cross that one off the list

Last week I did something else I swore I'd never do: I bought sunglasses for Fry. I just kept thinking what a ridiculous waste it was. I never wore sunglasses as a baby, and I haven't gone blind or anything! Well, ok, that's not true, I did wear them at least once:


Totally ahead of my time.
Now get off my lawn!

But in the last few weeks, we've been having a lot of sun (that tells you a lot about the winter weather in northeastern France - up until a few weeks ago we hadn't seen the sun since Fry was born!) and I noticed that on our walks, Fry would suddenly jerk every time his face hit full sun. I was instantly reminded of being a small child and feeling like a thousand daggers were stabbing my blue eyes whenever I got a bit of sun in them. Of course, Fry has his Papa's blue-grey eyes and I know all too well how he feels.

So I did it, and now he's got the teeniest tiniest pair of sunglasses you ever did see with a UV rating. The best part is that he doesn't do the jerk when the sun hits his face. Now he's just got to learn to not take the glasses off when we hit a shadowy patch and chew on them or else he's going to get the daggers again!

reality check

Last weekend, a close friend of Stéph's and his partner welcomed a little girl into the world. The problem is that she arrived much too early - she was at 28 weeks and three days. All this week I've been doing what anyone with a few extra bits of yarn would do: making preemie hats. They're being sent off in the mail today.

All this week I've been giving Fry extra cuddles. Stéph and I are reminded again and again how lucky we are. The problems I had after Fry's birth pale in comparison to what our friends are going through now. I tend to be a detail freak and worry myself to death over unimportant things, and this has been a reminder that I need to let those things go. So what if Fry's gone off the charts for his weight, that's going to sort itself out when he starts moving on his own. Even when he's been fussy because he's teething and I have to say it through gritted teeth, my mantra all week has been "we're so lucky we're so lucky we're so lucky."

Our friend said in an email that every day is a victory. This week I'm remembering that every day is a gift.

five months

It's going by so fast! I can hardly believe it, Fry is five months old today.

A couple of changes to take note of... Of course the biggest change is that he's having a little bit of veggies now everyday at lunch time after his bottle. We've tried carrots, green beans, potatoes & leeks, but his favorite by far was peas just today. He's now drinking 240 ml (8 oz) of milk for breakfast, 250 ml of "veggie milk" (a prepared concoction of 200 ml of milk and "two spoonfuls" of either pumpkin or carrot and fortified with cereal) plus veggies for lunch (I would guess he's having about 20 or 30 ml), 240 ml of milk for snack and 250 ml of veggie milk for dinner. Since we decreased from five bottles a day to four, he's allowed to have a compliment of 30 ml of milk if he wants it, but he hasn't really wanted it for the last couple of weeks so I think we've found a new balance with the addition of the vegetables.

The other big change is that he suddenly prefers to sit up as much as possible. I have no doubt that this is in large part because of the Bumbo seat. He fits in it much more comfortably now and is content to sit in it while eating his veggies and just today we played on the floor for a bit in it. Even in his bouncy seat he tries to sit up as much as he can, which is especially helpful for trying to get a hold of his feet.

He can now roll over on his tummy, though he's only managed in situations where he's slightly propped up with a flat pillow or on a bed. We played on the floor for the first time today (we're going to have to get some baby tiles quick as we only have hard tile floors but today I threw a couple of blankets on the floor) and he didn't quite manage to turn all the way but he had fun trying! I suspect he's got another tooth pushing through since he's been fussy these last few days, the saliva factory is back in business and he's finding a lot more comfort in chewing on his harder toys.

Fry had his first head cold this month (or it may have been allergies like me) but he smiled right through the snot, just like everything else. We found some success with - get this - eucalyptus suppositories! At least his butt was minty fresh. But they did work! It also seems that he's outgrown his sleep sacks, as he's kicked himself out of them so much that he ended up being cold and crying at 3am for about a week. Too bad it took us a week to figure out what was wrong with him! Last night I finally got the bright idea to put him in the sort of sleep sack that snaps at the top and though he woke up a couple of times in the night, he got himself back to sleep like a champ. Whew!

As usual, Fry will have his five month check up next week, so I'll update the rest then.

possibly my favorite photoshop ever

Just saw this on Fark, sorry I don't know who to attribute it to, but I think it's brilliant!

