I was much more active today in fulfilling my house duties. I sorted through some boxes in the garage and found some clothes that I washed, dried, ironed, and folded for the kids. I also re-organized Gregoire's clothing chest so that I'd know where everything is. The kid's got Burberry in there. He's gonna be stylin' tomorrow ;-)
Google had also been spayed yesterday so I was on dog watch. She was much less drugged out than my own dog when she had the same surgery. Google spent all day in my room, lying on the doggie bed that I made for her. She didn't eat anything last night, but I decided to entice her today by making her some spaghetti. I mixed the noodles and sauce up with her dry dog food and she scarfed the whole thing down--slowly, but surely.
I left the house at my usual 17h20. I made Google stay home so that she wouldn't have to maneuver around the kids with her freshly cut belly. I started with Camille as usual. She told me that she got her first kiss today! Victor is apparently a very cute boy that she's liked for a long time. The feeling is obviously mutual because he pulled her aside and stole a kiss. Oh la la!!! How cute. I'd flip out if that was my daughter though, ha haha. I guess I'll have to remind myself when I have my own children that it's innocent. Now, if they start sexting, well, that would be an issue. I find love letters in the girls' pockets all the time. I wonder if Céline found them before I came along or if this is a recent development. The letters are pretty lame, but I'm happy for that. It's the whole elementary "I like you. Do you like me too?" If the notes get beyond that, I'm gonna have to sit the girls down and have a talk with them. They seem to really respect my opinion and I would never want my girls to be hoes. Not that they would be at that age, but I wouldn't want them to get on that route.
We stopped at Léa and Baptiste's school next. Boy, was Baptiste slow or what!!! It took him so long to get his stuff together that I just started walking out. That's key, because as soon as they see you leaving, they stop whatever they're doing so they're not left behind. He was still a pain when he left the classroom though. First he refused to put back the magazines that he was reading--to his teacher's face, and then he took one of the balls and threw it out into the courtyard after everything else had already been put away. He didn't stop there. When we got to the creche, Baptiste started kicking all of the balls around the room while the ittle children were sitting on the floor. One of them could have gotten hit and would have subsequently cried. Good thing I nipped that one in the bud. I grabbed all of the balls in mid-air and kept them out of his reach. He then decided to taunt Gregoire instead of helping him get his coat and shoes on. I swear, whenever you take Baptiste anywhere, it takes twice as long to get stuff done. From now on, I'm making him stay in the car. Good thing I had the girls with me to tell him to stop being an idiot. I wouldn't feel right saying that to him, but the girls can say whatever they want, ha haha.
The car ride back was absolute Hell!!! First Léa was asking for the phone to call her mom for batteries, then she followed that with a million requests/demands as usual, to which I answer with "No!" It takes awhile to stop her but when she figures out that she can't coerce you, she shuts up. In the mean time, Baptiste was taunting Gregoire and making him cry. I had planned on making strawberry shortcake tonight but the kids were annoying me so much that I threatened to take it away. I told them that if they wanted cake that they needed to stop messing with each other and asking useless questions. That didn't deter them one bit and they ended up screaming over each other. Gregoire was bawling, Camille was yelling at Baptiste to get him to leave Gregoire alone, Baptiste was yelling back at Camille telling her that she wasn't the boss, and Léa continued to ask for things like bon bons. I pulled the car to a halting stop before I turned around to the kids in the back seat and said "Vous ne m'entendez pas!!! Pas de gateau pour tous!" This shut them all up super quick. It may also have something to do with my death stare. I hear that works wonders on my customers at Jack Browns. I was serious though. I can't have the kids messing with the lights, hitting each other, and screaming while I'm driving. That's just insanity. I know I've allowed them to get away with a lot but it's time for a little bit of discipline. I would be so embarrassed if these were my kids. They're super sweet and all, but they've got some 'cleaning up' to do.
We finally got home and I got Gregoire into the bath immediately. I've been perplexed as to why he hates baths so much. I previously tried to bring toys into the tub, that didn't work. The next time, I let him wash himself so that he could control when and how his body was cleaned. This seemed to help a bit. He seemed to enjoy showing everyone that he could bathe himself like a big boy. My breakthrough came today though when I thought about what I'd like if I were taking a bath. The first answer that came to me was bubbles!!! I poured some shower gel into the running water and when Gregoire saw the foam rise, he roared with happiness. He hates having his hair washed but while he's playing with the bubbles, I'm able to shampoo his hair. Kids can be so simple if you actually take the time to think about what's important to them. This evening marks an extremely important milestone--Gregoire's first bath WITHOUT crying!!! It's a miracle!!! According to Céline and Didier, Gregoire has ALWAYS cried during a bath--especially when his hair gets wet. Watch out Super Nanny!!! You've got competition!!! I might be a bit slow, but I'm getting the hang of this!!!
Dinner was low-key tonight since Didier is out of town on business. We had croques-monsieurs!!! It's the most delicious sandwich ever--the real recipe anyway. I remember eating a simpler version in french class back in high school but the authentic stuff is so much better! I could eat this everyday. No, seriously!!!
I helped Léa with some english homework after dinner. The kids were sent to bed soon after because Céline was exhausted. I took that opportunity to retreat to my room to watch a movie. As soon as Céline left the floor, the kids all snuck into my room to see what I was doing. When they saw that I was watching a movie they immediately climbed under the covers with me. I told them it was a horror film and that they'd be scared, but they insisted on staying anyway.
The movie was called "Devil." It's about 5 people who get stuck in an elevator. Murders ensue and the Devil is apparently behind it. The movie was okay, really not scary at all, but the kids were nervously twitching the entire time and holding onto me for dear life. It also might've been less scary for me because Léa was asking a million questions every minute instead of paying attention. Oy vey! She reminds me of my old friend Kelly Utter who always did that too.
After the movie was over I had to walk Baptiste to the bathroom, ha haha. I had to pee afterward as well, but I guess he forgot I was in there because when I walked out he nearly pissed his pants screaming "Tu me fait peur!" Ha haha. I kicked all of the kids out of my bed so they're all sleeping together in the next room with their door open and the hallway light on. Poor little ones. I warned them though. It may be wrong for me to decide this but I think it's better to expose them to the horror genre now so that they can learn to control their fear. No one likes a wussie...Those people get on my nerves. Besides, I hear they watch horror flicks with their dad all the time so I'm not the only one inflicting psychological damage ;-)
Friday, November 30, 2012
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Lundi à Mercredi, 26-28 Novembre 2012: French Guys & Persistence
Because of the rain, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday have been pretty uneventful except for one thing...French boys being all up in my face!!!
I had seen this ad on Facebook for singles in France so I signed up for the site. Though I'm extremely happy with my life here, I feel like something is missing. Since I was 14, I was always the girl with a boyfriend. I really enjoy my alone time and independence, but I also really love that connection that I can feel with a person. I've loved a lot of guys, but I've only been 'in love' a few times. It's still addicting no matter how deep the love is. I can't explain love itself, but it's so necessary for a full life. If you've done nothing else in life, you've got to experience love! It's the most wonderful thing in the world. I'm not saying I wanna get married y'all. I just miss that intense connection with another human being.
I've been single since April and though I've 'dated' a few guys during my singledom, I still feel incomplete. I'm not saying I need a man to feel whole, but love makes you feel so good about everything in general. I've met a few guys here that aren't really worth mentioning. A few guys at the bars, clubs, and markets. They're all "blech." I am so picky about the guys I want to be romantically involved with, but I feel like you should be. I've had some of the best relationships a girl could have and though I dumped all of them, I experienced some of the best the world of romance has to offer.
I dated my last 'boyfriend' because I felt sorry for him, and well, you guys know how that turned out. I will never do that again. I kept trying to convince myself that it was wrong of me to not like him because he was such a nice guy, but he was so boring. You can't force yourself to like someone and you can't fake chemistry. That's why I just don't lie. When the french guys ask me "Je te plait?" I tell them how I really feel, and generally, that's a straight up "no." I hate that they always ask that, it's like, 'Do you want the truth? Seriously?' Are their egos that big that they feel they can ask a question like that and not get turned down?
Anyway, back to the site. I signed up just a week ago to see how much better my fishing pond would get, and surprisingly, there were a lot of cute guys on that site that seemed to be intelligent AND in my age range. I didn't message a single person. I was waiting to see who would come to me. Little did I know that within an hour of signing up my inbox would be flooded with messages from your average Joe's to your CEOs. I messaged everyone back to see what they were all about. Most of the guys were very nice, and basically told me everything that I wanted to hear. Girls can totally tune into that though. It's like intuition when you know someone's being fake. I stopped talking to the guys that I felt were insincere. Comments they made just did not match up.
By the next day, the number of messages had doubled, and the day after, it had tripled. I had no idea there were so many single guys in Aix. Instead of writing everyone back, I started weeding out people I didn't like by ignoring their messages. Somehow, this didn't deter them because they would keep writing anyway, sending me poems and declarations of their feelings--telling me they fell under my spell and stupid crap that you don't say to someone you haven't even met in person. For the guys that I had no interest in who kept writing, I would tell them it was because of their religion or our hobbies clashing. When they didn't accept that as an answer, I would be honest and tell them I wasn't physically attracted or intellectually stimulated by them. Boy, would this piss them off...Instead of letting it go, these guys would throw jibes at me, telling me that I can't treat people like dirt just because I think I'm hot shit. I had one guy tell me that my profile was fake because I had light skin in one picture and was tan in another. Another guy told me that I wasn't really asian--that I'm hispanic and that I only put I was asian on my profile for attention. This is when I started blocking people.
After putting some restrictions on my account for those who want to contact me, I started seeing more messages that were more relevant to what I was looking for. The criteria for you to be able to contact me on this site are 1. You must live in France, 2. You must live in my region of France, 3. You must be between the ages of 25 and 35, 4. You have not sent any lewd e-mails to other members (Not sure how the site regulates that...), 5. You have a profile picture, 6. You are not searching for intimate relations. Though I had changed my profile to say that I was only looking for friends, I still allowed guys looking for a relationship or date to contact me.
