Was looking at the Loire Valley pics and found this pic of Michael that cracked me up. It was one of the family pics that didn't make the cut, but when I saw this face, I knew it should have:

Michael had a boring day today. He stayed at home all day with his grandparents while Mom ran around town. However, he did start learning how to smack his lips to make a popping sound. That was neat for him but he has yet to do it again. Then, he got excited for when his mom and his dad came home. Yup, pretty boring, but a standard day really. He doesn't go to his weekend chateau every weekend!

When Phuong ordered a limonade at a cafe the other evening, she didn't quite know what the French had in store for her.

Crawling

Not quite yet! But Michael was up on his hands today and nearly all of his torso was off the ground. He also sat up well on the bad and one time, he began to fall over, caught himself and turned back the other way maintaining his balance. Then I had to repeatedly catch him as he tried to leap off the bed.

First Family Vacation in France: The Loire Valley

This Monday-Wednesday, we went to visit Chartres Cathedral and the Loire Valley for our first family vacation! Here are the highlights:

Cheverny

• The family still lives on the 3rd floor of this chateau. You could see recent family pictures in their exhibit rooms.
• A family tree which dated all the way back to 1400 with the most recent member being born the same year as Brian!
• Smaller chateau, but still cute.

Chambord

• This isn't the best picture of Chambord, but it has all of us in it! ;o)
• Filled with tapestries made from the Manufactures des Gobelins, our neighbor!
• Beautiful views from all 4 points of the chateau.
• Staircase with 2 different entry points, but the stairs never cross
• Horse show at 4:30pm, which we missed.
• Terrible audioguide. Don't bother!

Chenonceau

• Built to span across the river.
• Gorgeous gardens.
• Interesting rooms
• Pretty historically correct flower arrangements refreshed biweekly.
  

We also visited Chatres Cathedral, which has 2 stories of impressive stained glass and over 2000 sculptures. We had a great guided tour by Malcolm Miller, who authors the book about the cathedral. He was 73 and amazing!

We stayed at this amazing B&B in the Loire Valley called Chateau de Nazelles. It had an amazing garden, forests to romp in, delicious breakfast and great hosts.

Michael doesn't like to travel as much as his parents. On this trip, he woke up 3 times every night, wouldn't nurse because everything was so interested, and fussed almost the entire time he was in the car. It was pretty hard to travel with him so we are re-thinking about going anywhere until he is a bit older. So we say!

Love,

B&P

DATE NIGHT!

Brian took me out on our first date night since March when THE MOM came. We had dinner at Thomieux (sp?), which was excellent!!! The plates had the restaurant's name on it. FANCY. We shared an appetizer of foie gras and both had confit de canard, which wikipedia describes as:

The confit is prepared in a centuries-old process of preservation that consists of salting (with garlic and spices) a piece of meat (generally goose, duck, or pork) and then cooking it in its own fat or broth. Usually the meat is placed in a crock or pot, covered and poached or braised for up to nine hours in its own fat.

DELICIOUS. See our happy fat faces below:

We were joined at dinner by the fattest cat I have ever seen:

And a view of the Eiffel Tower on the street where our restaurant was. Here we are walking home:

It was romantic and magical and such a nice treat for Brian and I.

Loire valley next.

Grandbaby has been bopping all over the Loire valley!

Monday: Michael visited Chatres Cathedral and took a tour by Malcom Miller. He slept while we learned about stained glass. He tried to eat at a little cafe near the Cathedral, but wasn't terribly interested, as was his disposition toward eating for the remainder of the trip. He was actually ok in the car until we were almost at Nazelles. At which point he started to fuss, but we were close enough.

Tuesday: Michael decided to visit Cheverny and Chambord chateaus. He liked being carried around mostly and decided that the stroller was for commoners. We then went to L'Epicurie in Amboise for dinner after driving around Bloise which had absolutely nothing. This night, Michael also discovered cats for the first time. Our B&B has cat who was sleeping on a couch. Brian set Michael down right next to the cat and Michael lovingly petted it. He liked the soft fur. Then, Michael decided to beat the cat like he does his other toys. Luckily, the cat seemed used to it and didn't care.

Wednesday: Michael visited Chenonceau and seemed rather tired of all the chateaus. As if it was a bit boring. Then, he decided to be the fussiest he has ever been in the car all the way back to Paris. My mom and I did everything we could to keep him happy. It was HARD.

Michael has been having a terrible go of going to sleep at night since we went to the hospital. he fusses and fusses and fusses. Brian wants to Ferber him and make him go to sleep by himself, but I can't bear to hear him cry. I usually give him and pick him up and hold him for a while. Last night, he cried for 40 minutes. :o( After I held him for a while, he slept ok for the night and didn't wake up until 6:20am. We'll have to see what we should do now for his sleep.

