Why men don't have babies...

Yesterday I went to have my eyebrows waxed, something I do about twice a year when they get so out of control I can't possibly give them shape myself with a tweezer. As I was laying in the chair, I had a little chuckle...reflecting on a recent conversation I had with Robert. I walked in to his bathroom while he was trimming his eyebrows with a pair of scissors. I said, "why don't you just tweeze them?" and his response, "because that would hurt too much"!!!

Identical in size

At birth, both boys looked very similar. We saw Andrew in Ryan the second we looked at him. But over time, Ryan has grown into his own person. Many people say they see me in him. But then again, a lot of people still see Robert in him. Honestly, I don't see either one quite yet.
Yesterday was Ryan's 6 month check-up and Andrew's 3 year check-up. Although going to the doc is even more of an effort now with two kids...I walk there cuz when I drive there, I usually find a place to park that is even further away than our home. Ryan on the chest carrier, Andrew in the stroller. Of course the stroller doesn't fit in the elevator and the doctor's office is on the 3rd floor. A royal PAIN in the $#@. Nevertheless, I like going to their check-ups. As mentioned before, I have acquired a strong liking to our family pediatrician. Andrew LOVES going, watching the REAL doctor use the REAL tools. And especially the part when he gets a "bonbon" for being a good boy, which he always is. But more importantly, I like the official confirmation that the boys are doing well, growing and developing "normally". When I got home, I compared Ryan's 6 month length and weight to that of Andrew's at 6 months and they are identical! 27.6 inches and 17.4 lbs. In metric, 70 cm and 7.9kg. I honestly thought that Ryan was ahead of Andrew at this stage but evidently not. Perhaps I have just shrunk Andrew's clothes so they are fitting Ryan at an earlier stage...I'll blog more about my tendency to shrink clothes in a future post...I'm a little bit in the doghouse with Robert at the moment over a few favourites I have recently destroyed...oops. Wait til he discovers the others that he doesn't yet know about. I should probably just do what I used to do as a kid and throw out any clothes I destroyed in the laundry (it was one of my childhood responsibilities) and letting my mother think she's gone absolutely mad...losing all sorts of outfits!!! (sorry, Mom!)
Back on topic...when I was there, I advised the doc of our upcoming trip across the Atlantic on a ship and asked what meds I should carry along with me as a precaution...there is always this tiny bit of fear I carry with me on transatlantic cruises, being in the middle of the ocean for days at a time and no access to a hospital even despite advanced medical resources onboard...doesn't of course stop us...we've done it pregnant twice and once with a newborn...this one should be a breeze...but anyway, the doc wrote me several prescriptions: medications for fevers (both the syrup kind and the suppositories kind in case they refuse the syrup), for diahrea, for ear infections, and for eye infections, in addition to the vitamins and such Ryan takes daily. I was shocked when I walked out of the pharmacy with a full bagload of stuff, without paying a single cent. I suppose I should no longer be shocked after being here nearly 3 years...but it's still an eye-opener for me after living in the US for 11 years...even in Canada you have to pay for vitamins and fever meds.

Thursdays are my day "off"

