plans

Rachel s'est eveilee a 5h, elle a sans doute fait un mauvais reve. Je lui ai donne sa poupee favorite: Fifi et elle s'est rendormie. J'ai nourri Natalie et l'ai remise au lit et tout est de nouveau calme au no. 4905 de la rue Druid a Kensington. Moi evidemment je n'ai plus sommeil
Jeudi nous avons Thanksgiving a la maison avec des amis: Michel et Jacques, Tesse et son ami Thomas. Les filles etaient aux anges, elles sont passees de bras en bras toute la soiree.
Natalie a mange de la dinde pour la 1ere fois elle ca lui a plu.

Rachel cried at 5am, she must had had a bad dream. I have her her and she went back to sleep. As I was awake, I nursed Natalie who had waken up as well. All is quite....
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends who came over. Rachel commented on Jacque's shirt: "mom, he is a boy and he is wearing pink"...

I saw Pat yesterday. She recommended trying an internal medicine to take care of the fungus in Natalie's neck (diflucan I think it is). I will call my pediatrician this morning and will have him prescribe the medicine.

The plan is to keep nursing Natalie (smile) and to stop pumping before Christmas around her 1st birthday. I will be home after Xmas till early January and then we are off to Belgium.
By the way while I put myself on a very strict non-dairy diet for the last few weeks, monitoring Natalie, the lady at the daycare has been feeding her for the last 10 days (!?). I found out last Friday when I dropped them off.

ok almost 6am. time to try to get anther hour of sleep.
have a wonderful week-end

Friday

day after Thanksgiving
rest

il est 6h

"il est 6h Kensingotn s'eveille, ... la la la la ", non ce n'est pas Paris qui s'eveille. Nous sommes en conges aujourd'hui pour Thanksgiving et pour une fois que je pourrais dormir un peu plus tard, je suis debout.
Hier soir Rachel a joue a la maman non plus avec ses poupees mais avec avec moi, c'etait trop drole. Elle ma dit je suis la maman et toi le bebe. J'ai joue le role du bebe qui ne veut pas aller faire dodo, qui ne veut pas mettre son pijama, qui veut du lait ou de l'eau avant d'aller dormir, elle a trouve ca tres drole. J'ai qd mm joue le role du bebe modele pour lui montrer la difference. Elle m'a coiffe les cheveux, m'a enmene a la salle de bain pour me laver mes dents, pour faire pipi et m'a fait assoir dans le sofa pour faire dodo, m'a donne sa poupee, le biberon et un des nounours et a mis la couverture sur moi en me disant "il fait noir dehors, tu dois dormir et fermer les yeux"

It is 6 in the morning and for once I could sleep later, no I am wide awake.
Last night Rachel played mammy and guess who was the baby? I had sit still, close my eyes. She kept saying "it is dark outside, you have to sleep and close your eyes". She brushed my hair, took me to the bathroom to brush my teeth and do pipi and lead me back to the sofa. She then gave me her doll, the doll's bottle and one of her teddy bears to hold and she covered me with 2 blankets.
I played the roles of the good baby and the bad baby who does not want to go to bed. She was laughing so hard.

Natalie is awake - I have to go --bye and Happy Thanksgiving to you all

nouvelle phase

Rachel veut tout faire toute seule, il n'est plus question de vouloir l'aider, elle refuse. Hier elle a insiste pour etaler le fromage blanc sur sa tartine et elle etait tres fiere.
Natalie a decouvert un nouveau jouet: le papier wc ans la salle de bain


Not much to report today.
Rachel has entered a new phase: "the I do it myself ". Yesterday she insisted to put the cream cheese on her bread. Natalie has discovered a new game: the toilet paper in the bathroom. I tried to snap a picture this morning but I was too late. I am sure I'll have other opportunities.

on dance

Hier soir j'ai mis un CD avec des chansons en francais (a la claire fontaine, ...) -- c'est mamy Nicole qui la achete- merci maman.
Les 2 filles se sont mises a danser, Natalie etait assise par terrer et se dandinait et Rachel dansait en se regardant dans le miroir de notre chambre.

