C'est ma vie

Last Minute Panic

I've been frantically knitting, way more than usual, these past couple days because I just can't bear the thought of not finishing Alice's hospital sweater. Then, I decided to make a little hat to go with it. The good news is that the hat is done except for weaving in the ends, and the baby kimono is knit, but I still need a good 2 hours of sewing up the seams, which is not my cup of tea and I'd like to do it right this time. I actually started tonight, but when your 2 year old is running circles around you yelling 'Momma' and flinging her toys all over the apartment and then using you as a jungle gym, well, it isn't the ideal time to concentrate on something and I ended up ripping out the sloppy seam I had created. Then, Gab came home around 5 and I figured it was shot for today. I am hoping that Alice will at least wait until the weekend and then again, we could have another couple of weeks.

Also, I went to get the blood work needed for the delivery (to make sure I can have the epidural) and they called and said that they needed to draw my blood again and to come in on Friday. So, Alice, I am begging you to stay in there at least until Monday! I also can't bear the thought of not having the epidural!!!!

Tonight we are going to a 600 sq. foot apartment with 6 kids and 10 adults- if that doesn't put me in labor, I don't know what will!!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Potty Motivation

Potty Motivation, originally uploaded by afoos.

I couldn't get her to sit on the potty for more than a minute this morning, so we put on some Dora motivation and she sat diligently for 30 min. Incidently, she also went pee on the potty during that time (which means one less accident to clean up on the floor!) I think she's starting to 'understand' that she needs to do her business in the potty.

Let's not forget that she absolutely needs the Santa hat for maximum concentration!

The Computer Revenge

I am still bitter about Etienne's last-minute computer purchase when we are (or I thought 'we' were) trying to start off 2009 with a monthly budget to try and get our finances back on track. Part of my 'nesting' includes worrying about our kids' future and I start to get anxious about things like not being able to provide them certain opportunities or silly things like not having a big enough house to be able to have my kids and grandkids all at once. I had a talk with E's mom about this and she said that it's normal, right now we can't save and everyone goes through a period when they can't save but in a few years we'll get back on track and be able to put money away each month. I know we are in a lot better position than a lot of people, but Etienne also doesn't worry about the future as much as I do and he is more 'let's live for the day' because his philosophy is we might not be around tomorrow. Maybe so, but our kids will be and I definitely don't want to leave them to have to clean-up a mess we've left.

With these slight worries in mind, guess what I do? I go and buy a stroller for Alice! I do feel utterly guilty about it and could have very well bought something off of ebay. Louise has a perfectly decent stroller for older babies, although I am not confident about it lasting another 3-4 years with all the treading and trekking we do in our neighborhood and in the city. We've also never had a decent 'newborn' stroller mainly because with Gab and Louise our cars when they were born had small trunks. I ended up buying a stroller that will also accomodate the carseat so that we don't have to always take the baby in and out of the carseat/stroller. I also wanted something a little sturdier with a bigger basket because with 3 kids, there is always something to throw in the stroller after school, at the store etc...

Anyway, I didn't hesitate telling Etienne that I just spent 150 euros on a stroller. He wasn't happy and asked 'Do we really 'need' a new stroller?' Of course we don't and could have very well gone without it, but my reply to him was 'Did you 'need' a new computer'? This calmed him down a little. It's not that I was looking for revenge, but his computer purchase sure did stop all my hesitation between buying something used or new- I went straight away and ordered the new.

Hopefully, our spending will now be curbed for awhile. Since our trip to the US, I had been very diligent about not spending money and know that it's possible, at least for me, to have a frugal mentality. 

I am hoping that 2009 will bring a revision in our finances- looking on the bright side, having 3 kids is the jackpot in France.

 

Potty Training 101

"Oh, my son trained himself when he was 2" "In three days, we were fully potty trained" "All it took was for her to pee in her pants a couple times and she was trained" Yep, I've heard those lines before but you sure aren't going to hear them here. 

This week we have Louise home for a full week because the daycare is closed, which we thought would be the ideal time to potty train her. I wasn't really for 'actively' potty training her since with Gab, it just came naturally when he was almost 3. However, Gab and Louise's personalities are not the same at all and we thought that with Alice's arrival, it would just prolong any type of potty training that might occur this Spring because she won't understand why Alice gets changed and she doesn't (Gab never regressed at all when Louise was born and really didn't care that Louise had diapers and he didn't, but we already feel with Louise that the arrival of the little sister is not going to be an easy one for her to handle). Also, Gab never really understood the whole 'potty' thing and at Louise's age, it was impossible to explain it to him so 'training' him was out of the question, but one magical day, he just stopped wearing diapers and has hardly had an accident since.

