Today we took the baby on his first hiking trip. It was just a short excursion to the forest at Fountainebleu which is just south of Paris. Julien did great, he just slept the entire time. We woke him up for about 5 minutes to experience nature for the first time. I also did very well, I was pleased to be able to hike 2 hours while carrying the baby, I thought I would be get worn out sooner.
We also had a bathing adventure when we got home. Julien had his first bath in the "big boy tub". He was getting way too big for the sink. He LOVES the water but he really hates the before and after. Our neighbors must think we torture the poor kid, he screams like crazy when I am drying him. It is worth the effort though because he smells so nice after his lotion rub down.
I also bought him a few outfits at the store yesterday. He needed a couple more warm clothes for our outings around the city. When I bought his clothes I didn't realize he would often need multiple outfits per day. No, he isn't a fashionista he just has a little trouble with spit-up and sometimes his diaper isn't attached quite right. I now have enough so I can do laundry a little less often. I have always been thankful for my dryer which is a luxury in Paris but now it makes me even happier. The simple things in life.
Josh took a lot of pictures today on our hike so I am sure some will be posted soon. We will also try to get a good one of baby Juju in the tub, we need something to blackmail him with in the future.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Short Julien Update
I want to thank everyone for the kind emails, comments, cards and gifts, I promise thank you notes will be arriving shortly! My mom just left after two weeks visiting with us. We had a lovely time although she didn't get to see much of Paris.
I have been busy with Julien and getting used to being a mother. Julien is a delightful baby, he only fusses when he is hungry and between 6:00 and 8:00 PM. We originally tried to put him to bed at 6:00 but it works much better to let stay up with us until his last feeding around 8:30. Also this way Josh gets to see him when he gets home from work.
Josh takes the early shift from 9:00-12:00 which is often the most difficult because we have to get him settled in his bed. Josh then gets to sleep the rest of the night so he is fairly well rested for work. I take from midnight on which means I usually wake up to feed him at 2:00 and 6:00 AM. Julien and I go back to sleep until 9 AM so I am getting plenty of sleep. Of course there are some nights that don't go according to plan and we are all exhausted the next day.
We have taken Julien out a few times now, he had a fun day in Paris with my mom, Josh and me. I even managed to feed him in a cafe which took some slick maneuvering with a cardigan and a blanket but it worked well. We also took him shoe shopping (for Josh, Julien isn't wearing shoes yet) and to champagne both with great success. We are very happy we can still get out and do things with a new little baby.
I don't have much to write about other than the baby. I am taking care of him, cleaning the house, grocery shopping and trying to get to the park for some exercise. Somehow my days are flying by just with those limited things. I haven't read the news or turned on the TV since getting home!
I have to go the baby wants to eat. I will try to write more soon and also answer some emails.. I am sorry to be such a slacker!
I have been busy with Julien and getting used to being a mother. Julien is a delightful baby, he only fusses when he is hungry and between 6:00 and 8:00 PM. We originally tried to put him to bed at 6:00 but it works much better to let stay up with us until his last feeding around 8:30. Also this way Josh gets to see him when he gets home from work.
Josh takes the early shift from 9:00-12:00 which is often the most difficult because we have to get him settled in his bed. Josh then gets to sleep the rest of the night so he is fairly well rested for work. I take from midnight on which means I usually wake up to feed him at 2:00 and 6:00 AM. Julien and I go back to sleep until 9 AM so I am getting plenty of sleep. Of course there are some nights that don't go according to plan and we are all exhausted the next day.
We have taken Julien out a few times now, he had a fun day in Paris with my mom, Josh and me. I even managed to feed him in a cafe which took some slick maneuvering with a cardigan and a blanket but it worked well. We also took him shoe shopping (for Josh, Julien isn't wearing shoes yet) and to champagne both with great success. We are very happy we can still get out and do things with a new little baby.
I don't have much to write about other than the baby. I am taking care of him, cleaning the house, grocery shopping and trying to get to the park for some exercise. Somehow my days are flying by just with those limited things. I haven't read the news or turned on the TV since getting home!
I have to go the baby wants to eat. I will try to write more soon and also answer some emails.. I am sorry to be such a slacker!
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Pictures Again
Just a cute one of Julien
We had Christoph and Noé over since they are leaving soon for Australia! This is the new super wide angle lens - doesn't the apartment look HUGE?! Click it click it
Marvel, Gena, Julien and I went to Champagne on Saturday. Here's Marvel and Julien in front of Taittinger, where we had a tour.
Julien and his Grandmamma GV!
The Four of Us.
