Today is Halloween....and you really shouldn't put a costume on your son when he's ready for his nap:

We went trick or treating in the 15th at my friend Su's place! She organized a bunch of apts of other Message Mums and they gave out candy! Here's the crew that went! It was great fun. The kids stormed everywhere and just yelled out trick or treat and that crazy song about stinky feet/give me something good to eat. It was HILARIOUS. At one point, Simba was crying like he got his teeth kicked in, but actually, he just got his candy stolen by the ghost.

The costume still didn't go over well, but at least he's not crying!

Love,
P

12 month check up on 10/25. Michael was 9.1 kg, 10% on American growth curves so he's gaining according to his new curve. His height and head circumference are unknown as Dr. Cohen mumbled the information and entered it into his computer but not Michael's Carnet de Sante.

I'm so glad I have this blog b/c otherwise, I'd have no record of my baby's life. So here goes some splurps just for me to remember:

When Michael is eating grown up food, if it does not make it all the way in his mouth, he pushes it in with the back of his hand.

He brings books for us to read to him now. It is so precious and funny. He doesn't always stay for the end of the book, but he brings us multiple ones to read to him.

Right now, he LOVES this one page in his BabyBug magazine called Yellow. It has pictures of things that are yellow and a little rhyme. He doesn't care about any of the other pages, just this story. And he'll open the magazine to that page and then drag it around the house with him.

He's starting to walk, but not with much stability! He'll raise his hands high up in the hair, take 2-3 steps and just lunge forward.

Michael is also more apt to walk when we are NOT looking. If we're the end result, he'll just shuffle, lunge, or crawl. But I saw him take 2-3 real steps towards a door when he thought I was busy. Still have NOT been able to catch it on camera! !

I think those are the only funny things he's doing for now...

As you all know, Michael loves to dance. Here are some items he's been known to dance to:

• Kindermusik CD, specifically the 1st song and Pop up my baby
• Sirens
• Music from his Baby Einstein Duck
• Music from his walker/Chicco riding toy
• "Who Let the Dogs Out" rap song
• Any music playing while the credits are running at the end of a movie
• Techno music
• While eating in his high chair if you do the head bop move to him
• While riding in his stroller if you do the head bop move to him
• Music from his refrigerator magnet toys

Love,
P

Brian and I had a bonafide date night last Friday night! Suzanne stayed home with the sleeping Michael so Brian and I checked out:

We haven't had a date night since JULY! In French, "Knocked Up" translates to "En Cloque". When buying movie tickets, Brian had to write down "Knocked Up" because they didn't understand what he wanted tickets for.

The billboard here for the movie says "En Cloque" and it has sperm all over it. No pictures of any of the stars, just swimming sperm.

We were proud to call this a date night. It was a really funny movie and definitely what we needed for an evening out.

Thanks Suzanne! We owe you big time!

Love,
P

Michael took some more mini steps today! He let go of Brian for a little bit to get to the trash. Classy right?

And then he let go of my kitchen chair to get to his high chair! He took 1 step and lunged for it!

It seems like he will get there any day now! I have the camera ready!

Love,
P

Today, Michael was eating dinner in his high chair...and Brian said to him:

"High Five Michael!"

And Michael held up his right hand, ready to receive his first high five on command! I've been working on that with him for like 2 weeks! Next...gotta teach him how to GIVE a high five!

Brian repeated it 2-3 more times and Michael held up his hand each time, even in the bath! WHOOP!

Lately, Michael has been giggling at Brian's "French voice." You know the one, that's all cliche and that French "huh huh huh" really gets Michael going. One night at story time, he just laughed and laughed and laughed any time he heard that French "huh huh huh."

Also important to note that Michael dances to music. It started in America in August...about the time he received that musical duck from my mom. He'll stop and sway back and forth if he's crawling and sometimes, he'll hurry to pull up on something and will sway back and forth. He sometimes will bend his elbows and kind of bop up and down with the music. It is so funny.

Well, my sister taught him this really cool head bob kind of thing that I can't describe, but every time he sees her do it, he does the same! It's so cute. The other day, I took him to Zara and he must have heard some awesome beat because he started swaying his head left and right and then doing the head bob that my sister taught him. All this while he is in the stroller. It was hilarious.

I think he got my side of the family's rhythm and dance ability. HAHAH! ;o)

Love,
P

My sister came to visit and we had a blast! Here we are having "sister pictures," which we haven't done in like a decade:

My sister hit all the major sites and I accompanied her when I could. We planned to go to Avignon but there was a nice STRIKE for all trains/metro so we were stranded in Paris! It was so fun to hang out and she was such a big help for the birthday party AND for everyday life! Well, better exclude the night she turned on the shower and squirted the entire bathroom with water. ;o) Oh yes, I will blog about the birthday party in Michael's blog.

