House Beautiful!

Our house has gone through such a transformation this year... new kitchen, new parquet downstairs and now a new bathroom upstairs. It's all part of some serious nesting instinct I suppose. We have been spending all our free time lately trying to sort and organize everything we own. We're both pretty bad at keeping organized so that might have something to do with it. We're trying to learn a bit of discipline to get our lives ready for this new person that is on his way. But of course now we're starting to feel SO ready that we can't wait for him to arrive. We're getting antsy now. An Italian friend recently told me that they have a saying that goes, "pregnancy lasts 8 months and an eternity." Sounds about right. Luckily I'm not feeling too uncomfortable or exhausted or anything. Just excited and anxious to meet this little boy. Jos can't wait to be a daddy. He's completely hyperactive with anticipation... always looking for a new daddy task. We're becoming very boring company... all we can talk about or think about is babies. Luckily two of my good friends here are also pregnant. Anna is due a week before me and Alex two weeks after me. It's so fun to have bump buddies! Jos has also been calling up all his friends who have kids to get their advice. So now all that's left to do is to huddle up in our beautiful home and wait, wait, wait...

Cold!

It's been positively frizzling here this week. It snowed on Monday and the temperatures have stayed well below zero degrees celsius (around 20 or 25 degrees fahrenheit) so nothing has melted. In fact it's all gotten even more frozen. Our courtyard is an ice rink. Jos got the salt out today and made a little path so there's no risk of slipping.
It's kind of exciting to have such extreme weather here. It's rarely this cold and snowy for so long in Paris. The snow even poured down in the South of France in Marseille.
I made my first foray into the cold world on Thursday to have lunch with our friend Gisele and then tea with my friend Anna who is also pregnant and due a week before me! It's great to be able to get out of the house again. Now that I'm at 37 weeks I'm considered to be full term so the boy can come when he wants. In fact my midwife is hoping he'll decide to show his face sooner rather than later since he's so big. They'd prefer to get him out before he grows too much more in there... they're afraid I won't be able to push him out otherwise... we'll see.
We've been pressing ahead with all our homey duties as we wait for the exciting arrival. My parents were here this week and they finished up the bathroom for us. It looks so gorgeous! (pictures to come tomorrow) We also finally put together the crib and got the changing table all set up too. We've ordered a rocking chair and a mobile to finish off the room. It's looking cuter and cuter. We'd still like to get a big rug in there but other than that everything is ready. In any case he'll be sleeping with us in our room for the first few months in a little cradle.
Here's how his room is looking now...

All packed up and ready to go

So my suitcase is officially packed and ready. After coming back from the clinic and realizing that the little man could decide to appear on the scene at any moment I decided it might by wise to get everything ready for him. Now we're officially ready to leave for the clinic at the drop of a hat. The suitcase is full of clothes for him and me, blankets, hats, thermometers, massage oil, ipod and speakers for labor, etc. etc. etc. Each day I think of something more that I should add in order to make everything as comfortable and pleasant as possible. I better stop before it gets too full. In France, or at least at our particular clinic the average hospital stay after birth is 5 days. In that time they take care of you and the baby and help you learn how to bathe him and breastfeed and even offer you post-natal physical therapy classes. And everything is completely free and paid for by the national health care system (unless you want a private room... that's a bit extra). Crazy! When I had to stay in for two nights two weeks ago and have all the sorts of tests done on me I owed the clinic exactly 0€. As an American I'm completely in awe of the healthcare system here. The French state even gives you a cash bonus just for having a child... something like 800€! Vive le socialisme!


This kid has already got so many cute clothes. They'll probably only last him a few weeks but these two pairs of pyjamas were just too adorable to resist. The second one has an elephant on the front though you can't tell too well from the photo.