Today, Baby Michael went all over the Centre commercial (mall) called Italie2. He got a bigger trashcan for our kitchen, diapers, and yogurt at Champion. In fact, he liked the yogurt so much, Brian let him hug it in his stroller. Guess he liked that cold feeling on his belly.

Then, he went to Darty to find out why the samsung tv with integral TNT will not play Grey's Anatomy for Mommy in English. He was really upset when he found out that we can't get it with our cable box, Orange.

Michael played on his mat and in his crib while Mommy talked to Gina on skype and Dad went to get a beer with a friend at the Academy of Beer (yes, it is called that). Afterwards, Michael hung out with dad, dropped off some dry cleaning, got a baguette, and went early to bed.

Only 1 nap today, 2 mini solid meals. What to do with this kid!

Love,
P

Add yogurt to that list. And almost pears now, his favorite food.

So I guess you could say he is on a solid food strike.

And I have no idea how I'm going to discipline him because he's already smarter than me.

Let's just say he has already figured out how to keep his mouth closed when I am nearby (and not necessarily near the bowl/spoon) and open it when I am far enough away.

P

VERY FRUSTRATING:

Michael is on a rice cereal and vegetable all out STRIKE.

P

Michael and I went in search of baby swimming lessons at a pool nearby and ran into the hotel where Brian and I stayed at for our honeymoon: Hotel des Grandes Ecoles! It still looks exactly the same with the huge green door and the charming entryway.

As I passed by, it made me smile to remember how we started our marriage there and now we are here starting our family. I remember I took a picture of Brian standing in that very cute entryway and now I want the same picture there with Michael too. It feels so weird to walk by and see our honeymoon metro stop and the streets as part of the neighborhood in which we live.

On our honeymoon, the streets all look so strange and the metro stop is the only familiar thing around. Now, I walk by and I see the Naturalia where I buy Michael's BabyBio babyfood. I see the bus stop that I wait at to take me home. I see the boulangerie that isn't very good and I shouldn't go back. I see all the things that make Paris my home now and not just a place to visit. And it is a strange feeling to come across.

Well, Bank of America notified me of some possible fraudulent charges from my Texas A&M Credit Card!!! HOW DISCONCERTING! I had to call my bank today and clarify things and everything will be ok. But it is absolutely REVOLTING to me and makes me boil! I want to find out who it is so I can...I don't know...leave a bag of burning dog poop on their doorstep like in Billy Madison! Since I am in Paris, there is no way I can be making charges in Texas so I am glad the bank is going to rectify the situation. What I think is funny is I wonder how they can recognize that there is unusual activity. Probably because my charge statements on that card (which I rarely ever use) looks a bit like this for an example:

5/12/06 - Jcrew online
8/25/06 - Apple online
4/05/07 - Mpix photo development online

And all of a sudden, in one week they get:
05/25/07 - Walmart
05/25/07 - Kroger
05/28/07 -Walmart

Somewhere in there, something went "Ding Ding DING!" thankfully! This girl never buys FOOD or necessities with this card! She just buys stuff online and things she doesn't need! And rarely ever so for there to be food and necessities within a week is absolutely ABNORMAL.

So that cracks me up about myself that I used that credit card for absolutely unnecessary stuff.

And I love the fact that Bank of America has a 24 hour line 7 days a week that I can call. Gotta love America.

Can I come home now?

Love,
P

So many things happening and I have not yet had chance to blog!

Monday
Not much happened on Monday. Michael went to the bank to drop off some W9 forms only to find it closed for some kind of government holiday. Shucks. Discovered that Michael can now turn the pages in his book by himself. SO cute. Also, discovered the beginnings of a new upper tooth! We now have 2 teeth breaking through on the top!

Tuesday
Sarah, our nanny, came and played with Michael all day. She witnessed him turning around in circles on his belly.