Ever since her second birthday, Louise has exhibited all the signs of being ready for 'potty training' and over the past couple months, when we've had a couple days at home and I've tried to introduce her to the potty, she understands fully well what she is supposed to do. The problem is that she refuses completely the notion of the potty. When we say 'Louise, you need to tell mommy and daddy when you need to go to the potty', she replies 'no, I don't want the potty' and prefers to do her business in her underpants. She has told us that she's a big girl and that diapers are for babies, which is a step, but let me tell you, today was challenging. After 3 accidents, I just let her walk around in her naked butt the whole day, which resulted in many an accident on the floor. I also forced her to sit on the potty for periods of time, which only make her hold the pee in (she did, however, manage a very tiny pee on the potty during one of these forced times, which resulted in praise on our part). Tonight, she was standing on a chair helping me cook and she gave me the most mischevious smile and said "Look Mama" and with her smile started peeing on the chair. I told her I wasn't happy and immediately took her to the potty where she finished her business. She knew very well what she was doing. We have a ritual of taking the little potty to the big potty and flushing the contents and she seems to like that, so maybe things will go better tomorrow. For her nap, we didn't want to break the whole thing by putting on a diaper (even though we don't expect the potty training during the nap to come right away), so we let her pee in her bed. Tonight, however, I did put on a diaper, explaining to her that a diaper is only for at night and that she can go on the potty during the day.

Perhaps her negativity towards the potty is a sign that maybe this is not the right time, but we are still going to persevere this week. It would be so nice to only have one in diapers and I know Louise is completely capable of being potty trained.  She is a very clever little thing and whereas Gab really loved pleasing us, Louise doesn't really care if we want her to go on the potty or not and doesn't really care about our praise. We'll see what tomorrow brings...

Full Nesting

Towards the end of our stay at E's mom's, I started panicking, thinking 'Oh my goodness, if Alice is born today, we are so not ready.' This sent me into a frenzy today with all the Christmas gifts to put away, laundry to do, maternity suitcase to pack, fridge to clean (yes, a weird one, I know), yogurts to make (I told you I was nesting!), cockroaches to chase, little baby kimono to finish, etc... etc... On top of it all, Etienne and I have decided to potty train Louise this week (another post to follow on that).

After a day at home, although I can't really say that our apartment is 'picked up' (I still have sheets to wash, mopping to do- again, I'm nesting!), things are more 'in place' for Alice's arrival. All of the clothes she'll need for the first 3 months are washed and in a drawer, my suitcase is packed, and we even have the car seat in the car (which I didn't want to do to jinx the whole birth, but we needed room in our trunk after loading up the car with the post-Christmas gift expedition back to Paris). Then, I'll find crazy little things to do around the house that absolutely do not need to be done like making a place for Gab's and Louise's puzzles because 'everything has to be organized' (which is what my mind is chanting right now.) Even though Alice will sleep in our room the first few months, I did make Louise's crib into a newborn bed by raising it to the highest level and Alice's corner of the room is ready. 

The only thing that I really have left to do is finish this baby kimono for Alice to wear in the hospital. A couple more days and it should be finished, but of course my nesting mind is panicked that my water will break before that and I'll leave an unfinished sweater on the needles, never to be picked up again.

I am also trying to psychologically prepare myself for the whole breastfeeding adventure, which is starting to scare me a little. To be honest, if I find that my time is compromised too much because I'm not getting enough sleep or baby wants to eat every hour, we might have to do something differently for the whole feeding thing. I know Louise is going to have a difficult time accepting Alice and I don't want to complicate matters even more by having to spend all my time trying to BF and having to take trips to the local nurse's office to learn how to BF. My philosophy is the something 'so natural' should come fairly naturally (I say 'fairly' because I do know that some 'learning' is required) and if it doesn't, well, unfortunately I am not willing to sacrifice every drop of my time and my family's when there are other solutions available. I am definitely still going to give it a good try and am hoping it will work for the better, but the more I read, the more confused I get with all of the literature available- I thought the baby was just supposed to latch on and eat- since when did it become so complicated?

Anyway, with all this nesting, the last thing on my mind is studying, which I haven't done a bit of in a week. And, something tells me I won't do much of from here until who knows when. Right now, my mind is elsewhere and who knows when I'll get it back. 

