Ruby and her Oma having a little tea party.
She wears these well, but I just can't talk her into polishing them yet.
And more from the photo shoot at the princess castle the other day.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Photos
Really I guess I don't need an excuse or a story of some sort to post pictures of my favorite girls.
Ruby and her Oma having a little tea party.
She wears these well, but I just can't talk her into polishing them yet.
And more from the photo shoot at the princess castle the other day.
Ruby and her Oma having a little tea party.
She wears these well, but I just can't talk her into polishing them yet.
And more from the photo shoot at the princess castle the other day.
No More Princess Castle
So Ruby loves castles. She calls them "princess castles", thanks in part I'm sure to our good friends at Disney, but sometimes even a nice cathedral will suffice as far as she's concerned. While Sina and I have been quite morose about having to leave Paris soon, perhaps we should have been a little more worried about Ruby going through castle withdrawal. This past weekend, when Ruby said "ready for go to castle princess", we happily obliged and took her to Vaux-le-Vicomte (you linguists out there may notice that her sentence structure there is suprisingly close to how you might say this in french - maybe we've been speaking the wrong language to her all this time!). Anyway, Vaux-le-Vicomte is a few miles southeast of Paris, and for you celebrity watchers, was where Eva Longoria and Tony Parker had their wedding party last summer. Anyway, Ruby LOVED it, and I think it's now my favorite chateau. Being the sort of father who's never, ever been guilty of spoiling his daughter, I immediately started scheming to arrange for Ruby's wedding reception to be there too, until Sina found somewhere on the internet that it costs something like $45,000 an hour to rent. Hey, princesses don't need to go to college, right?
Then on Sunday evening we had President Uchtdorf here for a fireside, which was held in a conference hall across the street from the chateau at Versailles. Chalk another one up for Ruby's weekend.
(Ok, so we cheated with this picture, it's from last fall, but you get the idea.)
And then we really cheated on Monday, and went to Disneyland Paris, where of course Ruby happily enjoyed yet another princess castle.
So the question is, what in the world will we do to satisfy her obsession once we leave here???
Then on Sunday evening we had President Uchtdorf here for a fireside, which was held in a conference hall across the street from the chateau at Versailles. Chalk another one up for Ruby's weekend.
(Ok, so we cheated with this picture, it's from last fall, but you get the idea.)
And then we really cheated on Monday, and went to Disneyland Paris, where of course Ruby happily enjoyed yet another princess castle.
So the question is, what in the world will we do to satisfy her obsession once we leave here???
Monday, May 12, 2008
What do you do when...?
What do you do when you have a two week old baby and are recovering from major abdominal surgery? You road trip to the South of France, of course!!
Cassis, on the Mediterranean
Avignon, Papal Palace. And yes, I was able to climb to the top of the observation tower to take the last picture!
Pont du Gard, Roman Aqueduct
Cassis, on the Mediterranean
Avignon, Papal Palace. And yes, I was able to climb to the top of the observation tower to take the last picture!
Pont du Gard, Roman Aqueduct
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Introducing Gavin William
I haven't had much time to update the post lately, but have been reminded by a few readers that I have failed to introduce our new arrival, leaving some in the dark regarding our final decision on names and labor/delivery details.
I labored on and off for four days, trying for a natural delivery, hoping not to have another c-section. But, the baby never descended, which led my doctor to to fear the cord was wrapped around the baby preventing him from making his debut, despite heavy contractions (he turned out to be right, Gavin ad the cord wrapped around his neck). On April 15, Nate and I packed our bags for the final time (we had been in and out of the maternity ward for three days) and headed to the American Hospital of Paris for an overnight stay to insure I fasted before the scheduled c-section the next morning. At 7am they began to prep me for surgery, which was uncomfortable in that the French do not respect the idea of modesty in hospital situations.
I was taken to pre-op, a stainless steel room which operated like an assembly line for those scheduled for surgery. Once I entered the operating room I was greeted by my anaesthesiologist who, in accordance with French law, I had met with previously to insure my candidacy for anaesthesia. I remember loving that part of my prior c-section, but this time I felt the needle go in, which sent me into a total panic attack and a bit of hyper-ventilation, which was exacerbated by the fact that I had a terrible head cold. They used morphine, and while I am not sure of the true side effects, that stuff made me almost entirely out of it. I vaguely remember details after the morphine: First, a nurse asking me, in French, if my last name was the family name for the baby, which it is not, so I had to spell out the last name-again in French, and was very proud of my drug induce capacity with the French language. Second, Nate entering the room, rubbing my head to calm me down, and then asking me if I was ok or if I FELT it, which freaked me out and we are certain I then passed out. Third, a discussion of my snoring by the doctors and my husband. That's right, I fell asleep while on the operating table. Fourth, the doctor lowering the curtain to show me Gavin. I was so out of it that I lifted my head enough to see his lower body only, so I only saw his feet and the umbilical cord. Finally, I remember him screaming, and screaming, and screaming to which I thought-- "Fantastic, he isn't a morning person!!"
