Briefly Noted: Our trip to Pau

Hi All! So we went to see Olivier's brother in Pau, and though we were very glad to see them and the Pyrenees, we all got very sick and decided to come back to Bordeaux and not go on a road trip. Ella is okay, but she got her very first bad cold and saw the doctor twice. But all is well now. Here are some pics of Ella and her cousins, and with her daddy.

Postcards from Bordeaux

Bonjour from Bordeaux, Olivier's hometown. It's been kind of gloomy and rainy everyday, but Ella has been bonding with her Mami and Papi. They love her even though she looks nothing like their son, and despite her being brown like me. Kidding... they have been absolutely great with her, and of course with me as they have always been. And no worries, I'm not loosing weight, Oli's mom makes sure I am eating well and is constantly cooking especially for me since I'm so picky. Speaking of being picky, Ella is already turning into a 'pickytarian' as Oli calls me. We are having the hardest time getting her to eat the simplest foods that she started eating months ago. She not even that much of fan of fruit. She makes this face like she's eating a bitter lemon and then she gags. But I was told to just keep trying (thanks Jo). I'm sure Amber is eating 4 course meals by now (don't know Amber? Check our my Halloween post). Not that I'm comparing, because I love Amber and her family (shout out to the Renthals!) but I wish my baby would advance a little. Speaking of advancing, Ella is going forward on the mobility front. She has no interest in crawling or really turning over and over, but all she really wants to do is stand up and is trying to walk. We have her walking with us holding just one of her hands. She's just learning and looses her balance sometimes. I guess inheriting mostly from my gene pool isn't so bad, she has my spanish bottom so she has some cushioning when she falls=0) Here are some pics of Ella during her first visit. We are off to visit Oli's brother in Pau. !

Ella travels to France

So we made it to France in one piece and with all our American sized luggage. That was fun trying to get taxi cabs and getting on the train with all our Mcluggage in tow. I know that this picture is not the best quality, but this is Ella's first flight crossing the Atlantic. We flew out on the red eye from Philly and I had this fantasy that Ella would sleep thru the flight and not be jet lagged in France. I hate to admit it, but she slept 2 hours of the 6 hour flight. She didn't cry at all, we just entertained her for 4 hours. And for the 2 hours she did sleep, I was trying to make her feel comfortable while she slept so I didn't rest. So needless to say, I was exhausted after the flight, and that first night she didn't go to sleep until 4 am. But Ella has finally adjusted to the time and is sleeping in her own bed! For those of you who didn't know, Ella refused to sleep alone. She still wakes up a couple of times because her paci falls out of her mouth, but she is doing well. Olivier says that I'm suffering more than Ella now that she sleeps by herself. It seems to me that my infant is slowly turning into a very independent baby, and needing me less and less. Now I know how my mom felt when I left for college.

In Case you missed it...

I don't think that many of you saw Ella in her Halloween costume. We had the pleasure of spending the holiday with Will and Nora's family. This is Ella and Amber in their costumes. I never thought that I would be that mom at Party City at 5pm on Halloween, trying to buy the last infant costume the store had. It was either the pea or Yoda. I thought it would be better to explain to Ella why she was a bean on her 1st Halloween rather than a gremlin looking monster. Did I mention that Amber's costume was carefully handmade over weeks by her MD/Phd student mother??? I should really get started on next year's costume=0)

Finally An Update

I know... we moved... and I didn't say goodbye to any of you as I would have like to. Sorry, I just hate goodbyes. No excuses, but I promise to keep up with our blog. So here's a recap. The week of Thanksgiving was spent in Philadelphia, trying to find a place to live. We did find 2 bed/2 bath, in an area of town called 'Queen Village.' It seems like a nice area, its really different from Dallas. You walk everywhere, cafes and bakeries around the corner. After we decided on an apt, we walked around our new hood, and I found a vet office right across the street and a pediatrics office 2 blocks down. So I was officially convinced that this was going to be okay. DID I MENTION I WAS ILL PREPARED FOR THE COLD??? Now I know why I looked like an eskimo in most of my childhood pics of living in Brooklyn. Apparently I won't be able to wear flipflops year-round. It was good idea to pick up that 2-pack of socks before I left, since I WAS WEARING BOTH OF THEM AT THE SAME TIME in this picture! No worries, I have since purchased more, so don't send socks --I can totally see my dad and mom trying to send me socks express international mail. Other than that I did get to have turkey on Thanksgiving from Whole Foods. And for the record, I still think they suck even in Philly. Picture me finishing turkey with mashed potatoes and a side of sprite, when I go to open up my pumpkin pie, that even had Redi-Whip waiting, and to my surprise (was I really surprised? no) there is FREAKING MOLD growing on it! The sell by date was for 2 days later. Actually despite my irritation, Thanksgiving turned out to be perfect, the weather was really nice-the high was 71. We took Ella to her first park and she especially enjoyed swinging. It was really amazing to see how yellow the trees were. We don't really see the trees changing seasons in Dallas. So I suppose this Thanksgiving wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and neither is moving to Philly. I expect to be cooking again next year so you people better start making some travel plans. I'm serious. So keep up with the blog, next up I'll be posting about our crossing the atlantic with a 8 month old. Miss all of you-Mrs. Berton