One night, we went to the Eiffel Tower. Here we are, stealing an idea from some college kids and hanging off of the steel bars:

This Sunday after my sister left, our family went to church, then to a gourmet fair that was going on at Rue Mouffetard. Rue Mouffetard is a market street near our house and right outside our church. Anyways, we bought tons of fois gras, sauterne wines, and local honey. Brian went a little nuts. I just went to all the fois gras stands asking for samples.

Afterwards, we headed out to the Luxembourg Gardens because I wanted to take some pictures with the fall foliage on the trees. Well, lo and behold, we get there and the beautiful tree lined lane that my sister and I took pictures in has shedded. In only 9 days! So we took what we could get!

We took Michael to the Medici fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens but he was more interested in the ducks. It was so cute. No ducks in this picture though...

Michael took a much needed nap so Brian and I went for a walk on Pont Neuf and Pont des Arts, the romantic walking bridge. Here is Brian looking handsome with the bridge in the background.

Then, we went home and ate. Nice and informative post huh? I'm not really in the mood to blog but realize that if I don't, I will have no journal or record of our life here and then when I scrapbook, I'll be in big trouble.

Love,

P

My sister's here! And that makes me happy!

I meant to write really quickly...

But on Tuesday, Michael shuffled a couple of steps all by himself. He was holding on to my finger while standing and barely holding on so I told Brian to hurry up and stand in front of him.

So Brian did
Michael let go of my finger
Took 1-2 steps
And fell into Brian's arms.
And hasn't done it since!

But he's gotten more brazen every day. Letting go of stuff and just falling onto other things and I can tell he doesn't hold on to me as hard anymore when he's going places!

I wonder when he'll start walking for real!
Love,
P

A friend of mine sent me this clip...check it out. It's pretty funny I think!
http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/128659/Veritas_Ultrasound_HD.html

At night, Michael is so cute. He loves this new Spot's First Easter book where you look for eggs under flaps of paper. The first 2 times we read him the book, we had to show him where the flaps were. Then we didn't read it for 2 nights and we picked it up again last night. Well, our bright little boy went straight for the right flaps on all the pages! I was amazed!

I know I'm his mom and of course I am going to be proud...but I really feel as if Michael's a bright little boy. You only have to show him something once, MAYBE twice and he can mimic you and figure it out if he has the capacity. It is really neat.

And yes, I know he is quite funny looking sometimes and he has a receeding hair line at age 1, but there are times when he is quite the looker and absolutely precious!

Love,
P

Lately, Michael brings me his stuffed penguin animal and actually gives it to me because he likes the voice I make with it and the animation I do with it. I always use the penguin and make it "peck" michael in the chest area and he just thinks it's so funny. He grabs the penguin and hugs it and laughs. It is really adorable.

Michael's Favorite Toys

• Hallmark penguin
• Baby Einstein singing duck
• Fisher Price Blocks
• Singing teddy bear holding a ball
• plush baseball
• winnie the pooh ball
• squeaky rabbit
• pop car
• his books
• drinkable yogurt plastic bottles
• Gerber babyfood plastic containers
• business card wallet
• my wallets/wristlets
• anybody's purse with things in it that he can yank out
• washer
• cabinet next to the oven filled with pots and pans
• Elmo in the Clap Your Hands book. He's enthralled with Elmo's eyeballs
• Paris pratique
• Carte Orange plastic sleeve

Michael's Favorite Books

• My Personal Penguin
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• Goodnight Moon
• Spot's First Easter (HE LOVES THIS BOOK right now)
• Good Morning, Good Night - A Touch and Feel Bedtime book
• Playtime Peekaboo
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear
• Le Dinosaure
• Le Pingouin
• Where's That Monkey
• Pat the Bunny

Michael LOVES music. Any time I put one of his CDs on he gets excited and goes to the media cabinet and dances. He can tell the difference b/w his Cds and say, Dave Matthews! ;o)

Today, he started zerberting the couch and laughing.

Michael is really fun and I felt it was time for a much needed update. We were so worn out from America, then we came back, unpacked, then packed up again and headed to Venice, then Brian had 2 business trips sprinkled in there...we finally feel settled back in and I have time to blog again!

Love,

P

Today, some funny things happened.

Michael lifted up my shirt, pinched my belly fat, and started to laugh. I better start exercising since I'm not burning calories breastfeeding anymore.