Not much else to report. Fry has been sick this week. He's got a little bit of a stuffy nose and a cough and I don't think he's slept this much since he was a newborn. Since he didn't have a fever we went to playgroup yesterday anyway with the thinking that it would be too bad to miss a week (we're still trying to get him used to the place). Unfortunately he cried the whole time and the ladies couldn't calm him down so we left after half an hour. At least he was smiling when we left! (I just hope he wasn't smiling because we were leaving!!)

We also went to a bourse aux vêtements this morning. Held in the salle des fêtes at the next town over, they had quite a lot of gently used clothes for babies up to teenagers plus toys and strollers, etc. For 50€ I got about ten onesies, five or six shirts, a jacket, a sweater, a few pairs of pants, a pair of overalls and three pajama sets, all in excellent condition. I'm really pleased with what we got and we only need to complete Fry's summer wardrobe with some socks, a few more t-shirts and onesies. Woohoo!

update: he likes it, hey mikey!

gosh.



I gave him his usual 250 ml of veggie milk and he was still hungry (growing spurt, anyone?) so I offered him a bit of baby food. This is the same jar he got yesterday, but honestly you couldn't see a dent in it before.

So now I'm thinking maybe in a week or two I'll decrease the amount of milk he gets to see if he'll eat more veggies. Thanks so much for your advice yesterday!

figuring out food and other foibles

I'm really happy to report that our first visit to the halte garderie yesterday went way better than expected! Fry had a nice long nap before we went and was raring to go once we got there. At first, he got a little upset with being in a new place with new people, but he quickly settled down in the lap of one of the caregivers and played there for an incredible thirty minutes! He charmed the ladies with his smile, played with different toys and darn near turned over by himself during a little tummy time! Right about the time he should have had his bottle he started to get cranky again. I asked the ladies if they wanted to try to give him a bottle, because honestly my mother-in-law hasn't even succeeded in this area yet, but it was no dice. Luckily we're only ten minutes away from home on foot so he had no problem waiting until we got home to drink his milk, but everyone - including me! - was impressed at how well he did on his first day.

Also, it's been two weeks since we tried solids so we gave it another go this morning with a pot of green beans. He did much, much better this time, even opening his mouth when he saw the spoon coming and taking a few gulps of water after about three spoonfuls. After about a dozen spoonfuls, however, he'd had enough and wanted his usual veggie milk. He didn't make much of a dent in the pot but I suppose it's a beginning.

So from what the doctor said at our last visit, apparently he'll slowly start eating more veggies and drinking less milk at lunch time. I'm curious to know, you moms out there, is that your experience? I talked to MIL about eating solids the other day and she basically said, "Yeah, you gotta force them," which made me go !!!! Anyway, advice and suggestions are much appreciated.

mystery solved

I've been sick for a week now and though I'm finally feeling a little better, it's been a mystery as to why neither Fry nor Stéph have caught my disease. Stéph finally figured it out - he heard at work yesterday that we had a really bad pollen explosion last weekend and I'm certainly having an allergy attack.

Now, if you knew me in my previous life, you're probably thinking, "well, duh." It's true that I had an incredible allergy problem when I lived in Greenville, and no wonder, since it was ranked the 13th US Allergy Capital the year before I moved here. It sounds hard to believe, but my allergies were so bad that I had to take allergy medication every day and if I didn't, I had the beginnings of a sinus infection that evening. For real.

I was so used to being sick all the time that when my cache of allergy meds ran out a few months after moving here, I panicked. I was still sick a lot that first year, no doubt thanks to Stéph bringing every new virus under the sun home to me from school, but then I woke up one day and realized my allergy nightmare was over.

Now it's been three years since I've been off the meds and oh, how quickly we forget. The first signs of Spring, the warmer weather, the sun coming out, of course it's allergies! So I'll be stopping in to the pharmacy today, but this time for allergy meds instead of more cold medicine.

a crazy afternoon

This day was so chock full of stuff, I don't know where to begin! First of all, I am getting over the worst cold in history. Well, it may not be that the cold is so bad, but Wednesday night I think I slept exactly two hours thanks to the return of Snorey McChainsaw, plus Fry had a little freak out at 4:00 in the morning and wouldn't settle back down so I ended up sleeping in his room for the rest of the night (morning?). So that set me back pretty bad, but I'm finally getting over it.