After a lot of messaging, I chose to accept invitations from two guys for coffee in broad daylight. They both seemed relatively sane and cool so I met with them, separately. The first one seemed like someone I could really mesh with, really laid back, genuinely smiled, and incredibly intelligent. The second one wasn't as educated, but he was really sweet, pulling out my chair for me and such--you all know I'm really into chivalry. This one was pretty touchy feely though. Most of you know that I like my space. I absolutely HATE public displays of affection unless I'm in a serious relationship, and even then, I'll only allow hand-holding and tongue-less kisses, ha haha.
I sat with each one for about an hour before I found some excuse to leave because I was bored. When I got home I was shocked...My inbox was full of messages from these guys. They started out pretty innocent like "When will I see you next?" but the messages got increasingly irritating. For one of the guys, he sent one message after the next, within minutes or even seconds from the last asking me why I hadn't replied yet. The other guy messaged me telling me that he wanted to hook up. He sounded so desperate that it grossed me out. I almost puked on my laptop.
I wrote both of the guys back saying that I was no longer interested. When they asked why, I said that our personalities weren't compatible. When they said they couldn't understand, I explained. When they told me that those weren't good enough reasons, I told them I had found someone. When they told me they didn't care, I told them they were getting on my nerves. That's when I found the friend requests on Facebook. That might not seem creepy to anyone, but the only information they had on me was my first name...I ignored the requests but read their messages. After I blocked them, one guy made another profile with a pseudo and tried to add me from that. You all know that I never accept requests from anyone I don't personally know so I subsequently ignored those requests. The messages started piling up in my inbox. I ended up deleting them all because I didn't want to tempt myself to read them. I also didn't want the guys to know that the message had been "seen." One guy, we'll call him Bertie made a total of 3 FB profiles...
Though they've all asked me for my number, I've refused to give it to them until I get to know them better. Thank the Lord or the voice of reason because I don't know what I would do if these loonies were calling or texting me too. I had originally thought it was one of my friends playing a joke on me since they knew I signed up for the site, but no one has fessed up, and my friends would've stopped a long time ago. Besides that, the messages include information that none of my friends know so I'm sure it's not them.
I've heard that European guys are persistent, but this is just ridiculous. I can't believe I dedicated an entire blog post to this but it's just gotten so out of hand. I was complaining about not getting enough attention last week, but DAMN, this is just too much for me.
Good night y'all
I had seen this ad on Facebook for singles in France so I signed up for the site. Though I'm extremely happy with my life here, I feel like something is missing. Since I was 14, I was always the girl with a boyfriend. I really enjoy my alone time and independence, but I also really love that connection that I can feel with a person. I've loved a lot of guys, but I've only been 'in love' a few times. It's still addicting no matter how deep the love is. I can't explain love itself, but it's so necessary for a full life. If you've done nothing else in life, you've got to experience love! It's the most wonderful thing in the world. I'm not saying I wanna get married y'all. I just miss that intense connection with another human being.
I've been single since April and though I've 'dated' a few guys during my singledom, I still feel incomplete. I'm not saying I need a man to feel whole, but love makes you feel so good about everything in general. I've met a few guys here that aren't really worth mentioning. A few guys at the bars, clubs, and markets. They're all "blech." I am so picky about the guys I want to be romantically involved with, but I feel like you should be. I've had some of the best relationships a girl could have and though I dumped all of them, I experienced some of the best the world of romance has to offer.
I dated my last 'boyfriend' because I felt sorry for him, and well, you guys know how that turned out. I will never do that again. I kept trying to convince myself that it was wrong of me to not like him because he was such a nice guy, but he was so boring. You can't force yourself to like someone and you can't fake chemistry. That's why I just don't lie. When the french guys ask me "Je te plait?" I tell them how I really feel, and generally, that's a straight up "no." I hate that they always ask that, it's like, 'Do you want the truth? Seriously?' Are their egos that big that they feel they can ask a question like that and not get turned down?
Anyway, back to the site. I signed up just a week ago to see how much better my fishing pond would get, and surprisingly, there were a lot of cute guys on that site that seemed to be intelligent AND in my age range. I didn't message a single person. I was waiting to see who would come to me. Little did I know that within an hour of signing up my inbox would be flooded with messages from your average Joe's to your CEOs. I messaged everyone back to see what they were all about. Most of the guys were very nice, and basically told me everything that I wanted to hear. Girls can totally tune into that though. It's like intuition when you know someone's being fake. I stopped talking to the guys that I felt were insincere. Comments they made just did not match up.
By the next day, the number of messages had doubled, and the day after, it had tripled. I had no idea there were so many single guys in Aix. Instead of writing everyone back, I started weeding out people I didn't like by ignoring their messages. Somehow, this didn't deter them because they would keep writing anyway, sending me poems and declarations of their feelings--telling me they fell under my spell and stupid crap that you don't say to someone you haven't even met in person. For the guys that I had no interest in who kept writing, I would tell them it was because of their religion or our hobbies clashing. When they didn't accept that as an answer, I would be honest and tell them I wasn't physically attracted or intellectually stimulated by them. Boy, would this piss them off...Instead of letting it go, these guys would throw jibes at me, telling me that I can't treat people like dirt just because I think I'm hot shit. I had one guy tell me that my profile was fake because I had light skin in one picture and was tan in another. Another guy told me that I wasn't really asian--that I'm hispanic and that I only put I was asian on my profile for attention. This is when I started blocking people.
After putting some restrictions on my account for those who want to contact me, I started seeing more messages that were more relevant to what I was looking for. The criteria for you to be able to contact me on this site are 1. You must live in France, 2. You must live in my region of France, 3. You must be between the ages of 25 and 35, 4. You have not sent any lewd e-mails to other members (Not sure how the site regulates that...), 5. You have a profile picture, 6. You are not searching for intimate relations. Though I had changed my profile to say that I was only looking for friends, I still allowed guys looking for a relationship or date to contact me.
After a lot of messaging, I chose to accept invitations from two guys for coffee in broad daylight. They both seemed relatively sane and cool so I met with them, separately. The first one seemed like someone I could really mesh with, really laid back, genuinely smiled, and incredibly intelligent. The second one wasn't as educated, but he was really sweet, pulling out my chair for me and such--you all know I'm really into chivalry. This one was pretty touchy feely though. Most of you know that I like my space. I absolutely HATE public displays of affection unless I'm in a serious relationship, and even then, I'll only allow hand-holding and tongue-less kisses, ha haha.
I sat with each one for about an hour before I found some excuse to leave because I was bored. When I got home I was shocked...My inbox was full of messages from these guys. They started out pretty innocent like "When will I see you next?" but the messages got increasingly irritating. For one of the guys, he sent one message after the next, within minutes or even seconds from the last asking me why I hadn't replied yet. The other guy messaged me telling me that he wanted to hook up. He sounded so desperate that it grossed me out. I almost puked on my laptop.
I wrote both of the guys back saying that I was no longer interested. When they asked why, I said that our personalities weren't compatible. When they said they couldn't understand, I explained. When they told me that those weren't good enough reasons, I told them I had found someone. When they told me they didn't care, I told them they were getting on my nerves. That's when I found the friend requests on Facebook. That might not seem creepy to anyone, but the only information they had on me was my first name...I ignored the requests but read their messages. After I blocked them, one guy made another profile with a pseudo and tried to add me from that. You all know that I never accept requests from anyone I don't personally know so I subsequently ignored those requests. The messages started piling up in my inbox. I ended up deleting them all because I didn't want to tempt myself to read them. I also didn't want the guys to know that the message had been "seen." One guy, we'll call him Bertie made a total of 3 FB profiles...
Though they've all asked me for my number, I've refused to give it to them until I get to know them better. Thank the Lord or the voice of reason because I don't know what I would do if these loonies were calling or texting me too. I had originally thought it was one of my friends playing a joke on me since they knew I signed up for the site, but no one has fessed up, and my friends would've stopped a long time ago. Besides that, the messages include information that none of my friends know so I'm sure it's not them.
I've heard that European guys are persistent, but this is just ridiculous. I can't believe I dedicated an entire blog post to this but it's just gotten so out of hand. I was complaining about not getting enough attention last week, but DAMN, this is just too much for me.
Good night y'all
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Dimanche, 25 Novembre 2012: My First French Photoshoot
Sundays are my most lax day of the week, even if the kids are there. Au pairs typically have Sundays off so I try to sleep in. Surprisingly, this morning I didn't have to try! Gregoire got up late and didn't fuss at all. Thanks kiddo!!! I got my first night of undisturbed rest. 11 whole hours!!! Shocking!!!
After getting myself ready for the day, I ate some leftover lasagna for 'breakfast' as I would be needing a lot of energy today. I was going to my first photo shoot in France! I met some photographers online and they invited me to a group shoot. They have these events every once in awhile where a bunch of models and photographers of all levels get together and build their portfolios. Most of the events are unpaid unless the photographer is able to sell your picture. The money aspect isn't a big deal to me right now. I get to work on my worn out skills, get new pretty pictures, and meet new people! Oh, and practicing my french is another plus!
I am working at a paid shoot in December for a calendar. Hopefully it'll be tasteful. Looking at most portfolios of french photographers, their taste is very unlike mine. I'm more into classy and glamorous shots while most of them post slutty/skanky pictures in their portfolios. I didn't expect that in this country, especially with how modest most french women seem to be. But I guess as one photographer explained to me, people enjoy seeing the taboo here but not living it.
I picked Kami up around noon for moral support and we headed out of town. We ended up not finding our exit, driving 30 km extra, and doing a huge loop. Though a bit stressed that I was using up so much gas, I still had a great time cruising around the south of France with Kami. We saw such beautiful scenery and heard a lot of good music on the radio. "Summer Jam" by R.I.O. kept coming on and we jammed to it every single time. It is now our song and will forever link us. I will surely think of Kami and that car drive every time I hear it. After about an hour of being lost and taking random routes that we saw listed on MapQuest we made it to our destination, COMPLETELY by accident!