Different take
Me and the kid! Note the remote in my hand, all the baby instruction manuals, and the leftover plastic bags from Carefour - we got our groceries delivered this day!
Opps, how did this get in here, this isn't a picture of our baby! Taken from our apartment window (if you've been, you know this isn't really our "view", but... it's possible to see). I have a ton of pictures like this, all different times of the day. I'm trying to capture the moon behind the tower, Tuesday 5AM should be an opportunity. It's all about the weather.
Gena and Julien out for a walk! This art is just next to our building. I think it's some famous fictional French detective fellow.
Gena got flowers from Sartomer! How nice of all those guys and gals in the Technical Center!
Mamma GV and the baby!! How sweet. She won't let him go!
That's all for now. Sorry to be so long between updates. As you can imagine we are busy busy! Julien is asleep now, hurrah! It's been 2.5 hours so I'm expecting him to need something soon. He sleeps okay for a while but is still eating twice during the night. I take a little wussy shift so Gena can at least sleep a couple hours and then I go to bed since I can't feed him. And Gena is nice enough to give me some sleep too..
Anyhow, hope everyone out there is doing well! Leave lots of comments, we love to hear from you. And if you are anonymous put your name so we know who we're hearing from :)
Oh by the way we took Julien to the embassy, made him a citizen, and ordered his first passport! We officially have a duel citizenship baby. How exciting!
We had Christoph and Noé over since they are leaving soon for Australia! This is the new super wide angle lens - doesn't the apartment look HUGE?! Click it click it
Marvel, Gena, Julien and I went to Champagne on Saturday. Here's Marvel and Julien in front of Taittinger, where we had a tour.
Julien and his Grandmamma GV!
The Four of Us.
Different take
Me and the kid! Note the remote in my hand, all the baby instruction manuals, and the leftover plastic bags from Carefour - we got our groceries delivered this day!
Opps, how did this get in here, this isn't a picture of our baby! Taken from our apartment window (if you've been, you know this isn't really our "view", but... it's possible to see). I have a ton of pictures like this, all different times of the day. I'm trying to capture the moon behind the tower, Tuesday 5AM should be an opportunity. It's all about the weather.
Gena and Julien out for a walk! This art is just next to our building. I think it's some famous fictional French detective fellow.
Gena got flowers from Sartomer! How nice of all those guys and gals in the Technical Center!
Mamma GV and the baby!! How sweet. She won't let him go!
That's all for now. Sorry to be so long between updates. As you can imagine we are busy busy! Julien is asleep now, hurrah! It's been 2.5 hours so I'm expecting him to need something soon. He sleeps okay for a while but is still eating twice during the night. I take a little wussy shift so Gena can at least sleep a couple hours and then I go to bed since I can't feed him. And Gena is nice enough to give me some sleep too..
Anyhow, hope everyone out there is doing well! Leave lots of comments, we love to hear from you. And if you are anonymous put your name so we know who we're hearing from :)
Oh by the way we took Julien to the embassy, made him a citizen, and ordered his first passport! We officially have a duel citizenship baby. How exciting!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
ESCAPED PRISONER ON PARIS ROOFTOPS
Yesterday was the day Jingle has been waiting almost 3 years for. He finally got out - the top! Silly me left the upper window above the desk wide open after taking some pictures of the sun setting, and Jingle was OUT! By the time we knew and I went back upstairs, Santa was ready to go too. "Don't leave me!"
Jingle was so excited, tail bushed out and straight up in the air, trotting around to each corner and along the edges, looking for somewhere else to go. I didn't dare climb out with him and try to chase and catch him, he was on his own. But in the end it was rather cold on the roof and nothing to do so he wandered back close enough to be grabbed.
I'm sure he thought he made his big break, but in the end it was rather anti-climatic for him. Our poor prisoner.
By the way, this is the new lens I'm getting for my birthday! It's super wide, check the distortion and how skinny that building looks!Sorry, it's a photo thing....
Monday, September 17, 2007
Mid September Now
Hello Everyone,
Well, Gena's mom is here so we have been a bit too busy to write and post many pictures in the past week or so. And, sorry, I didn't bring any to work with me so there won't be any today either...
Oh, wait, I did bring the photo that we are going to try and use for Julien's first PASSPORT!! I'm not sure if they will take it 'cause his head is slightly turned and Gena's hand is in there, but what do they expect - he's an uncooperative baby! Especially 'cause he got woken up to have his mug shot taken.. after reading the rules and whatnot about the photo, we had to take a special one. Imagine, 3000 photos of a baby and none conforming to the passport rules!
Well, I tried a few times but it's a no go to upload anything from here. Oh well, we keep taking pictures so eventually they will get here!