Today, I am making him make up for all the food he DIDN'T eat while we were away. The baby would not nurse because he was so interested in everything else. *sigh*

Love,
P

Playmat

After Michael's apparent head injury, we didn't let him play on his playmat anymore because he had a tendency to roll off it onto the hardwood floors. But today we put a thick blanket underneath it and put him on there. He liked it a lot, playing with all the toys, eating the mirror and sounding the chime toy. He tried to roll around on the mat while I was putting a new sheet on his mattress, but I devised an ingenious solution to the problem of continuing to work while protecting the boy from himself as this picture shows.

Between meals this afternoon, Mom and son watched a little television. It as really cute because Michael grabbed Phuong's arm and held onto it. He's been doing a lot of that lately, reaching for Phuong and looking for his mommy. And as these photos show, he has been sitting up increasingly well.

Much of the day is spent tickling Michael in various ways so that he giggles uncontrollably. This includes tickling his armpits outright, putting your hair in his face, tickling his back or playing various forms of peek-a-boo. It's really funny to hear him squealing and giggling.


He has also been saying dadadada alot and gurgling his breastmilk. Punk.

VOILA!

Yogurt, mon premier Danone!

We started the caveboy on yogurt this afternoon. He had some "mon premier Danone" and actually liked it. He still didn't eat very much of his bananas though. One time, he sneezed yogurt and bananas all over Phuong. That's always fun times when he sneezes or sits there spitting out food and drool. I've never seen a creature who generates so much drool. At lunch he ate a ton of carrots and pears, his favorite. We think his bananas need to be mashed better and then he'll love them again.

We took the boy out to Bercy, Place de la Nation and Picpus in the 12th arrondissement this afternoon on metro line 6. He slept a lot and didn't really indicate whether he liked Picpus or not. I liked it plenty. I liked Picpus and Nation was hopping. Bercy Village, an American style shopping area like Rice Village in Houston, was really disappointing. We won't be going there any more. Neither will the caveboy. I had a Magnum Blanc. Michael was jealous.

Phuong went out to get a sandwich grec tonight while the boy and I played fun games like Peek-a-boo and also had plenty of time for zerberts and tickling. I love to zerbert him near his neck because he laughs uncontrollably. He's very fun and silly. Then he got hungry and fussy. But to give Phuong time to eat, we watched some MTV. He likes to bop to the music.

Well, I found out through the grapevine that there are grandparents (and great-grandparents!) who probably would like to know what Michael does every day, no matter how mundane. So I am starting another blog just about Michael and his every day activities.

I will try my best to post everyday. It will be fast, quick snipits, and full of details only his loving great grandparents and grandparents will care about!

This blog will only be about Michael!

Love,
P

Yesterday, I went down to Grenoble in southeast France to present some results to colleagues from another research center. The meeting was scheduled for Friday morning, from 8:30 to 12:30 with a tour of their facilities afterwards.

I stayed with a coworker at his parents' house on the outskirts of Grenoble, and we set off for the meeting at about 8:00, running late. I've been to French meetings before and know they start late and lack structure, but I've never presented at a French meeting. In the US, I would have arrived early, set up the projecter and presentation, and been ready to go by 8:30. In contrast, we arrived at the entrance gate at 8:40. Two cars ahead of us at the gate was one of the guys with whom we were supposed to meet. It also turned out that because I am a foreigner, there were some special forms we had to fill out that we had forgotten to request. So we finally got into the facility at about 9:10. Then we met some other colleagues working there. We arrived at the meeting room around 9:30 and there was no projector. So after finding a projector that turned out to be broken and having some coffee and croissants (as it was croissant Friday) we started without a projector. It was a small group, 6 of us, so that was ok. A bit later, one of the guys left the meeting and came back with a projector that works. Then the technical director arrived about 10:30, halfway through the meeting, because he had some other things to attend to first. A second participant left about 15 minutes later. After all was said and done, it was actually very productive and went over well. So that's how French meetings work.

I was talking about it afterwards in the railstation bar with an English coworker, who was also down in Grenoble for the day, and he told me a funny story about a meeting he had been to in Spain. It was to start at 10:00am. Since he has been in France for awhile, he was smart, arrived around 10:15 and was greeted by another Englishman and a couple of Germans. About 10:45 some other people start trickling in. At 11:15, the Spanish professor who had organized the meeting rolls in and starts setting up his presentation. Finally, after 11:30 the talk finally gets going.

BLOG CATCHUP!