We were greeted by Brian, a model I had met previously and Caty, the director/event planner. They immediately grabbed us to get on location for some shots. I first worked with a photographer named Patrice. Out of all of the photographers, his taste best suits my style. He didn't ask for anything too provocative and he took more close-up shots--glamour, if you will. We ended that session with another photographer, Ludovic. He's on the opposite end of the pole for me. The main picture on his profile page is of a girl wearing a revealing top--with the focus being on her shiny cleavage if that helps paint you a picture.
We all headed to a car garage afterward for some auto-themed photos. Here, I worked with Steph. His style was a bit more rebellious than Patrice's, but more tame than Ludovic's. He took a lot of good shots of me. I spent 80% of the shoot with this photographer. He had some interesting ideas but Kami ended up taking over the directing aspect. She's an extremely creative person and can see things from many different perspectives. He liked her ideas so much that she ended up directing me the rest of the shoot.
I ended up posing with Brian in a limo with Steph as the prime photographer. He needed more elements so he coerced Kami into sitting for a few pictures. She hates being on the other side of the camera but she is so beautiful. I don't understand why!
All of the photographers showed me their favorite pictures of me from each session. Though they were decent and the photographers did a great job with lighting and such. I must say, I am really out of practice. My visage is so stern and cold. I really need to work on relaxing my face and expanding my facial expressions. I don't know if I've always been this bad or if I was just too nervous being around a hoard of strangers that were staring at me--probably a combination of both. Whatever reason it is, I want to do better.
After about two hours of posing, using a lot of broken french, learning new french words, and making new friends, Kami and I were ready to go. We found our own way back to Aix without MapQuest and made it home in 20 minutes!!! Next time I'll just use information off of the side of the road. It's better to know how to get somewhere without road by road navigation anyhow. It hones your innate GPS skills!!!
Now that I'm back in Aix, I'm out out my fantasy world. Back to folding laundry and ironing for me! Though I love my host family very much, I am so happy I got a chance to break away from a normal au pair day for once!
After getting myself ready for the day, I ate some leftover lasagna for 'breakfast' as I would be needing a lot of energy today. I was going to my first photo shoot in France! I met some photographers online and they invited me to a group shoot. They have these events every once in awhile where a bunch of models and photographers of all levels get together and build their portfolios. Most of the events are unpaid unless the photographer is able to sell your picture. The money aspect isn't a big deal to me right now. I get to work on my worn out skills, get new pretty pictures, and meet new people! Oh, and practicing my french is another plus!
I am working at a paid shoot in December for a calendar. Hopefully it'll be tasteful. Looking at most portfolios of french photographers, their taste is very unlike mine. I'm more into classy and glamorous shots while most of them post slutty/skanky pictures in their portfolios. I didn't expect that in this country, especially with how modest most french women seem to be. But I guess as one photographer explained to me, people enjoy seeing the taboo here but not living it.
I picked Kami up around noon for moral support and we headed out of town. We ended up not finding our exit, driving 30 km extra, and doing a huge loop. Though a bit stressed that I was using up so much gas, I still had a great time cruising around the south of France with Kami. We saw such beautiful scenery and heard a lot of good music on the radio. "Summer Jam" by R.I.O. kept coming on and we jammed to it every single time. It is now our song and will forever link us. I will surely think of Kami and that car drive every time I hear it. After about an hour of being lost and taking random routes that we saw listed on MapQuest we made it to our destination, COMPLETELY by accident!
We were greeted by Brian, a model I had met previously and Caty, the director/event planner. They immediately grabbed us to get on location for some shots. I first worked with a photographer named Patrice. Out of all of the photographers, his taste best suits my style. He didn't ask for anything too provocative and he took more close-up shots--glamour, if you will. We ended that session with another photographer, Ludovic. He's on the opposite end of the pole for me. The main picture on his profile page is of a girl wearing a revealing top--with the focus being on her shiny cleavage if that helps paint you a picture.
We all headed to a car garage afterward for some auto-themed photos. Here, I worked with Steph. His style was a bit more rebellious than Patrice's, but more tame than Ludovic's. He took a lot of good shots of me. I spent 80% of the shoot with this photographer. He had some interesting ideas but Kami ended up taking over the directing aspect. She's an extremely creative person and can see things from many different perspectives. He liked her ideas so much that she ended up directing me the rest of the shoot.
I ended up posing with Brian in a limo with Steph as the prime photographer. He needed more elements so he coerced Kami into sitting for a few pictures. She hates being on the other side of the camera but she is so beautiful. I don't understand why!
All of the photographers showed me their favorite pictures of me from each session. Though they were decent and the photographers did a great job with lighting and such. I must say, I am really out of practice. My visage is so stern and cold. I really need to work on relaxing my face and expanding my facial expressions. I don't know if I've always been this bad or if I was just too nervous being around a hoard of strangers that were staring at me--probably a combination of both. Whatever reason it is, I want to do better.
After about two hours of posing, using a lot of broken french, learning new french words, and making new friends, Kami and I were ready to go. We found our own way back to Aix without MapQuest and made it home in 20 minutes!!! Next time I'll just use information off of the side of the road. It's better to know how to get somewhere without road by road navigation anyhow. It hones your innate GPS skills!!!
Now that I'm back in Aix, I'm out out my fantasy world. Back to folding laundry and ironing for me! Though I love my host family very much, I am so happy I got a chance to break away from a normal au pair day for once!
Photo from the shoot by Steph
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Samedi, 24 Novembre 2012: The Hangover from Hell
I woke up in the middle of the night to Gregoire crying. I was still drunk from the dinner party so I just walked him back to his bed and told him to stop crying. He immediately got back up and followed me back to my room. He was just standing there screaming for his mom and I was so out of it that I just picked him up and put him in the bed between Kami and I. He sniffled for about another minute or so before he passed out. I wasn't sure how Céline and Didier felt about him sleeping in my bed with me but I figured they'd be okay with it as long as it wasn't habitual. Plus, if Gregoire is up screaming then no one can sleep. It was kind of sweet having Gregoire snoring between Kami and I, that is until he hogged Kami's pillow and kicked my boobs.
Céline came upstairs pretty early this morning. As soon as she opened the hallway door Gregoire woke up screaming for her. The kid isn't a light sleeper but when he wants his mom, he's on alert! Céline grabbed Gregoire so Kami and I were able to sleep undisturbed for a few more hours until the rest of the kids got up. When I woke up for the day I was so hungover that I could hardly move. Even though I had already cleaned up the previous night, I got up to help around the house. I barely made it through a coffee before I felt like I had to vomit. I took this as a cue to get back into bed.
The girls gave me head massages to help me feel better but it just ended up making me feel more sick. Kami put on a few episodes of Dexter's Laboratory while she, Camille, and I were all laying in my bed. We ended up falling alseep to The Sword in the Stone, an old Disney classic. The Italians were knocking out a portion of the ceiling today to make more headroom. There was a ton of noise but Kami and I were out.
Though I was awake around lunch time, I was still dead so I skipped eating. I found some comfort in drinking pickle juice and yogurt. I was able to fold one load of laundry and wash everyone's dishes. I can't stand to just see them sitting there even though I didn't eat. It's disgusting.
I left the house to pick Baptiste up from soccer practice around 15h45 even though his practice didn't end until 16h15. My gas tank was on empty and I was going to stop for gas on my way to the field. The gas station on the way didn't end up taking cash so I was on edge the rest of the drive to the soccer field and all the way back to the house. We made it to a gas station and I put the 40 euros that Céline had given me earlier into the car. That barely gave me half a tank. Thank goodness I don't pay for gas!!! I wasn't as sick after the gas incident. I probably sweat all of the toxins out of my system while I was panicking.
I took Kami back to town before dinner so she could get back to her life. I dropped Léa and Camille off with their uncle Romy so they could spend the night at his house. I was originally supposed to work as Romy's au pair before he got a surprise delivery from Germany.
After I dropped Kami off I had to drive around the Rotunde and through the Cours Mirabeau. I was absolutely taken by the sight! The entire area is decked out in white twinkling lights with the Rotunde itself wearing bold blue lights in place of the water.
I stopped by a grocery store on the way home to get ingredients for Turkey Devan. I wanted to use the leftover turkey before it went bad so I made a casserole. I tweaked the recipe a bit so I could use other leftovers like mashed potatoes but it still turned out well. Let me tell you though, cheddar is a difficult cheese to find in France. I had to settle for a yellow cheese from Holland that had similar flavor and meltability. The Turkey Devan was a success. We watched Céline Dion's concert in Lyon live on TV while dining. It's a big event in France apparently. I did enjoy it. She's freakin' amazing!
Three hours later we're all still watching the concert and I'm writing this blog post. I'm a sleepy girl though. Hangovers are exhausting. So I will talk to you all later!!!
Céline came upstairs pretty early this morning. As soon as she opened the hallway door Gregoire woke up screaming for her. The kid isn't a light sleeper but when he wants his mom, he's on alert! Céline grabbed Gregoire so Kami and I were able to sleep undisturbed for a few more hours until the rest of the kids got up. When I woke up for the day I was so hungover that I could hardly move. Even though I had already cleaned up the previous night, I got up to help around the house. I barely made it through a coffee before I felt like I had to vomit. I took this as a cue to get back into bed.
The girls gave me head massages to help me feel better but it just ended up making me feel more sick. Kami put on a few episodes of Dexter's Laboratory while she, Camille, and I were all laying in my bed. We ended up falling alseep to The Sword in the Stone, an old Disney classic. The Italians were knocking out a portion of the ceiling today to make more headroom. There was a ton of noise but Kami and I were out.
Though I was awake around lunch time, I was still dead so I skipped eating. I found some comfort in drinking pickle juice and yogurt. I was able to fold one load of laundry and wash everyone's dishes. I can't stand to just see them sitting there even though I didn't eat. It's disgusting.
I left the house to pick Baptiste up from soccer practice around 15h45 even though his practice didn't end until 16h15. My gas tank was on empty and I was going to stop for gas on my way to the field. The gas station on the way didn't end up taking cash so I was on edge the rest of the drive to the soccer field and all the way back to the house. We made it to a gas station and I put the 40 euros that Céline had given me earlier into the car. That barely gave me half a tank. Thank goodness I don't pay for gas!!! I wasn't as sick after the gas incident. I probably sweat all of the toxins out of my system while I was panicking.
