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

Yesterday, I did my first photoshoot for my friend Mary's son at SQUARE RENE LEGALL! Only the best square in ALL of PARIS! Maybe not...but Brian certainly thinks so! Got some cute shots of George only of course but I got a couple of cute shots of him and Michael too. Voila:



Geo was just so cute. REALLY photogenic! Well, we went to Venice and I've been meaning to post those pics and recap! Will SOON! If you can't wait, pics are up in our smugmug album. Link is in the right menu.

Lots of love,
B&P&M

Look what Michael did today at lunch.

Yes, that's POOP.

Want to Lose Some Weight?

For the price of the cheapest airplane ticket you can find, hurry yourselves over to Paris for the ultimate in weight loss success. The Parisian Diet Plan. We guarantee that in 2 full weeks, you will find yourselves 1 dress/pant size smaller*

DAILY Drills and Exercises Include:

• Running half a mile to the grocery store and then carrying 20 lbs of groceries back while pushing a 20 lb baby in a stroller (that incidentally has another 10 lbs of groceries in the bottom basket).
• Wearing a 20lb baby in an Ergo baby carrier up 6-10 flights of metro stairs, then down 6-10 flights of metro stairs, then walking half a mile home.
• Running to catch your bus
• Running down the metro steps to catch your metro
• Carry 9 liters of water in each hand while walking half a mile back home.
• Another variation, carry 9 liters of water on your shoulder while pushing your 20 lb baby in his stroller back home
• Carrying 20 lbs of groceries and your baby while putting away your stroller in the "stroller garage" which is incidentally across the courtyard and 4 flights down from your actual apartment

All this can be done with breaks for water and fruit tartes. However, it has been proven that if you eat French cheeses, this will negate all the work you will do for your fitness routine.

Don't believe us? Check out these testimonials of some of our clients:

"I went back to the U.S. for 3 weeks and went up an entire pant size. When I returned to Paris and followed their fitness regiment, I was back to my pre-wedding pant size in less than 3 weeks! Thanks Parisian Diet Plan!"

"I could eat whatever I want (omitting stinky French cheeses) and STILL lost weight! Now, I just make sure I have a fruit tarte already in my mouth while I'm carrying my 18 liters of water everyday!"

Hope this inspires some of you to visit! Funny thing about the exercise regimen? I do some of those things at least once a week! ;o)

Love to all,
P

*Rules and Restrictions apply. Success depends actually more on your genetic metabolic rate. There is a possibility that you may not lose weight at all while here. So in other words, we don't really guarantee success. But stay an entire month or more and you WILL see results!

Found this gem while going through pictures today. He is my husband and I ADORE him:




Now...let's see if he reads the blog...and sees the pictures. Hope everyone is having a good weekend! I realized I need to re-cap August because Brian's family came to visit so I will do that...some day! ;o)

Have a restful weekend,
Phuong

Hey Everyone!

Here are the pictures from our Family pictures and Christening! There were over 600 pictures so I narrowed it down to 120 (ouch still! I know!) of my favorites. Here is how to access them:

Click on this website:
http://www.millersalbums.com/



Click on: Besancon Family and Christening

Click on: Your Favorites Tab

You can scroll down the screen and look at all of them or you can click on "View Slideshow" in the left menu.

Hope you enjoy! And if want to order any, let me know. And please ignore my wrinkles and face fat. Apparently, they are here to stay.

Love,
P

Welcome back!

Here we are, back in Paris, and the city is all a-buzz with "la rentree." What is it exactly? August is such a huge vacation month that they actually have a word that is used to mean returning back to normal life after a huge season of vacations. So I see all sorts of correspondence such as :

• "oh gosh...just getting used to la rentree"
• "I'm booked all September with activites for la rentree"
• "Hope everyone is having a good rentree"

And I'm not making it up. The quotes are not exact but you get the just of it right? So we too are getting used to "la rentree," which to me means holding Michael at 4:00am when he's trying to go to sleep due to jet lag. Vive La Rentree! :)

Today, I was walking back from the park and I saw a mother with her 2 girls walking down the same sidewalk in front of me. One of her girls was fussing something awful and I saw her mother do the following:

• Put her daughter on the sandy part of the walk near the trees
• Pulled her daughter's panties down
• Held her daughter in a position so she could urinate on the side of the road in front of everyone to see.
  
  Her daughter was about 9-10 years old I am guessing. And I wasn't walking down a back alley or anything. This was right next to the park.

DOES ANYONE ELSE FIND THIS DISTURBING? OR IS IT JUST ME?

Bienvenue a Paris.

Love,
P

August in Paris is a huge vacation month. There is a mass exodus of Parisians to the French beaches/countryside and many cafes/boulangeries, etc are closed for many weeks or have reduced hours.

To celebrate this tradition, the "Besancon Life In France" blog will also be taking a hiatus in August!

See you in the States and come back in September! We have a trip to Venice planned then!

Much love,
B&P&M