Anyway. This morning Fry and I ran a bunch of errands like stopping by the pharmacy, the Friday market and the butcher's, whom I love. Today she actually came out from behind the counter to coochey-coo Fry! So I was thinking that was our big outing for the day, especially with the crap weather coming through, but oh no! Stéph came home at lunch with a newspaper clipping about - get this - an itinerant halte garderie that is coming to Tiny Town! (You can read about us trying to get Fry into a halte garderie in Troyes in this post.) Every Friday afternoon, they set up in a large room in the old school and can handle up to 15 kids at a time. This afternoon they had a welcome session where you could come with your kids and check out the set up and get the information for signing up.

The only problem was that I didn't know exactly where the old school was. I didn't get very good directions, so after looping around the same block three times, I took a break and popped into the photographer's shop to get Fry's passport photos done. He was a real trooper and actually smiled at one point and we had to wait until he got serious again to take the picture!

So I ran back home and jumped on the computer and figured out where it was supposed to be (so frustrating, the directions I had were this close!) and we ran out again to try to find the place. I was so anxious I would miss the whole thing that when we did arrive, I was all red in the face!

So, long story short, I needn't have worried about getting a place since only one other child had been there before us and three toddlers came as we were leaving, it is incredibly inexpensive (it should work out to less than 5€ a month for us), Fry will get to meet other kids his age, get used to being around other people, and I will have three hours a week all to myself! Woohoo!

So, we have a new dossier to fill out and a meeting next Wednesday to do all the official child care stuff, and then we can start going on Friday afternoons together until he's comfortable enough to stay on his own. Now I just have to call the service in Troyes to cancel our meeting there, because I don't think we'll use that service now. I'm so excited and relieved that this great program has come to Tiny Town! All we've wanted was a program that helps Fry socialize with others for a few hours a week, and it fell in our laps!

odds and ends

First of all, thank you all so much for your kind comments on the passing of my father-in-law. I'd intended to write a post on its own about his funeral but to be honest I'll still just burnt out on funerals and death. His memorial was nice and short, just as he would have wanted, but still quite touching. It was also very well attended and standing room only, a testament to his ability to make friends anywhere.

This past Saturday we headed East to party down with Doc and some other party people and a lovely time was had by all. Fry was jealous of all the party-making and couldn't settle down to sleep, so we headed home at 10pm. About halfway home we were "controlled" by the gendarmes in a village that boasts the only nightclub in the countryside, or so it seems. Anyway, we weren't exactly their target for the evening though Stéph still had to blow in a bag. The color changed just a twinge but the gendarme brushed it off with a "we're just gonna call that humidity" and sent us on our way. We are hardly big drinkers, especially when we know we've got a long drive home ahead of us, but still we're glad that Stéph switched to coke when he did! In any case, a great time was had and if you ever wondered, Doc makes some freaking killer chicken wings!!!

Winter break ended this weekend and Stéph headed back to school yesterday. Obviously it was a pretty crap vacation for Stéph but we're hoping to make up for it with a little family weekend away over the next break at the end of April. Fry has been going through Papa withdrawl and constantly checks out Stéph's blank computer screen and empty chair.

Speaking of Fry, we did try a little solid food this weekend. We started with carrot, since he's familiar with the taste from his carrot milk, and he did take a few spoonfuls before putting his little fist down. Sunday he took a bit more, maybe about 10 ml?, but was super fussy, couldn't relax and hardly ate for the rest of the day. Yesterday he was too cranky to sit in the seat long enough for more than one or two spoonfuls and was still super fussy, though he made up for eating less the day before by drinking every single drop of his bottles, so we've decided to wait another week. Part of the problem is that if he doesn't get a good morning nap, he can't be bothered to sit up in his bumbo chair long enough to eat from a spoon. If I can't get him rested around noon to try again, I may just push his "lunch" to the afternoon when he's in a better mood. We'll see what happens next week...

Well, that's all the news that's fit to be news. Also, it looks like Spring is trying to break through - it will be so nice to take Fry out in warmer weather!

Fry's weigh in and other items only interesting to Mommy

So Fry had his four month appointment this morning and in a surprise to exactly no one, he's still at the top of his weight class his age group in height and weight. Today he was eight kilos (17.6 pounds) and 64 cm (25.2 inches). At this rate, he will most likely transition to 9/12 month clothes by the end of the month, as six month clothes top out at 67 cm!

