Life With One Baby

Here's what I've been doing most of the time Estelle has been gone:
Hugging my baby. Ridiculous but true.

Lots of cuddling and in return, you get this:


On Sunday morning Léna went to the beach for the first time ever in her little life:
This is her new anti-UV beach tent, courtesy of Uncle Riri (grandfather to Annaelle whom you saw playing with Estelle in my last post). It took us one hour the night before to figure out how it folds up. It unfolds at lightning speed, almost took my eye out the first time.
We never had one of these tents for Estelle since she was way too young during the heatwave summer of 2006 (having been born mid-July) to even consider the Rivieria beaches. But Léna, born at the end of April, is robust enough to take it for an hour.


We arrived at 8:30 a.m. and an hour later we started packing up to leave at 9:30. But we did takes turns in the water, which was like heaven. Though there were fish around my feet which wigged me out - like Léna's onesie that day - one fish, two fish......We brought out tea thermos, our bananas and yogurt and enjoyed people watching in the sunshine. Delightful. At that hour it's only the old people and the leathery tan-fiends so it's pretty funny. Meanwhile, hangin' in the tent.....Last week on Wednesday I went to nearby Grasse and hooked up with Melanie/Emmanuel/Maxence and new baby Berenice, down from Paris.
Somehow Maxence eluded my camera but here is Berenice, born 2 weeks before Léna at an impressive 11 pounds and 3.5 ounces. YOWZA. Léna's 8lbs3.5 looks measely in comparison, and Estelle's 6lbs10 almost laughable.

And yet now Léna weighs as much if not more than her. At the end of the afternoon Thomas came and joined us. We had a lovely BBQ topped off with a fruit tarte I made us. Here's Melanie with 2 men who have 2 daughters each that look just like them:
Here's 2 women with 2 daughters who look nothing like them:
Oh well! We have a rendez-vous on Monday once Estelle returns to reunite Estelle and Maxence. Should be fun.
And once again I'll close with a video that shows Léna doing her thing and has an audio track of me being a moron. Watch at your own boredom risk.

Estelle's Antics

Wondering what Estelle's been up to? Here's a glimpse, courtesy of Guy (Papy):
After leaving us in Provence, Estelle spent 2 nights in the Cantal/Auvergne in a little village called Calvinet where both Guy and Andrée were born, and where they still have properties. The once-renovated barn, their primary residence there, is undergoing a large-scale expansion/renovation, which is why we are not spending our August holidays there as we did last yr and in 2006. But it makes a good pit-stop on the way to Angers, so Estelle got to see the construction site and see her 2nd cousin Annaelle, whose mom is 9 months preggo. Annaelle was a 2 wk old baby at our French wedding.

Then on Tuesday they drove up to Angers. Estelle has been having a great time doing lots of fun things. Playing in a tent:

Feeding the dolly:
And a visit from TaTa Agnes! She zipped down from Paris on the train for the wkend to visit her goddaughter and niece! Check them out enjoying Estelle's new swing!
Frankly I think Agnes looks like a movie star in these photos!

Bubbles!
Time to cook! It was very hot there this weekend - 34 degrees celcius, or 93.5 F! HOT!
Estelle left us speaking 100% in English but now over the phone and webcam it's mostly French. Though whenever I say 'How are you?" she hollers "Good!".
To be continued.....

One If By Land, Two If By Sea

Longfellow's poem about Paul Revere (click here) really has nothing to do with my summer but it seems an apropro title for this post. I'm still playing "catchup" with photos from our trip to Vermont.

So where were we....We left off with our 4 days in New Hampshire visiting Mom and Lisa, etc. We came back to VT and the next day, Friday July 10th, was a stunningly lovely New England summer day. We went to Shadow Lake Beach and hung out with Heather and Darlene while the boys were in their swimming lessons.
So, Shadow Lake may not be the "sea", but there certainly were "two" little cousins playing well together "by" the sea (as opposed to attacking via the sea as the poem goes...). I should add that it was all silent, but they smiled a lot.
It's a lot of pictures, but it's to show that there was a lot of playing going on!









Somewhere in there Estelle jumped into some action with some other older girls...
You can really see how it was just a beautiful day at the beach....
Messy Messy and Lovin' It!

