Sam's first day at MuleSource

As you may know from my earlier post, I recently accepted a job offer at a small startup with offices in San Francisco (much easier commute) called MuleSource. The company sells top-tier support and services to people who are using the open source "Mule" application integration APIs and corresponding enterprise service bus.

For those who have any idea what I do... My job responsibilities will be similar to the ones I had at my last company, Symphoniq, however I'm now also responsible for growing and managing our customer support teams as well.

Coinciding with my first week on the job were visits to Corp HQ from many on the MuleSource executive team (including the CTO and VP's of Sales and EMEA Operations) as well as from a support partner from Australia, so it was a very opportune time to come onboard.

So far I'm thrilled with the enthusiasm and energy of the people I'm working with, and am extremely excited about the opportunities we have in front of us.

First "big boy"'s bath

We finally upgraded Nathan to the "big" tub from the kitchen sink. An upgrade he seemed to enjoy very much.

iWon

The Apple iPhone came out on June 29 while we were in Asheville, so as soon as we came home Sam started monitoring the iPhone inventory at Apple stores around the Bay (www.apple.com/retail/iphone). Finally, after a long night online, Saturday morning we find that both the San Francisco and the Burlingame stores have some iPhones available. We voted to make a trip to Burlingame thinking there would be less of a rush and easier parking. A good opportunity for me to make a stop at the Baby Gap store too.
The store was opening at 10 am. Nathan shortened his morning nap so that we could leave early enough to make it, as if he could tell something important was going on. We arrived at the store at 10:20 and while I parked the car, Sam ran in and snagged the LAST iPhone!

Sam was on a cloud, and waited patiently while I shopped at Baby Gap and Janie and Jack, evne though he was eager to get home to start playing with his new "toy"... I mean "business tool".

Sunday morning, after a long night of playing with the iPhone, Sam tells me he's got bad news and good news: the bad news is that the iPhone is not suitable as a "business tool" and the good news is that he's giving it to me... if I liked it!

So... iWon!

PS: Sunday morning we went phone shopping for Sam and he got a new Blackberry.

One more tooth

Today, Nathan's 4th tooth peeked out on his upper gum. So... we are moving to solids at increased velocity ;-) His favorites so far are carrots, haricots verts (green beans) and apple. But he already had a taste of zucchini, sweet potato, avocado, peas, and pear.

Nathan, the Ham

While at Grandma's house, Nathan discovered his skills as an orator lend themselves equally well to lectures, or comedy.

Asheville, here we come

We left on June 29 to visit Sam's mom in Asheville, North Carolina. The trip to get there went really well, even though we had to get up at 4 in the morning.

We had a fantastic time eating, visiting Mary Margaret's friends, hanging out at the house and eating. Nathan spent a lot of time laughing with his Grandma, charming the ladies and swimming with Dad. It was his very first time in a swimming pool and the water was cold but it didn't seem to bother him... I couldn't get in! He would grab on to Sam really tightly, especially after Sam pulled him under water!

The big bummer of the trip was that Sam couldn't find an iPhone in Asheville. The AT&T stores there did not yet receive their shipment.

Under-age customers!

The most stupid thing happened to us today. I was supposed to go meet people from my company at O'Neil's Irish Pub by the ATT Arena to introduce them to Nathan. After one hour of packed public transportation -- that's what happens on baseball game days -- I arrived at the pub with Nathan in the Bjorn. I entered by the door closest to the tables occupied by my company and started greeting everyone.
About 5 minutes later, a security guy comes up to me and tells me I can't stay there "because of their policy about under-age drinking". I look at him puzzled: who was he calling under-age? He then pointed at Nathan, so jokingly I answered that Nathan was not going to drink... Well, he was not joking so I did have to go outside. They even felt compelled to close the back door, probably by fear of having me or Nathan crawl back in to have a drink!
Is it possible to be so stupid as to take rules so literally that it would obstruct common sense? The answer is yes, because everyone knows how drunk those little 6-month old babies get... on milk!

We now welcome the first upper tooth!

On Friday night, Nathan woke up every 4 hours which had not happened in a long, long time. Then, same on Saturday... We then suspected that he was teething again. Well, sure enough, we got confirmation today as his first upper tooth (on the right) peeked in. At not even 6 months yet (4 days away), Nathan has 3 teeth!


Can you see it? Not really, hein.


Well, here are the bottom ones then...

BBQ with Téa

Ana are Téa finally came back from Croatia, so to celebrate their return, we had them over for a BBQ.

Picnic at Paradise Beach Park

Today, we had our much anticipated picnic with the Day One group at Paradise Beach Park in Marin. The original purpose of this get-together was for the dads to meet and share their fatherhood experience -- what, we, mothers, get to do weekly.

From left to right: Sam, my friend Zozo, Simon, baby Philippa, Michelle,

me, baby Nathan, Greg, baby Quinten, Connie, Belinda, baby Eva, Steve,

Bill, baby Sophia, Monica, Scott, baby Max, Janice, and Connie's mom.

The other special event of that day was that my friend Alex was in San Francisco for a business trip so she courageously joined us for the picnic. I say courageously because it can't be that fun to join a bunch of new parents and their babies, when you are single! Hopefully, it wasn't too scary.

Well, Nathan wasn't the happiest camper, which is pretty out of character. First, he didn't like to have to stop playing to pose for the baby spinwheel.

Then, he ended up swaddled in a new way and had to give up his "swaddle buster" title. And, finally, had to fend off pirate Eva who kept trying to jump into his Bjorn. So, it was a very busy day for little Nathan!

It was overall a great day and we hope we will get to do this again soon.

Roger Waters with Roger Horwitz

A good friend of mine from work was able to get us a pair of amazing seats for us to the Roger Waters concert in Oakland. I took the BART over from the city (ask me how f*cked up the ticket purchasing process is for both the BART and MUNI is if you want to get me riled up) and met Roger at the arena.

When I got there I was thirsty, and thought I'd be drinking warm beer but it turns out that right next to the beer guy was a fully stocked bar guy. So instead of an $8 crappy beer, I ordered an $8 mediocre scotch and made my way down to our seats.

The show was amazing. The first half they played early hits and a few of Waters' solo songs.

Just before the intermission I received an email on my blackberry. Now normally I wouldn't have been checking my blackberry during a concert, but I was waiting to hear back from a recruiter which I had been working with who was trying to secure me an employement offer from a startup that I was really interested in working at. The email indicated that an offer letter was attached, and that they were willing to accomodate the requests I had made in order to accept the position.

I was on cloud nine!

I went an ordered another scotch, and then enjoyed the remainder of the show -- the full DSOTM album, as well as a few songs from the Wall and again a few solo works from Waters' later career.

All in all a FANTASTIC evening. It was of course tinged with a bit of sadness as I knew that Roger Horwitz and I soon would not be working together any more...

Sam and Steve's excellent first Father's day adventure!

Lila, Deborah and Steve Hartog joined us for a barbecue in our backyard so Steve and I could celebrate our first fathers' day in style! The weather in the Sunset on Saturday was awful so we were very worried about trying to be outside on Sunday -- but luck was on our side and we had FANTASTIC weather. Nathan and Lila both had a nice time, and Steve and Sam appreciated the "it's father's day" clause when diapers needed to be changed.

Blackie's Pasture Walk

Last Friday's walk was in Marin, near Tiburon. It was a gorgeous day -- my shoulders and my back are still feeling the heat!

We walked all the way from Blackie's Pasture to a bit past downtown Belvedère, for a total of maybe 2-2 1/2 hours.

From left to right: Lauren with baby Shea, Monica with baby Sophia, me with baby Nathan, Belinda with baby Eva and taking the picture, Janice with baby Max.


We got to look at the gorgeous houses overlooking the water (3 BR/2 Baths selling for $2.75 M) and finished our first half of the walk at Poncho's something (a Mexican place I didn't know) to restore before walking back to our cars.



What did the babies do during all this time? Except for sleeping, crying and looking around, baby Shea kept loosing his socks, baby Sophia didn't like her stroller too much and preferred the Bjorn, babies Eva and Max were just dandy, and baby Nathan was all smiles for me...

Janice and Max / Belinda and Eva

Poil de carotte

What is so special about today, you may ask.

No, not the grand finale of the Sopranos on HBO tonight -- although very important to some -- but rather that Nathan had his very FIRST teaspoon full of carrot and loved it!

He liked the spoon and was already trying to grab it to put it in his mouth, apparently I was not going fast enough.

Here's the close up of our new mangeur de carottes!

Don't look for strollers!

Although very committed to our little ones, it was finally time for us -- new moms -- to get just one night for ourselves. So, Nicole graciously organized a dinner at Marnee Thai on 9th Avenue for our FIRST Mom's Night Out.

I am insisting on the fact that it was our first because it will not be our last! It was fun and refreshing.

Meanwhile, Dads/Partners were having a lovely time with our bundles of joy. Well, I hope most did... because Nathan ended up feeling colicky that night and Sam spent the most part of the evening trying to console him :-(

(For the grand-parents reading this, Nathan is totally fine now and Sam survived!)

From left to right: Monica, me, Raina, Abby, Nicole, Michelle and Janice.

Paris... summary

Paris this year was quite different then the other years. First, I stayed 6 weeks instead of the usual 2. It was still too short for my taste but much better than the other years. I finally had time to... well...do nothing!

Second, the presidential election drew out such passion from everyone that no matter which side you were on, you would find yourself debating about which candidate should win with your neighbor, baker, taxi drivers, etc. The outcome pleased a good majority and seemed to create hope and a new energy that had seemed to be lost.

Third, I got to see my high-school friends. Zozo, who happened to overlap her stay in Paris with mine for a couple of days. Dinner at her parents with my parents, Sam and Nathan was amazingly good: Avocado cream with foie gras, Gigot, and TWO deserts, a Meringue à la crème et fruits rouges and pots au chocolat.... hummm. And Nathan grew a fascination for Monsieur Z.'s conversation.

I happened to be there for Youmna's birthday and finally met her cute 3-year-old daughter, Oriana. Then, I made a surprise visit to Aurore, I had not seen for ~15 years, at her kid's store, Louping.

We visited our common friend Jean-Pierre and met his wife and lovely daughter Chloe.

Last but not least, while walking in my neighborhood, I hear someone whisper my name in the random chance it would be me, and there was Aurélie! Her daughter Elisa, 8 months, is the most gracious baby I had ever seen. Charming everyone all the time. Nathan tried to chase her but was at a slight disadvantage... for now!

This also gave us the opportunity to use Aurélie's services as a photographer to get Sam in some shots with Nathan and me.

Finally, Nathan was there to be introduced to everyone my grand-parents, both recovering from being in the hospital; my aunt and cousins, Jordan and Ruben; the Feders --Laurent and Stéphane, for once, were both in Paris in the same time so we spent a Friday night together.

Plus all the milestones Nathan went through while in his second home: rolling over, scooting backwards (see where he goes now without adult supervision!), 2 teeths, and saying "ma-ma-ma" (tried to teach him "pa-pa"but he's smart he knows where his food comes from ;-)

And yes, I shopped -- how could I be in Paris and not shop! Here is how my luggage cart looked like coming back to San Francisco --by myself with Nathan. Heureusement, Sam has a "big" (enough) car!

Second tooth is here

Just 10 days after the lower right incisor made its way through Nathan's gum, its little neighbor, the lower left incisor, decided to come out. No more gummy smiles!

Don't Worry, be Happy!

So based on what you read here, a lot of you might think that Nathan is just this perfect kid who never has a "bad day." Well, he does. But even when he's in a rage he's still a real cutie!

And now it's documented. So someday we'll be able to show this to his girlfriend.

Oh what a difference 4 months make...

I was sharing a few thoughts with a friend of mine in an email on the subject of daddy-hood after perusing some old photos of Nathan and it got me thinking (again) just how amazing the whole experience has been.

I can’t get over how big Nathan is getting… so fast. One minute he’s this little raisin-y looking thing (er, angel) with huge eyes, the next thing you know he’s this big smiling chubby little angel with huge cheeks, reading the economist!

Meeting Youmna and Oriana

My school friend Youmna came to visit Nathan and I with Oriana, her three year old daughter. Nathan loved Oriana's beautiful curly hair and kept pulling on it.

Première quenotte (First tooth)

Nathan has been teething for a while now and today, at 4 and half month and one day before Sarkozy officially becomes the new French president, we discovered that the lower central right incisor (incisive centrale droite) was coming out! If the remaining 19 teeth happen the same way, I say "Vive the amber necklace".
In the Grand Rex parking elevator, I commented to my mother that Nathan had a weird "thing" in his mouth -- a white spot on his gum that looked like a sore. Then, I forgot all about it until later in a store, Aubert (not recommended by the way), I hear Mom scream: "Ça y est il a une dent!" ("That's it, he's got one tooth")
Once home, my dad confirmed, so we drank champagne. Yep, that's how we celebrate the first tooth in a dentist's home!

"Do you think the car will fit...?"

Parking isn't easy in Paris, especially now since their mayor is reducing the number of spots to encourage people to use the bus.

But Linda has the touch (and a teeny tiny little car...)

Nathan gets some exercise

Once the weather cooled down a bit we were able to go out for walks around the neighborhood.

Nathan relished the opportunity to get a little exercise.

Nathan turns over -- and grabs his feet!

Today was a pretty big day in Nathan's life... not only did he successfully (and repeatedly) roll over from his back to his tummy, but he grabbed for his feet when he was in the tub.

Yay, Nathan!

May Day

We woke up this morning to yet another French holiday -- May Day -- and because no one (practically) was working, Robert thought it would be good to go out for lunch. Robert and Linda invited us to a nice Italian restaurant and after a few glasses of rose wine, Robert decided that Nathan was going to be the "President of the United States of AmeriCA!" (emphasis intentional, accompanied by the closed fist "victory sign" shown in the picture).

Nathan thought that was pretty cool.