Smiles, Snow and Only You

The sweetest and cutest little girl in the World. She is so alert since day one and so very easy. It was a bit of work in the first week but it's been better and easier by the day ever since. She eats well, she sleeps well, she smiles, she communicates very clearly her every need without crying.

La plus jolie et la plus mignonne, je ne me lasse pas de lui dire et de la caliner. La premiere semaine a ete difficile a cause du manque de sommeil et les tetees continuelles, mais des la deuxieme semaine, les choses se sont arrangees tres rapidement, elle mange bien, dort bien, exprime tres clairement tous ses besoins et donc pleure tres rarement.

She likes everyone and although she smiled since day one for the last few days she geniunely smiles at people, songs or kisses. She's just lovely.
Elle aime tout le monde, elle est tres facile et bien qu'elle nous fasse des sourires depuis sa naissance, elle les fait intentionellement depuis quelques jours ce qui est fantastique.

We had a snow day on Monday, the whole of London was at a halt so Daddy was home and we all went out to play in the snow and for a long walk along the river.
On a eu de la neige lundi, tout etait arrete et donc Daddy etait a la maison, on en a profite pour jouer dans la neige et faire une longue promenade le long de la Tamise bordee de blanc.

She can be grouchy in the evening, too tired to eat, too tired to sleep and I was bored singing her the lullaby from the movie Mary Poppins and started singing Only You, which always works wonders, I thought it was an Elvis song (although it is The Platters) and so I uploaded my Elvis album on itunes and play it to her, she loves it.

Elle peut etre ronchon le soir avant le coucher, trop fatiguee pour manger ou dormir. Dans ces moments la, je lui chante Only You, dans le meme style je lui joue Elvis et elle aime beaucoup aussi.

Sleeping on her tummy amongst all her little girlfriends. She is the youngest and the tiniest. Those lovely little girls are the daughters from my antenatal group. We were six couples all 8 to 9 months pregnant when we met and stayed friends, now all our bumps are little babies, 5 girls and 1 boy, unfortunately little Jack could not be there. Love them all to bits and we all hope to stay friends forever so our daughters can say they've been friends since bump days.

Endormie sur le ventre au milieu de ses petites copines, toutes nees entre le 8 decembre et le 9 janvier, les mamans sont devenues copines apres le cours antenatal qu'on a pris fin Novembre pour nous preparer a l'accouchement et a l'arrivee de nos bebes. On espere toute rester copine a vie pour que nos 5 filles puissent dire qu'elles etaient copines depuis le ventre.

Gabrielle is here

She's gorgeous

She's lovely

She's sweet, fun and exciting

She's perfect in every way

She was born on Friday morning 09.01.09 at 12.21 am

A very kind present

Thank you Tweetey for the lovely presents for my baby.
You're so very kind and sweet to have taken the time and love to knit the lovely cardigans, bonnets and the blanket for the baby who is now due anytime.

Hopefully not long to wait now.

Au revoir Papi

A new light shines, another one extincts. Such is the circle of life. Within long days expecting the arrival of my little one, I had to say goodbye to my grandfather Papi Jacques.

At 93 and three quarters, he lived his life well, a happy, placid, loving man. Always known him to be in good health and intellectually active, I never beat him at scrabble and God knows we played. Okay I might have won once but only by a couple of points.

I am not sad, I was lucky enough to make the most of the last few years I've been back in Europe, visited him a lot, played lots of scrabble games, had nice long chats about faith and his WWII experience and his love story with my grandma, which was his favourite topic of conversation. I also keep many memories of him from the last 30-odd years. I knew to make the most of it after I suddenly lost my other grandpa, Papi Nono, who left so unexpectedly and I do miss him - mostly because I never took the time for quality time with him, a mistake I knew not to repeat with Papi Jacques. So now he's gone, he's in a better place, he remembered right till the end that I was going to give him his eighth great-grandchild which made him happy as he was very keen on a big descendance. So now it's only up to her...

