Nathan bundled up for a walk

1 an déjà

Impromptu playdate with Lauren and Shea at the GGP

We were walking to the swings at the GGP when we met up with Lauren and Shea (who were just leaving to go home so Shea could have a bit of a nap!) Well, lucky for us they decided to stay and, Shea and Nathan had fun playing on the swings together !

Woo woooo

When Nathan sees any furry animal he exclaims Wooo woo (trying to say "woof, woof").

Woo woo indeed!!

Hangin' out at the Park

We are so lucky to live just a few blocks away from San Francisco's magnificent Golden Gate Park, and this week Alex and I took Nathan there every chance we got!

We spent most of our time at the Carousel and Childrens playground (34 and 35 on the map, linked above) and Nathan had lots of fun on the swings, practicing his walking, and making lots of noise with a gaggle of other kids.

Nathan and the Red Radio Flyer

The "Three Birthday" Sunday

Nathan, Alex and I all had a lot of fun helping Dahlia, Lincoln, and Phillipa celebrate their birthdays. But it was a longggg day for little Nathan!

Party party party!!

Nathan and the walk-by (video) shooting....

The sound of contentment...

Gingerbread houses at the Grove Park Inn

Mom took us to the Grove Park Inn to see the fantastic Ginger bread houses that contestants from all over the country send in to compete for the coveted "ginger bread house contest winner" title.

In all seriousness, the houses were remarkable (and the smell was delicious!) but I can't imagine anyone taking so much time to create one of these ephemeral creations!

Nathan's first petting zoo

No visit to Asheville should be considered complete without a visit to the Asheville Nature Center.

We were recently introduced to the center by my Mom, so we brought Nathan there to visit the petting zoo and see all the animals.

Nathan really enjoyed the goats, but spent most of his time screaming "moo" (total coincidence) to the very large and hairy cow (no one was allowed into his pen -- I guess his hair made it hard for him to see and he stepped on people?)

Nathan also screamed "caa caa" for most of the visit as well. Which was fitting, as there was plenty of that around.

We took a walk to the "bear" area (which was right next to the deer area and separated by only a chain link fence -- must have freaked the deer out for the first few months) where Nathan got very excited by the big furry beasts. I wish we had snapped a photo of his look of excitement (Alex saw it, I did not as Nathan was riding on my shoulders at the time!)

Nathan eats, acts, then exits stage left...

Thanksgiving with Debbie and Betsy

A Thanksgiving so nice -- we ate it twice!

6We visited my mom in Asheville, NC (we flew Delta -- our new favorite!) for Thanksgiving this year.

In order to make sure we had an opportunity to eat tooooo much (and to have time to thoroughly enjoy each other's company both at the table, and in the kitchen) we celebrated Thanksgiving "en famille" on its proper day, Thursday, and then again with my Aunt Debbie, and Aunt Betsy at Debbie's house.

What we lack in pictures we made up for in videos...which will be rolled out as time permits... Suffice to say that we had a fantastic time seeing everyone, and ate more than our share of turkey!

Nathan... and the case of the excess energy before nap time

Nathan loves the bath...

Walking at the Shakespeare Garden

This weekend was low-key. After a rainy Saturday used to catch-up on sleep, we ventured out on Sunday for a walk in the park.

Nathan practiced walking with Sam and enjoyed the beauty of the Shakespeare Garden in Golden Gate Park.

Nathan at the BMC Halloween Party

Nathan traveled all the way to Sunnyvale to show off his cool costume and was so happy to finally meet Alex S.

Alex hung out with Brian, while Nathan preferred Suzanne...

The Halloween Party

Monica, Bill, and Sophia invited us all over to their home for a halloween potluck. The kids and the parents all had a great time, and Maggie (the dog) managed to get out alive!

Nathan aime le fromage...

This weekend we were pretty busy... and Nathan tried lots of new things. Of particular note, and making his French parents extremely proud, is that Nathan ate some cheese!

It wasn't French cheese... but it certainly wasn't "American cheese" either!

He ate some fairly pungeant "Edam," and said "ummmm mmmm mmmm" the whole way through.

Way to go, Nathan!