As you noticed, I add some French translation every time I post. This makes my mom's life easier.
Last night I put a CD with French songs and the 2 girls started dancing. Rachel looked at herself in the mirror and Natalie sat on the floor. I captured some on film.
Precious

elle ne parle pas encore

"Rachel, c'est gentil de donner un jouet a ta soeur, elle te dit merci"
Elle me regarde et me repond: maman, Natalie elle ne parle pas, c'est un bebe

Last week, Rachel shared a toy with Natalie and I said to her: "Natalie is happy, she thanks you".
Rachel looked at me puzzled and said: "mom, she does not talk, she is a baby"

Nouveau jeu --High 5

Il existe un jeu ou l'on presente sa main ouverte aux enfants et on leur demande de taper dedans, ils adorent ca- va-t'en savoir pourquoi. Je l'ai fait avec Natalie et elle trouve ca rigolo et ca la fait rire. Ce matin elle voulait le faire avec sa soeur mais Rachel qui etait a moite reveille n'etait pas du tout interessee. Natalie a donc trouve une solution et a pris pour cible la tete de sa soeur.

Hier soir, Natalie s'est endormie en serrant un nounours dans ses bras. Je crois bien que c'est la premiere fois.



I play "High 5" with Natalie and she loves it, she laughs when she hit my hand. This morning she wanted to play the game with her sister but Rachel who is not a morning person was not interested. Natalie then practised on Rachel's head. I guess Natalie does not take no for an answer

pictures of the week

I help maman with the supper. Je pele les carottes pour la soupe

Non, je ne suis pas en cage. It is the gate to the kitchen and I love to play with it.

Look at me

almost

le tintin de ma soeur et voyage en BE///my favourite toy

J'ai ressorti pas mal d'anciens jouets et les peferes sont ceux qui font beaucoup de bruit.

Quand j'ai pris Natalie dans son lit ce matin, elle a pris avec elle un petit nounours (le blanc que Jen, la marraine de sa soeur, avait offert a Rachel). Jen sera contente de l'apprendre.
Elle la serre contre elle pendant tout le temps que je la nourrissais -- C'est nouveau ca---

Dans 6 semaines, je pars en Belgique avec les filles ou nous allons nous faire gater. Yossi malheureusement ne pourra se joindre a nous. Je pars le 6 janvier avec mon neveu et son conjoint mais au retour je serai seule, je croise les doigts et je prefere ne pas y penser.

I took out some old toys, the ones which make noise (rabbit that sings and counts), the radio with the buttons, Natalie loves them but so does Rachel. They are sharing - at least I want to believe that they do.
When I pick up Natalie this morning, she grabbed one of her small teddy bears (it used to be Rachel's favourite too. It was a present from Jen, my niece, Rachel's godmother. Jen will be glad to hear about it. She kept it in her hand while I nursed it.

I am going to Belgium in January and I can't wait for them to meet Natalie and see Rachel again. Mom can't wait to see the girls again.

talking about dressing/ je m'habille toute seule

Rachel veut s'habiller toute seule maintenant. Elle mettait deja bien son t-shirt, ses chaussettes et ses chaussures mais le plus dur etait le pantalon. Elle a trouve le truc. Elle est marrante car elle met sa jambe en l'air et enfile son pantalon par-dessus. C'est bien ma cherie, tu fais des progres.

Rachel now wants to dress herself. She could always undress and put her panties, t-shirt, socks and shoes on but the pants were another story. She finally got it. She refuses me to help her "I'll do it myself". She looks at the pants, makes sure that the label is at the back and starts her aerobic exercise. She puts her leg way up in the air and only then tries to put her pants on. That's way quite complicated but she succeeded. Good job my love. Mommy is proud of you

nuit trop courte//short night

mon reveil sur pieds --Natalie-- m'a reveille a 2h ce matin.
Je l'ai nourrie et remise au lit.
On a bcp de boulot au bureau et je suis fatiguee


my personal alarm o'clock aka Natalie woke me up at 2 this morning. I nursed her and back to bed till 7pm.
I dropped off the car this morning. I am almost done with my big project at work and after I non-decaf coffee this morning I feel ok.

peu a dire///uneventful

La fatigue se fait sentir apres une nuit trop courte et bcp de boulot au travail.