That afternoon I moved our "operation" next door from Wes' to Joan's and we went for a walk to check out the surroundings of our new digs. As it was such a beautiful day, the farmer's were out haying to beat the ban. My 2nd cousin Brian Perron was baleing (sp?) in the field above Joan's. Estelle, like any kid, thought this was quite cool to watch.
This is our "One if by Land" part- I did think of a farmer and all those hours spent alone haying.... Or it could be Estelle, one lone kid running around in a field.


Brian stopped the tractor and offered Estelle a ride, but she silently declined with a furrowed brow and a scowl. He was probably relieved.

Fascinated by the rows of cut hay about to be rolled up and baled.
Red clover, VT state flower ( photo posted once before).



I tried to show her how you can suck on the ends of the clover "petals" and that they are sweet. She was having nothing of it.
We spent the weekend calmly doing not much at Joan's, settling into our new home and seeing how many pairs of scrapbooking craft scissors Estelle could use simultaneously. I spent Sunday getting ready to dump my kids on my sister-in-law/niece duo team Jeanne and Lizzy up in Derby for the day on Monday so I could drive to Montreal and pick up Thomas. (the next installment).
For the moment I should mention it is Assumption today here in France (August 15th), and so a national holiday - but as it falls on a Saturday pretty much everybody gets "gipped", so they are all grumpy about that. Hilarious.
We are still really enjoying some one-on-one time with each other and with Léna, with whom I am completely smitten. I am turning into a sap in my old age. I just want to cuddle and cuddle! Yech! Totally not my style, but I can't help it! Meanwhile, Estelle is having the time of her life up in Angers. Yesterday she called to say she got 4 pairs of new shoes. Every girl's dream trip!
For grandmothers and aunts - a VERY boring long 3 minute video of quiet....

No Estelle Day #2

Last night when Thomas walked in the door, Miles Davis was on and a glass of chilled rosé awaited. We both said, after having eaten and cleaned up by 8:15, "isn't this easy"? It's like having an only child again - one that is a baby.
And she's cute all right, even if she does look like Alfalfa from Little Rascals:

This morning we had a play date (for which I took no photos? what's the matter with me - I'm slipping!) and my friend Emilie came with her 6 month old Ines AND her 3 yr old Noah. Let's put it this way - she's jealous of my current "vacation". I forgot, in just 2 days, how much work a 3 yr old is!

A Weekend in Provence

Saturday morning we drove to Salon-de-Provence, a town in between Aix and Avignon. Here we rendez-vous'd at Thomas' aunt & uncle's house with his parents so as to "hand off" Estelle for 2 weeks. We stayed the night and came back to Nice with just Lena Sunday.
A few shots:
Estelle on Papy's shoulders with Uncle Dédé
Picking cherry tomatoes with TaTa Yvette
Léna trying on one of her many gifts she received in a new "shipment" from Angers/Calvinet...
Enjoying "cornet de creme", all completely made from scratch by Yvette. One word: Unbelievable.
Those cones look small, but they were big in delightfulness. I had more than my share.

Lena enjoyed sleeping in this iron bed which was used by her grandmother (Andrée), Yvette, and the 3 brothers in that family. It has been lovingly restored. It is charming. So is Léna in her Ben & Jerry's onesie.
Don't worry we blocked the sides with stuff so she wouldn't get stuck in between.
Manou enjoys feeding Léna her nighttime bottle (which I had pumped while stuck in traffic on the autoroute earlier!)
Dinner out on the veranda....
Tradition in France is to toast a new baby with champagne. I am as excited as I look. It was some top notch champagne! Dédé's wine cellar is something to revere.
It should be noted that our visit to Salon also encompassed me meeting up with some family! My grandmother's second cousin, who is only 61 years old, is presently touring around France with her husband on bicycles.
Lin and Seph live in Oregon. I had never met them. They were long lost until 4 years ago when a man whose hobby it is to research photographs he finds in Antique shops connected them and us. It's all quite remarkable and complicated so suffice to say there were many Salmons and Stones up in heaven grinning away Saturday at noontime as I picniked with Lin, to whom I am a 2nd cousin twice removed.
Here they are, riding away to Avignon, their next stop. What a treat to get to meet!

And now here we are back in Nice, Estelle-less. It is bizarre. Last night after Léna went down at 7:00 we sort of wandered around the apartment giggling and not knowing what to do with ourselves as normally it's time to feed, bathe, chase and entertain Her Highness. I know she is having a blast and getting LOTS of attention.
Here's Lena with her friend Louise: