have to look like them if I don't want. I can hop on the bus, ride it for 10 minutes, and at any given day/time see Notre Dame. With or without a camera. And it is because I live in Paris.

I LIVE IN PARIS. So I better quit acting like a spoiled brat and just enjoy my time here. Even if I have to listen to sirens all night, not have air conditioning, and see dog poop in the street all the time. The rest of my family likes it here so I better get on with it.

I just finished "Shopaholic and Baby," and it was quite a guilty pleasure. I loved the last line in the book:
"I am the Mother with the fabbest baby in the world. And we're going to have a blast. I know it."

I couldn't have put it better myself.

Love,
P

Michael has been making this face A LOT lately. Have not figured out why yet, but we are shocked by how FAT he can make his cheeks. Impressive.













The big news this weekend: Michael started solids! Mashed bananas made their debut and Michael seemed happy to try it out. The first bite went in and there was a bit of confusion for him...but he ate it anyways. GOOD BOY. Wait until he gets his first whiff of FISH SAUCE! ;o)












He kept most of it down. Today, I gave him a little bit more again and he ate it like a champ. Then had some reflux come up with some banana bits. Must be hard to be a baby.

I am looking into preparing meals at home. France has this thing called a BabyCook which steams and purees his food with the touch of a button. Click on this link, then "Dietary Diversification," then "Baby Cook." In other words, if you are bored, click below.
http://www.beaba.com/en/index_collection.htm

There is an organic market in Paris so I'd have to go there for food. Somehow, this may be a lot of trouble!! But I was reading in my MessageParis Message boards that one mom asked her pediatrician whether to use canned food or homemade and he said, "Which would you rather? Canned or Homemade?"

Touche...

Love,
P

On Friday, Michael and I decided to take the afternoon and enjoy our hot (steamy 75 degrees!) humid weather and go to the Luxembourg Gardens. This is still my most favorite place in ALL of Paris. As you can see, may other Parisians had the same idea to enjoy the weather. Michael spent most of his time rolling around until he rolled himself onto the grass. Then, he practiced sitting while I held him. Some pigeons came around but he was not too interested in them. I was able to read one sentence of my book.
Today, we had a fun day. I went to my English Speaking Asian Lady lunch at a Taiwanese tea house and the food was DELICIOUS. REALLY very good. Along the way, I found an adorable cross-stitching store. I know, it's sad and old, but I really do like to do it. Especially with the cute patterns here that are slightly different than back at home.

After that, I rejoined my nuclear family and we went to Darty for Brian to buy his MP3 player. Then, we hopped onto a bus and headed over to the Jardin des Plantes, which is near our apt. It has a zoo, playground, botanical garden, and Natural History Museum so it is quite neat! We walked all around and found kangaroos. KANGAROOS in PARIS. Obviously...natural choice here correct??? Who knows...

Anyways, we walked around some more and found an empty park bench out of 60 or so and only got it because we nearly ran to get it. Michael and Brian enjoyed the view or rather Brian did and Michael wanted to play with Brian's hair:

I would be nothing without my pocket Canon point and shoot. Too bad this hot pink Parisian is a bit distracting in the background of my happy family:
And who would believe that there is a picture where Michael is actually SMILING with me?? I don't hate the way I look! MAGIC!

One of the most amazing things about Michael is his curiosity for life. Everything is so interesting to him and he loves to reach out and touch anything!!! After grabbing some of the petals and attempting to put them in his mouth, we decided that this photo op was OVER. Hope that tree wasn't poisonous...

Then, we walked to the entrance to catch our bus and found the shade where everyone was laying on their blankets. That was our ORIGINAL purpose to come to the park! We have this neat picnic blanket that folds up and zips very neatly with a strap that I got at TARGET (still my favorite store). I am always dying to use it and today was no exception.

Now, we are at home, sweating on our PVC recliners...and Paris is only 75 degrees in APRIL. I cannot even imagine what it will be like with no air conditioning in AUGUST.

Love,
P

P.S. I apologize for my rather informative posts. I always read Brian's and am so impressed with his humor in them and mine just have lots of pics. Good thing for a little variety right?

Our bathrooms at work are curious. We finally got a mirror installed in early March, that was cool. We also have the stupid towel system where it's like a big cloth paper towel that is wound up and you pull yourself down a fresh piece and the remainder wraps up on the backside or something. But it's horrible because you are always very close to the last person's dirty residues. So I pull out two persons' worth. I'm sure if my French coworkers found out, they would chide me for wasting resources, but I'd rather waste their precious towel resources instead of contracting cholera or scurvy.

But the worst part about our bathroom is the toilets. It looks like any other toilet and even has a real door instead of the stalls in the US. However, the lights are not controlled by a simple switch. Rather, you have to turn a knob that functions as a timer to turn on the light. When it timer goes off, the lights go out and you're stuck in the dark sitting on a toilet. To make matters worse, the timer ticks noticeably as it winds down like it's commandingyou to hurry. And it only lasts about a minute. I haven't been to that bathroom in ages because I go in there and then I'm sitting in the dark, and I haven't completed my business either. So I usually sneak off to some other building and terrorize them. I don't know why the French cannot trust themselves and their American saviors to turn off the lights. I'll bet they don't trust Magnus. He's a Swede and very tall so I could see how this would make them wary.

Magnus Mortberg works in my building in the combustion group. He has been there one and a half years, and I've never heard him speak French in the three months I have been working there. He sends me websites like http://www.i-hate-france.com and is generally a funny, amiable guy. He works with a little fuzzy haired Frenchman who he calls the hobbit to his face. 'Pippin' is a nice guy, but he does kind of resemble a hobbit. I shall ask to see if he has hairy feet. I doubt he lives in a sod house although it would be great for storing cheese and wine and avoiding showering.

Soooo...what happens when the internet connection goes out RIGHT when you want to publish your blog??? You wait an entire week before attempting again. Poor Brian hit "Save" right when the internet connection went out and frankly, I don't blame him from boycotting Blogger temporarily. Now that I have given an excuse as to why we haven't posted recently, I will continue.

Michael attended his FIRST ever Easter Egg Hunt here in Paris. He was QUITE successful and gathered at least 3 eggs. What is even MORE impressive, is that he did it in his sleep:

The event was put on by MessageParis, the English speaking mother's organization here in Paris. There were DOZENS of other families around and so many kids, that 2 had the chicken pox and undoubtedly infected others. Pray that Michael doesn't get it.

After talking to an excited Swiss husband who gave us some good travel tips, we decided to utilize him as our family photographer: Brian had a great time hiding the eggs in the bushes. One smart kid caught onto the fact that Brian was hiding eggs and just followed him around picking up the eggs as soon as Brian hid them. Good thing Brian figured it out...eventually! BUT the kid DID miss this one egg that Michael found!
Michael was SO proud of his accomplishment that he held it up for Dad to see. Brian was so proud of his firstborn.
Afterwards, Michael had lunch and we found a stranger with a fussy kid and saved him by making him take this picture of us in the tulips. Too bad it was in the midday sun so we are all squinty:
We had an amazing Easter Saturday. After this, we went to the Marais area (which is kind of 'young,' 'hip,' and 'happening'...all the things us young parents are NOT). Michael slept the ENTIRE time so Brian and I could enjoy a nice leisurely lunch at a cafe with the sun shining in on our table. It was MAGIC!

Then, we headed home to lay around the house and rest from the day. Michael then proceeded to sleep through the entire night and show us how much he loves us. ;o)

On Sunday, we made it to the tail end of mass at a small church by our place. It was packed. To be honest, we are still searching for a church here to call home and we are missing our old church at home very much. The English speaking Catholic church is a bit crowded and we just don't feel quite at home there. And it is the ONLY one. I hear of other English masses, but not sure where they are. We could go to a French church, but won't understand anything. *sigh* My blog can't be happy ALL the time! Pray that we find a church we like and to baptize our heathen son!

Love to ALL,
P

Dear Family and Friends,

We miss you a lot.

Love,
B,P, and Michael

We go to the Market all the time now that we are in Paris. Our refrigerator is only half the size of what it is in the U.S.! So here are some more pics of Rue Mouffetard, the main market by our house. We went there, as we always do, on a weekend morning.

I don't know why I love the lighting in this picture of B at his favorite fromagerie. Buying STINKY cheese.

This little Parisian girl was carrying a bunny and bought some lettuce to feed him. The picture is a bit blurry because I had to hurry and take it lest her father think I was some kind of perv by taking a pic of his daughter.

One day, I will have time to blog about Devina's visit to Paris and THE MOM's!

Love,
P