An Unintended Break

I think I've started this post about 5 times and have at least 3 drafts saved. This past week I took an unintended blogging break and I'm still having a difficult time getting back into the blogging mode. My only excuse for not blogging and for not calling those in the US I promised to call a week ago is my days have been spent surrounded by family and by the time night comes when I could call or blog, I'm just too dang tired. 

We had a lovely Christmas, for the most part, and the kids adored spending time at their Mamie's with their cousins. Etienne's mom is getting a little tired of doing all the hosting and next year we're thinking about renting a house somewhere so that we can still carry on the tradition of being surrounded by family at Christmas as logistically, our place is way too small. If it were up to us, we'd have it no other way, although it seems like more and more people are more apt to spend Christmas in small numbers because they don't want to make the effort to travel, to cook, to make a big deal out of a holiday that, to us, should be about family. Kids also love these family gatherings and we definitely want our kids to have fond memories of their childhood and the importance of family.

We were also very fortunate to spend some quality time with E's brother and his wife and their two daughters. During our whole stay at E's mom's, I didn't move much, but we did manage to take an outing to Honfleur and Deauville for an afternoon to catch a glimpse of the beautiful winter light on the beach and sea village. Lots of pics to come. 

Gab and Louise had a magical time and were on their best behavior the whole week. We even got to sleep in until almost 9 every morning- being in the countryside has such a peaceful effect on all of us. We came back to Paris rested and calm. 

No big plans this week besides NY Eve at E's cousin's and getting the apt. in order for Alice's arrival. Only 5 more days until I'm officially at 37 weeks, although I started fully resuming my normal activities today because the doc said 36 weeks was also 'okay'. It's difficult to sit and rest when you are in full nesting mode (and believe me when I say that when you see the catastrophic state of our apartment right now, even those who aren't pregnant would be in nesting mode).

For those who I was supposed to call and didn't- please forgive me!!! It really was a whirlwind at E's mom's and there was never a moment alone and when there was at night, all I wanted to do was go to sleep! I will give you a call this week.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and may 2009 be a great year!

A little Better

So, I'm feeling a little better. E knows he was in the wrong, acknowledges why I was upset and that it wasn't such a great idea to randomly buy a computer. And, the deed is done, so what much else am I going to do about it? I think I made E feel guilty enough so now onto trying to enjoy the rest of the day.

I got a nice birthday gift at the doctor's today. Despite my utter feeling of beached whalishness lately, I found out that I haven't gained any weight in 2 months, which only puts me up to 20 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight so far (about 9 kilos), which is good for losing the weight after the birth. Then, I found out that I'm already 50 percent effaced and dilated by 1 cm! So, there's a big chance that I won't even have time to put on much more weight because this baby will probably come sooner than later. I am at 35 1/2 weeks and the doctor didn't seem too worried. She said theoretically, I have another week and a half to go in order to be considered "at term" and that I should take it easy for the next week or so. But, she said it's not a catastrophe if I have the baby between now and then and with me being effaced and dilated, I do run a risk for my water breaking. Now, I feel a sense of urgency to knit Alice's hospital sweater!

We will still go out tonight, probably. We both feel like eating Japanese but aren't sure if we're up to trekking into Paris with the kids, so we might try to find something around here. I bought some mini 'buches de Noel' from our local pastry shop to enjoy tonight after dinner and the kids are going to have fun opening their gifts. 

Pissed Beyond Words

I knew it was too good to be true- everything was looking, for the most part, positive on my birthday- a rarity since the past couple of years haven't been the best birthdays ever. And, for once, we had actually planned something tonight.

Well, I should have known that something was awry. Etienne offered to take the kids this morning with enthusiasm. When he was gone an hour, I called, wondering where he was. 'In a store', he replied. We aren't big into giving gifts to each other, and I had reiterated no birthday gift for me, but still, maybe he had thought of something, so I didn't insist. Meanwhile, I trekked into Paris to buy the ingredients to make the Christmas desserts as well as a couple of last minute-gifts and some buttons to add to the dog sweater. When I got home around noon, he still wasn't home. I stupidly thought to myself "Well, he's probably doing something he knows I'll disapprove of, like buying a computer or something", but I in no way took that statement seriously.

Let me just put an aside here saying that we have too many computers at our house. They aren't up to date, recent models, but they work and a couple of them are computers he's gotten from his family, the ones they want to throw out. Computers are Etienne's hobby, but just a week ago he was telling me that due to our financial situation, which will take another year to get straightened out, he was content with the 'electronics' he had and didn't need to buy anymore. Well, you can see where I'm leading with this: HE freakin' went and bought a computer this morning!!!!!