Fry did great once again getting his vaccinations and only cried an extra thirty seconds compared to the first time. However, he's been a lot more fussy and has had trouble napping all day, though no fever yet. I think the combination of the vaccinations and teething are the culprit and hopefully a full night's sleep will cure what ails him.

So the doctor has recommended starting Fry on veggies and after doing a little bit of research about starting solids so early, I'm ready to try. According to this article, he's showing at least four signs of being ready, including doubling his birth weight (and how!) and being able to sit up well when supported. There's a great product here that has a combination of milk and carrots or pumpkin and he's had no problems with those this week. Anyway, we won't force him if he's not ready, but we'll be trying out a little carrot tomorrow.

In other news, I'm very sad to report that my pinto bean connection has disappeared! She was there a couple of weeks ago, but Fry and I ran some errands yesterday in Troyes and stopped by Les Halles and the lady and my delicious, delicious pinto beans were gone!

I am only consoled by the reason Fry and I went to Troyes yesterday - to pay for our flight to visit North Carolina in August!! We've got our tickets in our hot little hands and now I just have to wait four long months. I guess packing our bags now would be a little premature...

speaking of babies...

If we wanted Fry to have a sibling with the same age difference and my sister and I, we'd have to get pregnant this month.

AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA- *gasp* -AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHA!

no.

My parents did have their reasons, though. My mother, an only child, had read that siblings close in age tend to be very close growing up, so this is why she and my father, the oldest of four (plus two half-brothers that are 20+ years younger, which has no bearing on this story but I feel awkward not mentioning them for some reason) planned to get pregnant ASAP. Consequently, my sister and I are 13 months apart in age.

Now, this may work for some siblings, but it didn't work for us. I'm glad to report that my sister and I get along like gangbusters today, but not so much when we were kids.

So yeah, maybe when Fry's 13 months old we'll start talking siblings, but until then...

four months

Time sure flies when you're having fun... Fry is four months old today!

I think I took a grand total of five pictures of Fry this month. A couple of weeks ago I was absolutely sure that he was having digestion problems and that we needed to change his milk. Turns out, after some friendly advice and an excellent book recommendation, we figured out that Fry was simply fussy because he was overtired! Now we've settled into a routine of an hour's nap in the morning, a two hour nap in the afternoon and a short nap in the evening. Combined with going to bed around 8pm and waking up around 7am and playing in his bed for about half an hour, he seems to be much better rested and much, much happier! Plus the fact that if he does wake up, nine times out of ten he'll soothe himself back to sleep, which makes Stéph and I much, much happier!

The other amazing development is that Fry's first tooth is coming in already! Since it wasn't one of the center teeth, we didn't notice it at first. It was my MIL that actually felt the bump before anyone else! It's coming in on the bottom left side, maybe an incisor?

Of course this means everything goes in the mouth now! Mommy and Papa's fingers, both of his thumbs at the same time, and everything else in his reach. He doesn't really like the refrigerated teething ring or chewing on cold washcloths yet, though. Once every couple of days, teething seems to bother him more than usual, so we give him some homeopathic medicine to help fight the pain, which does the trick!

Fry seems to be forming a special attachment to his blue blanket and still loves his Sophie and froggie rattle. He is also becoming more interested in his other toys, including a folding rattle, a stuffed cow wearing a carrot scarf and overalls we call Madame La Vache, and another doudou from America which is a teddy bear/soft blankie combination.

He spends a lot of time in his transat during the day, but we're trying to encourage playing and moving around on his own in the pack n play we've set up downstairs as a sort of play pen. We try to get some tummy time in everyday, and I can see that he's starting to get frustrated about not being able to move, so I wonder if we'll see some progress in this area this month! He also likes his bumbo, but only for a few minutes at a time. Plus the cloth diapers make it a tight fit! His favorite place in the whole world is still his changing table!

His next doctor's appointment will be the end of this week or the beginning of the next, so I'll have more updates then.

In Memoriam

My father-in-law has been sick for as long as I've known him. It wasn't much of a shock when he was diagnosed with lung cancer a couple of years ago, but he fought it rather well, still managing to meet up with his friends and going on his yearly vacation to Pas-de-Calais, where he and my mother-in-law grew up. But he started slowing down around the time we went on vacation together in August. He was so poorly that it was a special effort for him to come visit me and Fry, his ninth grandchild, in the maternity. He only stayed for about ten minutes, but it touched me greatly.