Christmas 2006. In 2007 he started looking tired and well, there was no Christmas 2008 for him.

Noel 2006, il commence a fatiguer a Noel 2007 et y'a malheureusement pas eu de Noel 2008 pour lui.
Une vie commence, une autre s'etteint... Enfin pas necessairement dans cet ordre la. En effet, mon papi Jacques est parti dans les jours ou l'on attend avec impatience l'arrivee de la petite cherie.

A l'age de 93 ans 3/4 il a vecu une belle vie, pleine d'amour et de succes. Un homme placide, intellectuel, avec une foix inebranlable.

Je ne suis pas triste, parce que j'ai eu la chance de bien profiter de tous mes moments avec lui. Apres avoir soudainement perdu mon autre grand-pere, Papi Nono, qui me manque terriblement, je me suis juree de profiter au maximum de papi Jacques et de passer autant de bons moments avec lui que j'en aurai l'opportunite. Et donc, on aura passe de longues heures a jouer au scrabble ou il me battait plus souvent que moi et a ecouter ses histoires de guerre et d'amour, a quel point il a aime ma grand mere toute sa vie... Enfin, maintenant il est parti je suis un peu decu qu'il n'ai pas vu la derniere addition a sa lignee, mais il s'est souvenu jusqu'a la fin qu'il attendait un huitieme arriere petit enfant, ce dont il etait tres fier, maintenant, il ne lui reste plus qu'a arriver a la petite 8eme!

9th Month

Hello Friends,
A short post in pictures of my last month of pregnancy.
Just two or three weeks to go. Everything is going well. Doctors say she is a bit small for her time but nothing unexpected as her mommy and memie were both very small babies too. And she doesn't feel too small at all to me! She still is very active and Daddy and I are very excited and ready for her!

Coucou les amis,
Juste quelques photos du neuvieme mois. On approche de la fin. Mon bout de chou est un peu petite pour son age mais on ne s'inquiete pas pcq sa mama et sa memie etaient aussi nees toutes petites. M'enfin, elle ne me semble pas toute petite du tout pour moi, elle est grosse et lourde et remue tout le temps et son daddy et moi, on l'attende de pied ferme!

Today, okay I might not look huge to you all, but I started very tiny and so it looks big to those who remember my small waist...

Bon, j'ai peut etre pas l'air grosse a vos yeux, mais j'ai commence ma grossesse avec une taille de guepe, donc je suis immense aux yeux de ceux qui me connaissent et a mes yeux!

The bedroom is ready. The little buddies are just here for show, nothing but the baby in the cot when she's there. And her little dresser and her story books all lined up nicely in the back.

Son petit lit, cadeau de sa Mamie Ese avec ses petits copains, qui habitent normalement dans un panier et sa collection de livres et de petites histoires, que son daddy et moi lui lisons deja quotidiennement.

I did her first laundry load and loved every bit of it. It was so cute. I wonder for how long I will enjoy doing this.
La premiere lessive! C'etait chou, un vrai bonheur de laver, etendre et plier tout ce petit linge. Mais je me demande pendant combien de temps encore cette tache va m'entousiasmer... :P

The maternity bag is ready to go. A beautiful gift from my grand aunt. Here it is not quite full yet, now it is overloaded, but nothing is missing except my CD of Sigur Ros which I would have like to bring along but seem to have misplaced.
Le sac de maternite, deja rempli a ras bord (pas sur la photo), un beau cadeau de ma grand tante du cote maternelle. Tout est pret a partir pour la maternite.

The cot, dolly, doudou ('doodoo') and dreampod (sleeping bag) are all waiting more patiently than Mommy and Daddy for their little friend.

Le lit, avec le doudou, la poupee et la gigotteuse attendent leur petite copine avec beaucoup plus de patience que daddy et mama.

The Buddies. Les Copains.