Swinnnnnnnng, part deux

After snapping our photo of Nathan in complete terror on the swing last week, we showed it to our Nanny, Ana. She was surprised, saying that during the week she took him to the swings and he had loved them.


It turns out that she didn't actually push him in the swing... she just sat him down and let him gently rock back and forth. Whereas when I put him in the swing I gave him a big push and voila... a terrified baby appeared (Oh, Dad!!)

Yesterday we went back to he park to make amends. We started really slow and built up quite a bit, and Nathan had a swingin' good time!

Le premier tour de manège (the first merry-go-round)

Yesterday in the park Nathan had his first merry-go-round ride. He seemed to enjoy it, but I think he'll appreciate it more as he gets older.

Nathan a dit "non"

Nathan has been able to communicate with us for some time now.

Let's recap:

• "I'm tired" = long, ear-splitting scream
• "I'm wet" = long, ear-splitting scream
• "I'm hungry" = long, ear-splitting scream
• "I'm not hungry anymore" = long, ear-splitting scream + turning his head/grabbing the spoon and making a mess everywhere -- at least he doesn't spit food back out (yet)
• "I'm happy" = long, blissfully sweet silence (or even sweeter, laughter!)

His vocabulary has really picked up in the past few weeks...

Last week when Alex was getting ready to take Nathan out of the bath, Nathan began shaking his head violently from side-to-side, clearly telling us that he did not want to get out of the bath. There was some long, ear-splitting screaming which accompanied the gesture to hammer the point home.

More recently he has begun to accompany the side-to-side head shaking with the words "no na na no non no na no non nu nu nu" (or the like). Clearly wanting to imitate the sounds that we make when we say no.

If I can get a video of it I'll post it for you to see... non non non non non!

Nathan and Sam are published!

My photographer friend, Aurélie, had an article published about her work in the French quarterly magazine Paroles de Mamans in the september-october-november 2007 edition featuring Dads. There are two photos of Nathan and Sam taken by her last May on page 3 (photos 3 and 7, left to right and top to bottom).

Nathan and Alex in the Park

I took my camera to the park today to help prepare for an upcoming Paparazzo shoot. What better subject matter than Nathan and Alex!

Swinnnnnng!

Nathan is a real trooper and is willing to try just about anything.

But Alex and I think he might not be 100% on-board with the whole "swing" thing.

He's comin right at me!

Nathan the King. And quite a climber, too!

First ear infection (otite)

After a more than cranky Sunday, the doctor's visit on Monday confirmed that Nathan was not doing well because he had the start of an ear infection in the right ear -- from a cold gone bad, not from water getting in his ears like some people think.

The symptoms are not easy to recognize but we found that he was not sleeping as well as usual, he had a mild increase in temperature and a sad little face. Also, when having him in our arms, he would rest his head on our shoulder instead of trying to climb.

We started the antibiotics right away. He loves the pink goo and says: "humm" when he sees the spoon full of medicine coming his way.

8 more days of pink goo...

Oooh lez'animaux

As we were "persona non-grata" at our house today during the open house, we went to the San Francisco Zoo.

We thought the layout of the zoo was fantastic, and saw a few of the animals but most of them had already decided that they wanted dinner or a nap and were not available for viewing. We will definitely go back again, this time a little earlier.

Nathan didn't seem to mind, as he was just as interested in the people cleaning the cages or the wooden barriers separating us from the "wild" animals.

9 mois 9 kg

For his 9-month check, Nathan insisted that he weigh himself... by himself.

The stats came up to be: 9 months, 20 lbs and 29.5 inches (75 cm).

Sam the Frenchie

After a generous amount of paperwork, a letter of motivation, an interview in French, and a one-year waiting period... I received my French Citizenship!

We were all really shocked at how easy, relatively speaking, it was to get citizenship. As Robert said, "there is not a long line of clients."

The whole troupe went along with me to pick up my paperwork. There was no champaign or baloons (quelle tristesse!), only a print-out of the declaration des droits de l'homme and the Marseillaise (which I don't think I'll learn... it's a little scary). Robert and Linda invited us to lunch at our favorite international airport restaurant, "FireWood," before Robert boarded his plane to return to my "other mother country."

Vive la France, vive la republique!