I took Kami back to town before dinner so she could get back to her life. I dropped Léa and Camille off with their uncle Romy so they could spend the night at his house. I was originally supposed to work as Romy's au pair before he got a surprise delivery from Germany.
After I dropped Kami off I had to drive around the Rotunde and through the Cours Mirabeau. I was absolutely taken by the sight! The entire area is decked out in white twinkling lights with the Rotunde itself wearing bold blue lights in place of the water.
I stopped by a grocery store on the way home to get ingredients for Turkey Devan. I wanted to use the leftover turkey before it went bad so I made a casserole. I tweaked the recipe a bit so I could use other leftovers like mashed potatoes but it still turned out well. Let me tell you though, cheddar is a difficult cheese to find in France. I had to settle for a yellow cheese from Holland that had similar flavor and meltability. The Turkey Devan was a success. We watched Céline Dion's concert in Lyon live on TV while dining. It's a big event in France apparently. I did enjoy it. She's freakin' amazing!
Three hours later we're all still watching the concert and I'm writing this blog post. I'm a sleepy girl though. Hangovers are exhausting. So I will talk to you all later!!!
Vendredi, 23 Novembre 2012: Thanksgiving Dinner Party
Since my event was today Céline took care of dropping off the triplets. I took Gregoire to the creche and as soon as I got home I started making a wreath. I collected all of the elements from the yard. I made the frame out of dead branches and filled in all of the gaps with various leaves. It turned out fantastic! I'm again surprised.
Céline arrived home with Camille soon after I finished. Camille had two of her wisdom teeth extracted today so Céline decided to take the day off from work. Céline had ordered a 9kg turkey for my dinner party. I rubbed it with extra virgin olive oil, freshly cracked pepper, basil, and salt. I then filled the cavity with rosemary, thyme, a couple of wads of butter, and dry white wine. I threw the bird in the oven around noon. Céline and I spent the rest of the day cleaning.
By the time evening came around, I started to get stressed even though everything was finished. I drove to campus to pick Vanessa up from the cuques (dorms). Neither one of us knew the area well enough and there was a huge traffic jam so it took awhile for us to find each other.
The stress of the "bouteillage" got to me so as soon as we got back, we cracked open a bottle of wine. An hour flew by and my first guests arrive. It was my language prof and her boyfriend. They mingled with my host family while I tried to direct the CEA girls on how to get here. It was a huge ordeal getting those girls in the right place. They got on the bus that I told them to get on but then immediately got off because they asked the wrong questions. I had told them to ask the bus driver if he could take them all the way up my neighborhood instead of just stopping at the bottom. The stops directly by my house are only reached by request. They took the driver's answer of "no" as in they were on the wrong bus...I spent hours making sure they had multiple line/route options to get here just in case and they really didn't use any of the information I gave to them. The only one that paid attention was Maggie. Poor girl. No one listens to her.
The girls eventually made their way to Meyreuil. They ended up having to walk even further than they were supposed to, but 'shit happens'. The girls were still having trouble finding their way to the house so I got in the car to drive down the hill and see how many people/how much stuff I could fit in my car. I knew they had had a long day so I wanted to help them as much as I could. I had already been drinking for awhile but I literally just drove 3 houses down. When I got to the girls they were all walking separately and it looked like there was a lot of tension between them. Some of the girls gave me attitude but I know that it wasn't anything that I had done so I wasn't worried, though it did irritate me a bit because I basically threw this party for them. I wanted everyone to have a good Thanksgiving especially since I knew they were all feeling really homesick. All of their troubles this evening were basically self-inflicted though and they seemed like they realized this later on. After they ate they seemed to cool off but there was still something weird going on between all of them. Though these girls are college-aged, it seemed like teenage drama to me so I just ignored it and went back to the party. My host parents were concerned about them though and pulled me aside separately to find out what was going on. Céline said the girls looked like they were having a bad time and I started getting stressed that their negative energy would be contagious. Didier came up to me and told me that I should give them more wine, ha haha. I'm glad he found the humor in the situation because it made me feel a lot better and I could see that the girls were relaxing a bit even though they were all congregated on the couch. I was still a bit upset afterward because I was really looking forward to spending time with Danielle, she's kind of my bestie here and I didn't really get to hang with her because she was babysitting the girls. Oh well, you can't have it all.
After the CEA girls got settled at the party a hoard of my parents' friends started flooding in as well. The party basically blew up. As soon as the food was put on the table, I put serving utensils in all of the dishes and everyone helped themselves. Though there were a lot of people here, there was also a monstrous amount of food. Everyone brought a dish and at least one bottle of wine so we were all content and drunk. I kept a bottle of wine in hand at all times just to make sure everyones' glasses were filled, socializing at the same time.
Half of the guests were my friends and the other half were Céline and Didier's friends. Such a good mix of people! All of us Americans were able to practice our french. It was such a great time getting to know everyone and learning more of the french language. Around 22h00 the last group from my class showed up. They had driven to Meyrargues because they got the towns mixed up. Ha haha, poor guys. No worries though, there was still plenty of food and drink left for them.
At one point Céline discovered one of the young girls sang really well and made her give us all a sampling. That evolved into a fashion show with all of the kids. It was pretty entertaining :-) Overall, it was a very good night. The last guests, the group that accidentally went to Meyrargues left around 1h30 which seemed so early for me. I was having such a good time! But alas, you can't party all night long...Unless you're in a big city, ha haha.
My first dinner party was a success!!! In a foreign country no less!!! I'm so happy!!!
By the time evening came around, I started to get stressed even though everything was finished. I drove to campus to pick Vanessa up from the cuques (dorms). Neither one of us knew the area well enough and there was a huge traffic jam so it took awhile for us to find each other.
The stress of the "bouteillage" got to me so as soon as we got back, we cracked open a bottle of wine. An hour flew by and my first guests arrive. It was my language prof and her boyfriend. They mingled with my host family while I tried to direct the CEA girls on how to get here. It was a huge ordeal getting those girls in the right place. They got on the bus that I told them to get on but then immediately got off because they asked the wrong questions. I had told them to ask the bus driver if he could take them all the way up my neighborhood instead of just stopping at the bottom. The stops directly by my house are only reached by request. They took the driver's answer of "no" as in they were on the wrong bus...I spent hours making sure they had multiple line/route options to get here just in case and they really didn't use any of the information I gave to them. The only one that paid attention was Maggie. Poor girl. No one listens to her.
The girls eventually made their way to Meyreuil. They ended up having to walk even further than they were supposed to, but 'shit happens'. The girls were still having trouble finding their way to the house so I got in the car to drive down the hill and see how many people/how much stuff I could fit in my car. I knew they had had a long day so I wanted to help them as much as I could. I had already been drinking for awhile but I literally just drove 3 houses down. When I got to the girls they were all walking separately and it looked like there was a lot of tension between them. Some of the girls gave me attitude but I know that it wasn't anything that I had done so I wasn't worried, though it did irritate me a bit because I basically threw this party for them. I wanted everyone to have a good Thanksgiving especially since I knew they were all feeling really homesick. All of their troubles this evening were basically self-inflicted though and they seemed like they realized this later on. After they ate they seemed to cool off but there was still something weird going on between all of them. Though these girls are college-aged, it seemed like teenage drama to me so I just ignored it and went back to the party. My host parents were concerned about them though and pulled me aside separately to find out what was going on. Céline said the girls looked like they were having a bad time and I started getting stressed that their negative energy would be contagious. Didier came up to me and told me that I should give them more wine, ha haha. I'm glad he found the humor in the situation because it made me feel a lot better and I could see that the girls were relaxing a bit even though they were all congregated on the couch. I was still a bit upset afterward because I was really looking forward to spending time with Danielle, she's kind of my bestie here and I didn't really get to hang with her because she was babysitting the girls. Oh well, you can't have it all.
Half of the guests were my friends and the other half were Céline and Didier's friends. Such a good mix of people! All of us Americans were able to practice our french. It was such a great time getting to know everyone and learning more of the french language. Around 22h00 the last group from my class showed up. They had driven to Meyrargues because they got the towns mixed up. Ha haha, poor guys. No worries though, there was still plenty of food and drink left for them.
At one point Céline discovered one of the young girls sang really well and made her give us all a sampling. That evolved into a fashion show with all of the kids. It was pretty entertaining :-) Overall, it was a very good night. The last guests, the group that accidentally went to Meyrargues left around 1h30 which seemed so early for me. I was having such a good time! But alas, you can't party all night long...Unless you're in a big city, ha haha.
My first dinner party was a success!!! In a foreign country no less!!! I'm so happy!!!
Jeudi, 22 Novembre 2012: Watch Out Martha Stewart!!!
I picked Kami up from Cours Gambetta around 10h00 and we headed back to the house to decorate. I had planned my first dinner party in France for Thanksgiving so we needed to re-arrange the house and come up with some fall decorations. I looked up some ideas on Pinterest and we got started. Kami and I moved some furniture around and went out in the yard and picked out some fall foliage. We came back in with our diverse assortment and about an hour or two later the living room looked like a page out of an autumn issue of Southern Living. I was surprised it turned out so well. I proudly sent Céline a picture message and she was pleased with the results!
I had to pick up all of the kids tonight so I left the house around 17h20. I always start with Camille since she finishes school first, then grab Léa and Baptiste, and complete the circle by picking Gregoire up last. It's seriously the best driving plan you could have with 4 kids at three different institutions.
When all of the kids walked in they looked at the room with amazement. Everyone including Gregoire said that it was beautiful! They must've truly enjoyed it all because they touched nothing and just started at it. Maybe the medical field is NOT my calling...
I had to pick up all of the kids tonight so I left the house around 17h20. I always start with Camille since she finishes school first, then grab Léa and Baptiste, and complete the circle by picking Gregoire up last. It's seriously the best driving plan you could have with 4 kids at three different institutions.
