"Give me my month"

I must admit that my arrondissement isn't as photogenic as I'd like. There are a few areas that look beautiful with the right lighting from the sky but overall...there isn't much on a grand scale. Of course, I could always find the little things worth snapping like a side angle of a rustic looking apartment building with pots of brightly colored flowers on the window sill or a mangy dog with clumped fur lifting his leg near a fire hydrant. Oh, the little things in life. I should bring my camera around with me more often.
Since my iron levels have been acting funny causing me to feel like life has been slowly fleeing my nostrils each time I exhale, the team doctor instructed me to not only start on iron supplements, but to try a special Lyonnais dish...Boudin aux Pommes or Boudin Noir which is Black Pudding, aka cooked blood!! It's a delicacy out here that's rich in iron and they take pride in slow cooking pig/cow blood with apples and other trinkets until it's sweet. I will try it and let you know...

Hilton's last preseason tournament earned him 3 awards and 2 trophies! He was awarded for M.V.P., Best Center and Best Scorer. He left at 3:30 this morning to travel to Lithuania (or is it Latvia...?) for the beginning of the official tournament/season and won't be back until Monday.

"Bye mommy! Give me kiss!" Those words are like honey to my ears. She's finally settling down in school and developing a stronger sense of self. You should hear her growing french vocab! She comes home singing all these cute french songs and she's so proud of herself that it melts my heart.

I'm so proud of myself for writing today. Lots of things (and sleep) to catch up on and until the next time, I'll leave you with some pictures! Don't forget to click on them to make them bigger.

My sleepy vision at nights

 Look carefully to see her Bible open with her arm up. She fell asleep this way.

 Doing Hilton's "hair"

 "Ow!!"..."Stay still, dad!!"

 "Namaste" from her yoga days in DC

 Egyptian princess laden in jewels

 ...and my nightgown

 Putting together the pieces of her puzzle upside down

 12 pieces- Bumping her up to 20

 Passed out while reading the Bible to her toys

 Thank God for cameras!

Lyon update

Here's what's been going on in Francey France.

EJ has started school and, of course, has a love hate relationship with it. In the mornings, she begs me not to leave her and starts screaming but by the time I pick her up, she's so elated and can't wait to tell me about what she's done and the classmates she's hurt! Yes, she admits when she roughs up a classmate. She's only done it twice and when I ask her why she replies, "Because he not listen to me,". Hilton and I have a little chat with her about it and we move on. I strongly believe all the stress in adjusting has her emotions going haywire but she's communicating them to us and I strongly believe the more we work with her, the better she'll be over the next few weeks. Their school system is QUITE different out here. They go from 8:20 to 11:20, you pick them up and then bring them back from 1:20 to 4:20 Monday, Tues, Thurs and Fri. The parents always pick their kids up with a baguette in hand and I think it's hilarious seeing these kids walking home from school gnawing on dry bread LOL! I'm on the hunt for at least one or two activities for her but so far a lot of them begin at 4 years of age. Hmmmm...
This past Saturday, Hilton had an at home scrimmage. EJ and I had a blast. She was so excited to see him play again and he looked amazing! At one point before the game started, he ran over and gave her a little kiss and she looked star struck. She turned to me, eyes wide as a deer with the biggest smile on her face and said, "Daddy kissed me! He kissed me!" Tooooooo precious for words. After the game, she started playing with two young boys, 10 and 12 (sons of team staff who are incredible), and she had the time of her life screaming, "Attrape-moi!" which means 'catch me'. I got a chance to meet three girlfriends on the team, me being the only wife which feels odd. Two of them are American and the other is Tahitian but has lived in France a good bit of her life.

I hate driving out here and only do when Hilton makes me! He's been trying to teach me how to drive manual. One of our cars back home is a clutchless manual so I'm familiar with the gears and such but NOT the clutch. I've always had an idea and was even taught once by a kid named Jon from my highschool whom I later worked with (Bloomfield A. H.!!). Anyway, my body seizes up when I get in the car but I've been doing better. Not stalling nearly as much as I used to. The other day, I had to stop on a hill with a slight incline and of course I almost rolled into the person behind me! He beeped me and Hilton put on my flashers and calmly talked me into steadily pulling off without crashing. To my amazement, it worked.