Wednesday
Michael went to drop off the bank forms finally and went in search of Piscine Jean Taris, where they have baby swimming lessons. After looking at nearly 3 pages of typed instructions, I realized it will be crazy to get him into it! I have to make sure he has all his immunizations, then provide proof of it, get a doctor's note to say he can participate and provide photo id for the both of us. Not to mention the fact that the pool has about 20 steps leading down to it and a non-working elevator! And a bum screaming profanities from across the street from it! EEK! Back home we go!

Thursday
Michael woke up and watched 5 minutes of The Majestic with Mom. And then Sarah came and played with him while I readied the house for our playdate.

Two moms came:

• Sarah and her son Ilyo: Born 1 day earlier than Michael and a full 3 kilos heavier. The boy is destined to be a rugby player. Seriously...look at a rugby player on TV and then pretend he is 74cm. Also, he is about 1.5 months ahead of Michael physically speaking (ie crawling, sitting up, etc)
• Julia and her daughter Stella: Germans! Very funny pair! We have hung out outside of playdate too and I find Julia quite funny!

Hopefully, we'll have more some other time! But the 2 here were a good break for all of us.

Ilyo tried to be friendly with Michael and patted him and pulled on his shirt a bit and Michael just cried. Just not used to it I guess!

Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to say Thanks for creating a g-mail account to see this blog if you had to! I know it is a pain, but I do appreciate it!

Phuong

Peekaboo! I see you!

Today, we put Michael in his crib so he could play while Brian and I watched a movie on our laptop in his room. We see Michael just playing around and he starts to yank down on his bumper and discovers that he can see us on the floor! So he starts pulling on his bumper and looking through the slats on his crib and smiling at us! Here is a pic we took, which isn't that great. At one point, he had the bumper pulled down and his face totally pressed against the slats and smiling at us. We cracked up and had to rewind our movie.

Weekends

Weekends are my favorite time. And being a parent with Michael is awesome.

Naptime. Mommy found the tripod:

Hope all of you are having great weekends as well.

Love,
B&P

I learned a very useful French phrase: Va voir ailleurs si j'y suis.
Which translates to: Go somewhere else and see if I'm there.

OK! Tonight during P.E., we saw Michael get up on his knees and arms! But then he'd just fall back down in exhaustion. He's trying and I need to baby-proof the house in the meantime!

Tonight, Michael played peek-a-boo with ME! Usually, I play peek-a-boo with Michael and hold a towel or something over my face and jump out. But today, I let Michael play with the pillow on my bed and he was holding it on top of himself. And he used to pillow to cover his face, then he would pull it back real quickly looking for me! It was GREAT! The first couple of times were a bit delayed and I thought it was just a coincidence. But then he did it VERY deliberately 2o more times! It was awesome!

P

Michael is getting mobile. His developments this far:

1. He scoots backwards pretty well. He uses his arms and pushes his whole body backwards while on his belly.
2. He rolls everywhere. When he can't get to a toy, he reaches and reaches and then tries to roll.
3. He can pivot in a circle using his belly as the center point. He'll use his arms to move his upper body around while balancing on his belly.
4. When standing, he can hold onto furniture (but we need to be there to catch him when he gets tired) and take small steps to the left and right occasionally.

These 4 actions usually get him to whatever toy he is trying to reach. My nanny says she has seen him get on his knees and arms and pick his torso up off the ground, but then he kind of loses his balance and rolls over. I am going to watch closely for this because I have not seen it yet! Must happen very quickly.

Every night when Brian comes home, he gives Michael P.E.!! I am not so great with the physical stuff so I read a lot to him and help his language skills. Brian works on his motor skills!

Love,
P

Michael went in for his checkup and thankfully gained weight! He went from 7.5kg to 8.2kg, which is about a pound and a half gain! Yeah! I need to go ahead and have a second kid so I can stop spazzing out about everything. I need to really chill out.

This leads me to publish a story about my pediatrician in Paris. He is a very interesting and unusual person and I rarely leave the office without another amusing story about him. Yesterday, was no exception.

