A few other updates from Chatou...
Samuel has had a rough few weeks. He can now proudly display his first four molars (total number of teeth now 10!), but this has been accompanied by no doubt a certain amount of pain and also a period of reduced immunity to infection... which has led to him picking up a number of bugs. Over the last few weeks he has had 2 ear infections, a stomach bug (gastro), conjunctivitis, and this weekend, tonsilitis. The good news is that he is such as good-natured little boy that when he isn't well he generally just lies on one of us to cuddle and sleep, in between periods of running around and playing.
When he is well, Samuel is becoming increasingly energetic and active. He loves being outside, feeding the ducks and birds on the river (just outside the end of our garden) or walking with Papa around the town. He is very opinionated and stubborn - but while this can be difficult, like when he decides to throw a lot of things on the floor when he knows he shouldn't, it can also be very sweet as he is absolutely determined to help where he can - carrying in groceries to the kitchen, doing the laundry, carrying his bowl or spoon to the sink when he is done. Most importantly, though, any baguette carrying in the house must be done by Samuel... held vertically (practically taller than him!), so that he can chew on the end.
Samuel is gradually eating more 'human' (ie adult) food. So far, he adores croissants, baguette and cheese... it is good to know that even if he looks like a carbon copy of his father, he takes after me in part!! He has enjoyed banana and mandarin on occasion, and loves chewing on green beans or bell peppers - but most other foods get chewed on and then eventually spat out again. Samuel also does a great chipmunk impression... if we don't carefully watch what he puts in his mouth, he will store enormous quantities of food in his cheeks before spitting it back out again an hour or more later. Suffice to say, we still need to work on his table manners... !
Dave and I get to spend our days playing with Samuel, often going outside to feed the ducks and birds by the river, and watching Samuel chase the cats around the house. We are enjoying the relative peace before the storm that will come so soon with the twins.
Last weekend I went to a very French meeting at the Mairie (town hall) to sign up Samuel and the twins for the halte-garderie for next year. Of course, we still don't know where we will be living after my maternity leave - whether we will need to move again for my next job, or whether they will want us to stay here - but we have to get on the official town hall list for child care to have even a chance of getting a place. After an hour of listening to the person from the early childhood service describing the multitude of different options for child care in France (and all the bureaucracy associated with each one!) I filled in a form that we hope will allow us to at least have all 3 children in care two days a week - which will be good for them (socialization) and for us. We won't know any more until June... so we keep our fingers crossed until then.
We are still debating when to have Samuel's 2nd birthday party. Since he turns 2 on April 23rd, it is a bit too risky to assume we will be able to have a party either on or after that date... so we are thinking of moving the party forward to the beginning of the month, before the French school holidays. Let us know if you would like to come and help celebrate!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
A night at the Opera...
Last night, Dave and I had our last great adventure before the twins arrive. We went to the Opera to see Verdi's Don Carlo, after which we went to a very famous traditional French brasserie (Bofinger) and spent the night at a hotel nearby before coming home this morning. My cousin Fiona came to visit us from London and was kind enough to watch Samuel for the night while we were away.
It was wonderful to be out on the town - particularly for me, after so many weeks of mostly just sitting or lying on the sofa, trying to be good and not do 'too much' (lifting, walking, anything.. which leads to contractions and pelvic pain, and an increased risk of early delivery). The Opera was good... in parts. It is one of Verdi's masterpieces, and the singing and music were really excellent. However the scenery, staging and lighting were somewhat too austere/dark, the acting rather wooden and the concert hall much too hot. Added to which was the fact that the opera lasted 4 hours, which got quite uncomfortable for both of us, and we had forgotten that the surtitles would be in French, and while Dave's French is good enough that he understands a lot of it, it is impossible to understand all that is going on if you aren't really fluent. So... a good experience, and I'm very glad we went... but not sure we will be going to another 4 hour opera again, particularly if the surtitles aren't in english!
After the Opera, we walked around the Bastille square to dinner at the Brasserie Bofinger. This is one of the oldest brasseries in Paris (built 1864), has beautiful art nouveau architecture / design, and is still very popular. The great thing about being nearly 7 months pregnant with twins is that people see me coming from miles away! When we made the reservation, we made sure they knew about the pregnancy, and as soon as they saw my belly we were wisked past the other waiting diners to our table - very close to the front door, but not in a high-traffic area. The food was fantastic and the waiters surprisingly friendly and chatty.