At the end, it was fast. Mercifully fast. Last Thursday he was still moving around the house on his own and I saw him sitting in his favorite chair in front of the tv. When I was having my colonoscopy Monday, Stéph and Fry visited Pépère for what turned out to be the last time. He wasn't able to get out of bed, but Stéph told me that he would still reach out to touch the baby. He was scheduled to go back into the hospital for two days starting Wednesday morning, but if you ask me, he'd just had enough. We got the call at 1:30 Wednesday morning that he was gone.

I will never forget how he welcomed this foreigner into his family with good humor and kindness. But mostly good humor. He called me "Camembert" for the first year, because it was the only cheese I would eat (seriously, that cheese was a revelation to me!). He teased me when I showed him my very first récipissé by taking out his cigarette lighter and threatening to light it up, with a twinkle in his eye. His sarcastic comebacks were legendary and to watch Stéph's parents go at it was both heart warming and hilarious.

Merci, beau-père, pour tous.

a comparison

I wasn't going to write about this, but when you have an opportunity to write about butt cancer, you ought not to pass it up.

No no, don't worry, I haven't got butt cancer, or cancer of the colon, as it is more commonly known, but my Grandmother did (and beat it!), her uncle died from it, my father had pre-cancerous polyps, my sister had juvenile polyps and I have had them as well. That means I've had a colonoscopy before, and will have to have them every five years for the rest of my life. Yesterday I had my second colonoscopy, and since I've now had this procedure done in two countries, here, as a public service to my readers, is a comparison of what to expect when undergoing a colonoscopy in America and France.

Special Diet
America: no solid foods and only clear liquids for two days before the procedure. I subsisted on Gatorade and clear jello.
France: restricted diet with no fiber for three days before the procedure. I had coffee and biscuits with jelly for breakfast, meat and starch for lunch and dinner, and chocolate for dessert.

Advantage: France

Medication
Sorry, there's no nice way to say it, but the colon must be cleansed before the procedure. This is done by force-evacuating everything you've eating for the last ten years of your life...
America: The two evenings before the procedure, a small bottle of liquid is added to a glass of a clear drink (7-up was highly recommended). Pretty nasty but doable.
France: The night before the procedure and the morning of the procedure, a powdered medicine is added to two liters of water, which must be drunk in two hours. It was recommended to keep the water very cold but this didn't stop it from tasting like ass-flavored sea water. Then I ran up and down the stairs all evening/morning. I could have added lemon juice, but I figured it would have just tasted like lemony-ass-flavored sea water, so I didn't bother.

Advantage: America

The Procedure
America: Performed in an examination room at a clinic. I wasn't completely knocked out, but was in what is commonly called "twilight" - I could have forced myself to stay awake and even watch the procedure if I wanted, but I have better sense than that and slept through the whole thing.
France: Performed in an operating room. Actually checked into a room at the same clinic where Fry was born, hung out in the room (and did a bit of knitting, actually) before I was wheeled into the operating room, where I was given a shot intravenously which knocked me out cold and my vitals where constantly watched by an anesthesiologist during the procedure. I felt a lot safer knowing I was already in an operating room in case anything went wrong, even though it only very rarely does with this kind of procedure.

Advantage: France

The Recovery
America: Woke up in a large room filled with beds with only sheets to divide them. Here is another embarrassing fact about a colonoscopy - you will experience epic farting afterwards! You'll have to bring someone with you because you won't be able to drive, so make sure that person is someone very, very close. Very close. Was released under my friend's care, and we went to IHOP before I crashed on her couch for the rest of the afternoon.
France: Woke up in the operating room, was transferred to a rolling bed and wheeled into the recovery room. Was given oxygen and my vitals were monitored until I was totally awake. Wheeled back to my room, where luckily I had the room to myself so I could fart in peace. Was offered a choice of coffee, tea or hot chocolate and given a little snack and rested for a couple of hours. The doctor passed by my room and told me all was well and to come back again in five years, the needle was removed from my arm, and I was released under my husband's care while Fry charmed everyone he came in contact with. We went home and I made chicken wraps for dinner.

Advantage: France

Well, I have to admit, it looks like France wins out, but considering how nasty that liquid ass is, I think I'm going to have to call a tie!