We start the visit and he asks me how I am doing, and I answer that I am fine, but it is HOT here in Paris (70s!). Politely, I ask him how HE is doing. To which...he sighs...shakes his head and says in the most weariest voice he can muster, "I am so very tired..." And he continues to mumble some other things that I don't understand because 1.) I can't hear him and 2.) it's all in French while typing away at his computer. I have never met a pediatrician who was so tired!

When we are about to weight Michael, I ask if he would like me to take Michael's clothes off. And he says, no...he just wants an estimate to see if Michael is ok. So he puts Michael on the scale and bumps his head in doing so. He reassures me that it is ok...but we will see! Anyways, Michael weighs in at 8.4kg and my doctor says, "We'll just say 8.2. Everything is good."

Voila, 90 Euro later, I am on my way after my 10 minute doctor's visit. It took me AN HOUR to get there yesterday!!

Usually, it takes me between 30 minutes to an hour to get to my doctor's office. I take my bus as usual to get to Montparnasse to transfer to another bus, but am surprised to see my bus taking a different route. I finally find a sign posted that says my route will be interrupted during the very hours I am needing it! This is all after a transvestite smiled at me, which in France is equivalent to an invitation to sleep with someone. GREAT. So I am sitting on this very hot bus with a very irritated Michael. It drops me off about a mile probably from where my transfer stop is so I HAUL ASS to my stop only to find a DEMONSTRATION in the place. So now my other bus that takes me to my doctor's office is not supposed to show for another hour and a half. *sigh* Off to the metro I go!

Out of the 6-8 sets of stairs that I had to take for the entire journey, I had help for almost all of them thanks to some very nice Parisians who offer to help me carry my stroller. It is REALLY very kind and I am so thankful for that. I am BOOKING it across the metro system and definitely got my workout for the day.

Good thing I am fairly knowledgeable about that line and the area that my pediatrician is in. I arrived there at 3:03 in time for my 3:00 appt after leaving my house at 1:55pm. Take THAT to the bank. Who would have thought the fast walking I picked up at Samsung would have paid off in real life!

Wish we had lived in the 15th arrondissement (neighborhood) originally! That was where our first apt was and it was in a nice residential family arrondisement with TONS of playgrounds and basically all the activities I need with children! Everytime I look up a new play yard or play school for Michael, it is in the 15th! And my pediatrician is in the 7th, which is right near the 15th as well. Sadly, we live in the 13th, which makes it pretty dang hard to get to the 15th. I have to transfer many metro lines or bus lines!

Ok, enough dribble about nothing!
P

Today, Michael and I went to the mall and DPAM in search for Shortalls for him for this hot weather. The French do not do shortalls as well as Gymboree so I am missing that store to bits! And DPAM NEVER has them in sizes 6 months-18 months. There are tons of French babies out there with Michael's shortalls on!

Michael hates the mall because it is hot. As soon as we get in, he starts to whine and cry and then as soon as I leave, he falls asleep because it is cool outside. Brian puts him up to this, I am sure.

Then, this afternoon we headed over to the community pool in search of Bebe nageur classes: SWIMMING CLASSES! I find out that it is not offered at the pool I visited but the lady was nice enough to tell me the nearest pool that had it. And this was all done in French mind you! AHEM! We will go to the pool later to check it out. It is near Cardinal Lemoine, which is where we honeymooned! ;)

Anyways, there was a park nearby so Michael and I stopped for a bit. Michael was not too keen on the other children, but he WAS keen on my purse until a pigeon showed up. At that point, that was the best thing in the world. He watched that pigeon until it left and then when it came back, he watched it again. So cute.

Then, we wandered down a street called rue de buttes de cailles but I can't remember the name well except that the word BUTT is in it.

We met brian in the street when he came home from work (usual occurrence really) and caught up with our Guardien. And then bedtime.