From that point, I was sent to a recovery area for two hours. As I tried to wake up, I was uncontrollably itchy. Another side effect of the morphine. This isn't what is used for epidurals in the States, is it? I then was wheeled to my room, where after what I would say was another hour I finally held my baby. Nate had been with him in the nursery while I was in the recovery room.
Immediately, we tried to come up with a name for him. Under French law we had only 72 hours to register him with the local Mairie. We tried calling him Henry. It just wasn't happening. William was nice, and it seemed to work all right, but we weren't feeling the love. And I was over Axel. Finally, the night before we had to register him, Nate asked "How about Gavin?" It was a name we both wanted to use before we knew Ruby was going to be a girl, but had not mentioned for some reason through out this pregnancy. It was perfect.
Ruby was infatuated from the first time she met him. For her, I believe, it was truly love at first sight. She was delighted with this baby, showering him with lots of kisses and begging to hold him.
He sleeps 4-5 hours every night, rarely complains about anything, and makes us feel like our little family is finally complete.
I labored on and off for four days, trying for a natural delivery, hoping not to have another c-section. But, the baby never descended, which led my doctor to to fear the cord was wrapped around the baby preventing him from making his debut, despite heavy contractions (he turned out to be right, Gavin ad the cord wrapped around his neck). On April 15, Nate and I packed our bags for the final time (we had been in and out of the maternity ward for three days) and headed to the American Hospital of Paris for an overnight stay to insure I fasted before the scheduled c-section the next morning. At 7am they began to prep me for surgery, which was uncomfortable in that the French do not respect the idea of modesty in hospital situations.
I was taken to pre-op, a stainless steel room which operated like an assembly line for those scheduled for surgery. Once I entered the operating room I was greeted by my anaesthesiologist who, in accordance with French law, I had met with previously to insure my candidacy for anaesthesia. I remember loving that part of my prior c-section, but this time I felt the needle go in, which sent me into a total panic attack and a bit of hyper-ventilation, which was exacerbated by the fact that I had a terrible head cold. They used morphine, and while I am not sure of the true side effects, that stuff made me almost entirely out of it. I vaguely remember details after the morphine: First, a nurse asking me, in French, if my last name was the family name for the baby, which it is not, so I had to spell out the last name-again in French, and was very proud of my drug induce capacity with the French language. Second, Nate entering the room, rubbing my head to calm me down, and then asking me if I was ok or if I FELT it, which freaked me out and we are certain I then passed out. Third, a discussion of my snoring by the doctors and my husband. That's right, I fell asleep while on the operating table. Fourth, the doctor lowering the curtain to show me Gavin. I was so out of it that I lifted my head enough to see his lower body only, so I only saw his feet and the umbilical cord. Finally, I remember him screaming, and screaming, and screaming to which I thought-- "Fantastic, he isn't a morning person!!"
From that point, I was sent to a recovery area for two hours. As I tried to wake up, I was uncontrollably itchy. Another side effect of the morphine. This isn't what is used for epidurals in the States, is it? I then was wheeled to my room, where after what I would say was another hour I finally held my baby. Nate had been with him in the nursery while I was in the recovery room.
Immediately, we tried to come up with a name for him. Under French law we had only 72 hours to register him with the local Mairie. We tried calling him Henry. It just wasn't happening. William was nice, and it seemed to work all right, but we weren't feeling the love. And I was over Axel. Finally, the night before we had to register him, Nate asked "How about Gavin?" It was a name we both wanted to use before we knew Ruby was going to be a girl, but had not mentioned for some reason through out this pregnancy. It was perfect.
Ruby was infatuated from the first time she met him. For her, I believe, it was truly love at first sight. She was delighted with this baby, showering him with lots of kisses and begging to hold him.
He sleeps 4-5 hours every night, rarely complains about anything, and makes us feel like our little family is finally complete.
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