We signed "the baby" up for creche (daycare) when I was 3 months pregnant. I was very hesitant to sign up my unborn baby for any daycare at all before the first year; after all, we did not leave Andrew with a "babysitter" until the age of 16 months (with exception to the week I went back to work when Andrew was 6 weeks to assist with the year-end audit). But Robert convinced me and in the end, as usual, he was right. He said I would need some time off. After all, we have no family here to help us out, and Robert travels often. Very often. It's only Feb. 25th and he has already had a 2 week trip to the US, a 3 day trip to Madrid and on Saturday he is leaving for a 10 day trip to Australia. And of course whenever he travels, he gets behind on the current in-office stuff and inevitably ends up working long hours to catch up.... I had visions of long soaks in the bath tub, catching up on personal phone calls, tv shows, down time, sleep. Personal doctor's appointments, haircuts, long gym workouts, good books, etc. Ha! Ryan started creche at the beginning of December. I am SO thankful for this place, Les Petits Chaperons Rouges, where Andrew went twice a week from its opening in January 2009 until he started school. The caregivers are just fantastic and I have such great peace of mind when I leave my boy there. But by choice, I started him slowly, leaving him there late and picking him up early. Then he was sick on a Thursday so he stayed home. Then Andrew was sick on a Thursday so he stayed home. Then we had two weeks of holidays where the creche was closed and both boys were home. Then Ryan was sick again and stayed home. Then Andrew had a fall and had to go to ER on a Thursday. Then another two weeks of school holidays with Andrew at home. Finally...Andrew back to school...and Ryan healthy...and I get a day "off". The problem is, I have SO much to do on my day "off" that I need a day off from my day off. Cleaning, ironing, laundry, administrative stuff and mail and bills and such that pile up. French phone calls to make that I cannot possibly do with a baby in the background. Packing away Ryan's clothes that he has (again) outgrown and pulling out the bigger stuff, making and freezing baby food. Not to mention having to pump every 3 hours to ensure there will be enough milk in the freezer to sustain him for the following week's creche day. If I happen to get to the grocery store on a Thursday, it is truly a 4-hour event. For obvious reasons, I do a BIG shop when I'm on my own and therefore buy more than a shopping cart full of stuff. So, I have to do the shop in two phases and empty the groceries into the car twice. The grocery carts are tiny here. Even at the biggest supermarket in the south of France...all of my groceries do not fit in one cart. People from Europe laugh at me when I tell them this, they think it is plenty big. Obviously, they have never shopped at Costco. But the concept of stocking up and buying in bulk just doesn't really exist here. I will say though, that I LOVE the fact that we can stock up on milk since it is non-refrigerated until it is opened. When it goes on sale, it is approximately 50 cents a liter (cheap) and we usually buy 48 litres at a crack. (I think that equates to about 12 gallons...which does not even last us a month!!!) Anyway, was off on a tangent again, back to my original point, I know I shouldn't complain because at least I can get all of the above done without a baby in one arm. But it's really not a day "off". As a mother of two little ones, I have come to realize that a day off just doesn't exist! Not now anyway. I even find it hard to recall what it was like now, before kids, having a day off with NOTHING to do. Robert and I have vowed to make some Thursdays "date" days. Where he will take a vacation day and neither one of us is allowed to do a single chore. We will make it happen because we need to. I believe that time alone together as a couple is essential for a happy and healthy marriage. When the weather is nice, we will take some Thursdays off, exploring new beaches, renting out lounge chairs for the day and eating lunch at the restaurants that are right on the sand. As another mom-friend pointed out, this is even better than a real "date" at night. She recently hired a babysitter to have a dinner out with her husband and they both found they were so exhausted that they would have preferred an early night at home! We're the same. I'm pretty useless after 8PM. Since Ryan's birth, we have yet to complete a single movie in one shot, without one or both of us falling asleep somewhere in the middle. I've been working on the same book that I started before Christmas. That said, I have a girls night out planned for tomorrow evening in celebration of my good friend, Steph's birthday and I know I can muster more than enough energy for that!!!

Introducing Baby Rocky...

The WORD is out! They have reached the 3 month mark and all is well with the baby. And true to himself, Uncle Billy makes the official announcement with his hillarious sense of humour. I am so happy for the two of them and am already feeling like a very proud aunty and will love Baby Rocky (or more probably Baby Rockette) just like he or she is my own. I think I may even be more excited than Susie and am so hoping that I will be there in Toronto for the birth in August. Susie, I am so hoping and praying that your pregnancy goes smoother than the first trimester and based on mom's latest update, it seems to be going in the right direction. We love you Aunty Susie, Uncle Billy and Baby Rocky(ette).

and finally...part 4

Part 3

the Andrew story Part 2

From Tia with Love

Another belated birthday gift arrived in the mail the other day from Tia. And what a special gift it was. The amount of time, thought and love that went in to creating this masterpiece still blows my mind. Andrew just loved looking at all the photos and will most certainly continue to do so in the years to come. It is the story of Andrew from birth to age 3. I have taken photos of each of the pages, obviously doesn't do the book full justice, but at least you can get a glimpse. Since this blog site allows only 5 photos per post, I have broken down the posts in 4 parts....one day, maybe I'll get a little more "high-tech" with this thingy!

Stay inspired Tia, cuz Ryan will be 3 in another 2.5 years!!!

More fun with the animals...

Daddy and Baby Ryan join in on the fun!

Happy Half Birthday Ryan!

Our baby turns 6 months old today. And what a joyful 6 months it has been. My heart melts every time he smiles at me. Daddy is away in Madrid for a few days, but perhaps Andrew and I will make a cake this afternoon and celebrate together anyway!