With his new found talent of blowing raspberries:

I was at the papeterie near my house reading People magazine and carrying Michael in front of me in the baby Ergo (kind of like a baby bjorn). So his head is facing my chest. Well, I am wearing a v-neck shirt today so Michael buries his head in my chest and starts blowing very loud zerberts and laughing. I look up and see French people staring at me so I put my magazine down and run out of the store. A bit embarrased I am at my son who is giving me zerberts on my boobs.

Love,
P

Michael's latest thing is to give zerberts and raspberries! He loves to do it! And he's not satisfied with the weenie ones...he will keep moving his mouth around on your face/arm/chest/whatever until he finds a spots that produces those ones that sound like really good farts.

It is hilarious. I wonder where he found out about those??? BRIAN!!

He's starting to get more brazen standing! My new babysitter came around on Thursday and she just put him on the floor and there he was standing...for 2 seconds.

Today, we're shopping for birthday party supplies!

Love,
P

IS anyone still out there? Post in comments if you are. If not, I am going to send an e-mail saying we're back and that we're posting on the blogs again.
Love,
P

Blog Catchup!

**Warning: VERY long post. This is my journal for the trip for my scrapbook so you know you are getting many details.**

Our nuclear family went to Venice the weekend of September 21st and we had an amazing time. Brian ended up going ahead on Thursday because of "business" with some fellas named Luigi, Franco, Alberto, and Luca. I don't THINK they were the mob...

Anyways, I flew by myself with Michael on Friday and arrived in Venice that afternoon around 5:00pm. We took a very slow water taxi from the airport to Venice proper, and I got splashed in the face by a "fast boat." Maybe I shouldn't have had my head sticking out the window. After checking into our hotel (and walking past the alley it was down twice), we headed out to eat dinner. We feasted on grilled fish (with the head and tails still on), gnocchi in 4 cheeses, spaghetti in pesto sauce, and carpaccio. It was delightful! And the staff just LOVED Michael. In fact, all Italians loved Michael! He got his fair share of "AHH! Bambino!" and "BELLISIMO!" I just got a "Momma Mia" once and that made MY trip!

Well, the next day, we set out to sightsee after a very nice breakfast buffet. We finally made it out of the hotel at 11:00am...un-Rick Steve's style and headed out on his Rialto walk. We went by St. Mark's basilica, Doge's Palace, and Campanile and discovered huge lines! YIPPEE! So instead of stopping to see these sights, we continued on the enchanting walk towards Rialto bridge. There were dozens of delightful little stores selling opulent masks (for Carnival), and other touristy types of things. We finally made it to Rialto and took a picture after being pushy and getting our spot on the bridge. A set of nice Canadian tourists took the picture for us who we continued to see throughout the day. That's the Grand Canal behind us:

After an unsuccessful attempt to get a table canalside and JUST drink coffee, we wandered on to Frari church. Along the way, Brian and Michael got some gelato while waiting for me to finish shopping. It was not the first or last cone these two would have! Don't worry...Michael's didn't have gelato...he just got a cone. But it was still good to him all the same!

In the afternoon, we went back to the hotel to feed Michael and let him roam around a bit. Later at dinner, we would find out that THAT wasn't enough time to keep him from fussin' up a storm and INSIST on getting on the floor to play.

We DID however, introduce Michael to the GABILLION pigeons around. Surprisingly, it didn't smell like bird funk at all! Texas A&M REALLY needs to find out how those Venetians keep that square from being stinky because they could really use the tip for the sidewalk next to the Chemistry building. Anyways, here's Michael in a picture I name, "HELLO...BIRD."

Anyways, in the afternoon, we went to St. Mark's Basilica because the line had died down. Brian checked our huge baby backpack and my diaper bag (MISTAKE...as you'll later find out) and we made it into the basilica after only waiting 15 minutes or so. At which point, Brian got this AWFUL nosebleed. And we had no tissues or wipes ANYWHERE because all of our stuff was checked. I tried unsuccessfully to find ANYONE with a tissue but alas, not one person would help. Even this woman with her HUGE purse didn't have one and she didn't even check. We had to use the Rick Steve's book. And finally when it wouldn't stop, I headed over to the baggage check (which was a bit of a ways from the actual church) to get wipes, burpcloth, and tissues. Eventually, the nosebleed DID go away. And we proceeded into the Basilica. The mosaics were quite impressive as was the view from the top! Here is Michael practicing standing on top of St. Mark's Basilica:

And we got a family picture up top too!

After this, we visited the Campanile, which is a huge bell tower before dinner though and didn't time it very well because the bells went off. DOH! Brian tried his best to shield Michael's ears and ran away from the bell we were standing under. Michael just stopped eating his wagon wheel for a minute but didn't seem very scared! TROOPER! As you can tell, we made it through A TON of things...so it's no surprise that Michael went beserk at dinner.

