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.

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???

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

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.

Wordless Wednesday

Better Late Than Never

Some family traditions simply cannot be explained.

Pinkalicious

Our friends recently brought Ruby a book called "Pinkalicious." For those of you who do not have a child obsessed with all things pink, it is about a little girl who recounts her rainy-day adventure with pink cupcakes, which she ate and ate until she turned pink herself. "I'm Pinkerbelle!" she sings, crying tears of delight as she admires her raspberry-hued complexion. Her mom takes her straight to the doctor, who prescribes lots of green food. But she cannot resist another cupcake or two, and her delicate pink skin tone deepens to an angry red! Horrors. She proceeds to choke down everything green she can find.

It was instantly Ruby's favorite (she had to sleep with it that night). To make the most of this new found love in her life, we had a pink day today. We dressed in pink, painted our nails pink, and in honor of Pinkalicious herself, we made pink cupcakes. She was in heaven.

Then and Now

You may remember these pictures of Ruby taken in front of the Eiffel Tower nearly a year ago. We recently had pictures taken in the same location and I can't believe how much she has grown!






And since I haven't posted any pictures of me preggers, here is a pic of Ruby and I together at Trocadero.

Movin' on up...

We've tried to claim that we're the same down to earth people we've always been, and that nearly two years of life in Paris has not made us all uppity and elitist. Sina just tonight provided ample proof to the contrary. She was telling me about how she would make entire meals in college out of Triscuits and a can of E-Z Cheese. Hadn't even tasted so much as a nice Gouda before the age of 21. This tale came just a few minutes after she chided me for not properly slicing the block of Basque sheep cheese (that's fromage de brebis for you frencho-phones out there) I bought at an outdoor market the other day in a little country village near here. She was still eating it on Triscuits, but that's only because our neighborhood bakery had quit selling baguettes for the evening...

Behold, the reason sheep were invented:

Disney Princesses: Follow-up Post

Many of you have already seen these ads, some of you have not. But, when I received this month's edition of Vanity Fair, I was thrilled with the timeliness of the Disney ads that were featured: celebrity recreations of both Jasmine and Pocahontas. As I mentioned I always took it as a compliment when I got the "You look like Jasmine" comment, and this ad featuring my celebrity girl crush of nearly 10 years solidified that belief. But, a Latina as an Arabian/Hindi/Persian princess further adds to my generic ethnicity issues with the Disney branding. But whatever, doesn't JLo look fantastic. I think she and Marc Anthony should remake "A Whole New World". I would pay $1 for it on iTunes for sure!


And here is Jessica Biel as Pocahontas. I looked it up on imdb.com and apparently, way back she has Choctaw ancestors. But in the end, she is pretty much a Whitey McWhiterson.

I Hope They Call Me On a Mission??

Let's Hear it for the Boy

Over the last eight months we have deliberated baby names. If we were having a girl, we would have difficulty narrowing our options, but for a boy-- we are calling on you for help. This is your big chance to give out recommendations, and with as many opinionated friends as I have, I expect several people want to make their voices heard. Here are some basic rules to warn you what I/we will automatically strike down without further consideration:

1. TRENDY: Aiden, Kaden, Jaden, Jackson. If it has been anywhere near the top ten list over the last five years-- it just won't do.
2. Alliteration: We will not have the same initials in our first name as our last name.
3. In general we will be avoiding any names beginning with the letter B. Figure it out yourself.

For once in my life, I am open to suggestions, yes even yours mom, given they fit within the basic parameters established above. Come on, all you cyber stalkers out there who don't regularly comment, give it your best shot. Our posterity depends upon it.

And many of you may find this website of Utah baby names quite entertaining. If the name you recommend is located on this web page, we probably won't use it either.

Road Trip

We took another trip to Germany this weekend to visit the LDS Temple in Frankfurt where we were reminded that Germans, despite their shared border with the French have an entirely different culture--one that demands order and timeliness--at all costs.


Our friends Dave and Leslie joined us on this 6.5 hour adventure, crammed in the backseat with a demanding 2 year old who insisted that Leslie read to her, and draw for her, and count for her, and find her blanket (actually I think Dave ended up climbing into the back of the wagon for that one), and get her food, and had it been physically possible, do back flips and cartwheels. Since Leslie couldn't perform these physical acts, Ruby's well loved Kiki was put up to the task and even was dressed for the performance.


We also had a chance to visit World War I sites near Verdun. And while we like to believe we are history buffs, we were amazed at just how little we actually know about the battles and events surrounding this war. The original Battle of Verdun, that is, the one that took place between the Germans and the French before the Americans got involved, lasted for 10 months. According to one account, it resulted in the use of 60 million artillery shells, the deaths of 300,000 soldiers and wounding 450,000 more.

Our first stop was in the small town of Souilly, southwest of Verdun. Nate's grandfather (no-- I didn't forget to add "great" to that grandfather) was in the mounted military police, and was assigned to direct the military traffic in this small farming town, which operated as headquarters for both the French and the American military.



We often found ourselves stumbling upon huge monuments like the one below, completely unaware of their significance and purpose. Thankfully, we have since discovered more information on the internet.

This is L'Ossuarie de Douaumont, a 46 meter high "Tour de Morts", or tower of death. It is located on the hillside of the village which was completely destroyed during the war. The tower is shaped like an artillery shell and the tombs within the monument contain the remains of 130,000 unidentified soldiers.


La tranchée des baïonnettes, or bayonet trench, seemed like it would offer us the opportunity to precariously walk through the infamous trenches. Instead it was a monument, in memory of soldiers of the French 137th regiment. Historian Alistair Horne describes the events as follows,

It was not until after the war that French teams exploring the battlefield provided a clue as to the fate of 3 Company. The trench it had occupied was discovered completely filled in, but from a part of it at regular intervals protruded rifles, with bayonets still fixed to their twisted and rusty muzzles, On excavation, a corpse was found beneath each rifle. From that plus the testimony of survivors from nearby units, it was deduced that 3 Company had placed its rifles on the parapet ready to repel any attack and rather than abandon their trench had been buried alive by the German bombardment. When the story of the Tranche des Baionnettes was told it caught the world's imagination.

However, the actual events are the subject of great historical controversy. Today, crosses mark the locations where soldiers were found.




This picture illustrates the intense degree of bombardment that has left its permanent mark on the landscape. If you look closely you can see the numerous craters left by the artillery shells.


This is the American Memorial at Montfaucon, a 200 foot column, commemorating the American victory during the Meuse-Argonne offensive. A statue representing liberty stands at the top of this monument. One of the most famous stories of World War I is that of the 77th "Liberty" division from New York, most often referred to as the Lost Battalion. Of the 600 men who marched into this part of the Argonne forest only 200 walked out after five days of being trapped by enemy forces. If you are interested in more information on this battalion, I highly recommend checking out the movie of the same name starring Rick Schroeder.


Behind the memorial are the remains of a monastary, established in the 6th century, and finally shelled to ruins in the Battle of Montfaucon.



Finally, we visited the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, the largest American military cemetery in Europe with the graves of over 14,000 soldiers. Fighting took place all around the location of this cemetery, with the land where the graves now stand changing hands several times. After the war, the bodies of American soldiers were brought here from all over Europe. It even holds the remains of soldiers killed in Archangel, Russia, where American soldiers were sent to fight in the Russian civil war against the Bolsheviks (You mean you didn't cover this in your high school history class? Click here for a bit more on this VERY obscure little story). Sadly, with all this history waiting to be discovered, last year only 25,000 visitors came here, compared to the over 2 million that visited the cemetery in Normandy.