Today we were extremely busy at work and I am tired and should go to bed early and have a good night sleep. I just put Natalie in bed and she is crying, hopefully not for long,

"Lowence"

Rachel m'appelle LOWENCE. C'est mignon et je la laisse dire car je suis sure que si je lui defends de m'appeler ainsi, ca deviendra une habitude et elle m'appelera Lowence tout le temps

That's the way Rachel calls me once in a while. She can not say the long "O/AU" and the gutural "R" - isn't she supposed to be able to speak French?
I still prefer her to call me maman

maman

les femmes et la mecanique///if it is not broken, don't fix it

en resume, j'ai voulu changer l'ampoule d'un des phares de la voiture. J'avais reussi la semaine d'avant a changer le gauche mais ce jour la, je n'ai pas eu de bol.
J'ai fait tombe le couvercle qui renferme l'ampoule (c'est perdu a jamais) et de plus je me suis trompee de phare. Et le comble c'est que je ne devais meme pas le changer, l'ampoule n'etait pas brulee mais je me suis dit que comme j'avais change le droit, pourquoi pas faire le gauchei. Bref, ca n'a pas marche



well of course I should have remembered that

I felt so proud last Thursday after I had fixed the seat belts of Natalie's car seat in my car and changed the left "low beam" bulb, that on Friday I tried to change the right LB bulb, which really did not need to be changed.
I was not really paying attention, it was the end of the day, I was not parked in a very well lit area in our parking garage and was in a rush to hit the road to go home, not really the ideal conditions. I suddently realized that I was trying to change the wrong bub -you know LB or HB what do I know-. It was too late I had already dropped and lost the inside cover of the lamp and could not even close the clamp to maintain the bulb. That will serve me as a lesson!
So what did I win? I am sure a fat fee from the Volvo dealer where I am going to take my car to be serviced tomorrow.

But when I came home, the girls, my hobby were happy to see me and I put this story far far away at the back of my brain.

bon week-end paisible///reading

le week-end fut calme et bon.
J'ai fini un chouette bouquin qui s'appelle "good in bed". Le titre n'est pas du tout ca. C'est l'histoire qu'une jeune femme bien en chaire qui vient de casser avec son copin. C'est plein d'humour, ca fait rire, ca fait pleurer.
Rachelle m'a aide a la cusine et on a fait des crepes ensemble

Elle a un sens de l'humoiLast night I read till 1am, that hadn't happened since the last Harry Potter book's release (thank you Laurie for the book). Surprisingly, I had energy this morning maybe because Natalie slept till 7am -merci ma cherie. I took the dog for a run, went to the pool (last time was 3 months ago), played with the girls and made pancakes with Rachel . We had fun.

visite de Madeleine////Saturday

Nous avons eu la visite de Madeleine ce week-end. On avait prevu d'aller au cine et puis on a parle parle et on a loupe l'heure.
Les filles n'ont pas fait la sieste et se sont amusees a mettre tous leurs jouets dans le living, mais elles ont range et natalie a mis la main a la pate.

Today was a nice day inside with Natalie, papa, maman and their friend Madeleine who had lunch with us and stayed for a few hours. I did not take a nap this afternoon and played with my toys. My sister did not sleep inthe morning and slept only one hour in the afternoon but we behaved very well. We also brought all the toys in the living room and mom said "what a mess" . I think she was right, we had spread out all our toys on the carpet. Natalie helped me to clean up before we went to bed
Rachel Hannah Finn, aka the big girl (Natalie is the baby)

cadeau & pictures of the week

Chaque fois que j' achete quelque chose pour Rachelle, ne fut-ce qu'une pince a mettre dans ses cheveux ou une nouvelle paire de chaussures, elle est toute contente. Elle dit toujours "tu l'as achete(e) POUR MOI?"

Hier je lui ai donne des nouveaux diademes, elle a choisit le rose bien sur et est courue toute suite le montrer a son papa qui travaillait en bas.

Rachelle is always so exited when I offer her something new, from the hair clip to the new pair of shoes, it is always "you bought that to (..) me". I correct her and say yes I bought it for you, but she keeps saying it.

Last night I gave her new headbands, she put the pink one on (I could have guessed it!) and ran to show it to her daddy.

I love you and your sister so much

il pleut il pleut bergere////nice Belgium weather

C'est rare mais il n'a pas arrete de pleuvoir toute la journee.
J'ai depose les filles chez Isabelle ce maint et Yossi a pu dormir un peu plus longtemps.

I like the rain, it reminds me of Belgium, my 2nd home.