Breaking the Fast with the Hartogs

The Hartogs invited us over the their house for Yom Kippur to break the fast with them. They had a beautiful table, and their house was filled with friends and family who gathered to join in the festivities.

After fasting all day, we ate our fill and drank in the wine and conversation. We had a wonderful time, and are looking forward to spending many more holidays with the Hartogs!

Famille Va de Floride

Miguelito, Mom's cousin from Florida, Liliana and David had Nathalie's sister's weeding in LA and planned to stop by San Francisco on the way to see Nathan. The timing was perfect as Mom and Dad were in town - my Dad had not seen them since his honeymoon with Mom in Venezuela... over 35 years ago!
For Sam and I, it was the second time we were seeing them and it was always a immense pleasure.

We had a great night, lots of memories, lots of stories, lots of laughs as we are all left wondering what to do with all those stamps!

Weekend in Santa Cruz

For my birthday weekend, we all embarked to Santa Cruz. The main driver was the wedding of a colleague of mine at the Chaminade Hotel in Santa Cruz. So, we had decided to make a weekend out of it.

Saturday morning at breakfast, a man stops by our table and aks us where in France are we from. From one thing to another, he ended up having breakfast with us relating his childhood in Germany and how his family escaped Hitler. His name was Arno Penzias, 1978's Nobel Prize in Physics...

After a lot of swimming and some resting, Saturday night was the wedding. Mom and Dad stayed with Nathan while Sam and I headed to the ceremony and reception.

The site was incredible, overlooking the Santa Cruz Bay. The wedding was beautiful and we had a fabulous time with the rest of the BMC crew.

Rosh Hashannah chez nous

We invited family and friends over to our house to celebrate the new year. Lois, Deborah, Steve (and Lila) joined Robert, Linda, Alex, Nathan and I at a glorious fete! Linda (and Alex) prepared some absolutely wonderful sephardic delicacies, and Robert lead us in a traditional service with lots of symbolism which my cousin, Lois, and I had never heard of before.

After the traditional "eating of the onion" (to liquidate anyone who wishes us harm) and the dates (to further liquidate anyone meaning us harm) we ate a little apple to have a happy and sweet year, were ready to attack the main course.

The Spinnaker... and Mamie Sylvia's sweater!

Robert took Linda, Alex, Nathan and I to his favorite restaurant, "The Spinnaker."

Nathan wore a very cute outfit, which was a gift from his "arriere-grand-mere" Sylvia.

Isn't he adorable?

Nathan et Simon le Hérisson

Nathan really likes Simon the Hedgehog (le Hérisson)

8th tooth...

The lower right lateral incisor (N) showed up this afternoon. The lateral incisors are only supposed to come out between 10 and 16 months (as per the teeth chart) but here we are at not even 8 1/2 months old with a toothie mouth!

Standing up

Michelle's mother graciously hosted this week's playgroup including grandparents. Timing was impecable as a number of grandma's were in town that week.

Babies played, ate, laughed and cried and Nathan spent time climbing up the leg of dining room table to check out what we had for lunch... trying to pull the table cloth... Catastrophe averted!

Then, we had to have another pinwheel of babies!

7th tooth!

Here we are again, the lower left lateral incisor (Q) just pierced through the gum today...

Maria Kelley: Vegetarian?

Our good friend, Maria Kelley, was in San Francisco for a friend's wedding, so she came by our house for a visit -- and to meet Nathan!

Linda made a fantastic dinner and we were three-quarters of the way through the meal when we started talking about Maria's life, job, and eating habits in Taiwan. It turns out that she doesn't eat meat anymore because she's not always certain what kind of meat she's eating.

We were horrified. We had served her Chicken and she was quietly munching down on something she hadn't eaten in years.

Luckily, she had faith in our little Chicken and very politely put Linda, Alex and I at ease...

Next time she comes, we PROMISE to try and remember that she's a vegetarian -- and we beg her to mention it, just in case!!

Vroom, vroom

For his 8th month birthday, Mamili got Nathan his first car. Check it out!


Hopefully this will give him all the stand-up time he needs. Since last week, all Nathan wants to do is stand up: he pulls himself up on any piece of furniture he can get a hold of. Even at bedtime, we are not yet out of the room that he's up in his bed! Needless to say that it has been very disruptive on his sleep. Why sleep when you can stand up?