Update on the Bump

I already said it and will repeat it, but I must be the luckiest Mama in the world. The little darling is very active and responds to caresses and stories and she knows when her Daddy or Mama is talking to her, other time, she simply lets me feel her every move, whether hiccuping, stretching, kicking or changing sleeping position, although very soon she should be stuck head down. In the meantime, I managed to capture for your enjoyment some of her activities, this was while reading her a story Ernest et Celestine et le Sapin de Noel (The Christmas Tree of Ernest and Celestine)

Pour les copines francaise, je me vante de combien de chance j'ai d'avoir un p'tit bout aussi actif pour ne dire une grande agitee! Et je me fais peut etre des illusions, mais j'ai l'impression qu'elle repond aux caresses et qu'elle sait quand on lui lit une histoire... Cette video, je l'ai capture pendant que je lui lisais Ernest et Celestine et le Sapin de Noel, de Gabrielle Vincent, pour toutes les mamans qui lisent ce post, fort recommende.

Shopping for Baby

Yesterday, Kitem, Mr. Garden and I want out for another big day of shopping for baby. Over the last few weeks my only concern had been the cot and the dresser and last weekend, I've put this behind me finally making my mind up on a gorgeous set from The White Company.

Yesterday, was shopping for the stroller and the car seat, presents from the proud Pepie and Memie. We had spotted the perfect set many months ago, a sports' model with suspensions which will be ideal for long strolls and mountain hiking, compatible with the latest model of safety for the car seat and its secure base which happens to be compatible with my car. So all is perfect and perfectly easy to use, with all sorts of comfort options for baby.
Pepie & Memie by the Thames river in Staines, where the large Mamas & Papas store (my favourite!) is.
After finding the stroller, we browsed the rest of the shop for Newborn-sized pyjamas. Above, a cute little mouse climbing to the stars, and a very cute Elephant - called Peanut from the Once Upon a Time collection.
Here with Memie, aka Kitem, on the way to lunch, after the long two-hour shopping in Mamas & Papas, we were famished. We are blessed with a fantastic weather this week, I love Autumns like this.
Quite important things we were looking for included the dreampods (sleeping bag) for winter, because I find them safer and more convenient than bedsheets, plus it gives baby that snugg feeling while giving it lots of space to kick its little legs (how cute!!!!!). Oh yeah, and with Halloween around the corner, we found this cute little story book Pumpkin Soup.
Other items from the Once Upon A Time set we bought include the Newborn pyjama, the changing mat, the dreampod and of course Memie bought that perfect little Doudou (Doux in French means soft so doudou could translate to 'Softy')

I now have most of the items off my list, my boss promised me some vouchers if I could strike a deal on USB Drives with anyone of my clients by year-end, I am so close but I have not received any order, I'll give myself one more month to close the deal and then I can use the vouchers to buy the outstanding bathing and feeding equipment, in spite of planning to breastfeed, I still want everything for feeding, so that Daddy can feed the little one and bond with his baby right from the start. I have it all sorted really, hours of research on the internet and studying catalogues do that - never been so well prepared for my studies before :P. The bedroom will be delivered middle of next month, so I will post pictures when I receive them and I requested to collect the stroller and changing table end of November, no point having it too early.

Ma Petite Cherie, My Little Darling, The Love of My Life (with Daddy)

It's a girl!

Well we're 99% certain of it, it seems that on one occasion, the midwife told us that what looked like it was a girl turned out to be a healthy baby boy, but there is no wrong choice, either one is wonderful. I just wanted to know whether to talk to my baby as a She or a He, Her or Him. So it is She, my lovely, ma petite cherie...

This is my little darling at 21-weeks! (that was a month ago) She is such a little cheeky monkey so soon. There is another scan picture which shows her playing with her ombilical cord, pulling on it. She's perfect in every way, mind you, call me naive or arrogant, but I was surprised when the nurse said that, of course she is perfect in every way! I would not have expected any less.