It was not raining this morning when I took the girls to the daycare. Yossi normally does it in the morning and in the evening but I figured he could do with some extra sleep this morning. Last week, he took the girls every day even though he was not feeling well and stayed with them in the evenings when I met with my friends from the MNO and attended the EU Film Festival opening ceremony. Merci mon lou

Bris///////ouch - on the 8th day

Nous sommes alles au "Bris" la fete du 8e jour de la vie de Jeremy, le garcon de nos amis Kathleen et Scott.
Leur ainee Emilie a l'age de Rachel et leur deuxieme Sadie est 6 mois plus vieille.



This morning we went to Jeremy's B. Jeremy is the son of our dear friends Kathleen and Scott. Jeremy was a champ, he cried for 2 seconds.
I met Kathleen more than 3 years ago at JCC when we both took a pre-netal aquabic class. Her daughter Emily is 1 month older than Rachel and Sadie is 11 month older than Natalie.
It was a very moving ceremony, the rabbi was great and no I did not look.
Thank you for making us part of the family.

une derniere chanson pour Natalie///last song of the day

J'avais Natqalie dans mes bras, la bercais doucement en lui chantant une chanson.
Rachel s'est jointe a nous, s'est assise par terre dans la chambre et a chante une chanson a Natalie.
merci ma grande fille, tu es si gentille avec ta petite soeur



I was humming a song to Natalie while she was nursing. Rachel joined us, sat on the carpet and sang two of her favorite songs to Natalie.
merci ma cherie, tu es si gentille avec ta petite soeur

ok time to go to bed, good night

crying before going to bed

Yes it does happen in our household too.
Last night Rachel cried when it was time to go to bed. I did not want her to wake up her sister who was already asleep. Daddy is always very good to deal with such crises but for some strange reasons I wanted to deal with it.
Daddy gave her some juice with water, it appeased her for 30 seconds. She then started again and this time she wanted some cookies. The sugar cookies were gone and the only ones left were either Natalie's teething cookies or the ones with a thick layer of chocolate on top. I told her she could not have cookies at night, then she cried even harder.
I took her in the living room, away from Natalie bedroom's door.
"on va laver les dents et mettre du beurre de cacao/let's wash your teeh and put some cocoa butter"
- things that she likes but it did not work -daddy mentioned the cookies- no!.
"Rachel, si tu continues a pleurer, je vais prendre ton gobelet de Dora (if you continue crying I will take you Dora cup)" and it DID IT.
One minute later, tears were something of the past.
I explained that chocolate/cookies at night would make little holes in her teeth and they will fall out (sorry could not find a better explanation), that the dentist would have to work on her teeth and that it would hurt.
"OK maman".
end of the crisis
Natalie for once did not even blink during all that noise.
Rachel brushed her teeth, put some cocoa butter then went to bed. Two minutes later she was asleep.
What a difference 10 minutes can make!

ce dimanche////oops almost forgot

ce week-end j'ai enmene les 2 filles a Washington et y ai retrouve le groupe des mamans avec leur enfants.
C'etait tres chouette. Rachel s'est amusee au parc et Natalie a joue avec Mia, une ptite fille qui a son age.



I was already in bed when I realized I had not blogged today.

I took the girls to the Stanton park to meet with the other parents. Rachel had a blast running around, playing ball with Eamon, copying him on the slide, running around with Esther's Dora ball, getting some popcorn from Zoe, driving the boat like Elisabeth, riding her "horse", while Natalie was having fun with Mia, both discovered new things to put in their mouth (leaves, sticks, ...). They were cute together. We'll have to do it again
will add pictures this week
good night

never thought I would hear that

I went with Rachel this morning to the farmers' market in our neighbourhood. This morning Natalie stayed at home and was taking a nap. The walk is very nice and we have a lot of fun. Rachel loves to run, walks holding my hand and collect leaves.
"c'est pour qui les feuilles, cherie/who are the leaves for, Rachel?"
"c'est pour papa. He will be happy/there are for papa"


We had gone around the corner when she told me "I am tired". First I though I had misunderstood her, but she repeated it.
"Tu es fatiguee/you are tired?"
"Yes I was very busy this morning"
[it was noon and she had been up for 4 hours]
In case you would wonder. I speak only French to my daughters and Rachel mixes the two languages.