When all of the kids walked in they looked at the room with amazement. Everyone including Gregoire said that it was beautiful! They must've truly enjoyed it all because they touched nothing and just started at it. Maybe the medical field is NOT my calling...
Mercredi, 21 Novembre 2012: The Key to Making Kids Eat
Gregoire was surprisingly well-behaved this morning. I usually wake up to him crying and he normally continues to throw a fit while his parents are getting ready. But today, he was in good spirits. He smiled all the way to the creche.
As soon as I got home, I got some ironing done. It's been awhile since I've been on an ironing spree. The laundry room in this house was difficult to access while the main stairwell was being worked on.
The day went by pretty fast, though I'm not sure what I really accomplished. I picked Baptiste up from soccer practice around 18h00.
When we got home, I went straight to work. Céline had asked me to make a soup for dinner. Since soup was supposed to be the main course and ingredients were limited, I decided to make a vegetable chowder. Chowders are usually pretty filling. As for prep work, I chopped up some potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, red bell peppers, and onion. I sautéed the carrots, peppers, and onion in butter until tender, then I added the rest of the vegetables and filled the pot with water until the veggies were just covered. I allowed the water to boil and allowed the vegetables to simmer for 20 minutes. I then added milk and a suspension of starch and cold water to thicken the chowder. After a bit of sea salt and freshly cracked pepper dinner was served. I'm so happy because everyone enjoyed it!!! Camille who absolutely hates soup had nearly three servings! It makes me so happy to see the kids eat, especially because they're supposed to be the pickiest eaters ever. They've never turned down any of my meals, but I'm sure that day will come. I always just cook what I want to eat myself, but I always try to make it each dish pretty--that may be a key in getting the kids to eat. What I am sure of though, is that these kids have a texture problem. It's not the food itself that they don't like, it's how it's prepared/served--so I change it. Now THAT is the key to getting a kid to eat.
As soon as I got home, I got some ironing done. It's been awhile since I've been on an ironing spree. The laundry room in this house was difficult to access while the main stairwell was being worked on.
The day went by pretty fast, though I'm not sure what I really accomplished. I picked Baptiste up from soccer practice around 18h00.
When we got home, I went straight to work. Céline had asked me to make a soup for dinner. Since soup was supposed to be the main course and ingredients were limited, I decided to make a vegetable chowder. Chowders are usually pretty filling. As for prep work, I chopped up some potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, red bell peppers, and onion. I sautéed the carrots, peppers, and onion in butter until tender, then I added the rest of the vegetables and filled the pot with water until the veggies were just covered. I allowed the water to boil and allowed the vegetables to simmer for 20 minutes. I then added milk and a suspension of starch and cold water to thicken the chowder. After a bit of sea salt and freshly cracked pepper dinner was served. I'm so happy because everyone enjoyed it!!! Camille who absolutely hates soup had nearly three servings! It makes me so happy to see the kids eat, especially because they're supposed to be the pickiest eaters ever. They've never turned down any of my meals, but I'm sure that day will come. I always just cook what I want to eat myself, but I always try to make it each dish pretty--that may be a key in getting the kids to eat. What I am sure of though, is that these kids have a texture problem. It's not the food itself that they don't like, it's how it's prepared/served--so I change it. Now THAT is the key to getting a kid to eat.
Mardi, 20 Novembre 2012: Super Mario
This morning was pretty uneventful. I dropped Gregoire off around the usual time. The creche closed at 16h00 today so it's a good thing I had no other obligations. I did about three loads of laundry this morning. Céline just happened to text me right after the last load saying that electricity is cheaper after 22h00. Awesome! I'll start going back to bed after I drop Gregoire off then :-)
Reconstruction continues on the house. We have two new stairwells. The cumbersome spiral staircases are gone!!! YESSS!!! I'm not sure who designed the house originally but they made life more difficult on the house's occupants. For a house this big, you shouldn't have 3 foot wide tight-winding staircases. The house looks so much bigger with this space opened up.
I picked Gregoire up about a half an hour earlier so that the ladies at the creche would have one less person to wait on. When I got home Didier was pacing while on the phone. This is normal. He stays on top of his work.
Céline came home a bit earlier tonight because we had a semi-important dinner to prepare. Three of the guys working on the house came over for dinner and to discuss the next phase of the reconstruction. One of the three guys was Robert's father in law, Mario, a.k.a. Super Mario. Ha haha. I can tell this guy loves me, or young women in general. He asks a lot of questions about my origins. It turns out that he's been to all of the countries of my ancestors and loves it there. Mario's super funny, pretty charming, but extremely difficult to understand with his strong italian accent. All of the men working on the house besides the electrician are 100% italian, true craftsmen. That explains why they do such beautiful work so quickly!
I was still feeling under the weather so I skipped dessert tonight (it was chocolate anyway) and went to bed. I've had episodes the past few days where I've woken up in the middle of the night in a freezing cold sweat. I never sweat, it must be due to my crazy fever. The radiator in my room finally works properly though, so hopefully I'll be able to sleep through the night and allow my body to recuperate.
Reconstruction continues on the house. We have two new stairwells. The cumbersome spiral staircases are gone!!! YESSS!!! I'm not sure who designed the house originally but they made life more difficult on the house's occupants. For a house this big, you shouldn't have 3 foot wide tight-winding staircases. The house looks so much bigger with this space opened up.
I picked Gregoire up about a half an hour earlier so that the ladies at the creche would have one less person to wait on. When I got home Didier was pacing while on the phone. This is normal. He stays on top of his work.
Céline came home a bit earlier tonight because we had a semi-important dinner to prepare. Three of the guys working on the house came over for dinner and to discuss the next phase of the reconstruction. One of the three guys was Robert's father in law, Mario, a.k.a. Super Mario. Ha haha. I can tell this guy loves me, or young women in general. He asks a lot of questions about my origins. It turns out that he's been to all of the countries of my ancestors and loves it there. Mario's super funny, pretty charming, but extremely difficult to understand with his strong italian accent. All of the men working on the house besides the electrician are 100% italian, true craftsmen. That explains why they do such beautiful work so quickly!
I was still feeling under the weather so I skipped dessert tonight (it was chocolate anyway) and went to bed. I've had episodes the past few days where I've woken up in the middle of the night in a freezing cold sweat. I never sweat, it must be due to my crazy fever. The radiator in my room finally works properly though, so hopefully I'll be able to sleep through the night and allow my body to recuperate.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Lundi, 19 Novembre 2012: Kids Are Manipulative
Our weeks have become kind of ritual. Every Monday, I get up at 7h30 the sound of Gregoire crying or yelling. I slowly walk to the kitchen, grab a bowl and spoon, go out to the dining room, make myself a bowl of cereal, and stare at Gregoire until he stops making whatever obnoxious noise he's making. It normally doesn't take that long before he puts his head down in frustration and walks to the couch where he mounts himself until I'm finished with my breakfast. Sometimes he walks into the bathroom while his mom is bathing, lol. I guess it doesn't really matter where he is as long as he's not fussing or doing something potentially dangerous. Most of the time it's better for me to leave him with his parents because if I try to take him away to do something else he throws a huge tantrum. He'll eventually get over this when he trusts me more. He already recognizes me as an authority figure and fears, Ahem! I mean, respects me.
Gregoire apparently asks for me whenever I'm not around and when I go to pick him up from the creche he excitedly screams out "Melinda! Melinda!" He's even started saying to everyone "She's MY Melinda!!!" That had originally started by him saying "Mon maman!" and me retaliating with "No...She's MY mama!" He would repeat that and now he's inserted my name! :-) He proudly says this to his parents and they reply with "Yes! She's YOUR Melinda!" as he giggles in that cute toddler way. The kid speaks english and he doesn't even know it. I mostly teach him through song.
I took Gregoire to the creche that morning as I do all mornings while the triplets left with their mother once again. Today was sort of a milestone because when I left Gregoire at the creche he started crying for me. I think this means that he loves me. It touched me, it really did. It kind of made me want my own children but I breathed in the cold, fresh air and my sanity came back :-P
Didier left for an out of town job as soon as I got home. I did 3 loads of laundry while everyone was gone. Whites, Lights, Darks. It's amazing what you can do with machines fit for 15 kg loads.
After my housework was finished, it was time for me to pick up my babies. I started with Camille, collected Léa and Baptiste next, then completed the circle with Gregoire at the creche. The hair dresser was on her way over to cut Léa's hair so I sent her to the bathroom to take a bath. The coiffeuse gave Léa a classic shoulder-length look with bangs. I didn't feel like it was the right hair style for her because of her face shape but whatever, if she likes it, it doesn't matter what I think.
Dinner was uneventful. Céline was exhausted so she went to bed immediately after. She told the kids to go to bed at 21h30 and not to leave their designated places. The kids were IMPOSSIBLE tonight!!! First, all of the kids were visiting each others' rooms and making each other cry so I had to go break that up. When I got the girls back to their room they suggested that they needed to stay up for another "5" minutes to make me a bracelet that they didn't even know how to make. 15 minutes later I found them all in Gregoire's room trying to play with him while he was supposed to be sleeping. I found them in there another time after he had called them back in there while crying--He's got the fake crying down. I had had it at this point. I looked at the triplets firmly, said "Laissez-le!" and "GET...OUT!!! Allez aux lits!!!"
