Filthy Bug

I was waiting for the metro yesterday and decided to sit down on one of their nasty chairs. There are usually four chairs and they are spread about 18 apart from each other. So a bit later, some dude comes and sits down in the chair to my right. So I look at him to make sure he's not too weird and I see this cockroach looking bug leave from under his chair and come towards me. I wasn't having any of that so I started blowing at that bug just to you know scare him a bit and send him away from me. It worked! The bug did a 180 and started back towards the other guy who was giving me a 'what the hell are you doing, idiot?' look. Luckily the bug veered behind the other guy's chair and I made it home safe and sound.

Ok...so it's been almost a month since we posted...but it's not for lack of effort. It's for lack of anything really interesting to talk about. Now, if you are an avid reader of Michael's blog, you will see we have spent much time documenting Michael's monumental moments (like his 1st steps!). So it is no surprise that the rest of the things in our life pale in comparison to our baby's transition to toddlerhood! Toot for that little guy!

Monday, it was my birthday. A whoppin' 29 years old. And to be honest...it was about as exciting as that middle sentence there...but it was really great none-the-less. Brian and I are really low maintenance birthday people. We don't expect much! Brian got me some things that I needed (ear muffs while I run, mortar and pestle (don't ask)). Brian came home EARLY!!! And we got Thai takeout and watched Grey's Anatomy together. It was really PERFECT. Relaxing and getting to spend the evening with my favorite person was exactly what I needed.

And Michael gave me a great birthday present...and is still giving both Brian and I are birthday presents! He was SUPER GOOD on my birthday, even when I forced him to go shopping with me since it was my birthday. He didn't cry at all and even ate a croissant and danced for me in Zara. It was precious. This week, he has been his normal awesome self, playing, terrorizing, and climbing in our laps for hugs. This was QUITE different than his week last week where he was clingy and wanted to be carried all day. It was a welcome change!

And then today! Our babysitter came (despite the metro strike, GO HER!) and Brian and I went on a 4 hr date (kind of like the 3 hour tour on Gillian's Island, except we came home). Brian and I took off walking towards the 5th arrondisement, which is very nice and near us! We popped over to Starbucks and grabbed a Vanilla Latte and Creme brulee latte to go and went exploring near Place Contrescarpe and rue Mouffetard while on the way to the Cluny museum.

The Cluny Museum is a museum of middle age history. Due to the strike, they were closing early at 4pm and admission was FREE. SCORE, TEAM BESANCON PARIS! Highlights:

• Stained glass that you could see UP CLOSE from Sainte Chappelle...which as you all know you can only really admire stained glass from pretty far below so to see it less than 1 foot from your face is pretty neat.
• A carved statue of Mary holding baby Jesus....common you say right? Throw in the fact that Mary's right boob was hanging out and baby Jesus was breastfeeding from it while caressing it. GO NURSING MOMS!
• A modern photographer took some VERY UP CLOSE pictures of the stained glass and it was amazing. A small mistake/blip was as big as a football and was the focal point of this one picture with the brush streaks of red coming down it from the glass. VERY different.
• Tapestries with Lady and unicorns. Apparently very famous and in this very dark and light controlled room as to properly preserve them
• I bought a book about all the magnificent cathedrals in France. It's neat b/c it describes all the vocabulary for cathedrals/architecture in French, has pictures of ones that we should visit and ones we have visited, and also has cool cathedral photography which serves as inspriration for me when I go visit too. Cathedral shots are all the same so some of the angles are very cool.

Afterwards...we just wandered around...by the Luxembourg Gardens, to a cool toy store called Le Ciel Est Tout le Monde (http://www.lecielestatoutlemonde.com/us/page1.html), down around Claude Bernard...then to RUE SAINT JACQUES (VOILA BILLY!), another toy store over there, and then to Glaciere, then home. Totally relaxing, totally fun, and totally what we needed.

With Brian's 30th birthday nearing and my 29th birthday over...it was refreshing to take that leisurely stroll. To reflect on our life. To embrace and appreciate the beauty of our life here in Paris. Being among all these old buildings, gorgeous parks, lovely scenary everday makes us take it for granted. It is just a blur in our existence as we run from work, to the poste, groceries. Sometimes...it is necessary to not have plans...to just wander where we feel like...and to recognize as we gained one more year in our lives that ALL we could ever want...is what we have right now. In this moment. Always. Nothing more and nothing less.

Friends and family...thanks for always checking in, for your birthday wishes, for your birthday blessings, for your prayers, and for YOU including us in your lives. It is what makes OUR lives so whole.

Love,

B&P&M