Voila,
P

To my pleasant surprise, Grey's Anatomy Season 3 has started here in France on TF1 (which is a network channel like NBC). In my TV guide, it says that it is "propose VM sur la TNT," which means it is in ENGLISH via TNT.

So I am scrambling to find out how to get it and Brian tells me that our TV is TNT ready since we got the "integral TNT" version. Should be simple.

The blessed night arrives and Brian proudly switches the language to "Anglais" instead of "francaise." And the blasted show is STILL IN FRENCH. I am just SO SAD! Brian says i need to troubleshoot it and just plug the TV straight into the wall without the cable box since the TV itself is TNT ready.

WHAT? TROUBLESHOOT? WHAT?!?!?!?

Love,
P

Would have posted on Sunday, but our internet went down. Check out our other blog to see why. This blog is about Michael! ;o)

Yesterday, Michael played with his parents all day. HE LOVES THAT. He was so happy all day to be with us and ate a TON of food!

Brian was "watching" michael and had him playing on his playmat in his room. I go in there and find Michael not only NOT on his playmat, but he is on his belly on the hardwood floor, nibbling on Brain's belt that was on the floor and playing with some ties with his other hand.

Michael is standing very well. He can hold onto the couch and remain standing for around 10 seconds before he has to sit back down or fall over. Today, he took steps to the left and right!

Michael likes to watch me fold laundry. I simply lay him on the bed next to the pile of clothes and I shake the shirt I am folding over him and fold it on top of him. Sometimes, that's all he wants to do. Other times, he grabs the clothes I have folded and unfolds them. And then there are times, he grabs the unfolded clothes and just pulls them around. Today, I look over there and he's got my underwear around the top of his head like a hat and is yanking it left and right. Gotta nip that one in the BUD! ;o) No wearing women's underwear for you CAVEBOY!

Michael loves this new set of books we got him. One is called "Le Pingoiun" and the other "Le Dinosaure" They are pop up books with animals and they are hilarious. He gets all excited about the pop ups and tries to tear them out.

Today, I found Pat the Bunny in a sad state. Michael is over there chewing on the book so it's all ripped up on it's spine.

We took Michael down to a cafe for an evening beverage and on the way back, he somehow got his finger caught in this little crack in the elevator door. He cried that awful cry where his mouth is wide open and no sound is coming out and then a howl. It made me so sad and I held him until he stopped crying. It took all of 3 seconds.

Love,
P

Recent chain of events:

1. Brian moves a bookshelf in the living room to a different spot b/c Phuong thinks it looks better over there.
2. Brian has to unplug all the internet/phone/cable stuff to move the bookshelf.
3. Brian re-plugs all the above into a different outlet because he's been wanting to anyways
4. The cable/internet/phone now no longer work
5. We are out of tv/phone/internet for an entire day
6. Phuong gets done with 4 loads of laundry, cooks dinner, and plays with the boy now that she is without the time black hole called "the internet."
7. Brian re-plugs everything back into the original outlet and everything works now...marginally.
8. Now what are we going to do with the bookshelf?
9. And we go back to having a dirty house with nothing to eat since the internet is back up.

Voila,
P

Ooooh, it's a lady.

Michael has been funny the past couple of days. On Thursday, a national holiday, we went to an Italian restaurant (no chicken fried steak) and had a nice lunch. Michael always likes to look at people but this time in particular he stared at a girl in her 20's for ten minutes and smiled and laughed at her. He never likes anyone, but it seems he has already found his dreamgirl.

Today, he did it again at a cafe while Phuong was shopping for some jeans. I went to the cafe because the stores are really tiny and there was another 20 something girl and Michael is just sitting there looking at her with a big grin on his face. Then he did it again on the bus. Usually he looks at people with a "who the heck are you" expression on his face, but he seems to have found a soft spot for young ladies.