Our hotel was just a short walk away - opposite the Opera. My assistant had negotiated a great rate with them for us, as well as an accessible room with a big bed. The only downside was that this room was on the ground floor next to reception, so we had quite a bit of street noise during the night. Since I also snore like a freight train these days, poor Dave got very little sleep! But it was nice to be out until late for once and not to have to worry about waking Samuel up in the morning (thank you Fiona!!).
And that was the celebration to end our carefree days without 3 little terrors running around the house....!
It was wonderful to be out on the town - particularly for me, after so many weeks of mostly just sitting or lying on the sofa, trying to be good and not do 'too much' (lifting, walking, anything.. which leads to contractions and pelvic pain, and an increased risk of early delivery). The Opera was good... in parts. It is one of Verdi's masterpieces, and the singing and music were really excellent. However the scenery, staging and lighting were somewhat too austere/dark, the acting rather wooden and the concert hall much too hot. Added to which was the fact that the opera lasted 4 hours, which got quite uncomfortable for both of us, and we had forgotten that the surtitles would be in French, and while Dave's French is good enough that he understands a lot of it, it is impossible to understand all that is going on if you aren't really fluent. So... a good experience, and I'm very glad we went... but not sure we will be going to another 4 hour opera again, particularly if the surtitles aren't in english!
After the Opera, we walked around the Bastille square to dinner at the Brasserie Bofinger. This is one of the oldest brasseries in Paris (built 1864), has beautiful art nouveau architecture / design, and is still very popular. The great thing about being nearly 7 months pregnant with twins is that people see me coming from miles away! When we made the reservation, we made sure they knew about the pregnancy, and as soon as they saw my belly we were wisked past the other waiting diners to our table - very close to the front door, but not in a high-traffic area. The food was fantastic and the waiters surprisingly friendly and chatty.
Our hotel was just a short walk away - opposite the Opera. My assistant had negotiated a great rate with them for us, as well as an accessible room with a big bed. The only downside was that this room was on the ground floor next to reception, so we had quite a bit of street noise during the night. Since I also snore like a freight train these days, poor Dave got very little sleep! But it was nice to be out until late for once and not to have to worry about waking Samuel up in the morning (thank you Fiona!!).
And that was the celebration to end our carefree days without 3 little terrors running around the house....!
Last(?) date night
Huge thanks for Julia's cousin Fiona for making the trip over from London this weekend so that Julia and I could have one last big night in Paris before the twins arrive.
Julia and I went to see Don Carlo at the Bastille opera on Saturday evening. We checked into our hotel(directly across the street from the opera) around 1630 and found our way to a brasserie where we had a light snack, as the opera was 4 hours long and we would not have dinner until very late. While we were having our snack a few of the musicians wandered in and had dinner and drinks(coke only). Something we never experienced in Cincinnati with the symphony. We made a slight mistake with what we ordered as our assortment plate came with a half bottle of wine. Of course, Julia cannot drink and I hate to se good wine be wasted so I felt obligated to drink the entire half bottle. In hindsight I should not have done so as Don Carlo is 4 hour is long and the wine made me very, very sleepy.
The opera was very good. The voices of the cast were outstanding. The art direction of the production was disappointing. The lighting was quite unusual as the cast were mostly in shadows for the performance. Not sure if this was because they are not good actors, with the shadows their faces were very seldom fully visible to the audience, or if the director was attempting to add an element of suspense to the production.
I learned during the performance that my French, while improving, still has considerable distance to go before I can read and comprehend. We decided not to buy the program so Julia quickly used wikipedia to read the synopsis but I was confused throughout the performance concerning the plot. I found that I am able to understand the verb context and tenses but the actual subject of the sentence would most often elude me as the subject word was not part of my limited vocabulary.
After the performance we had dinner at Brasserie Bofinger. A classic French brasserie with glass domed ceilings and large pots of flowers and a great amount of brass. The food was very good and Julia was treated like a queen(4 carafes of water, one of which was served without it being requested. Unheard of in a French brasserie). We both had the filet de bouef with poivre sauce. Excellent. Julia had the profiteroles and I the mousse au chocolat for dessert. It was the largest mousse au chocolate I have ever been served in Paris. We then returned to the hotel and proceeded to pass out as it was 0100 and neither of us had been up that late in a very, very long time.