I had planned on letting it go if they were to get out of bed another time because if they're tired in school the next day it's their own fault, but this last time was just ridiculous. Baptiste and Gregoire were finally asleep in their own beds but Léa and Camille were still wandering about. I walk out to the living room, half asleep to find the girls going through the medicine cabinet. I look at them with handfuls of medicine and am absolutely just pissed off at this point! I start yelling at them saying "Qu'est-ce que vous faites?!?" The girls look at me with no comprehension, immediately make a sick face, and say "J'ai mal à la tête" and "J'ai de la fièvre." I look at both of them with disbelief, feel their heads and turn them around to go back to bed, but then Léa turns around and says "No! J'ai besoin de Doliprane. Je suis malade. C'est vrai." I'm thinking Léa is a hyperchondriac because there's always something wrong with her. She had just drank Smecta earlier for stomach problems. I finally gave in because both of the girls were fighting me and gave Camille one baby Advil and Léa the Doliprane. The thing about Léa is that she didn't even take half of the proper dosage which makes me think that she was only looking of a reason to get out of bed. If she was really sick, she would have wanted to thoroughly get rid of her symptoms. When I tried to give her the rest of the dosage, she refused it so I scowled, said nothing, and firmly pointed to her bedroom. She stopped mid-turn, fluttered her eyelashes, and asked if she could have a bon-bon but she immediately changed that to "something to eat" to wash the bad taste out of her mouth--Freudian slip...Amateur. My visage was completely unchanged, it was possible that I could have looked even more mad, but all I said was "NO...Va...au...lit...main-ten-ant!!!" It looks like it finally clicks in her mind and she realizes that she's crossed a line with me so she loses her act, gives me a big kiss, and says in her french accent "Sorry Mélinda. I love you" and walks to her bedroom.
After getting out of bed four times and yelling at the kids for the first time, they are finally asleep by 23h00. I'm just so mentally exhausted by the girls, Léa especially. It doesn't help that I'm sick and am still sore from the hike, but that girl is seriously trying to milk it. She shouldn't think that she can get away with that. I'm putting my foot down from now on...
Gregoire apparently asks for me whenever I'm not around and when I go to pick him up from the creche he excitedly screams out "Melinda! Melinda!" He's even started saying to everyone "She's MY Melinda!!!" That had originally started by him saying "Mon maman!" and me retaliating with "No...She's MY mama!" He would repeat that and now he's inserted my name! :-) He proudly says this to his parents and they reply with "Yes! She's YOUR Melinda!" as he giggles in that cute toddler way. The kid speaks english and he doesn't even know it. I mostly teach him through song.
I took Gregoire to the creche that morning as I do all mornings while the triplets left with their mother once again. Today was sort of a milestone because when I left Gregoire at the creche he started crying for me. I think this means that he loves me. It touched me, it really did. It kind of made me want my own children but I breathed in the cold, fresh air and my sanity came back :-P
Didier left for an out of town job as soon as I got home. I did 3 loads of laundry while everyone was gone. Whites, Lights, Darks. It's amazing what you can do with machines fit for 15 kg loads.
After my housework was finished, it was time for me to pick up my babies. I started with Camille, collected Léa and Baptiste next, then completed the circle with Gregoire at the creche. The hair dresser was on her way over to cut Léa's hair so I sent her to the bathroom to take a bath. The coiffeuse gave Léa a classic shoulder-length look with bangs. I didn't feel like it was the right hair style for her because of her face shape but whatever, if she likes it, it doesn't matter what I think.
Dinner was uneventful. Céline was exhausted so she went to bed immediately after. She told the kids to go to bed at 21h30 and not to leave their designated places. The kids were IMPOSSIBLE tonight!!! First, all of the kids were visiting each others' rooms and making each other cry so I had to go break that up. When I got the girls back to their room they suggested that they needed to stay up for another "5" minutes to make me a bracelet that they didn't even know how to make. 15 minutes later I found them all in Gregoire's room trying to play with him while he was supposed to be sleeping. I found them in there another time after he had called them back in there while crying--He's got the fake crying down. I had had it at this point. I looked at the triplets firmly, said "Laissez-le!" and "GET...OUT!!! Allez aux lits!!!"
I had planned on letting it go if they were to get out of bed another time because if they're tired in school the next day it's their own fault, but this last time was just ridiculous. Baptiste and Gregoire were finally asleep in their own beds but Léa and Camille were still wandering about. I walk out to the living room, half asleep to find the girls going through the medicine cabinet. I look at them with handfuls of medicine and am absolutely just pissed off at this point! I start yelling at them saying "Qu'est-ce que vous faites?!?" The girls look at me with no comprehension, immediately make a sick face, and say "J'ai mal à la tête" and "J'ai de la fièvre." I look at both of them with disbelief, feel their heads and turn them around to go back to bed, but then Léa turns around and says "No! J'ai besoin de Doliprane. Je suis malade. C'est vrai." I'm thinking Léa is a hyperchondriac because there's always something wrong with her. She had just drank Smecta earlier for stomach problems. I finally gave in because both of the girls were fighting me and gave Camille one baby Advil and Léa the Doliprane. The thing about Léa is that she didn't even take half of the proper dosage which makes me think that she was only looking of a reason to get out of bed. If she was really sick, she would have wanted to thoroughly get rid of her symptoms. When I tried to give her the rest of the dosage, she refused it so I scowled, said nothing, and firmly pointed to her bedroom. She stopped mid-turn, fluttered her eyelashes, and asked if she could have a bon-bon but she immediately changed that to "something to eat" to wash the bad taste out of her mouth--Freudian slip...Amateur. My visage was completely unchanged, it was possible that I could have looked even more mad, but all I said was "NO...Va...au...lit...main-ten-ant!!!" It looks like it finally clicks in her mind and she realizes that she's crossed a line with me so she loses her act, gives me a big kiss, and says in her french accent "Sorry Mélinda. I love you" and walks to her bedroom.
After getting out of bed four times and yelling at the kids for the first time, they are finally asleep by 23h00. I'm just so mentally exhausted by the girls, Léa especially. It doesn't help that I'm sick and am still sore from the hike, but that girl is seriously trying to milk it. She shouldn't think that she can get away with that. I'm putting my foot down from now on...
Samedi à Dimanche, 17-18 Novembre 2012: The Out-of-Towners
I spent all of Saturday recuperating from the hike. My entire body was sore with my toes being the worst. Those shoes really did a number on them. As tired as I was, I barely slept through the night. And on top of all that, I had a killer migraine. I was not doing well to say the least. I mainly stayed in bed Saturday only getting up for lunch and tea. We had choucroute (french saurekraut) with sausages of different varieties. I tried my best to do some housework even though au pairs generally have weekends off, but I only got as far as dishes.
Sunday was a much more lively day. Though I was still plagued with a migraine and aching body, I was much more chipper with a few cups of coffee in me. The caffeine probably eased my migraine somewhat by assisting in blood flow. Caffeine is also known to facilitate the delivery of pain meds.
We had visitors all day long. First to come by was Céline's boss Carine, her husband, daughter, and two sons. They popped by to see the new house, drank some coffee on the terrace while the children played in the garden, and left. Our next visitors were one of Céline's older sisters who lives in Marseille, her husband JP, their 8 year old daughter, and 6 year old son. This family was a delight!!! I felt such good energy from them. Being around them kind of just pepped me up. I felt drawn to them! We all hung out on the terrace together, speaking in english, speaking in french, teaching each other more english and french.
I left at some point with Céline's niece to pick up the triplets from their father's house. It was during the car drive that I discovered how brilliant this child is. She had never learned english besides colors and the numbers 1-10 but I was able to get her to build on that. She didn't know the words for 20 or 30, but when I said them, she followed the pattern in her head and counted up to 100. She was also able to form sentences decently after asking me how to say certain words. This is something I'm still struggling with with the triplets but I just feel that it's because they don't have a craving to learn. I could tell this little girl was eager to know more. Wow, she totally made my day!
When the five of us got back to the house were yet more visitors. Robert--one of the guys reconstructing the house was there with his father in law and his son. They were also a joy to be around! All three 100% italian, good looking, and all eagerly social.
Everyone left by dinner time, and before I knew it, I was back to being a drab, sickly person. Well, I guess you can't always be a big ball of sunshine!!!
Sunday was a much more lively day. Though I was still plagued with a migraine and aching body, I was much more chipper with a few cups of coffee in me. The caffeine probably eased my migraine somewhat by assisting in blood flow. Caffeine is also known to facilitate the delivery of pain meds.
We had visitors all day long. First to come by was Céline's boss Carine, her husband, daughter, and two sons. They popped by to see the new house, drank some coffee on the terrace while the children played in the garden, and left. Our next visitors were one of Céline's older sisters who lives in Marseille, her husband JP, their 8 year old daughter, and 6 year old son. This family was a delight!!! I felt such good energy from them. Being around them kind of just pepped me up. I felt drawn to them! We all hung out on the terrace together, speaking in english, speaking in french, teaching each other more english and french.
I left at some point with Céline's niece to pick up the triplets from their father's house. It was during the car drive that I discovered how brilliant this child is. She had never learned english besides colors and the numbers 1-10 but I was able to get her to build on that. She didn't know the words for 20 or 30, but when I said them, she followed the pattern in her head and counted up to 100. She was also able to form sentences decently after asking me how to say certain words. This is something I'm still struggling with with the triplets but I just feel that it's because they don't have a craving to learn. I could tell this little girl was eager to know more. Wow, she totally made my day!
When the five of us got back to the house were yet more visitors. Robert--one of the guys reconstructing the house was there with his father in law and his son. They were also a joy to be around! All three 100% italian, good looking, and all eagerly social.
Everyone left by dinner time, and before I knew it, I was back to being a drab, sickly person. Well, I guess you can't always be a big ball of sunshine!!!
Monday, November 19, 2012
Vendredi, 16 Novembre 2012: Climbing The Famed Saint Victoire!!!
I woke up around 7h00 as usual to the human alarm clocks. I haven't used an actual alarm clock since the second week I've been with this family. I started the day as I normally did; ate some cereal, made a latté. I only had to take Gregoire to the creche this morning while the other kids left with Céline.
When I got back home, I folded the laundry from the dryer and threw another load into the brand new 15kg washer. I made the kids' beds and headed to centre ville. I had trouble finding a parking spot as always so it's a good thing I left early. I got to the Augustins apartment around 11h10. Danielle, Molly, and I changed into our hiking attire and headed out. We stopped by Paul's to grab some sandwiches for the hike. I bought two of course, so that I could eat one immediately and save one for the top of the mountain.
