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canal saint-martin & jardin villemin

On Sunday we decided to walk to Canal Saint-Martin and Jardin Villemin.

It was a hot day (nothing compared to a Florida summer so we can not complain!).

It turns out there was a chorus festival happening so there was a lot of people around the canal/jardin. It was a great day!

At the Jardin there were so many park toys that M could play with. This is a great Park for little ones!

Here are a few more pics of the fun M had enjoy!

le weekend part deux

This weekend we spent cleaning again on Saturday. I finished up cleaning the large windows in our living room and bedroom (glass and frame). They are huge by the way at least 15 ft or more (I need to measure them for curtains so I will post the actual height). Needless to say I needed the largest ladder ever to get to the top. And I still could not get one angle so I had to have F (he is 6'3" btw!) help. I also washed the curtains in our new washer/dryer (all in one).

And good news our dryer WORKS (we have an all in one washer and dryer)! I have been having difficulties with the temporary apartments washer/dryer all in one. It just makes the wet clothes super HOT instead of actually drying them! My dad had this issue when they rented an apartment here 2 years ago. As well as another friend who rented an apartment for a short trip...he had to pack his suitcase with wet clothes! haha!

F worked on moving stuff into the Cave (Basement). We have a good sized basement probably around 100 sqft. However there is a lot of items that need to be thrown out (old wood from old/broken furniture). But once it is cleaned up we have some potential for storage.

ALSO one great thing is that our contractor came on Saturday too! I was so surprised to see him. He hung the doors in the bathroom and bedroom and set up the area for the shower and toilet. The next two weeks they will be finishing up. All they have left to do is finish the line for the water, grout all tile, paint the bedroom, install baseboards, toilet, shower, radiator, hot water heater and sink.

It sounds like a lot but the contractor said that these items will not take too long and that all of the hard work is done.

I will post some more pics this week (Tuesday) of their progress. I will also post a few "before" pics.

As for Sunday I will do another post as I have a few great photos from our walk around Paris.

sippy cup update!

He is finally accepting the elusive sippy cup!

It took a slow transition of one sippy feeding a day. Followed by a lot of milk on the floors, hair and walls! He would not accept the sippy with the "stopper" in it. He still throws it on the floor from time to time but he is drinking it almost every feed now. Too bad our Air Shipment STILL has not arrived yet...because I only brought 1 YES 1 sippy cup. I really thought Air Shipment would only be 2 weeks (not 3+!!!) and I didn't think he was quite ready to give up the bottle.

I refuse to buy any more since we already have 4 or 5 different kinds ;-)

Here is a pic of M with his sippy

jardin de tuileries

Thursday we walked ALL the way to the Jardin de Tuileries - which is the garden next to The Louvre. There and back to our apartment was 4 miles!!! Two people actually asked me for directions...guess I look Parisian already...or maybe having a baby and not "looking" like a tourist helps!
Enjoy the photos!

Last photo was our view from where we ate lunch...see the Eiffel Tower!

quick remodeling update!

The contractors laid the tile flooring in the bathroom (yesterday) and are in the middle of tiling the walls! Attached is a pic of their progress!!!

temporary housing...

We can not wait to be outta here and into OUR apartment. I am tired of doing laundry every other day, running the dishwasher everyday and going to the market every other day because everything is miniature here! M is also waking us up at 6am screaming because he is sharing a room with us. He sees us and wants to wake up and play.

But alias OUR apartment is still not ready and we have no idea where our (air and sea) shipments are. The company that is coordinating our shipment has not answered the emails F has sent...and it's been 3 weeks now. We were told the air shipment would take 1-2 weeks and the sea 4-6 weeks. I am not very positive we will see anything for awhile!

Progress on the apartment renovations for the bath & bedroom! They put in all of the lighting, radiators and switches yesterday. And the flooring tile for the bathroom came in!!! So "HOPEFULLY" they will install it today and tomorrow!!! HOPEFULLY because of course C'est La France - the metro conductors are striking (most lines are running but at 50%/75% - this makes a big deal). My in-laws did not want to come into the city because they were afraid the rush hour traffic would be crazy leaving tonight.

