adventures of an american housewife in the south of france
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On Becoming a Mom

Even though I stopped blogging over 2 years ago, I still check in on this space from time to time.  A few months ago I came across this post sitting in my drafts folder.  I wrote it about 2 months before Ramona was born and it was entertaining to see my thoughts reflecting the change that I was about to experience, especially now that I am a mom of two.  Those feelings of excitement and anticipation before...

What France Taught Me

On Tuesday afternoon we took a break from packing and went for one last walk down to the River Lez. We brought with us a small token to take part in a tradition that couples have been doing for years on the Pont des Artes in Paris and has recently started here in Montpellier - locking up our love for each other and this adventure. Living abroad here in France has been everything I could have ever hoped for. This...

Ramona Rose at 5 Months

Sweet Ramona is 5 months old today. What a difference a few weeks makes. Ramona's first month of life was difficult, like it is for most newborns. Unbeknownst to me, our battle with evil, evil thrush had begun and our poor, Little Miss had her days and nights mixed up. By her second month of life, she had flipped to a normal day/night schedule, the thrush was being treated, and her disposition improved, as...

Countdown: 2 Weeks

On Monday I looked around our apartment, at the stacks of built but empty boxes, the piles of things we want to get rid of, and stacks of books and clothes that needed to be packed, and I started to freak out.  It all seemed really overwhelming.  Also, 2 strange men had been in my apartment for the last 5 days repairing the damage caused by a flood in my upstairs neighbor's kitchen that happened a year ago....

Countdown: 4 Weeks

Holy shit, we're moving in a month. For the last few weeks we've been stuck in this weird place where we know we're moving, but it's just a little too early to start packing things up.  However, we're starting to realize that we need to Start Doing Things.  And oh my, is there a lot to do.  We've started selling off our furniture to friends and Michael's co-workers and we have boxes upon boxes of things to...

A Day in Provence: Aix

We've often heard that the best parts of Aix are outside the confines of the city, and I think this is probably true.  A year ago we may have visited the region to go wine tasting and have a fancy dinner out on the town, but those kinds of trips have been put on temporary hold.  Instead, we decided to spend the afternoon walking the city center and eating a quick lunch while Ramona napped.  It had been a long...

Ramona Rose at 4 Months

Four months.  Already.  I think I'll be using that word a lot.  I never knew time could move this swiftly. We have a very happy, smiley baby girl these days.  And quite the little chatterbox! She literally spends hours babbling ooh, ooh, agoo, agoo, gah, bbrrr, ahh!  One time she even sighed, Ohhh yeaaaahhhh.  She loves it when we mimic her sounds and "talk" with her.  I think we're in serious trouble when...

Countdown: 6 Weeks

Thank you all for your well wishes!  It's really happening.  We really only have 6 weeks left until we move back to the U.S.  When I think about it in those terms, it feels overwhelming.  How will we pack up all of our stuff, tie up all our loose ends, and squeeze in a few more trips, in just 6 short weeks?  I'm not sure, but somehow it will get done.  Oh, and flying across the world with a baby and a dog and...

Onward

On a cold Ohio evening in November 2002, I signed an offer letter that put me on a path to where I am today.  The letter that I signed that early winter morning promised me to a city I knew very little about.  A city I'd never experienced.  A city that, for a small town Ohio girl, seemed as far away as Siberia and as foreign as Tokyo.  But it was neither of those places - it was Boston.  Signing that letter was...

Pont du Gard: Day and Night

The Pont du Gard, located about 80 km from Montpellier, is a 3 tiered Roman aqueduct built in the 1st century A.D.  Since it was on our way home from Avignon, we decided to stop there and check it out.  It was getting to be late in the day and we arrived at dusk, which turned out to be a pretty cool time to see the Pont du Gard. We had heard about the outdoor concerts under the bridge during the summer,...

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