The three of us met Liza, Jen, Kendra, and Kari at the bus stop. The ride to the trailhead was just 1 euro even though it was outside of town. Danielle told the bus driver where we needed to stop so he made sure to let us know when we got there. We walked on the side of a road for about 10 minutes before we actually got to a trail. We walked about 10 minutes longer before we started ascending. I didn't bring any tennis shoes to France so I was wearing shoes from one of the kids I nanny. They were a few sizes too small so my toes were curled up in there.
Liza led the pack up the mountain. She's the type of person that sets a pace for herself and doesn't break from it. That's normally me, but this time I was at the end. I never knew how awful it felt to be the last person until this hike. But I would never want anyone to wait for me. I regularly hike alone at home so it wasn't a big deal. There wasn't anything I could do about it anyway. My feet were in agonizing pain and I was out of shape. Though I've always had exercise-induced asthma, it really only acts up when I go from no physical activity to hard physical activity.
We took the blue trail which was supposed to take 2 hours if you were to go on a leisurely hike. It took us about 1.5 hours even at the slow pace that I was going. There were a ton of rock scrambles and the ascent was steep, we practically climbed a third of it.
The view was beautiful all the way to the top. First we crossed a dam. The water on both sides was a serene blue/green. The lakes were so picturesque with the mountains and forestry in the background. The geology was pretty diverse. Though it's a limestone mountain, there were a lot of red rocks and clay on the way up. At the top of the mountain is an old abbey. We stopped there for lunch and met a few older french gentleman up there who were extremely nice. As soon as we got to this 'checkpoint' I took off the shoes and let my feet rest. My toes felt like they were bleeding and my feet felt like they were broken. It was absolutely horrible...
Even though I felt like Hell, I joined the rest of the girls in the rest of the ascent. We climbed to the highest peak of the mountain, about 5-10 minutes further from the abbey. As a marker for the peak, there is a cross known as the Croix de Provence. The view from the top is absolutely beautiful. You could see countryside all around, other mountains surrounding the area, bodies of water, and small towns. It was breathtaking, especially with rays of light shining down on parts of the land.
We started to get cold after sitting for awhile so we shot a few pictures and headed back down the mountain. The trek down was absolutely awful for me. It was painful going up the mountain with my heels rubbing against the back of the shoes and my toes curled inward, but with going down the mountain, my toenails were being pushed back into my toes. I've never known such awful, dull pain. At some points I was barefoot.
We eventually got on level ground and walked through a forest alongside steams. There were horses on the other side of one creek. It reminded me a lot of home. Anyone who's been to the Shenandoah Valley knows that it's very scenic. We eventually got to a body of water that we couldn't cross and these are the comments that followed...(Borrowed from Molly's page)
“Is that a stream?”
“Yeah, this is definitely not the way.”
“GOOGLE MAPS!”
“Alright. Who are we gonna drown first to be the bridge?”
“Does this mean we missed the bus?”
“I can’t feel my hands.”
“Whose farm is this?”
After some back-tracking, some running, and more picturesque views we found the appropriate exit and made it onto the road just as our bus was driving by!!! Danielle immediately flagged the bus down and we all started running to the bus stop. I took my shoes off for this. I had just spent the past 4 hours with my feet twisted in a 10 year old's shoes. You have NO idea how much pain I was in. I feel sorry for any woman that's ever endured foot-binding.
The bus stopped about a quarter of a mile down the road so we had a bit of distance to cover. I have no idea how the people in the cars passing by reacted, but we probably looked like crazy people. Not a big deal though. The point is that we made it! Once I took my seat, I took my shoes off and let my feet relax.
When the girls and I got back to town, we hit up Crepes A GoGo. We were all planning on going out that night but nearly all of us stayed in. I was still sick when I climbed the mountain so I felt quite worse afterward. The stress on my body probably killed my immune system even more because I felt like death after that hike. I tried to relax my muscles with a bath but that only lasted so long. I was getting odd extra-muscular body aches and had a high fever so I went home. I felt like I was getting the flu and didn't want to get anyone else sick.
As soon as I pulled into my family's drive, they opened the door to let me in. They thought I had come home because I had a bad time out with my girls. Little did they know that this hike would wreak havoc on my mind and body...
When I got back home, I folded the laundry from the dryer and threw another load into the brand new 15kg washer. I made the kids' beds and headed to centre ville. I had trouble finding a parking spot as always so it's a good thing I left early. I got to the Augustins apartment around 11h10. Danielle, Molly, and I changed into our hiking attire and headed out. We stopped by Paul's to grab some sandwiches for the hike. I bought two of course, so that I could eat one immediately and save one for the top of the mountain.
The three of us met Liza, Jen, Kendra, and Kari at the bus stop. The ride to the trailhead was just 1 euro even though it was outside of town. Danielle told the bus driver where we needed to stop so he made sure to let us know when we got there. We walked on the side of a road for about 10 minutes before we actually got to a trail. We walked about 10 minutes longer before we started ascending. I didn't bring any tennis shoes to France so I was wearing shoes from one of the kids I nanny. They were a few sizes too small so my toes were curled up in there.
Liza led the pack up the mountain. She's the type of person that sets a pace for herself and doesn't break from it. That's normally me, but this time I was at the end. I never knew how awful it felt to be the last person until this hike. But I would never want anyone to wait for me. I regularly hike alone at home so it wasn't a big deal. There wasn't anything I could do about it anyway. My feet were in agonizing pain and I was out of shape. Though I've always had exercise-induced asthma, it really only acts up when I go from no physical activity to hard physical activity.
We took the blue trail which was supposed to take 2 hours if you were to go on a leisurely hike. It took us about 1.5 hours even at the slow pace that I was going. There were a ton of rock scrambles and the ascent was steep, we practically climbed a third of it.
The view was beautiful all the way to the top. First we crossed a dam. The water on both sides was a serene blue/green. The lakes were so picturesque with the mountains and forestry in the background. The geology was pretty diverse. Though it's a limestone mountain, there were a lot of red rocks and clay on the way up. At the top of the mountain is an old abbey. We stopped there for lunch and met a few older french gentleman up there who were extremely nice. As soon as we got to this 'checkpoint' I took off the shoes and let my feet rest. My toes felt like they were bleeding and my feet felt like they were broken. It was absolutely horrible...
Even though I felt like Hell, I joined the rest of the girls in the rest of the ascent. We climbed to the highest peak of the mountain, about 5-10 minutes further from the abbey. As a marker for the peak, there is a cross known as the Croix de Provence. The view from the top is absolutely beautiful. You could see countryside all around, other mountains surrounding the area, bodies of water, and small towns. It was breathtaking, especially with rays of light shining down on parts of the land.
We started to get cold after sitting for awhile so we shot a few pictures and headed back down the mountain. The trek down was absolutely awful for me. It was painful going up the mountain with my heels rubbing against the back of the shoes and my toes curled inward, but with going down the mountain, my toenails were being pushed back into my toes. I've never known such awful, dull pain. At some points I was barefoot.
We eventually got on level ground and walked through a forest alongside steams. There were horses on the other side of one creek. It reminded me a lot of home. Anyone who's been to the Shenandoah Valley knows that it's very scenic. We eventually got to a body of water that we couldn't cross and these are the comments that followed...(Borrowed from Molly's page)
“Is that a stream?”
“Yeah, this is definitely not the way.”
“GOOGLE MAPS!”
“Alright. Who are we gonna drown first to be the bridge?”
“Does this mean we missed the bus?”
“I can’t feel my hands.”
“Whose farm is this?”
After some back-tracking, some running, and more picturesque views we found the appropriate exit and made it onto the road just as our bus was driving by!!! Danielle immediately flagged the bus down and we all started running to the bus stop. I took my shoes off for this. I had just spent the past 4 hours with my feet twisted in a 10 year old's shoes. You have NO idea how much pain I was in. I feel sorry for any woman that's ever endured foot-binding.
The bus stopped about a quarter of a mile down the road so we had a bit of distance to cover. I have no idea how the people in the cars passing by reacted, but we probably looked like crazy people. Not a big deal though. The point is that we made it! Once I took my seat, I took my shoes off and let my feet relax.
When the girls and I got back to town, we hit up Crepes A GoGo. We were all planning on going out that night but nearly all of us stayed in. I was still sick when I climbed the mountain so I felt quite worse afterward. The stress on my body probably killed my immune system even more because I felt like death after that hike. I tried to relax my muscles with a bath but that only lasted so long. I was getting odd extra-muscular body aches and had a high fever so I went home. I felt like I was getting the flu and didn't want to get anyone else sick.
As soon as I pulled into my family's drive, they opened the door to let me in. They thought I had come home because I had a bad time out with my girls. Little did they know that this hike would wreak havoc on my mind and body...
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Mardi à Jeudi, 13-15 Novembre 2012: Reconstruction
The past few days have been hectic as usual with the reconstruction of the house. In three days time the men knocked out four walls and the main staircase, made a new, more comfortable staircase (5x the size of the original), knocked out the floor in the upstairs kitchen (for headspace in the stairwell), and moved the water pumps to a new room. Crazy...And they call that working slow!!! The house has already made such a transition. It's amazing. Even with all of the craziness going on, I feel so at home here. When I refer to Céline and Didier as my "mom" and "dad", I really feel that they are such. I still have my "mé" and "phaw" at home though. As much as I hate my real mom, I will always be a part of her, and she a part of me.
Camille and Léa have started calling me their big sister. I love that :-) They're such good girls and where I've failed with my own sister, I'm teaching them. It's so important to me that these children respect me, my opinion, and my life lessons. It's crazy though, I don't even have to suggest it. For them, it's automatic. I want you all to understand that I'm not trying to re-create all of the years that I should have spent raising my own little sister. I'm starting anew. These are different individuals and I am going to teach them what I believe should be valued in the world. Such as feeding the hungry, donating time to the less fortunate, compassion for the homeless, education, and making a difference in the world. The older kids Antoine and Nicholas already have all of that down. The triplets need to get out more in order to understand. The extent of their outings go as far as school and that's it. I'll be here for a year so I'll have ample time to show them what's out there.
As for other lessons in life, I've been teaching the kids english words every day. The problem is that if you ask them 5 minutes later, they've already forgotten. Céline had the brilliant idea of putting post-it notes all over the house. Being a visual person myself, I feel like this will really help them. So that's what I'll be doing tomorrow after I take Gregoire to the creche.