Last week, I received my order of  'The Suitable Boy', a 1,500 page novel that I was coerced into reading (LOL jk jk), and four GRE books so I can start studying for the exam that I have to retake since scores expire after 5 years. I was thrilled when the UPS guy showed up with the boxes but not so thrilled when he told me that I have to pay him 27 euros in tax. No problem! Just give me my books so the nerd in me can be happy while my husband questions who he's just married.

I'll upload pictures this week so stay tuned!

Back from the dead....or not.

As I tread along my 13th week of pregnancy, I feel somewhat obligated to compare (from what my memory serves as I don't have EJ's pregnancy book) my two baby carrying experiences.
During my first trimester with EJ, I sometimes felt I was better off dead. The morning sickness was unbearable, the mood swings made me unloveable and the fatigue made me look and feel like a tombed vampire (I know...too many vampire movies lately). The second trimester, however, treated me MUCH more graciously. I sprang back to life once I could feel her move for the first time (13 weeks!), I regained my appetite, energy and love for Hilton LOL! While break dancing my way along that period, I was constantly warned that I should count my blessings as the happy days will be no more once the third trimester arrives...and I wasn't wronged. By the 7th month, I hated life all over again because I was so miserable. My belly was huge and the weight was uncomfortable. Sleeping at nights was a nightmare because I COULDN'T sleep! Trying to find the right sleeping position?? And the back pain...and the more than frequent trips to the bathroom. Of course I couldn't even make it out of bed. I had to be rolled and pushed out of bed by Hilton everytime. My bladder and myself had had enough. I was ready to give birth well before my due date. Oh, and how can I forget EJ's constant knee and elbow jabs to my 24/7 full bladder? Or to my ribs? Her tiny elbow joints painfully pressing into my skin as though she were trying to break through? Well into my third trimester I could no longer lay on my back otherwise my aorta would've gotten smothered by giant baby in uterus and my heart would gallop. Ahh, the joys of pregnancy, right?
Comparing the first trimester with Bean #2, from the symptoms alone I must say it hasn't been quite as bad. Bad but not "I want to die" bad. The only time I feel that way is when I realize that I can't get the extra hours of sleep or lay in the couch for hours waiting for the sickness to subside as I have ANOTHER baby to care for. "Mommy, please play with me!" "Mommy, look what I made! LOOK!" "Mommy, I'm hungggrrrryyyyyy...." Did I mention she and I sometimes war over who gets the last juicy croissant? Nope! I must be ready at all times for her no matter what. That isn't to say I don't cut corners to save myself, however. I will play with her from the bed or couch, brush her teeth from the bed or sometimes make her do it while I watch her, ensuring she isn't skipping an entire row of strawberry jam covered teeth. Dinner tonight might not be beef, rice and vegetables. Instead, you can have another peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of milk or OJ. Take your pick but make sure you take your vitamins to make up for anything mommy might be missing out on tonight. Don't blame me, blame your nutrient and energy sucking sibling!! Anyway, I can't be too active this time around otherwise I get bad cramps that sometimes feel like mild contractions and you know how and why that would be terrifying. Doctor said everything looks fine so it's got to be a combination of growing pains, round ligament pain and Braxton Hicks contractions. Great.
EJ thinks she's pregnant, too. She sometimes tells me about the baby in her stomach when I talk to her about her sibling in mine. She's seen the baby on ultrasound before and has even attempted to draw him/her. Once, after the doc was finished with my ultrasound, EJ tried to climb on the table saying, "My turn!" I just died. I felt the bean move yesterday and when I told Hilton he gave me the side eye and said, "Are you SURE this time it isn't gas??" Noooooo! It's the baby saying hi by softly punching me under my belly button and THAT, my friend, is what makes pregnancy worth it. At this point, pregnancy has become less of a grueling malady and more of what it's supposed to be: lovingly growing a new being in your womb.
.....Ok, I take back what I said. Suddenly feeling exhausted and hungry again.! I can't WAIT for March!!!

6'11 Hilton vs. 3 inch Grasshopper