I am going to go over there tomorrow to check it out. We are all going over on Saturday to clean (F's parents included). More details soon

happy birthday lil M!

Yesterday was lil M's 1st birthday! Since our air shipment has not arrived that meant that his birthday presents did not arrive either ;-( So we had to go to BHV and buy him something special. We bought him a Playmobil set for babies! He loves it!

We also bought him a little cake. Enjoy the photos! The 1970's high chair is F's when he was a baby haha! Lucky F's parents kept it or it would have been feedings on the floor or on our laps and quite a mess!

le weekend

Saturday was spent cleaning our new apartment. I have been doing this all last week (few hours a day) but I finished up the kitchen Saturday. F managed to clear out a lot of stuff in his Gpa's old workshop (small bedroom) and I made room in a buffet and another cabinet we are keeping in the dining room. We are trying to make room for the 146 boxes/items we have coming in a few weeks. While at the apartment noticed that the construction guys came Thursday and Friday! They were not showing up the last week and a half. They worked on updating our hot water heater (getting a larger one and moving it to the corner of our guest room). I guess they have not been working on the bathroom because they are waiting for the delivery of the tiles/toilet/sink. But they should be here soon...then the room will be transformed!

Sunday we decided to just relax and enjoy the city. We walked to Notre Dame (it only took 15 mins) and walked along the Seine River. Stopped for a café (espresso) and then finished the day checking out the boutiques in our district (3rd - Le Marais). We bought F a father's day gift (new leather messenger bag to replace his laptop bag). He wanted something more lighter since he takes the metro to work not the car like in FL. It is so cold here...about 53 degrees in the morning and 66 for the high! Of course I was not planning for the weather to be like this and only brought sandals (I did bring 2 sweaters!). I had to buy some tennis shoes yesterday so I wouldn't keep freezing ;-) I needed some new tennis shoes anyway...I meant to buy some in the US since they are considerable cheaper there but we ran out of time.

mastering the block sorter!

M is mastering the new block/animal sorter his mamie and papie bought him! It only took 2 days and he is putting the blocks in by himself...enjoy these pics!

Almost in...

Done where did it go...Sorry I wasn't quick enough to capture his excitement after but I will try again later.

first few days in Le Marais...

So in the first 5 days here in our district I have seen a French Movie being filmed, Fashion Photoshoot, Fashion Show and saw a French Actress.

Not sure what the movie is yet. F recognized the French Actor. I will look him up on IMBD.com to watch the movie...maybe we will be in it haha! They kept telling us to not look at the camera and keep walking haha! I looked pretty rough that day (just off the plane).

Fashion Show was held right next door from our apt (not the temp apt) at the car garage! YES CAR garage weird I know...but I guess they have shows there quite often (photo is from a fashion show held there in the past - it cleans up pretty well!).

Clemence Posey was the French Actress I saw. She lives in Haut Marais (our neighborhood). She was just sitting at a corner cafe with a friend. As we drove by I thought to myself I know that girl. I recently saw the movie In Bruges she played the supporting actress against Colin Farrell. She is also in the Harry Potter movies (she plays Fleur Delacour). F did not recognize her but I did...

Well that is it so far...pretty different that Clearwater, FL (even tho I did recently see Kirstie Alley at the grocery store).

my hanbok

I did not get a Doljanchi but I did have a Hanbok....

"Doljanchi" Korean Babies First Birthday

Here are a few pics from M's "Doljanchi".

M had 4 wardrobe changes by the way :-) (pre-hanbok, hanbok, birthday cake clothes, post-cake clothes)

The food...we had 2 tables of food (one with just meats and this one with everything else!)

Doljanchi is the Korean Celebration for a baby's 1st birthday. There is a fortune telling ceremony where you place certain objects in front of the baby and the first 2 items he chooses will be his future.



We chose to place a Baby Laptop (Technology), Pencil (Scholar/Intelligence), Red Yarn/String (Long Life), Money (Wealth) and a Baseball (Athletic) in front of M.

He touched the Red Yarn/String then picked up the Pencil and then picked up the Red Yarn/String. So he will be Intelligent and have a Long Life.