The next day, we did not make the same mistakes! We spaced our day out quite well and went back to the hotel often for Michael to play around, eat, and relax. We started the day a bit earlier today at 9:00am and went to Doge's palace, which was amazing. There was an ENORMOUS line, but it was for pre-paid tickets and tour groups! SURPRISING! And our line was super short and we went straight in.

Doge's Palace was VERY cool. For those who don't know what it is, here is a definition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doge%27s_Palace

It is important for it's role in housing the Doge as well as it's perfect example of Venetian architecture. Anyways, it was pretty neat and Rick Steve's tour was awesome, of course. There was a room full of battle gear and torture devices too! What a NICE surprise!

Then, we headed off to Accademia art museum, which was a HUGE flop, but the Accademia bridge over the Grand Canal was pretty neat. We rode the river taxi up and down the Grand Canal to admire the architecture and buildings. From Rick Steve's, I learned that many of the buildings are actually rotting and aren't inhabited. So sad considering how beautiful they are.

We ended our pretty leisurely day and had a delicious dinner by a canal. We sat next to another bunch of Canadians and a table full of nice older people from North Carolina. They said they were all missing their grandchildren so we let them hold Michael for fun. And we sure didn't mind the 5 minutes we got to eat without having to keep Michael out of everything! Since they were from the South, right next to us, and we probably could have taken them down if they tried to take Michael, we felt it was little risk. ;o)

We then took a stroll over to St. Mark's square at night and it was really magical. We didn't sit at a cafe to enjoy the dueling orchestras, but we did just stand there and bask it in it. Venice is really such a magical place and so romantic. We plan to go back just the two of us so we can take a gondola ride!

After this, we grabbed a gelato and walked along the riverfront to our hotel. It was unbelievable to me. I remember studying Doge's Palace in art history and seeing it as this flat picture in a book. And here I am, a decade later...walking right next to it. In the moonlight. With my husband and son. Life just can't get any better than that.

Love,

P

After nearly a week of Ferberizing, Michael went down in his bed and seemed like he knew he was going to bed...that it was ok...and he did in less than 2 minutes. Now, the 1st couple of nights were a bit tough, but after that...it wasn't that bad. 5-10 minutes of fussing max. But Michael just seemed upset about it.

Today, we did our standard bedtime routine. Feed, bath, lotions, pajamas, reading fun stories, and prayer book. We spent a little extra time hugging him and each gave him two hugs since he was clinging a little bit more than usual. And Brian put him down...he cried a little but he looked like he knew what was going on and he just went to bed. Like a big boy.

We finally figured out his naps. After a week of trying different things, we just let him nap on the couch or stroller and he's fine with that. We tried the crib for 3 days for his naps and Michael spent 2 of those without a single nap and one day, he only slept for 30 minutes. So I just said this isn't working and we're gonna do something different. He needs his naps.

Ok. Sorry we haven't posted in a while! We will try to be more diligent.

Love,
P

People are going banana nuts right now b/c France just won in the rugby quarter finals. It's 11:10pm and they're honking down the infamous avenues des Gobelins (aka our street) and yelling like hooligans. Hope they don't wake the boy!

Last Saturday, I walked by the Eiffel tower and noticed a ball hanging in the middle of it. I said to my friend, "What the heck is going on over there in the Eiffel Tower? Did it grow an ovary?"

To which she said, "Rugby World Cup is here Phuong."

DOH.

Love,
P

Today, we had the most awesome day in Paris. The weather was GORGEOUS...highs in the upper 60s, sunshine, little to no humidity...absolutely awesome! It's fall weather (in OCTOBER...*gasp*) and fall is my absolute favorite time of year. So our nuclear family took advantage of it and went to Invalides to sit on the lawn!

Michael had his first croissant. He's had little tiny bites before from mine, but today, we gave him his own. Stop worrying, he still only got about 2 bites before his dad and I took it from him and ate the rest. It IS easy to steal from little kids! ;o)


After getting some very good constructive criticism, I decided to take this opportunity and beautiful day to work on directional lighting in my shots. Here's what I came up with:

And this is my FAVORITE shot of the day:
Just gotta love the depth of field and my SON!!! ;o)
Brian and I layed on our blanket staring at jet streams in the sky. Michael played around us with his toys. It was truly a happy day for all of us! Lately, Michael zerberts me all the time. Somewhere along the way, he associates zerberts with an expression of love. Wonder where he got THAT idea? BRIAN!!

Hope your weekends are grand!

Love,
P