For big purchases like this, we usually TALK about it first. Heck, I've even been looking at strollers on ebay and Craigslist before broaching the subject of purchasing a new one to Etienne. Anyway, I tried incessantly to get the price he paid out of him, he refuses to answer. He knows we definitely don't have money for exravagant purchases like this right now. 90 euros for a stroller, okay, but 700 or 800 for a computer (which is what I'm guessing he spent), no way!!!! And, what about that cappuccino machine I've been wanting for years for 300 euros- why not just go out and buy that, since apparently, we can just go buy whatever we want without consulting the other.

Anyway, I'm not in the mood right now to even think about going out tonight. Here I am really trying to make as many Christmas gifts as possible to save money and Etienne goes out and spends on a damn computer we don't even need!!!!

The day was fine, until this. I'll probably calm down eventually. Oh, and I shouldn't have written this post so upset, but that's life. The fact still remains that E knows he's completely in the wrong and does feel guilty about it, I know. 

Oh, and Alice's new stroller should be on it's way next week. All I have to do is hit 'Order'.

Christmas Festivities Kick-Off

When I was growing up, Christmas started for me on my birthday. It was three days of presents, good food, and fun (we usually had many fun games of farkle with Grandpa- whatever happened to the notion of games after a good meal? I so wish we could play tarot, a French card game, with E's family, but alas, don't think it will happen) 

So, as in my childhood days, Christmas will start for us tomorrow. The kids have requested to go to daycare and the school vacation camp during the day (they love all the Christmas activities with their friends) while I do some baking, packing, wrapping and last-minute gift scrounging to top it all off with a doctor's appt. and appt. with the anesthesiologist in the afternoon. Then, we are going to dare to do something we've not braved, ever, with our two kids- we are going to take the metro into central Paris near our old apartment and enjoy our old Japanese restaurant. Yes, you heard me correctly, with the kids. 

Today, when I was thinking about what I wanted for my birthday dinner, I thought Japanese sounded good. When I mentioned it to E, he said, "I was thinking the exact same thing." We've tried many Japanese restaurants since we moved from our central Paris haunt, but nothing compares. So, we're going to brave stormy waters and take our two sea monsters with us. Right now, they are actually fairly manageable (they eat what we eat, Louise hasn't used a stroller in months so we can take her pretty much anywhere without all that baby gear), and we decided to enjoy that opportunity before we add an unmanageable one to our herd here in a month (Read: special food, special bags, special baby gear that takes more people than we even have in this household to carry). I did tell Etienne that for this expedition, we do need to start thinking zen right now. Wish us luck. We also started briefing the kids about tomorrow night and the necessity of having their best behavior.

If all goes well, we will stop by the department store Christmas lights on our way home and once home, the kids will open their presents from the US so that they can appreciate who they're from rather than open them amidst a million other presents on Xmas Even and day. Oh, and by the way, if I hear another French person say 'But, why are your presents already under your tree? Isn't Santa supposed to bring those? How will you explain to the kids?' I am going to scream. Being American, I tend to go with the US tradition and put the presents under the tree as we receive them. In France, the tree stays empty for a month and Père Noel brings them all on Christmas day, which I think makes for a pretty sad tree. So, we're doing it American style in our neck of the woods. Next year, I'll do stockings, probably knit one for each of the kids and start a tradition of little stocking stuffers. I really liked that as a kid.

Oh, and I have officially completed the Christmas knitting- wish I could celebrate by opening a bottle of champagne, but I'm saving my allotted drop for Xmas day. And, the apartment is clean and the suitcases almost packed- I really don't know what to do now. Maybe go work on Alice's sweater. 

Flower washcloths for the nieces

Flower washcloths for the nieces, originally uploaded by afoos.

This was a really fun and easy project, but after 3 of them, I kind of got tired of it! I had bought lots of this yarn a couple years ago with the intention of making one washcloth for each niece and finally I just jumped in and did it. The soap is from Etsy in the shape of a cupcake.

Although it has been fun to get back into knitting again, I don't think I'll do this much knitting for future Christmases, at least for other people. I know that the recipients aren't really going to appreciate the time I put into the gifts and just view them as some random, silly little craft project (our nieces are also kind of particular about gifts). I also know that my SIL will be calling me asking "What is it?" when her daughter opens the soap and washcloth. And, in the end, I've spent the past two weeks religiously working on finishing these gifts when I could have been knitting Alice's sweater or doing another project. It's so much more motivating when you know the person receiving the gift will at least appreciate it a little.

I am happy, though with how they turned out and will definitely use this pattern in the future.

Now, the only thing I have left to finish is sewing up my MIL's dog sweater.