With my parents here, I can finally catch up on some events in MARCH.

The Dirty D came in early March just in time to see our kitchen cabinets go in. Sadly, it was the reason we had to stay home ALL DAY. The first day was fine, since Devina was still getting over partying with Shravi in happenin' Munich. But by the 2nd day, we were a bit antsy in our pantsy to get out of the house.

Devina's first night was quite eventful. It began with finding Phuong cursin' up a storm b/c the fussy baby had been fussing for the last HOUR trying to get to bed. And it ended with Brian starting the battery operated pump on her aero bed only to hear it die down within 20 seconds with a FAR from inflated mattress. EEK. Probably should have done that before our guest came.

Then, we plopped a baby in her lap. And who would have thought...Devina is a BABY person. Michael LOVED her despite the quizzical look below. I think she may be the brownest person he's ever met:

After resting all day at home, we went to Rue Mouffetard for an "early" dinner at 6:00pm. We were the only people in the place and had to wait for our dinner because the staff was sitting down to theirs. Afterwards, Devina and I went to a cafe on the corner and enjoyed a nice Parisian coffee.

On Devina's last day, we finally get out of the house and head over to the Tuileries to sit beside this empty fountain. There were other Parisians sitting there too, hoping that it would turn on. But alas, Devina and I were content knowing what could have been, enjoying our fruit cake and coffee.

Then, we were off to meet Brian on Rue de Rivoli so we could walk Devina to Chatalet, where she flew back to Shravi for the rest of her European vacation. It was great to see her!

THEN, the TEACHER friends invaded Paris in mid March!

From our arrival in January to March, we had rain almost EVERY day except like 3. So imagine our surprise when the Teacher Friends brought with them SUNSHINE! Boy were we happy to see them and the SUN!

Brian met them at the airport and helped everyone with all of their luggage to the hotel. Considering half of the luggage was our stuff from the U.S., it was really only appropriate!

I met them all at their hotel and we enjoyed a nice Parisian lunch at a cafe on Rue Cler, another nice market street in Paris. You would have never guessed they had any jet lag by the way they were so happy and giggly!

The MOM organized a great tour of Paris for them called, "Paris on Speed" and we really did not see much of them at all! We hosted a "Teacher Appreciation Dinner," which consisted of food purchased at an Italian eatery and enjoyed a nice night of company. Good thing they came because it gave us a real reason to by REAL plates! ;o)

On Sunday, THE MOM came and baby sat for us so I could cook dinner, the 1st time in like MONTHS, and gave Brian and I a break for a date. Also, another first in months! Michael was happy to have his Grammy with him despite his cheeks:

Brian and I went to the Ile de la Cite and pretended to be tourists and spoke English! It was GREAT! It made me realize how "French" our area of town is. I never even dream of speaking English where we live! We went to a nice Italian gelato place where Brian got a cool cone with ice cream shaped like petals to form a rose. It was beautiful.

Then we had a crepe. It was awesome.

That night, for dinner, I served Osso Bucco, which was pretty good. If you are adventurous, here's the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_20137,00.html

Anyways, Candy and Annette spent the day at Fountainebleu and came home to tell us all about it over the Osso Bucco and gnocchi. Then, we had a slumber party with 3 teachers, 2 air mattresses, and 1 living room in Paris. We were so sad to see them go because it is great to have family and friends from back home around. Plus, funny giggly ones. Here is a great pic of them on the Seine river. Annette is back there, but she's hiding her bottle of wine!! ;o)

WHEW! That's IT! I have been meaning to blog that for MONTHS and am so glad to finally get the chance! My parents are here now so I can have a break!! ;o)

Love,
P

Phuong and I, well mostly Phuong, have been looking for baby food here in France that doesn't have additives like sugar or preservatives. Since we could seldom find anything suitable, we always asked ourselves why Gerber couldn't come over here and dominate the market with normal baby food that is just vegetable+water. Well, when I was doing my French homework, I found out why. The word gerber is a French verb meaning "to vomit". Little wonder they couldn't make any inroads to the French marketplace since I'm guessing that no French mother wants to feed her child vomit.

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

Still practicing with Photoshop. It is SO HARD.

Hello Everyone!

This is Michael, hijacking my mommy's blog. I think it is only fair that I get to write too since both my Mom and Dad do all the time. Yesterday, my mom made me go to the market on Rue Mouffetard. She said something about needing salad and fruit, which gave me gas just thinking about it.

