Time time time

Oh dear... I've been meaning to post something new for three weeks now. Where has time gone?? There's so much to tell... Since I last wrote Quinn has acquired all sorts of new skills, met lots of new people, had his first cold and received even more hats. I've been trying tp find a moment to sit down and write everything down but I've had quite a bit of time home alone with Quinn these past few weeks so I've had a very hard time getting anything done besides nursing, changing diapers and doing endless loads of laundry. At the end of February Jos was in Amsterdam for four days working with the fantastically funny British theatre company Spymonkey, then he was in the hospital for three days getting a rather horrible heart exam (which all turned out to be ok thank goodness) and then last week he was in Naples for four days laying down the groundwork for a project he's going to do there next year. Poor man... running around like a chicken with his head cut off. Tonight he's off performing his one man show twice in two different cities outside of Paris. Crazy life... but we certainly can't complain... what an immense gift to travel, do what we love and get paid for it! Meanwhile though Jos is having fantasies of becoming a house-husband and spending all his time at home with the little one. And it's no wonder... Quinn is growing and changing so quickly... it's hard to keep track if you're not around for a few days. He's started spoiling us with the most gorgeous smiles these past few weeks. He graced us with first big one on my 30th birthday... what a present! And his big toothless grins are getting bigger and bigger and lasting longer and longer. It's like he gets a little fit of giggles and can't stop smiling... And neither can we obviously! Quinn's eyesight is also getting much better of course. He's started staring at faces intently and is completely fascinated with his mobiles...he can actually track their movement now. He's also started hitting and grabbing things.. like my hair for instance. We put a little figurine with a bell on it over his changing table and he seems to get endless joy out of batting it around while we change his diaper.

Quinn loves bath time. We get in the tub with him and he swims around like a little frog.

Batting around some toys.


Getting ready to go for a walk with Q in the great sling that my friend Alex
brought us back from the States: http://www.kangarookorner.com


The lucky boy was visited by his wonderful aunts, uncles and cousins from Belgium three weeks ago. This weekend we're finally going there ourselves to introduce him to his grandparents!Quinn and his aunt (and godmother) Lu

aunt Rita

aunt Marleen

the fam

A weekend in the country

This weekend Quinn went on his first outing! We packed up his cloth diapers, several changes of clothes and the car seat and we all took the train to visit the grandparents. My parents live in a big, gorgeous manor house that they've converted into a bed & breakfast (www.maisonconti.com). We hadn't made it out of Paris since Thanksgiving so it was a huge relief to breath some fresh, country air and it was a joy to give Quinn a little change of scenery. The weather was gorgeous on Saturday and Sunday and we took some nice drives and even had a winter picnic (Quinn and my mom stayed in the car). We spent most of our time this weekend all admiring this handsome little boy though. He is infinitely entertaining... and it's amazing how much he is changing every day. It's so special to watch him becoming more alert and interested in the outside world. He has more and more moments of quiet wakefulness where he seems to just love looking around and taking everything in. He is especially fascinated by light... from the window, a lamp, the tv... he stares at any light source with such a wide-eyed contented look on his face that of course we all cluster around and stare contentedly at him for hours on end. With less naps happening for Quinn I'm getting even less done myself. Today he only napped for a half hour twice... enough time for me to eat my lunch and take a quick nap myself, but not enough time to do the dishes, unpack the suitcases or take care of any other work. Right now I'm writing one-handed while he nurses. I'm getting pretty good at doing lots of things one-handed... this boy eats constantly! Days sure do go by quickly with a child in your life. Wow.


Here is the Quinn man basking in the light in his favorite spot by the window at my parents' place:




Playing around with daddy...

Quinn and his hats

Quinn has received a plethora of adorable hats as gifts. He looks so cute in them that we thought we should show them off... so here's a photo series of Mr. Quinn modeling his many hats...

And then there was Quinn!

Emily: He has arrived! The little creature has finally landed on earth. How completely amazing.
He was born on Tuesday the 27th of January. He's already 11 days old. I'm sorry I haven't posted anything before but everything seems to take 10 times longer all of a sudden... I got out of the clinic 6 days ago and now that we're home we spend such a huge portion of our day just staring at this beautiful little boy, not to mention feeding, changing, cooing, etc.
The birth itself was wonderful and intense. I did it completely naturally which worked out well because I had done a lot of preparation classes and because Jos was such a wonderful help and support. The birthing center we were at was also completely fantastic. It was started in the 60s by Dr. Lebroyer who wanted to look at birth as a life event and less as a medical event. The midwives were really there for me and I was allowed to do things exactly as I wanted to... so I walked around, rolled around on a yoga ball, put on some nice music, took a hot bath, had Jos massage my back... it was long and hard but it was such a beautiful experience to have gone through together. I ended giving birth on my side after an hour long pushing session where Quinn kept coming down and yo-yoing back up. And then he was out and all of a sudden there was absolutely no more pain, only awe and joy. Apparently my first words (though I don't really remember because I was in some sort of alternate universe) once Quinn finally made it out were, "wooh, that was intense." The midwives put him directly on my belly as soon as he was born and Jos cut the umbilical chord. We sat and stared at him for an hour or two before they cleaned, weighed, tested and dressed him and then they brought me down to my room and Jos went home to share the event with my family. Uncle James just managed meet Quinn before he had to fly back to San Francisco. It couldn't have worked out better. I started my contractions in the middle of the night the day before James was supposed to leave, so when I got up at 6 a.m. he was able to quickly change his flight and stay two days longer. Hoorah hoorah!!
On Friday we came back from the clinic. We all walked home together, Quinn happily riding in his fleece sling. The birth center is just 20 minutes from us by foot and it was a wonderfully crisp, blue-skyed winter's day.
Now we're home. Quinn is doing all his baby things... feeding voraciously, pooing, sleeping in two hour spells... and we're soaking it all in.
Jos: Quinn William Houben-Wilson came into the light just 30cm away from my nose. I was holding E's leg to help her push while the midwife grabbed him. He landed on his mummy's belly, coughed a bit and started breathing and that was it. Short little breaths, about 4 for every single one I make, I counted the other night after he fell asleep on top of me. The closeness of us three in our home, the unconditional love, the light of the winter sun: Quinn floats around in it all with his little eyes wide open in quiet surprise.

an hour old

all dressed up and ready to leave the hospital

walking home from the hospital with Q in his sling

relaxing in his bedroom


sleeping with daddy

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.