Julia and I went to see Don Carlo at the Bastille opera on Saturday evening. We checked into our hotel(directly across the street from the opera) around 1630 and found our way to a brasserie where we had a light snack, as the opera was 4 hours long and we would not have dinner until very late. While we were having our snack a few of the musicians wandered in and had dinner and drinks(coke only). Something we never experienced in Cincinnati with the symphony. We made a slight mistake with what we ordered as our assortment plate came with a half bottle of wine. Of course, Julia cannot drink and I hate to se good wine be wasted so I felt obligated to drink the entire half bottle. In hindsight I should not have done so as Don Carlo is 4 hour is long and the wine made me very, very sleepy.
The opera was very good. The voices of the cast were outstanding. The art direction of the production was disappointing. The lighting was quite unusual as the cast were mostly in shadows for the performance. Not sure if this was because they are not good actors, with the shadows their faces were very seldom fully visible to the audience, or if the director was attempting to add an element of suspense to the production.
I learned during the performance that my French, while improving, still has considerable distance to go before I can read and comprehend. We decided not to buy the program so Julia quickly used wikipedia to read the synopsis but I was confused throughout the performance concerning the plot. I found that I am able to understand the verb context and tenses but the actual subject of the sentence would most often elude me as the subject word was not part of my limited vocabulary.
After the performance we had dinner at Brasserie Bofinger. A classic French brasserie with glass domed ceilings and large pots of flowers and a great amount of brass. The food was very good and Julia was treated like a queen(4 carafes of water, one of which was served without it being requested. Unheard of in a French brasserie). We both had the filet de bouef with poivre sauce. Excellent. Julia had the profiteroles and I the mousse au chocolat for dessert. It was the largest mousse au chocolate I have ever been served in Paris. We then returned to the hotel and proceeded to pass out as it was 0100 and neither of us had been up that late in a very, very long time.
Bo and Go are 28 weeks 'old'!
We had our latest scan on Tuesday and all is well. Both little boys are growing well - they are now over a kilo each (approx 1.1kg for Bo and 1.3kg for Go) - and all seems perfectly fine with each of them. The good news is that Bo (who will be the first one out as he is positioned slightly lower down / closer to the exit) has turned around and now has his head down. This means that - as long as all goes well - I should be able to give birth to them both normally and without a c-section. Go is still in breech position (head up), but hopefully he will turn around once Bo comes out and leaves him some space! In the meantime the boys are in opposite positions, each of them with his legs curled around his brother's head. Not quite sure what a few months of them kicking their brother in the head will do for them... but no doubt it is simply the start of a long joy-filled fraternal relationship...!! This is apparently a normal position for twins as it allows them to make the best use of the available space, and since they are now starting to be pretty tightly squeezed into my belly, with any luck they won't move position again.
Unfortunately, no good ultrasound pictures this time - the doctor was in a rush as she was running late, and with the boys getting quite big and squeezed together, it is apparently harder. Hopefully we will have some next month.
It seems like every time I look down my belly has expanded further. At 6 1/2 months pregnant, I already feel almost as pregnant as I did towards the end of my pregnancy with Samuel - the twin effect. We are hoping and planning for another 10 weeks of pregnancy (ie to end April) so that the babies aren't born before 38 weeks - which would be the best for them. I have to admit though that I am beginning to think that by then I will be waddling around the house wearing a sheet and eating not from the table but from my own belly-table... since I won't reach the table anymore!!
We have been watching the winter olympics and I find it increasingly amazing just what the human body is able to achieve. Anyone that has seen the moguls skiiers (human springs!!) or the incredible stamina, determination and unbelievable dedication of these athletes has to be left in amazement. Equally, in my own small way, I find it astonishing to see how my body continues to expand and adapt to allow our two little boys to grow happily inside me.
Unfortunately, no good ultrasound pictures this time - the doctor was in a rush as she was running late, and with the boys getting quite big and squeezed together, it is apparently harder. Hopefully we will have some next month.
It seems like every time I look down my belly has expanded further. At 6 1/2 months pregnant, I already feel almost as pregnant as I did towards the end of my pregnancy with Samuel - the twin effect. We are hoping and planning for another 10 weeks of pregnancy (ie to end April) so that the babies aren't born before 38 weeks - which would be the best for them. I have to admit though that I am beginning to think that by then I will be waddling around the house wearing a sheet and eating not from the table but from my own belly-table... since I won't reach the table anymore!!
We have been watching the winter olympics and I find it increasingly amazing just what the human body is able to achieve. Anyone that has seen the moguls skiiers (human springs!!) or the incredible stamina, determination and unbelievable dedication of these athletes has to be left in amazement. Equally, in my own small way, I find it astonishing to see how my body continues to expand and adapt to allow our two little boys to grow happily inside me.
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