Girls and Gifts

So there's been some clamouring for photos of Léna....here she is:




Today we got a fabulous gift package from my old friend Jane. It had a Dr. Seuss theme, which Estelle LOVED! She knows "The Cat in the Hat" so it was a big hit.
Here's Estelle opening loads of presents for her alone. We haven't even opened the ones for Léna yet.


This is one happy little child:
And a quick little video:

Sunday Party!

Sunday morning we went to Noah's house for his birthday party. It was also French Mother's Day. We had a great time. Here are a bunch of photos:
Food corner:
All those platters are full of "Farci", which is roasted vegetables stuffed with ground meat and spices. A Nicoise specialty. Emilie's grandmother made all of them, and made the "farce" (the stuffing) herself. Thomas also makes these but he buys the farce at the butcher.
Look at the glee in the pool:
Thomas, beer in hand, explains the finer points to the birthday boy.
Louise (sister to Eva, daughter to Marie and Ludovic), born March 7:
Girls with hats:

The Dad corner. Where Thomas is imitating a monkey? no just kidding
Later in the afternoon Fransiska came with Eliott:
Have no clue what Marie and I are doing in this photo. That other man is holding Ines, Noah's little sister, daughter to Emilie and Jerome, born January 24th.
Sylvianne and I watching over Louise (not our kid!)
See that guy in black? That's the man who put together all this stuff and inflated everything, Jerome:
Here's Thomas wondering what to eat next:
This is the sports corner, and beyond that is the tool bench.
This is the kitchenette corner. Most of this stuff ended up in the pool later.
Eva and Estelle "en grimpant" (climbing).Estelle, Pauline & Noah enjoy the FlavorIce that I brought for the kids. This is called "Mister Freeze" over here (the name is English!)
Philippe rediscovers his youth...
The nursing corner in the shade. Everyone made fun of me for showing up with my collapsible chair complete with a beverage pocket but OH weren't they all fighting over it!
The view from Emilie & Jerome's - in fact that is the Nice airport runways you see:
This became the "First Aid Tent". These girls loved playing ER.
Here's the Baby Corner. That's Nils on the mat - son of Sylvianne and Philippe and brother to Pauline. He was born Feb 21st.
Birthday boy Noah getting ready to blow out the candles.
Warming up in the sun:
This waterside was our joint gift to Noah. It was a smash hit!
This was the "please baby, go to sleep" corner. Léna is in this little cocoon - can you see her leg? Born April 28th, she was the youngest one there.
The Water Activity Corner - look at Estelle and Pauline both flinging themselves in at the same time:
Mother to the bday boy - Emilie:
And back home, Daddy got to spend the afternoon after naptime (for ALL of us!) making Lego Man. Legos are what Estelle wants to do all the time now. Today she spent 30 minutes playing in complete silence.
Here's Estelle showing you her messy mouth and big belly:

6 weeks

Léna is 6 weeks old today - time is flying by!
I've got stories to tell and photos to share - but not enough time in the day....
Stay tuned for more updates. Here's a few not very great photos of the 2 leggy sisters - but it's all I can put up for the moment.

Old Friends

Remember these shots from last year in late June?:
Above: Sylvianne & Pauline, Eliott & F, Isabelle holding Alessandro and yours truly. Both Sylvianne and Isabelle were expecting at this point - I was just in the plotting stage!
Below: Pauline & Estelle back then. (I laughed when I dug up these photos today to see that Estelle wore the same top last night as she was wearing in this photo below LAST June!)
Pauline's Dad Philippe monitoring the troops at Eliott's 2nd bday party last summer....
Well, Pauline and her parents Sylvianne and Philippe moved last summer to the Lyon area, but they are visiting Nice this week and so we had a small reunion last night here at our apartment. Things were W-I-L-D. Toys everywhere, blocks strewn about, fake plastic food being served and stepped on. Real peanuts and potato chips getting smushed under little bare feet. Hilarious chaos. Boy did they have fun!



Eliott was in his element!
After Eliott was ripped away and taken home, Estelle and Pauline played "you're sick, I'm sick" for about 35 minutes. Incredible. The little bench became the doctor's table, and they exchanged roles every 52 seconds. Over and over and over. The photo below shows Estelle administering some kind of shot (or resussication paddles?) to Pauline's stomach using 2 caps from mini Bonne Maman jam jars, hidden under her pudgy little palms.

Meanwhile, Pauline's new little brother, Nils, was born in late February and is like a line-backer already. Check him out on Sylvianne's lap next to scrawny Léna (who is ridiculously long for her age, comme sa maman!)

After everyone left, time to stand in someone else's shoes. Literally.

After cleaning up and getting our 2 to bed, Thomas went to play hockey at 8:30 and I ate a bowl of cereal while watching Desperate Housewives in English on cable! Phew!