Because of you I smile and laugh a lot, merci mes petits amours.

last week-end's visit

from the left: our neighbour's daugther Alejandra (4), my friend Ania's daugther Gabriella (11) and our girls.

enfin vendredi/ TGIF

I've blogged for one week without missing a day and I enjoyed it tremendously. By the way, ladies my mom thanks you for this wonderful idea.

Dad stayed with the girls last night while I attended the EU film festival film opening night reception hosted by our Ambassador. I saw a wonderful and tragic movie "il y a lontemps que je t'aime/I've loved you for a long time". When I came back home, the girls were sound asleep and dad said that they had been very good and had played nicely together. I guess I should go out more often!

No I eat by myself and Our Morning Ritual

appuyez sur le triangle blanc et il disparaitra et appuyez ensuite sur le triangle noir en bas a gauche pour ouvrir la video.

Our morning session has gone smoothly this week and this since the change of time.

Natalie wakes up around 6 (Rachel is still asleep), I feed her, change her and put her back to bed with a toy. I don't make too much noise and I leave at 7am. I am at work around 7.30am and I go to the gym in the building and do 15 minutes of exercises for my back. I then shower and I am ready by 8am.

Yossi takes the girls to the daycare in the morning. He dresses Rachel up and changes Natalie's diaper. What a team!

May I have ....

We have been working with Rachel on the "May I have ... please" phrase for a few days now. Before it used to be "I want this or Can I have that".
Yesterday evening
"May I have a candy please?"
"No, Rachel you already had 2 candies and it is enough for today"
"May I have a chocolate please".

"Et moi je suis ton grand amour"

Rachel has always been nice with Natalie but recently she has been extra nice with her (?!). She wants to feed her, to carry her, to kiss her, to tickle her,.... . Yesterday she said "Natalie is my best friend in the whole friend", before it was me (I am thinking about you Laurie writing these words), but everybody has to have his turn!.
Last night, I said to Natalie: "You are my l little love"/tu es mon petit amour.
Rachel then replied "and I am your BIG love/ et moi je suis ton GRAND amour".

Rachel est tellement gentille avec Natalie. Je dois quand meme faire attention car en voulant la porter ou l'embrasser, elle la serre tellement fort que Natalie parfois se met a pleurer. Je lui fais remarquer qu'elle doit etre douce et alors elle me dit : "Oui Natalie n'est pas une poupee, c'est une petite fille. Moi je suis la grande fille."
On est tellement contents d'avoir ces 2 tresors.

maman, c'est pour toi/mom, this one is for you

c'est une version simplifiee de Frere Jacques mais bon, c'est tjs mieux que rien.

I can not believe how much I enjoy posting news of the girls on the blog. My camera does not take great video clips, but mom will be happy to see it anyway.

Last evening while I was nursing Natalie, Rachel tried Natalie's Halloween outfit (the pumpking outfit). She looked so funny... too bad I could not take a picture. Natalie was for once almost asleep and I did not want to wake her up.

cadeau de Charlotte

Charlotte, la fille de mon amie Edith, qui a passe 2 semaines chez nous cet ete avait achete une robe toute mignone pour Natalie. Elle la portee et j'ai pris qq photos ce we.

1st we of November

We had a busy Saturday. We had a lot of visitors. In the morning, Gabriella, the daughter of my friend Anna, spent a few hours with us and it was great to have another pair of hands. She went to the park with Rachel and played with Natalie. In the afternoon my neighbour Beatrice and her granddaughter Alexandra (4 years old) spent the afternoon with us and the 2 girls played together and Rachel skipped her nap (I wish he had not).

Today was a good day. I went with the girls to the park and we went for a long walk, the eather was nice but a little bit chilly. I am now typing with Rachel on my laps.



Ce fut un we bien occupe, ca m'a fait pense a la Belgique. Samedi nous avons eu des amis le matin et la voisine avec sa pte fille de 4 ans l'apres-midi.

Dimanche nous sommes alle au parc, elles adorent aller en balancoire.

Rachel est sur mes genoux pendant que je tape ce message. Elle a mis son nouveau pijama de Dora.



IL est 8h, Natalie est au lit et Rachel ira dans 45 minutes.

Halloween 2008

Rachel had a blast last evening. She played the mean dragon and tried to scare a few neighbours.

voici nos 2 fillettes, pretes pour Halloween. Il faisait bon hier soir et Rachelle s'est bien amusee. Natalie est restee a la maison avec papa pour distribuer les bonbons.