Happy Turkey Day!

A day late, anyway. We're celebrating next week after Mom arrives so I forgot that in the States you've all eaten and are currently burning calories at the mall. Or at least Aunt Fran and my sister Zoe are.

If it ever stops raining we'll go downtown and do a little leche-vitrine ourselves. For the moment, Mia is enjoying crawling all over the place (ever since I got back from Paris I hear her hands slapping the floor as she follows me around the house) and testing her 2 new teeth on anything and everything.

The house is so quiet

The only sound here is the rain falling on the roof. I just got back from our gala event in Paris (pictures to be seen in next week's Paris Match) and I'm home alone for the evening. Thomas left directly for a week in Japan on business and Mia is still at Nano and Bomp's house. My train got me home too late to pick her up and be back home before she goes down for the night so I'll pick her up tomorrow morning.

A new addition to the family

Anouk Duroux arrived early Sunday morning. Elodie is doing great and, in a strange twist of fate, it's her husband David (my brother-in-law) who looks like he was the one to push Anouk into the world.

I don't have any pictures yet but I can say that she's cute and she's very tiny. It's hard to believe that just a few months ago Mia was that size. She seems like a giant when compared to her new cousin!

And Mommy meets Nounou

I forgot to post that yesterday Mia and I took a trip out to Margaux to meet Delphine, the Nounou. I had to go out to sign the new contract that her Nanny association just ratified and it was a good opportunity to meet the woman who takes care of Mia one day a week.

We spent about 2 hours going over the contract (yes, it is that long, this is France) and talking about Mia. Nounou is as sweet as she seemed on the phone and she has tons of toys for the girls. I was also, selfishly, reassured to know that Mia hasn't just immediately accepted this stand-in Mommy. Thomas, who is light on details when it comes to things like this, never said she cried or whimpered so I had just assumed that Mia was perfectly happy. Of course I was happy to think that she could transition that easily and that she's not sauvage, but I couldn't help feeling a little bit hurt. But then Nounou told me the truth: she could hardly set Mia down. As long as she keept Mia in her arms, she was all smiles, but as soon as she set her on the floor to play, she started crying. So I spent about 15 minutes reassuring her and playing with her before we sat down at the table to look over the contract. Even then Mia would look up and call me every few minutes to make sure I was still there. By the end of the morning she was playing on her own so I'm sure next week she'll feel more secure. And I'm relieved to know that she still needs me.

We also finally stopped by the Chateau to introduce Mia to the office. They all seemed charmed and she was aux anges to find herself the center of attention. She's such a star!

Miss Houdini

We came back from the market just before Mia's afternoon nap. She sure looked tired, so I didn't think twice about putting her to bed and then going upstairs to make lunch for myself. 45 minutes later I came down and stuck my head in and saw her sitting up in her crib, legs between the bars, singing and chewing away. All on her own, she managed to wiggle out of her gigoteuse (zipper, side ties, and shoulder buttons), sit up and take down the crib bumper just to work her gums. She's a determined little stinker bug.  

Play date with Lola

Crazy Bordeaux weather

This was taken on Sunday when we were at the beach and lamenting the fact that we hadn't brought our bathing suits. Today I'm searching for my gloves, scarf and hat before heading out to the movies.

Toussaint

As often as I tease my French friends about the number of holidays they have in a year, it is so nice to have a free day in the middle of the week. Today is the day they're all supposed to buy flowers and visit their ancestor's graves but, if they did, they all went to Ikea on the way home. We spent the day with our friends Fred and Sandrine and their two children Leopolde (3yrs) and Lola (8mo) at their beach house. It was great seeing the girls play together - pictures, as always, to follow - before they start at Nounou's together. There was small episode regarding a plastic giraffe but other than that the two girls got along swimmingly.

Enfin, tomorrow Thomas goes back to work. And Mia goes to Nounou's house. So this mommy is going to the movies!