This picture was taken on the 22nd of August at just 21-weeks, (the day after the scan) I could still fit in most of my clothes at that point (except for my skirts and trousers, so I had a pair of maternity trousers for work). Just a month later (picture taken by the Daddy on 22nd of September), I had to put away all my shirts, tops, bras, nothing fits anymore. I went on a shopping spree to quickly find something to wear the weekend before.

I wish I had a picture of this week because I swear that I am widening at sight! The little sweetheart had another growth spurt this week, I can tell because I'm bigger but also because I was utterly exhausted in spite of daily naps and solid 9-hour sleep. But the last two weeks I 've had insomnias, I am up every couple of hours or so because the little sweetheart figured that it was a whole playground mama's tummy, jumping and bouncing and twirling or whatever it is that she does. But that's a darn cute thing to wake up to.

I'm delighted, I'm the luckiest mama in the world, I'm sure of it. My main obsession nowadays is the nursery. I had found the perfect set from a shop in France but when I called, it would take months for the set to be available, and I can't see myself renting a van, driving accross to France being 8 months pregnant! Sounds a bit mad. Unfortunately, I can't find a similar perfect set here, so I am obsessing trying to find something that will do just fine... But now Kitem is here and so it will be hardcore shopping around for the white nursery. Although, after studying every page of every catalogue, I have a good idea of what I'm going to get. But I have not spent any money on the baby yet, (unlike Kitem and my grandma!), so I am looking forward to the shopping...

no news...

Little generic update, we had Alex parents over for a month in August, the weather was dreadful, work was dreadful, nightmares were causing sleep deprivation, and my hormones were raging furious. I suppose they say pregnant woman weep all the time, which I was lucky I don't have at all, however, I suffer from anger, I was constantly angry at everything, the economy, my taxes (they increased my taxes), politics, work (especially work!) and anything that could remotely cause harm or injustice to my baby's future. And by the time, everything got back to normal (weather and hormones) our internet was gone for a month (which did not help with the anger). So now, everything is truly back to normal, I haven't been as angry as I used to be over the last two weeks and the doctor says it's normal now that I am entering the third phase of pregnancy... Just give me a couple of days to catch up with you all and give you the real big news about my little darling!

Wedding Season

Summer, not only is the season for music festivals but also for weddings. I am quite blessed this summer because I have had two weddings! Since Julien & Anna and after old friends Joe & Olivia and Thuan Aun & Yanna and Benjamin & Emma, I never seemed to be in the right place at the right time and missed all my other friends' weddings, all of which Alex had to attend on his own. It's a shame really, everyone loves a wedding.

So first there was Dan & Vicky, Dan is a good friend and a wonderful person to work with, he's always happy and he can read my thoughts, I give him a vague indication of what I want or need and he comes up with something absolutely extraordinary which could not be more spot on, plus, I seem to be whinging to him all the time but he always happily humours me and cheers me up - well I must admit that when customers start demanding designs for yesterday, I start to stress out, so everytime I come to Dan, I am stressed but he has the right words to help me relax. Vicky, his lovely wife, also a designer, I've only met her on two occasions to go out drinking, and like two drunks usually do, we got on marvellously.

This wedding was shortly followed by good friend, whom you all know from the 'conference' photos, Beth! The thriller-seeker blond beauty has become Mrs. Warman this Friday when tying the knot with school sweetheart Ben. Well, not really, Ben was the older brother of her best friend since forever, so now the two best friends get to also be sisters in law.

Beth was spot on with everything, this wedding was absolutely perfect, her dress, her hair, the bridesmaid dresses and bestmen' attires, the venue, the music with a live band and a DJ, the cake, even the wedding invitations and thank you cards that she made all on her own and the BBQ dinner!

Alex with Alison and her partner Nick, both awesome fun. Sarah (who caught the bouquet), Emma (who's boyfriend said 'Thank God' when she didn't) me, Tracy (who still isn't married to her partner and father of her child after 20-odd years), Danny (who is planning a wedding for next year) and Sarah (who's already happily married like me).