Surprisingly, she didn't put me in my big puffy blue jacket. To be honest, I am not a big fan of that jacket because it keeps me stiff in this position where I can't eat my hands or really move. Instead, I got to sit in this cool stroller blanket thing that Uncle John and Aunt Kelli got from a bean store in Boston. Again, that gave me gas too. My initial reaction? THIS:

However, I LOVE that pouch! I can move my hands all around, play with the flap, bring it over my head, AND mom stuffs burp cloths down in it! SWEET.

After she walked all over the bumpy cobblestones that made my head jiggle, she parked me in front of this fountain and practiced those dreadful crooked pictures she's always trying. She's not terribly good, but I don't have the heart to tell her.

Then, we walked over to the bus stop to greet my dad when he comes home from work. We do that about 2-3 times a week.

Last Sunday, my mom LEFT ME AND MY DAD at home by ourselves. Incredible. She somehow got wind of Galeries Lafayette Maison being open on a Sunday and didn't want to change my diapers anymore. SHOCKING. Anyways, she hadn't even left the house but 5 minutes and calls my dad on the phone ALREADY. So my dad brings me to the window and we look outside to see my mom in the street taking a picture of some rollerblading rally down our Gobelins Avenue:

Eventually, she did come back and she bought another duvet cover. Shocking.

Oh, yes, I also rolled over all by myself in my crib yesterday. I made sure Mom was away and only Dad could see. From the way he reacted, it was like I had won the Nobel Peace Prize or something.

Anyways, that is all for now. My mom is crying in the other room so I have to go give her a teething ring.

Love to all,
Michael

A Face Only a Mother Can Love...

We have an appointment with a pediatric dermatologist in MAY! 'Til then, he will just have to be crazy looking.

Sleep Training from a Baby's Perspective

OK, here's my situation. My Mommy has had me for almost 7 months. The first few months were great-- I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day or night. Then something happened. Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep thru the night).

At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I've talked to other babies, and it seems like it's pretty common after Mommies have had us for around 6 months. Here's the thing: these Mommies don't really need to sleep. It's just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep--they just don't need it anymore. So I am implementing a plan. I call it the Crybaby Shuffle. It goes like this:

Night 1--cry every 3 hours until you get fed. I know, it's hard. It's hard to see your Mommy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, it's for her own good.
Night 2--cry every 2 hours until you get fed.
Night 3--every hour.

Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights. Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Don't give in. I cannot stress this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY!! If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT'S HARD! But she really does not need the sleep, she is just resisting the change. If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it. Last night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it. BE CONSISTENT! I cried for anyreason I could come up with. My sleep sack tickled my foot. I felt a wrinkle under the sheet. My mobile made a shadow on the wall. I burped, and it tasted like pears. I hadn't eaten pears since lunch, what's up with that? The cat said "meow". I should know. My Mommy reminds me of this about 20 times a day. LOL. Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room. Too hot, too cold, just right--doesn' t matter! Keep crying!! It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30am. You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your Mommies' internal clocks.

P.S. Don't let those rubber things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, no milk will come out. Trust me.

I can't wait to have THIS lady do our family portraits in August when we get back:

http://www.jroephotography-thenextchapter.com/

She also did our wedding pictures and now has branched into children's photography. She is doing PHENOMENAL work!

Back to surfing on the web,
P

Brian and his 'Buckaroo'

I had my medical exam at work today. They called me up at 2:50 to ask me where I was. But I didn't know I had a 2:40 appointment so I handed off the phone to our Portuguese intern to get some information and translate it into English. He tells me that they need to see me immediately at the infirmerie. I was working on something so I finished that up. Then I had to pee real bad so I went and then went to the infirmerie. I opened the door, and lo and behold, they tell me to wait outside, which I did for like 15 minutes. They had a miniature television running some educational anti-drug use shorts whose plotlines reminded me a lot of Requiem for a Dream but without the 'attention to detail'.

Finally I get to enter, and she asks me some simple questions regarding my identity and medical history. Then she asks me to take a pee test, but I had just gone so I was as dry as a West Texas creekbed. While we're waiting, she makes me take a vision test instead. So I'm sitting there with my bottle of water with my head pressed against the apparatus staring at these tiny little numbers and letters. Actually, I didn't even know they were there for the first 30 seconds of the test until I shifted my gaze so I could see the display. Anyways, I'm supoosed to press a button when I hear the number or letter being said. But it was more like a French test than a vision test. They said 'uh' (which turns out to be E which I had thought was pronounced 'ay') like 5 times so I'm pretty sure I missed all of those. After the numbers and letters, they had a test where they would show the circles and you had to click if one was deeper or more to the fore than the others and another with lines and you had to press the button if one was darker or thicker than the others. But the instructions were in French so by the time I figured out what they were asking me for, the pictures were already gone and a new one with a new set of undecipherable instructions had appeared. Finally they had a rectangle and a circle on the upper right, just outside of the rectangle. I gathered, or thought I did, that I was supposed to click the button when the circle got inside the rectangle. So the circle starts moving slowly to the left into the rectangle and just as it's about to get into the rectangle, the machine shuts off, and the nurse tells me I am done. She gets a printout of the results, too bad it wasn't from a dot matrix, and she tells me I did pretty well. So that makes me think that the Frenchman are either blind or retarded, but I'm pretty sure she was being nice and that they think I'm color blind with no depth perception and an inability to discern differing line thicknesses. Then she ended her diagnosis by telling me I have a problem confusing R's and B's; I'm pretty sure this is not the case, but who knows, maybe on they're on to something.