And finally, in case you're wondering whether you shouldn't run right out and have your own colonoscopy done, most people don't need to start screenings until they're fifty years old. However, if someone in your immediate family has ever had polyps or cancer, your risk is much higher. I was thirty when I had my first colonoscopy, and I had two polyps. Luckily I didn't have any this time around, but I won't take any chances and will go through the whole rigamarole again in five years. I'll let you know if they make any improvements on the ass flavored cleansing products...

baby juggling

I have an appointment tomorrow morning in Troyes, and we have had plans for two weeks to have Fry stay with Mémère and Pépère while I see the doctor. Unfortunately, my father-in-law is very sick, so Fry's staying there right now is kind of difficult for my mother-in-law, who is already up to her eyeballs in taking care of her ill husband. I know she felt terrible calling us last night to ask if we could find other accommodations and I felt terrible that she could think we'd be upset with her! Bless her heart, I think she's having a very difficult time adjusting to her husband's decline in health.

In any case, she suggested we call the halte garderie in the same street. Stéphane got very excited about this - here was an option we hadn't even thought of before!

In France, there are several options for child care: la crèche, les nounous, et la halte garderie (or is it l'halte garderie?). La crèche is traditional day care, but as spaces are very limited in this option, the children of two working parents take precedence (as it should be!) so we have crossed this one off the list. A nounou is usually a woman that takes a handful of children into her care, as sort of a private daycare. Finally, the halte garderie is more of an occasional option for those that need a quick solution for baby sitting for a few hours during the day.

From what I understand (from reading a little bit of information on Troyes' website), the crèche and the halte garderie have now been combined under a single heading called "petite enfance," which is for children aged two years and under. (Many children can start school at the Maternelle between two and three years old, which is basically a state-run pre-school.)

So, armed with this little bit of information, I called the maison de petite enfance located in the same street as my appointment. I explained that I didn't know how the system worked and the woman kindly gave me the number for the service de petite enfance so we could sign up. I called that number and asked if we could sign up if we didn't live in Troyes. Since I don't work and we don't live in Troyes, we don't qualify for a crèche, but we can sign up for an accueil d'occasion, which, loosely translated, is "occasional welcome." This means I would be able to leave Fry in a state sponsored day care for a few hours during the day *if* they have an opening (I'm not sure if you can reserve in advance or if it's first come, first served).

Obviously, this isn't going to work for tomorrow morning, but I did take an appointment to sign us up for the service, which will be next month, and we'll have to go with a list of documents as long as your arm, but that's what you'd expect for child care, I suppose. I do happen to know where the accueil d'occasion is, right in the middle of downtown Troyes, with a parking garage just below it, so that's nice. I'll find out more about how that works next month.

In the meantime, I didn't give a second thought about taking Fry with me tomorrow morning, but then I realized that I've never been to this doctor's office before and I have no idea if I'll be able to get his giant country stroller in the door, let alone if they have room. I was thinking specifically of the eye doctor I saw, who's office was located on the second floor of an 18th century house - not easy to maneuver a huge stroller! So I called and asked, ready to change my appointment, but the secretary was very sweet and told me to bring him along. Man, it's amazing how much planning ahead is required now that we have this tiny presence in our lives!

P.S. If you're reading this in a reader, you may wanna stop by the blog - I've been futzing with the template again!

heh.

Remember when I said nothing was going on? I just updated my template (finally) and lost about everything that was in my sidebars. So that's nice. Ah well, I was looking for something to do this afternoon, anyway. I also decided to let the Haloscan comments go. That means my comments are starting from zero but as long as the Haloscan website is around, I can still read the comments my Mom left the first few months I blogged (which was the only reason I never switched back anyway).

So how many people remember that this was my very first template four and a half years ago?

Update: You should be able to subscribe Dispatches From France in your favorite reader now! Hurrah!!

ho hum

Hi there. Not much going on, I'm afraid to report.

I've been a little concerned this week that Fry's fussiness has been more than just colic, so I finally went to see the sage femme this morning. She calmed a lot of my fears and gave me a few suggestions, some I'll take (going to the pharmacy this afternoon to see if they having anything with fennel I can add to water for Fry between bottles) and some I won't (I just can't get into taking Fry to the chiropractor, sorry). I can't wait until the weather is better so we can start taking him outside more. I can't help but think he's got cabin fever as bad as I do...