The mysterious door opener

When we put Andrew down to bed at night, we leave his door open halfway and the outside bathroom light is left on. When we go to bed ourselves, we close his door in order to keep the room sufficiently warm. For the same reason, we keep our door closed too. The last 3 nights, I have woken up to find that both our door and Andrew's door is open. The first time it happened, I got up, closed the doors again and went back to sleep, or at least tried, but I was a little bit alarmed and heard noises (probably in my head), thinking someone was inside. That morning, I woke to discover the doors open again. After two more nights of this, we have come to the realization that Andrew is getting up and opening the doors in the middle of the night! I find it so strange, but also very cute, for several reasons. Andrew never once climbed out of his crib. (we were lucky) Once he got the big boy bed, things changed however. He started getting out quite often, but would come to us (and usually I would hear the footsteps coming down the hall) but there were occasions when he scared me as I woke suddenly to feel something poking me. Most other times, he would stand inside, calling for "Mommy" or Papaaa" and tell us that it was dark, that he wasn't sleepy or that it was time to get up. We put an end to this, simply by telling him before bedtime to stay in bed and as a reward, he would get a new toy (little animal from the bag) for staying in bed. So, it's really quite unusual that he's now just slipping out of bed ever so quietly and opening the doors. I wish that we could leave the doors open for him, but it just gets quite chilly and with Ryan still in our room, we need to make sure the room stays at a comfortable sleeping temperature.

Snow in Antibes!!!

I don't know the stats on snow in Antibes but before we moved here, I asked an American friend who had been living here for 8 years if they ever get snow here...and the answer was ONCE! In the last 2 weeks, we've had two snowfalls, the most recent one today, and boy did Andrew and I ever have a lot of fun playing in it! I felt like a kid all over again and it was amaaazing!
However, my spirits were slightly dampered with worry, as Robert called before noon and let me know he was on his way to go pick up Ryan early from creche (Thursdays are his creche days) because apparently the roads were getting bad. Three hours later, he called and had not yet made it halfway there (and it's only 5 km from his office). Because I only leave enough pumped breastmilk at the creche to last the day, I was worried about Ryan not having enough milk should it take him an equally long time to get home from the creche. But it seems they're on their way now and HOPEFULLY will get here SOON.
Most of my friends' husbands who were on the road in that area had to leave their cars on the side of the road and walk the rest of the way home. For obvious reasons, there are not adequate snow removal services in the French Riviera.
But looking out our living room windows, the snow covered palm trees and houses sure do look beautiful, with a view of the Mediterannea in the background.

Andrew's first bike ride

Learning to ride a bike in the French Riviera is a little different than the way I learned, on the streets of our neighbourhood on Dunvegan Road. Although it is necessary to drive to a location where bike riding is both safe and feasible, there are plenty of beautiful spots to be found. Robert and Andrew had another Daddy-son bonding morning on Saturday, when they headed out to a large boardwalk in a nearby town called Cagnes-Sur-Mer for Andrew's first go on a real bicycle. Although Ryan and I could have easily joined, Ryan has been suffering from yet another nasty cold, so we opted to stay back in the coziness of home.

After the bike ride, they took a walk on the beach and did some stone-throwing into the Med before taking a break to eat a peanut butter and jam sandwich made with love by Daddy!

Forgot one...CRAFTS

One more thing I have begun doing with Andrew is crafts. Most people know I am about the least artsy, craftsy person out there, and growing up, we spent far more of our free time doing sports and outdoor play. But I have come to really enjoy creating little mastercrafts with Andrew and the one in the photo is a crayon that we made to hold his crayons! It was made using an empty toilet paper roll, a sheet of paper, a kitchen sponge (for the eraser/lid) and crayons. We got this idea (and several others) from a little kids craft show on BBC Beebies which is shown daily on one of our new satellite tv channels.

Baby Ryan's first meal

As hard as I tried to hold out til the 6 month mark (for food allergy reasons, it's highly recommended to keep your baby exclusively on breastmilk for the first 6 months), I gave in this weekend and gave Ryan his first bit of rice cereal. (and Andrew was right in there to help!) I knew he was ready, he showed all the signs, not to mention the way he stared at every single thing I put in my mouth and more importantly, the way he began nursing at a rate of (what felt like) a thousand times throughout the day and night. To date, we have tried the cereal and mashed bananas. Both with success. (if you can't tell by the photo, he's actually smiling while eating his first solids!) Unlike with Andrew, where admittedly, I fed him almost exclusively on store bought purees for the early stages (largely due to the extensive travelling we were doing at the time he began solids), I am making all of Ryan's food myself. I bought a REALLY cool gadget secondhand from one of my friends, that does all the steaming, blending and heating in one unit. So far, I have made apples, pears and carrots, froze them in ice cube trays and have placed the cubes in freezer bags. Already, I have enough food to last about a month, but will make more soon, to expand the variety (sweet potato, zuchini, peas, etc. etc.). Unfortunately, we'll have to rely on the store-bought jars for our trip, so I'll have to give him a bit of those in the interim to assure he doesn't develop an aversion to the non-homemade stuff.
I have already observed the change in poops and it is a very welcome one, after spending months of soaking countless clothing articles covered in mustard-coloured poop stains that seemed to occur in nearly every poop he took and went all the way up his back, sometimes approaching his neck! This little guy sure had his share of explosive poops and I remember this occurring with Andrew from time to time but nothing like Ryan. I tried different brands of diapers, consulted the internet and even asked the experts at Ryan's creche. And they all just informed me that some babies have more explosive poops than others. I think Ryan took the first prize on his!