Things are going well so far. Julien is eating a lot, hungry all time time, and has apparently gained about a pound. The scale we use isn't so precise or calibrated, so there is a pretty good margin of error. We think he has grown, lengthwise, too, maybe half an inch or maybe an inch. Our tape measure IS calibrated (ha!) but I don't know how they measured him before (tip of head to heel or to toe?), plus we don't like stretching him on the rack too often.
He sleeps.. off and on. I have Julien Duty until midnight which is usually when he needs the most attention, and then Gena takes over. Last night was super easy for me and from 2-5AM I think he was not as peacefully asleep. If we follow the schedule we have it tends to be more predictable and he does better at night, in my opinion. It's hard to follow when we go and do things, like Saturday we went to Champagne and how do you keep a kid AWAKE in the car?
Ah, Champagne. We toured Tattinger around lunch time, had lunch at a cool cafeteria thing, and then drove along the Route du Champagne - this time in the Côte des Blancs part, south of Epernay. Unfortunately we didn't really see a whole lot more Blanc de Blanc for sale than in the other parts, but the visits were good and the Champage portion of our electric cave is now full! We stopped at a little pizza place on the way home, where Julien started breaking down. Just a hungry boy!
What else is going on? Marvel is helping us out a lot, Gena and I got to go outside by ourselves yesterday to buy some cheese, fish for dinner, vegetables, bread, ect. We took advantage and stopped and had a coffee (hot chocolate for Gena - we learned about coffee about day 5!) at a café and relaxed a bit. We have been eating mostly at home, and Gena and Marvel usually get out at least once a day, Gena with the baby in her Baby Bjorn, usually to the store or around the park near us.
Tomorrow is our appointment at the Embassy to make Julien officially an American, and request his first passport.
I guess that's it for now. Hopefully more soon!
Well, Gena's mom is here so we have been a bit too busy to write and post many pictures in the past week or so. And, sorry, I didn't bring any to work with me so there won't be any today either...
Oh, wait, I did bring the photo that we are going to try and use for Julien's first PASSPORT!! I'm not sure if they will take it 'cause his head is slightly turned and Gena's hand is in there, but what do they expect - he's an uncooperative baby! Especially 'cause he got woken up to have his mug shot taken.. after reading the rules and whatnot about the photo, we had to take a special one. Imagine, 3000 photos of a baby and none conforming to the passport rules!
Well, I tried a few times but it's a no go to upload anything from here. Oh well, we keep taking pictures so eventually they will get here!
Things are going well so far. Julien is eating a lot, hungry all time time, and has apparently gained about a pound. The scale we use isn't so precise or calibrated, so there is a pretty good margin of error. We think he has grown, lengthwise, too, maybe half an inch or maybe an inch. Our tape measure IS calibrated (ha!) but I don't know how they measured him before (tip of head to heel or to toe?), plus we don't like stretching him on the rack too often.
He sleeps.. off and on. I have Julien Duty until midnight which is usually when he needs the most attention, and then Gena takes over. Last night was super easy for me and from 2-5AM I think he was not as peacefully asleep. If we follow the schedule we have it tends to be more predictable and he does better at night, in my opinion. It's hard to follow when we go and do things, like Saturday we went to Champagne and how do you keep a kid AWAKE in the car?
Ah, Champagne. We toured Tattinger around lunch time, had lunch at a cool cafeteria thing, and then drove along the Route du Champagne - this time in the Côte des Blancs part, south of Epernay. Unfortunately we didn't really see a whole lot more Blanc de Blanc for sale than in the other parts, but the visits were good and the Champage portion of our electric cave is now full! We stopped at a little pizza place on the way home, where Julien started breaking down. Just a hungry boy!
What else is going on? Marvel is helping us out a lot, Gena and I got to go outside by ourselves yesterday to buy some cheese, fish for dinner, vegetables, bread, ect. We took advantage and stopped and had a coffee (hot chocolate for Gena - we learned about coffee about day 5!) at a café and relaxed a bit. We have been eating mostly at home, and Gena and Marvel usually get out at least once a day, Gena with the baby in her Baby Bjorn, usually to the store or around the park near us.
Tomorrow is our appointment at the Embassy to make Julien officially an American, and request his first passport.
I guess that's it for now. Hopefully more soon!
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Couple Picts
None yesterday, and worse yet not a ton today to make up for it! But here are three:
"The Scream"
"Bat Boy" in his swaddler, aka The Straight Jacket
Peaceful in his Pack and Play bassinet
"The Scream"
"Bat Boy" in his swaddler, aka The Straight Jacket
Peaceful in his Pack and Play bassinet
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