We are so glad we did this Korean Custom and we hope that M grows up appreciating this and not thinking he looks silly in his Hanbok. I particularly think he looks like a little Korean Prince!

The Cake (afterwards)...

we have arrived!

Here is a pic of our temporary apartment that we are renting until our shipment arrives/apartment is remodeled.

It is a tiny 1 bedroom apartment but fits us just right. They have tons of organization (all IKEA I think ;-) which I like. It has given us some ideas for our apartment down the road in our remodeling.

F is back at work and I am officially a SAHM (Stay at Home Mom). So far so good.

Our apartment's remodeling has come to a halt lately. We are having some issues with the contractor not showing up (1 week now). Hopefully they will come today. Yesterday I went to clean up the kitchen to prepare for our new stoves delivery on Thursday. We plan to remodel the kitchen ourselves this summer (since the contractors are all on vacation July and August ;-0). We shall see how that goes...

More to come...

all moved out!

We are officially all moved out...We will be arriving in Paris on Monday the 14th (stopping in DC for a few days to visit my mom and sis). There should be some great photos of M in DC as we are having a "Doljanchi" Korean Babies First Birthday.

All our belongings fit into 146 boxes/packages believe it or not! Hopefully those 146 boxes will fit into our new apartment ;-)

More later...

sippy cup struggle...

We have been trying to give M the sippy cup since the Pediatrician suggested it at the 4 month check up. However he has either chewed on it or thrown it on the floor while screaming.

Recently we have been giving him the sippy cup daily and he has been drinking it once everyday but only when he is really thirsty. Today he drank about 2 ounces this am (1/2 of what he normally drinks) and he replaced one bottle this afternoon with the sippy cup. But then for dinner he refused the sippy cup. I experienced his real first temper tantrum tonight. He went to bed without milk (just solids). I am hoping tomorrow morning he will take the sippy cup. I am trying to be consistent.

At daycare they do not allow babies in the 1 year old room to drink from bottles. Supposedly it is a state law. Even though M will not be in daycare for much longer (2 more days to be exact) I still want him to be bottle free in the next few months.

So my struggle continues...until tomorrow

new to being a stay at home mommy...

I have been done with work for about 3 weeks but haven't really been a SAHM yet. These past 3 weeks have been spent preparing for our big move. M's has 2 days left at daycare and then I will be an official SAHM.

I am a little nervous about this not because I will be with little M non-stop for 12 hours a day but because I want to make sure he is staying on track with other children his age. With him being in daycare since he was 3 months old he has learned so much. They do so many activities with them everyday. And not to mention interacting with other babies/kids.

I have bought all the books, crafts, toys etc...but I am still clueless. I have found that most of the stuff they have out there are for children 2+. I guess at this age (11 months) it's all about playing and discovering new things.

My goal is to:
- Take a walk with M daily (and discover our district)
- Talk with M all day even when doing household chores
- Read to M daily
- Go to the park/zoo/aquarium/library etc... at least 2x's a week (when weather permits)
- Do a big art project with M weekly
- Have lunch with F weekly
- Take care of myself (keep up with my hair/makeup/exercise etc...)

If anyone has any tips or ideas let me know!

moving from one swamp to another...

In my life I have not moved very often nor very far. This move to Paris is the furthest I have ever been from home as well as far from what I know to be home. France is a western nation like the US. BUT there are many differences that are apparent.

I have visited Paris/France many times. And I am married to a Frenchman and understand the basics of what makes the French, French. My husband is however been living in the US for the past 8 years. So this may be a learning experience for him as well as for me.

We are preparing for the move which will take place in early June. We are making a stop to visit some family before we are in our new home town on June 14th.

This summer will be spent remodeling every room in the apartment (some with help from contractors and others by ourselves/with family). And of course a summer in France would not be the same without a vacation thrown in the mix. The Vacation Days are one of the things we are looking forward to (4x's as much to be exact!).

This blog will be dedicated to living in Paris (the good, the bad and the ugly), being a stay at home mom to our baby boy (ditto) and remodeling our apartment.

Blogging might bring out more topics of inspiration so stay tuned.