adventures of an american housewife in the south of france

Postpartum, The French Way

Ramona's first month has flown by and it's been exciting, awesome, terrifying, challenging and beautiful all at the same time.  Many days have been hard, as expected.  Postpartum hormones were a bitch and caring for a colicky baby with thrush has been no picnic either.  But sweet Ramona is the light of our life and we are learning from her every day. Ramona's schedule is constantly changing, so we're doing...

Ramona Rose’s Birth, Part I

During my pregnancy, I kept a journal for Ramona that I wrote in each week from Week 5 when we found out I was pregnant, to Week 40.  This is what I wrote the night before she was born. Darling Dear Ramona, It's quite strange knowing in advance the day your life is going to change forever.  Right down to the hour.  I can't believe that by this time tomorrow, we will know you, hold you, kiss you....

She’s Here!

We're so excited to introduce you to our daughter! Ramona Rose arrived at 2:52pm on Wednesday, 10/10/12, weighing in at 3.51kg and 48cm long! We are so thrilled and in love! I'll be back next week with Ramona's birth story and more pictures. À...

Knocked Up Abroad: Be Quiet

On Wednesday I picked up a jar at of yogurt at the grocery store and squealed in delight.  The expiration date said 10/22. Surely by that time, 6 days past my 41-week French due date, little Bonbon will have arrived.  I will have a baby before this yogurt goes bad, I thought, smiling like a loon in the middle of Monoprix.  How exciting! The next day we went to our Midwife, Mrs. M, for our last appointment...

Knocked Up Abroad: Shake Your Bonbon

We've had a very busy week of appointments over here, so I just wanted to provide a little update of what's been going on with Bonbon. I call that picture The Cone Bump.  Little Bonbon has been spinning, spinning, spinning all over the place and moving and shaking!  She morphs my belly into the funniest shapes:  cones, lopsided, even squares.  One night she was bouncing around so much that I took a video.  I...

Knocked Up Abroad: The Go Bag

Do you guys watch Breaking Bad?  Ever since Mike stashed his secret Go Bag in the trunk of his car so that he could flee the country at a moment's notice, we've been calling our hospital bag The Go Bag.  Our Go Bag will contain our passports, but not millions of dollars, unfortunately. So since I'm entering the 38th week of pregnancy this weekend, we thought it would be an appropriate time to start getting our...

Knocked Up Abroad: La Chambre de Bonbon

We've spent the last few weekends shopping, building, and organizing Bonbon's bedroom and we're finally done!  When we first talked about the vision we had for the room, we wanted to be very minimalistic, knowing that we could be/probably would be picking up and moving during the first 6-9 months of Bonbon's life.  That definitely ruled out painting (not sure if we're allowed to anyway - the previous tenants/owner...

Knocked Up Abroad: The Specialists

I've told you all before how pleased we are with the level of health care we receive here in France.  They really seem to be focused on preventative treatment and finding the root of your symptoms before it becomes a serious problem that needs to be treated with drugs and interventions.  The prenatal care is no different.  I've felt very taken care of during this entire pregnancy and like all of my concerns are...

Knocked Up Abroad: Turn Baby, Turn!

Hi All! First of all, sorry for my absence over these last 2 weeks.  I've been feeling so good this entire pregnancy, and then weeks 30-33 hit me like a ton of bricks.  And you guys, I really hate to just constantly complain about the weather, but I attribute most of my misery to the 90°+ temperatures and the crazy humidity that we've had for all of August.  For the last month, the heat has been unrelenting,...

Knocked Up Abroad: The Newborn List

First of all, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who commented or messaged me regarding my KUA post about essentials for a newborn.  You ladies sure are impressive with your lists and spreadsheets and reading through everything has been a huge help.  This weekend we went over to one of our friend's houses to go through some of their baby things that they were happy to lend us for the first few months.  Aren't our...

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