Yesterday I booked a hotel for two nights and I can't wait to go on our first family vacation! It's going to be the weekend that Fry turns four months old. We're going somewhere I haven't been before and we're in for plenty of sightseeing.

That's pretty much all the news going on around here. I haven't even really been knitting very much. I think the winter blahs finally got me. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but roll on Spring!

Fry's three month checkup

We're just home from Fry's three month checkup and I'm going to write this quickly while he's still knocked out in his stroller. Fry is now measuring in at 62 cm (24.4 inches) and a whopping 7.2 kilos (that's 15.9 pounds!)! That's a whole kilo, or 2.2 pounds, in one month! The doctor suggested that I'm feeding him too much, so I sincerely asked him how I'm supposed to feed him less. He admitted that there isn't much we can do, but if he gains as much again this month, we may go ahead and start him on veggies next month.

He also had his first vaccinations today and he was a champion!! For the first one, he barely batted an eye, but the second one was the more painful one but he only cried for a minute! The doctor did warn me that next month will be worse, though.

The bad news is that it looks like he's got his first gastro. He's been super fussy for a few days now, not able to rest during the day, and today he woke us up at 6:30 with, shall we say, an uncomfortable bum. He's wearing disposibles until his butt is in a happier place and he's got special food to eat until he seems to be back to normal and we can go back to his regular food.

Whoops, looks like my giant gourmand of a baby is waking up... you kids have a great weekend!

Stuff you should be reading

I've been wanting to do this post for ever now, but then I thought, "Oh, I should update my sidebars first" and who has time to do that? Ugh. But hey, I'm glad to do a post that has nothing to do about Fry (I'm turning into a Mommy blogger whether I want to or not) and tell you about some cool websites at the same time!

First up is Chick scientist, who will soon be Dr. Chick scientist. She's funny, she's cool, and she just happens to be my cousin. My second cousin, thankyouverymuch. (By the way, if you think that's impressive, Fry will hopefully meet a couple of his third cousins this summer!) Lili has just written a "25 things about me" sort of post so it's the perfect time to get to know her, and tell her Vivi sent ya!

The next one is Stuff Parisians Like. The title pretty much speaks for itself and I think it is HIGH-larious. Especially since I'm NOT a Parisian (though I know a lot of the Stuff mentioned happens to be true!)!

Finally, I don't know if you know how much I love history. Sometimes I seriously wish I'd majored in it in college. I also really love webcomics. Now, Kate Beaton has figured out that these two great tastes taste great together. I ate up all her archives in like an hour and I check her site everyday for updates. Plus, sometimes she draws on a subject I don't know much about so I google it, and then I learn something. Bonus!

Ok, so that's my linkies. I also want to tell you that I've just joined the A Day In Your Life group on flickr and I'm going to try to do that tomorrow. It should be quite a challenge since I won't be able to post pictures of our faces (because my husband would kill me). I'll try to update throughout the day, so keep an eye on that.

Right, that's it. Fry's going to get his first vaccinations Friday afternoon so I'll be sure to come back and tell you all about it (dang it, I couldn't resist!).

3 months old!

Fry is three months old today! What a huge difference one month can make. Everything has changed! We've finally got to a point that I though we'd never reach: not only is Fry sleeping through the night (for twelve hours at a stretch!), but he's really on a schedule during the day, getting up at the same time and basically eating at the same times. He still sleeps between meals, but the naps can last anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours, so he's really teaching me to be flexible (something I've always had trouble with!).

Fry is starting to really be interested in the world around him. He knows Stéph and I on sight, and will either smile or wave his arms when he sees us - especially first thing in the morning! Unfortunately, he doesn't know his grandparents very well yet. I left him with Mémère and Pépère one afternoon to run some errands and he screamed for 45 minutes and wouldn't even eat! That was when we knew that things were really starting to change.

Toys are starting to hold his attention, too. Right now he likes to play with his Sophie giraffe and his froggie rattle (thanks again for that, Dana!). I think his favorite thing to play with is the ties on the diaper basket on his changing table! He also likes to watch me knit (poor me, right?) and, much to my dismay, Stéph play online. Our new toy is the webcam, so his Aunt Nini can see him and he can look at the little boy on the computer screen.

Overall, Fry is a happy, smiley boy and he teaches me something everyday. I hope he still likes me after his first vaccinations this week, though...