Baby Ryan loves the show

As I said earlier, Baby Ryan is totally entertained by watching Andrew. He is ALWAYS happy as long as he is included in the show. So, we bring him along wherever we go and he observes it all (and sometimes helps as in with the laundry as seen in the photo below). I am a very strong believer in baby accessories and we have them all! Though we have "stuff" EVERYWHERE, and everywhere we walk, we trip over something musical or bulky, there is just no place more comfortable than HOME with a little baby around.

Playing with animals

These little animals are the single most played with toys, and I think to date, the ONLY ones that have never lost their appeal. He's gone through phases of trucks and fire engines and tractors and tools and all sorts of other boy toys, but he is NEVER bored of his animals. Of course the highly preferred ones are the lions and tigers but he's got every single animal on the planet and they all get their share of play time. I bought these animals at a flea market, at the end of the day, the guy was just willing to get rid of them, so I got the whole lot, at least 300 of them, for 5 euros (including the bag they came in which is worth a few euros in itself)! The collection has since expanded, thanks to gifts from family members. I am still pulling new ones out of the bag when a little "motivation" is needed...sometimes in the morning before school, or sometimes just as a reward for good behaviour. Whenever I am busy with other things, making dinner, giving Ryan a bath, whatever, he brings along a few of these animals and just plays along side, talking non-stop to the animals, making animal noises, and frankly, just being utterly adorable. The best thing about these toys is that they are so easily transportable. They come in the car, on the train, in the airplane, the doctor's waiting area, you name it, they join us!

So, there you have it. This is how we spend our days at home, whether you were interested in it or not! Perhaps this was more for Robert's benefit, who always asks what we did all day. We also spend a lot of time in the kitchen, as Andrew loves to help cook and bake. And even though I go through countless eggs landing on the floor, etc., I still let him crack them himself and by the time we are done with our meal or baked goods, the kitchen is a complete disaster! But anyway, I seriously find the days are flying by, and Robert walks in the door from work before we know it. I LOVE this time. I LOVE my boys. There is not a single moment that we are bored, and I view these times as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I am so happy, and lucky to be experiencing.

Drawing

I'm SO proud of the big little guy's newly acquired ability to draw a "bonhomme" (little person). He did these two all by himself. We taped the top picture to the outside of the entrance door so that Daddy would see his present as soon as he came home from work yesterday. The bottom one is for Steven, one of our good friends and a colleague of Robert's, who is so generous with the boys and bought Andrew a really cool transformer man for Christmas, which he just received when they came to dinner a short while ago. It is extremely important to me that Andrew remains grateful for all that he is given, and therefore, we send personalized thank you pictures for each gift that is received. When the time comes that he is able to write himself, I will ensure that his own thank you note be written himself.

We're pretty sure the big little guy is a lefty...a little unique considering nobody on either side of the family is left-handed.

Doctor Andrew

This is definitely one of Andrew's favourite "games" to play. Santa scored big with this gift...and Abuela scored too with the personalized lab coat and related accessories. I need not say who Andrew's favourite patient is!

Reading

Andrew LOVES books. He studies each picture intensely. When he's finished looking at the book, he then asks me to read it to him. He definitely has his selected favourites...he reads certain ones over and over and has zero interest in others. Of course, any book that has animals in it is usually a hit. This is a nice QUIET activity when I'm in need of some peace! The noise level in the house at all other times is enough to make me go deaf!

Puzzle time

Although he's by no means independent with all of our 20+ piece puzzles, he's getting better every day. And we finish each puzzle with our "puzzle dance", dancing around like mad men yelling "BINGO"!!!

...and our latest play-dough masterpiece

...an alien to befriend the one Aunty Susie sent

Fun with play-dough