Confiture

Nathan really likes toast and jam. In French, jam is called "confiture." Nathan has also recently begun to appreciate his blanket. In French, a blanket is called a "couverture."

When he's getting ready for bed, Nathan will often point at his blanket and ask us for his "confiture."

Fwhy-ers

Nathan really likes flowers. He calls them "fwhy-ers."

Today at breakfast he pointed to Alex's tea cup and said, "this a fwhy-ers." Of course, there was more than one. So he pointed again and said, "an a one!" (another one).

It's adorable.

Nathan holds Sidney

Nathan was very eager to hold his little brother this morning.

Once had him in his hands, however, I think he was a little disappointed by the lack of "fancy blinking lights" or "loud whirring noises."

He stared at him a long time, in between glances to his mother and I to make sure he wasn't doing anything wrong...

Hard to believe Nathan was ever this tiny...

Alex and I have been re-learning all the things we forgot in the last 20 months.

We hadn't forgotten about the joys of meconium. Sidney didn't disappoint -- and purged himself of some 5 times during the first 12 hours of life.

It's amazing how different a one-day old is from a 20 month old. And how forgetful us "old people" are.



It just goes to show you how amazing the whole process is.

Email announcement

Nathan meets Sidney

Mamie and Papie brought Nathan down from San Francisco to meet his new brother. Obviously the new arrival and impending introduction was the topic of the day, and Nathan quickly learned the word "frère" (brother, in French). Apparently he ran around saying "fair fair fair!" much of the day.

When he got to the hospital this afternoon, we all walked down the hallway with him to meet the new baby, who we had sequestered in the nursery just before Nathan's arrival to allow for us to all go and "get him together."

Nathan was excited about seeing the baby, and particulary wanted to see his hands and feet. He was also quite insistent that we make sure the "chapeau" (or "hat," depending on who he was talking to) was on the baby's head to keep him warm.

After Sidney graciously gave Nathan a few toys he brought with him on his trip (a panda bear, and a few toy cars -- including a garbage truck), it seems that Nathan was pretty happy to have Sidney around!

Obviously, we are happy too!

Sleeping like an angel

(Between tremendously cute yet abrupt grunting noises)

Welcome Sidney Michael Fell

8/27/08 6:32AM PST - 6lbs 15oz, 20 inches

Mom and baby are healthy and doing fine!!

10 cm dialated... Ready to go!

Doctor Rydfors is on his way... "This baby is ready to come out" says the nurse.

Contemplating Nathan, changes...

In a few moments of fenotal-(some magical drug)-induced calm after several strong contractions, Alex and I are contemplating how lucky we are to have each other, to have a beautiful son in Nathan, and yet another on the way.

It is certainly exciting and we feel very blessed.

It has started...

Alex woke up at 11p tonight with some contractions, and after talking with our doctor we came down to the hospital.



Its now 1a and she's 3 cm dialated and on the hunt for an epidural.



Go team!

No more monkeys jumping on the couch

Tonight we were invited over to dinner at Max's house. His dada made a fantastic selection of food, and then upped-the-ante another notch when he went all iron-chef on us and whipped up another main course selection for us to nibble. Scrumptious!

After dinner, Nathan and Max entertained themselves with climbing on the couch, giving each other "hugs" (mostly just an excuse to try and knock the other one over... and mostly initiated by Nathan I'm sorry to report).

All in all a highly enjoyable evening. Good food, good friends, good fun.

The artist

Geema bought Nathan some crayons last week, and maman bought him a little table/chair set for him to play on in the living room yesterday.

This morning when he woke up, he launched right into them both and came up with an art project or two along the way!

Nathan and Papie

Manger the bug

Nathan was eating some homemade chicken soup (with extra "cayottes" (carrots), his favorite) tonight and he noticed a little piece of thyme in his broth.

"This a bug" he said, calmly.

Alex and I laughed, and said, "No Nathan, that's some thyme, it's an herb."

Slowly and deliberately he proceeded to raise the spoon towards his mouth and said "Manger the bug."

Ovo mystery

Sitting on Sam's lap, Nathan started saying something that sounded like "ovo"... Quite puzzled, Sam asked him to say it in Spanish instead. Nathan repeated "ovo".

All right, Spanish was not helping, how about in French? Nathan then proudly said: "Foofoo". ("chichi" en Francais)

After lots of laughter, we still don't have any idea about what he meant!

La Vie en...Blue!

We are not sure where this is coming from but for Nathan everything is blue:

nounours blue ----------> nounours is brown
blue truck ----------> a little blue but mostly red, yellow and green
popo blue ----------> normal color popo in the "couche"
blue phone ----------> black phone
blue carro ----------> car passing by that appeals to him, usually not blue

We've noticed that only the things he really liked where "blue", however, so doubt still remains when he refers to popo as blue...

Corriendo!!

See Nathan?

See Nathan run!

Nathan loves to run.

Run run run.

Before he runs, he yells "corriendo" ("run" in Spanish) to make sure everyone is aware of his plan of action.

Corriendo!!

Fun at Ryder Park

Chasing the sun, we decided to go for some water fun at Ryder Park and meet up with Paula, Mika and Patrick. The water jets start automatically at 11:00 am and are on for 5 min every 10 min. Nathan got surprised by the jets and preferred that Papa stay right next to him while trying to "catch" the water!

The cheering section

Nathan ate very well tonight -- first time in a long time. We think it's because of the cheering section he had on hand.





(Clockwise from left, Maman, Nounours, Nounours, Nounours, et Nathan)

Mr. Organization

Nathan decided we needed to organize our cupboard today.

Natasha's Shower

Natasha's turn for a fantastic baby shower at the Garden Court of the Palace Hotel for high-tea. The setting was very elegant and the company delightful.

Sierra did a great job at organizing and we were all very happy to share the moment.

The bets are all in on what Natasha's is expecting: we all agreed that it would be a girl! We'll have to wait until end of September to find out...


From left to right: Sierra, Natasha, Angela, Kim, Janice, Belinda, Alex.

Trucks... Trucks... Trucks!

Nathan loves trucks. Fire trucks, garbage trucks, blue trucks. All kinds of trucks.

This morning, his enthusiasm for trucks got the better of him when he was looking for his fire engine ("Fire truck," "Pompier,' or "Bomberos" depending on who he's talking to...)

Instead of telling me, "Fire truck!" he eagerly shouted, "Fire Garbage!"

Au revoir Papie...

Luis Miguel...

Beloved husband of Sylvia, loving father of Linda and Diana, adoring grandfather of Alexandra, Jordan, and Ruben and great-grandfather of Nathan.

b. December 22, 1914
d. August 4th, 2008


You are in our hearts.

Our day with Max

We woke up this morning with an invitation to head to breakfast with Max and his parents at our local haunt, Park Chow. Much eating and fun later, we decided to take a walk to the park.

Nathan and Max enjoyed hanging out with each other, to the point that they were provoking each other to laugh across the table by violently shaking their heads and then waiting for the other to shake back.

Hysterical laughter ensued.

Le bidou de maman

Et voila! Le bidou de maman...