After my body filtered the bottled water I had drank, I let out a few droplets earning me the right to enter the doctor's office for a regular physical. I had to strip to my undies; I was wearing some nice light blue boxers with easter eggs all over them, looking dashing. I don't know where I got those from, but they are pretty comfortable, perhaps a little silly to be wearing in front of a 55 year old woman especially since there's a hole that's been worn in the crotch from extensive use. I might have made a different choice had I actually been told I had an appointment today. The doctor weighed me (just a shade under 90, fat-belly kilos), and since she was a wee one, she was looking right at my belly the entire time I was on the scale. Then I had to lay down on the examination table, the type with the crinkly paper, and she listened to me breathe, looked in my throat, hit my knees with a hammer, and banged on my ribcage to see if I was hollow I guess. After she had finished examining me, I was able to redress but not before I found an impressive piece of bellybutton lint that I promptly removed and threw on the ground. Overall, I don't think the ladies at the infirmerie were too impressed with ol' B.

Come to think of it, I guess it's possible they told me I had a physical scheduled. My phone has this red light that's been blinking for like a month. I assume the phone is desperately trying to tell me I have messages, but I don't know how to check them. I had set up a passcode at one point, but my voicemail never picked up; it always was answered by some woman whose identity we never discovered. Then all of a sudden one day the flashing red light appears. Last week, I talked with Sabine, the German girl, and she said her phone does the same thing, and she hasn't figured out how to check messages either. Her French is better than mine so I figure it's ok not to check my voicemail until she learns how to figure her own phone out and can teach me how to work mine. Her phone has caller id and a little display panel while I just have a crappy phone that I am thankful is not a rotary.

Michael's been sleeping very poorly of late. He'll sleep for a few hours and then wake up all throughout the night. Then he whines for a bit, which was new, and we never knew why. Well, we think we have the reason now.
Phuong gives him the knuckle test to see if he is hungry. If he dives at the knuckle, then he is hungry; otherwise, something else is likely bothering him. Well, yesterday, fat little baby tries to eat the entire knuckle and Phuong jumps back in pain. We look in his mouth and he has his first tooth poking through his lower gums. And there is another one right next to it that is about to burst through. So I guess we're in for a long few years until we die.
That's pretty much it.

Who here has a go-zillion digital pictures on their computer in a jumbled mess? Who here DOESN'T? We don't want to know who you are.

In one of my scrapbooking message boards, a friend of mine recommended this free service by Google called Picasa. It is a program you download onto your computer that locates every image you have on your computer and helps you organize them. Cool right?

Well, with my limited free time, I have managed to download it, but have not managed to use it yet? So I throw a poll out for those who want to try something new...use this Picasa thing and let me know if it is SUPER fantastic or not so super fantastic. I am hoping it is the former!

Here is a link to it on the web:

http://picasa.google.com/index.html

Post in the comments sections your thoughts!

My non-mobile baby play group was cancelled today. Boo.

Love,

P

Brian is the only person that ever calls me on my cell phone. Yes, feel sorry for me.

So imagine my surprise when "Unknown" showed up on my callerID! Since I have no idea how to check my messages, I actually picked up and VOILA! It was David Simcik, my old friend from college and senior plant design group mate!

He was actually visiting Paris right now and proposed to this fine young lady in the picture, Laura Goldman! And that ring was BEAUTIFUL! Talk about the BLING! :o)

Anyways, they were so nice to take time out of their trip to come and visit us in our new place. We caught up on what we had been up to, and Brian and I were most impressed with this great couple! It was a wonderful and welcome surprise to visit with an old friend from home!

We were lucky to get this pic of all of us by carefully balancing David's Canon camera on a bunch of boxes (we have PLENTY of those around). And let me tell you, if you need a digital point and shoot, get a Canon. David's looked like it had been dropped in a chemical bath and it still took this fabulous pic!

Love,
P