This morning he also had his second get hurt and cry a bit later moment. He was trying to get something on our wood kitchen table or maybe eat the table who knows, but he accelerated towards the table a little too quickly and mashed his upper lip into it. He looked around for a minute and then started bawling. Phuong hugged him, he realized everything was fine and immediately resumed reaching for whatever it was he was trying to get earlier.

I guess everyday with Michael consists of eating, playing and sleeping. From now on, I will only elaborate on the things that are different (activities/behavior, etc)

Today, Michael went shopping on rue de Rennes and then decided that enough was enough and took a nap. Mom and dad enjoyed some sweet beverages at a cafe while he did so. Then, Michael found out that Le Bon Marche wasn't where he thought it was so we headed home early, which ended up being right on time.

Michael surprisingly was in the mood for his greenbeans for dinner and ate them quite happily. He must be tired of yogurt and fruit as part of his meals too since he wasn't keen on eating them even though I fed him those first.

Michael still won't take the bottle. I have been trying again for the last 3 days and no luck. We tried the sippy cup, but he just flings the formula around. Today, he got some in his eye and i had to flush his eyes out a bit first by making him cry and then by pouring a bit of water onto his eyelid while his eyes were closed. I don't think he's big enough for those eye flushing things you see in the chem labs.

Really need to get him to formula though because I think my milk supply is diminishing despite my fenugreek efforts and Michael is getting frustrated. :o( Need a solution!!

Love,
P

Seven Month Teddy Bear Picture

Well, we skipped 6 month ones because we were busy dealing with a fontanelle and eating. Next week, we go in for another checkup to see if he has gained weight. Pray for us that he does!

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the Foire de Paris with Tony and Joen, our surrogate parents here in Paris! Tony is Brian's co-worker and Joen is his lovely wife. They are both from Texas and have an 18 year old daughter. I think they also like to play with Michael so I think this is called a "win-win" situation. ;o) The Foire de Paris is a HUGE home and garden show. It took up 8 convention sized buildings with 2-3 floors in each building. They had furniture, decorating, arts, crafts, and even an entire building dedicated to Countries! You could buy English tea-cups, Polish crystal, and Vietnamese Ao Dai's all under one roof. Amazing! We had a great time! We're planning a day-trip to Giverny with them next. Giverny is where Monet's house is and where his paintings were inspired. Turns out Tony likes photography too so we're going to head out there and shoot it up! Pictures that is, not heroine.

Then, my parents came to town and stayed for 2.5 weeks!

It was great fun and such a nice break for me!!!! My mom and dad made sure we always had enough to eat, cleaned our house, did our laundry, and took good care of us and Michael.

They really wanted to just play with Michael all day, but we got them to go sightseeing! By the end of the trip, they were navigating the metro and taking the bus all on their own. They even made it to Versailles all by themselves! I am so proud of them! Next time they come, my mom and I are just going to shop the entire time. With all the sightseeing and taking care of us, we couldn't get out much! ;o)

While they were here, Scott Stanley (Brown Bones) also came to visit!

Scott popped over from Rome where he was presenting a poster at a conference! It was great to have him in Paris especially since my parents were here too so they could take care of Michael and we could go out together! Scott's itinerary for Paris was: "Go to Paris. See Paris. Leave Paris." We went to a couple of cafes together and even to a scottish bar where a scottish band was having a 'jam session." I swear, I thought the riverdance people were going to come out next. And the smoke was so bad in the bar, you could have swam through it. Brian's got some funny pics of them at the Catacombs that he might post later if Blogger doesn't eat his blogs again! ;0)

One thing's for sure, we really miss Brian's grad school friends from back in Austin. They are a great bunch and are super fun to hang out with. So far, Dirty has come and Scott. Next up is Shravi! Using her words, "TURN IT UP!" We had a great life in Austin with this crew and miss is it all the time.

We'll upload all the pics of Scott's pics too into our smugmug photo album. So far, we've just got my parents!

That puts us up to date. Brian will re-cap in a much more funny fashion Scott's visit!

Love, P