Snippety crickets

With that long hair in the front, it was finally time for a little haircut. Yes, yes, you read correctly. Mamili took Nathan to a place on Sacramento Street called Snippety Crickets that specializes in haircuts for kids. Nathan had a toy to distract him while his hairdresser was cutting away, which brought Mamili to tears: "Oh, no, my baby's hair!!!"

The unhappy look on the picture is because he had to leave his toy for a second to look at the camera. Ah, les paparazzi!

At the end of the cut, the hair "stylist" took a picture of Nathan for their "wall of fame" and gave me Nathan's hair in an envelop as keepsake. Very nice touch...

PS: It looks better the second day!

Baby picnic... take 2

Our second "baby picnic" was in Russian Hill at Belinda and Steve's house. The plan was to spend the afternoon at the Michaelangelo Playground but the overcast weather made it easy for us all to want to stay indoors in the comfort of the Rowbury's home.

We are a lot of people and lots of babies everywhere. Nathan had a blast (here with his friend, Lila).

Lunch at the Sorkin's

This lovely Sunday, we all gathered at the Sorkin's house for lunch. Nathan and Abby really bonded as big cousin Abby was showing him new tricks!

Eric Sasson vists

Our good friend from NY, Eric Sasson, came into town on his way to an exclusive workshop for writers, the Squaw Valley Writers Conference. While he was here he stopped by our house to meet Nathan and have lunch with us. Next time he's in town he will most likely be a published writer and may not have time for us "little people." However by then Nathan will be a bigger little person...

Nathan le Plongeur!

Jill and Noah visit San Francisco

My cousin Jill's fiance, Noah, is doing some consulting out in the East Bay and Jill came to visit him for the weekend. On Sunday they came by our place for a quick tour of the Inner Sunset, and lunch at the perennial favorite, "Park Chow." Alex, Nathan and I enjoyed meeting Noah, and we look forward to seeing them again!!

A little more laughter

Listening to this never gets old. For us.

New way of walkin'

So Nathan has succesfully made the transition from a sedentary desk-jockey to mobile menace. He started really moving last Sunday, and here we see him being lured around our bedroom by his second favorite magazine, "Parenting" (his first favorite being the "Economist").

Back to work

After 7 months of maternity leave, today is my first day back at the office. Even though I had prepared myself mentally, nothing can make you ready... I woke up at 5:30 am with an ear pain, had a pounding headache at 8:00 am and nausea started at about 9:00 am.
I started the day with Nathan's first feeding, then ran around trying to get ready. Nathan definitely noticed something was off this morning and just wanted to be held which didn't help with getting ready! Everyone was stressed, even Mamili as it would be her first day alone with Nathanou.

After quick goodbyes, I got all my stuff in the car and started driving away. The drive was long but uneventful. Accompanied by James Blunt, my mind was wandering and doing a recap of the past 7 months, tears were coming up: How would I be able to leave my baby all day? As I passed Palo Alto, fond memories of car pooling with Sam came back -- still 30 minutes to go... Then, I made the rookie mistake of taking 85 N which has always bad traffic no matter what time of day.

Got to the office at around 9:00 am and went straight to my desk. Well, let's say that things were not exactly how I had left them: all the power cables, the mouse, the white-erase board, garbage bin and my chair were gone. So, my first action back on the job was to file a trouble ticket with facilities!

Nobody seem to expect me so I decided to come home early to make Nathan's last 2 feedings of the day. Separation at bedtime was hard, I would not see hime for 12 hours and after a day away from me how could he be sure he'd see me again...

I know it will all be ok and it is an adjustement for everyone in the family, so we'll keep working at making this a smooth transition.

Nathan by Tami DeSellier

A few weeks ago, on July 15 to be exact, Tami DeSellier (http://www.tamiland.com/) had set-up free photo sessions at Day One for the full day. All we needed to do was sign-up in advance and show up for Nathan's 15-minute shoot.


The pictures were made available online for ordering prints today at www.tamiland.com/FellDayOne and will be up for 5 days.

A Little Laughter

Day One play group @ Janice's

We all had lunch and babies enjoyed Monica's story telling.