dimanche 16 décembre 2012

Here and there

 Although we have tried to slow life down a little bit since Evaëlle joined us, we've still had some adventures. She had her first trick-or-treating experience. Like usual, it was a very profitable evening for the kids.



 We just love having this baby girl around; she is just the sweetest. In addition to being content she also seems to have an ambitious streak- she started rolling from her tummy to her back when she was four weeks old and just started to roll from her back to her tummy to her back at 11 weeks. That's early, isn't it? In any case, I was surprised. My boys didn't do that this early. Let's hope she is not an early walker! She is also a great sleeper. I am hoping that our Christmas trip doesn't ruin her...

 Ignore the hairy legs-I just love these smiles! She doles them out whenever anyone pays her some attention.

 Jonas has decided that he doesn't like having his picture take any more, unless if involved a funny face, that is.
 We always drive by this bridge whenever we go to Annecy, but have never stopped, despite Jaxon claiming it as his favorite bridge. Well, we finally made a visit after a failed activity (I had only noticed the big bold words on the website saying that it was open everyday, missing the fine print that said that was only in July and August...)


 
Thanksgiving with friends.


  The ice skating rink is finally open!
 Hameau de Pere Noel



 Yummy Hot Chocolate! But Daniel wouldn't know. He opted out of drinking the part we saved for him at the end...



We got a bunch of good snow in the mountains so Daniel took the boys skiing. I have to say, I was a little bit jealous, but in any case I had a bunch of work for another WHO consultancy I am doing. (Does it still count as maternity leave?) And in any case, I am pretty sure Eva would not have appreciated the -7 degrees Celsius.  In any case, the boys had a wonderful time. Vive the ski season!



jeudi 25 octobre 2012

Evaëlle's first month

Evaëlle's first month of life was a success. Her first weekend home she experienced her first walk, her first trip to the park and her first campfire. Okay, so really she slept through her first walk, her first trip to the park and her first campfire. Daniel took his paternity for her first week. While maternity leave is pretty good here (you receive 80% of your salary for four months following the birth) paternity leave is not required, but luckily Daniel's company gave him a week off.
 We received daily visits for 10 days postpartum from the midwife. Here she is weighing Evaëlle using a fish scale.

Timing worked out great; as soon as Daniel had to go back to work my dad and my sister, Susan, arrived to help me out (my mom couldn't come due to some health problems). It was so great to have them here! It had been over three years since I had seen my sister last and it was so much fun to be able to spend some concentrated time with her. We had some really nice days (and some not so nice days) that we were able to take advantage of. We visited Gruyere, Chateau de Chillon, Lausanne and Yvoire, among others. Little Eva essential slept through all of the adventures. 

This baby got super spoiled (me too!) while they were here. I thought it was going to be quite a shock for her when they left and she suddenly realized that she wasn't going to be cuddled constantly whether awake or asleep for the rest of her life. But she has done okay.

We took Evaëlle to her first Halloween party at Chateau de Chillon.

We bought her this little polar bear ensemble form H&M for the occasion. As if Jonas needed even more incentive to treat her like a teddy bear.


Jaxon likes to read her books.

Learning to take a bottle; she does really good.



Jonas protecting Evaëlle's eyes from the flash
The boys making bread at the Signal de Bougy boulangerie. I just had to throw this in somewhere.
So that is about it. We are certainly loving having this little baby girl around. It has been even more fun as she has started to give us the best smiles ever (I still need to catch that on camera). Jaxon says that she is the best one in our family. It is amazing how even one month in it is already hard to imagine life without her.


mercredi 19 septembre 2012

Evaëlle Irena

I finally hit 40 weeks pregnant on September 15. As both Jaxon and Jonas were born 2 weeks early, I thought that this meant I was never going to go into labor. I still felt really good though, and would only get disappointed as each weekend passed as I was worried about how disruptive giving birth during our crazy week would be. But I guess you don't really get to choose. 


 Then, on Saturday morning I lost my mucus plug. Obviously this can mean that labor is either imminent or still days or weeks away, but as we left that morning to take the kids to an activity at our church, I decided to grab the packed suitcase, just in case... From about 10h00 on I started having contractions about every 10 minutes, but that wasn't so unusual. After the boys activity was over, we headed over to the UN, which was having an open house. It was really fun, with exhibits from all the different UN organizations, bee exhibits sports activities, kids activities, etc. However, during the marrionette show on human rights, I noticed that my contractions suddenly jumped from 10 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart. We took that as our cue to go; though I am sure there were skilled birth attendants in the vicinity, I didn't actually want to give birth at the UN. 
 We dropped the kids off at our friends' house just after 5, perfect timing to begin a slumber party with their friends Justine and Clea. Then Daniel and I headed over to the birth center, Le Grange Rouge (The Red Barn) in Grens. I walked around for a few minutes but was in enough pain that I was ready to hide myself away inside somewhere. This is still outside the birth center, and definitely a fake smile...

When we walked into the birth center at 6h00 I knew I was right where I needed to be. The lights were dim, there were wonderful smells of aromatherapy, classical music was playing in the background and the midwife was preparing me an herbal infusion especially concocted for labor. Nothing medical in sight, until she took out her tools the check the babies heart rate and my blood pressure. The contractions were nonstop now and I was delighted to find I was already dilated to a four. The midwife had special massage oil for Daniel to rub my legs and back as the contractions shot pain through them.
  
The midwife filled that bath, which was heaven-sent. I labored in the tub for awhile and then I knew it was time to push. One push for the head, another for the shoulders. The midwife pulled her out of the water and handed her out to Daniel. He then laid her on my chest and the midwife laid a warm wet towel over her. At 7h07 we had our little baby. 

 Evaëlle (Ay-vaw-elle for those who are having a hard time in English) Irena - Eva for short. It was actually Jaxon who picked the name Evaëlle. Apparently there was a little girl in his class last year with the name and he thought it was pretty. We thought so, too. Irena is after Irena Sendler, who saved 2500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto during the Holocaust. One last souvenir of our summer vacation, I suppose. Her birthday is also special because she was born on my Great Grandma Rose's (Gran) birthday. Although she passed away before I was born, she was such an important figure in my mother's life that I have always felt a connection to her. And what a relief that this little girl wasn't born on September 11. 



 After taking care of us, the midwife headed down to prepare dinner for us: spinach tortellini and a fresh green salad. She explained to us all the special ingredients she had included in order to help with recovery or with breastfeeding. She settled Evaëlle in a special hammock complete with sheepskin and left Daniel and I alone to enjoy a romantic candle-lit dinner. 

 The entire experience was amazing, and by 11h30 we were ready to head back home with our new baby daughter. We could have stayed the night, but I was ready to get home to my own bed and begin our life in our space with our new person. I could not believe how perfect the entire experience was; going into labor on a Saturday, being able to drop the kids off in the late afternoon instead of the middle of the night, the perfect birth center, a fast labor, virtually no recovery and getting home by midnight to boot. This little girl was already proving both accommodating and kind.

 We picked Jaxon and Jonas up the next morning and brought them home to meet her. Love. We just love this little one. I have to say, I have had to give up my position of being the favorite girl in the house (it was easier when there was no competition), but it is well worth it.

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