Tonight after dinner the kids sang for me. They're so freakin' cute. Baptiste has such a beautiful voice. I would listen to him sing all day, every day. He's so good at projecting his voice and holding his pitch. Check out the video below.
Good night world...(And I mean that! How am I getting readers in Brazil, Russia, and South Korea?!?)
Camille and Léa have started calling me their big sister. I love that :-) They're such good girls and where I've failed with my own sister, I'm teaching them. It's so important to me that these children respect me, my opinion, and my life lessons. It's crazy though, I don't even have to suggest it. For them, it's automatic. I want you all to understand that I'm not trying to re-create all of the years that I should have spent raising my own little sister. I'm starting anew. These are different individuals and I am going to teach them what I believe should be valued in the world. Such as feeding the hungry, donating time to the less fortunate, compassion for the homeless, education, and making a difference in the world. The older kids Antoine and Nicholas already have all of that down. The triplets need to get out more in order to understand. The extent of their outings go as far as school and that's it. I'll be here for a year so I'll have ample time to show them what's out there.
As for other lessons in life, I've been teaching the kids english words every day. The problem is that if you ask them 5 minutes later, they've already forgotten. Céline had the brilliant idea of putting post-it notes all over the house. Being a visual person myself, I feel like this will really help them. So that's what I'll be doing tomorrow after I take Gregoire to the creche.
Tonight after dinner the kids sang for me. They're so freakin' cute. Baptiste has such a beautiful voice. I would listen to him sing all day, every day. He's so good at projecting his voice and holding his pitch. Check out the video below.
Good night world...(And I mean that! How am I getting readers in Brazil, Russia, and South Korea?!?)
Monday, November 12, 2012
Lundi, 12 Novembre 2012: Sick In The City
Getting sick is always annoying. Try being sick and having to watch 4 kids.
I've had this cold since last Wednesday. I'm at the coughing stage now which means it's almost over. I rarely ever get sick though and when I do, it's generally over by the end of the next day. My routine normally includes Zicam, OJ, and hot tea. Well, I had all of those things to help me recuperate and it's been nearly a week. Merde!!!
I think the problem is that all of the kids contract colds from each of their schools and bring a different variant of the virus home. Lucky me, I get to collect all of that antigen, suffer, and only then do I get to build a fleet of antibodies. Oh well, at least after this au pair experience I'll have an even stronger immune system. French colds, ha haha. I wonder if the viruses have accents too.
Another possible reason I haven't been able to get better is that I haven't had a decent night's sleep since we moved into the new house. I'll go to bed around 22h00, even 21h00 sometimes and I'll wake up in the middle of the night to Gregoire screaming for his mom. It scares the $#!^ out of me. Waking up to someone screaming is way worse than watching a horror movie before bed. Though, I could just be saying that because I love horror movies and they don't scare me.
Gregoire has been sick for as long as I have. It's possible that the cold is the reason why he's been waking up in the middle of the night. Being in a new environment may also have something to do with it. Something tells me he would do this when he was at the old house too, but I would never know because he and his parents would be on the other side of the house. I wish he would just stop though. I know he's just a kid but I never dealt with that with any of my siblings. Dad told us war stories before bed so we had to learn to look fear in the eye at an early age.
It's pretty awful every time I wake up to Gregoire crying. I always come out to his sisters trying to take him downstairs to mom. The parents and I continuously have to explain to them that they can't do that and that if he's not hurt then it's not necessary. So, what I've been doing every night is stopping the girls before they walk out the door, tell them to go back to bed, and take Gregoire back to his room. I tuck him back in (sometimes with a bottle), and he falls right back to sleep. The triplets just don't understand that he needs to be less reliant on his mom. If he remains attached to his mother's hip then my job will have no real purpose--not for Gregoire anyway.
Céline and Didier want Gregoire to be more independent which is completely reasonable considering he'll be 3 in just a few months. Sure, young children always want to be with their parents but most kids are okay so long as they can still see them. With Gregoire, if his parents are even on the other side of the door, he totally freaks out. It's horrible! Everyone is starting to coddle him less, including his Céline and Didier. If he starts crying, they tell him that they'll be right back and make their exit. When they leave, I tell Gregoire that if he stops crying that his parents will come right back. That's been working more and more each day and they really do come back as soon as he stops! He goes at it for awhile.
The blog title is so much more appropriate at this moment...I just heard someone struggle to open a door, run to the bathroom, and puke. It was Camille. Poor girl. She had been complaining of feeling sick at dinner. She's a trooper. When I went to see if I could hold her hair, she was already heading back to bed. She says she doesn't need anything, but I'm gonna go do the nanny thing and sit with her for a bit.
Bonne nuit!
I've had this cold since last Wednesday. I'm at the coughing stage now which means it's almost over. I rarely ever get sick though and when I do, it's generally over by the end of the next day. My routine normally includes Zicam, OJ, and hot tea. Well, I had all of those things to help me recuperate and it's been nearly a week. Merde!!!
I think the problem is that all of the kids contract colds from each of their schools and bring a different variant of the virus home. Lucky me, I get to collect all of that antigen, suffer, and only then do I get to build a fleet of antibodies. Oh well, at least after this au pair experience I'll have an even stronger immune system. French colds, ha haha. I wonder if the viruses have accents too.
Another possible reason I haven't been able to get better is that I haven't had a decent night's sleep since we moved into the new house. I'll go to bed around 22h00, even 21h00 sometimes and I'll wake up in the middle of the night to Gregoire screaming for his mom. It scares the $#!^ out of me. Waking up to someone screaming is way worse than watching a horror movie before bed. Though, I could just be saying that because I love horror movies and they don't scare me.
Gregoire has been sick for as long as I have. It's possible that the cold is the reason why he's been waking up in the middle of the night. Being in a new environment may also have something to do with it. Something tells me he would do this when he was at the old house too, but I would never know because he and his parents would be on the other side of the house. I wish he would just stop though. I know he's just a kid but I never dealt with that with any of my siblings. Dad told us war stories before bed so we had to learn to look fear in the eye at an early age.
It's pretty awful every time I wake up to Gregoire crying. I always come out to his sisters trying to take him downstairs to mom. The parents and I continuously have to explain to them that they can't do that and that if he's not hurt then it's not necessary. So, what I've been doing every night is stopping the girls before they walk out the door, tell them to go back to bed, and take Gregoire back to his room. I tuck him back in (sometimes with a bottle), and he falls right back to sleep. The triplets just don't understand that he needs to be less reliant on his mom. If he remains attached to his mother's hip then my job will have no real purpose--not for Gregoire anyway.
Céline and Didier want Gregoire to be more independent which is completely reasonable considering he'll be 3 in just a few months. Sure, young children always want to be with their parents but most kids are okay so long as they can still see them. With Gregoire, if his parents are even on the other side of the door, he totally freaks out. It's horrible! Everyone is starting to coddle him less, including his Céline and Didier. If he starts crying, they tell him that they'll be right back and make their exit. When they leave, I tell Gregoire that if he stops crying that his parents will come right back. That's been working more and more each day and they really do come back as soon as he stops! He goes at it for awhile.
The blog title is so much more appropriate at this moment...I just heard someone struggle to open a door, run to the bathroom, and puke. It was Camille. Poor girl. She had been complaining of feeling sick at dinner. She's a trooper. When I went to see if I could hold her hair, she was already heading back to bed. She says she doesn't need anything, but I'm gonna go do the nanny thing and sit with her for a bit.
Bonne nuit!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Dimanche, 11 Novembre 2012: Back to School
Baptiste and Léa's fall break ended last week. They had school the second half of the week while Camille, the other triplet, is just starting back up tomorrow. Today was markedly low for her. I remember what those days are like. She'll eventually learn to lavish in her Sundays when she gets older.
Though I had planned on sleeping in, I woke up at 10h00 to Céline and Camille waving to me from the balcony we all share. They hadn't made any noise but I woke up and looked in that direction at the right time. Though I'm sick and should have probably stayed in bed, the hilarity of the event woke me up. They were so cute standing out there, it just ended up being funny.
I showered and got ready for the day (minus panties). All of my friends know I like going commando anyway. I feel uncomfortable not wearing underwear around the kids though, even while dressed modestly. It's just that feeling that *maybe* one of the kids might get a glimpse of some cleavage or a butt crack. I wouldn't want to put them through that :-P Though when I'm changing Gregoire or getting him dressed, he has a habit of pulling my shirt down so he can see what's hiding, LMAO...Now THAT is a hilarious sight. Luckily though, the parentals bought a new dryer yesterday so I was able to do laundry today.
I usually eat soup when I'm feeling under the weather so I made a cream of potato soup for breakfast. I had that with some fresh baked bread with sweet cream butter and lavender honey. After I ate, I gave Gregoire a bath which he absolutely detests. He recently had his first encounter with lice so after Céline lathered his hair with the french version of Rid, I had the job of giving him a bath. He always throws a tantrum during his baths and says "pas la tête!" which means "not the head!" I always tell him 'okay' but I always wash his hair. He gets so mad but he needs to get over it. I've never met a kid that didn't like baths until Gregoire, and I've watched a lot of kids...
The interior designers came over during the afternoon to discuss ideas. We had pizza and red wine for lunch which I was unable to enjoy due the loss of my sense of smell. Once they left, I went to my room to relax and catch up on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and the last episode of the Walking Dead. Two shows that are very unlike each other, I know, but I love them both. I tried to nap because sleep, zinc, and vitamin C normally kick a cold for me, but I just couldn't do it. Good thing though because we had more guests arrive. It was Serge, an osteopathic doctor I met the last week, along with his wife and two youngest sons who are in high school. Serge has known Didier since boyhood. They grew up together in Lyon, and came to the south of France at different times--reconnecting here. Serge and his family didn't stay long.
Céline and I rearranged some more things around the house before I started on dinner. There were a lot of carrots in the fridge so someone had mentioned a carrot purée. I didn't want to be rude but since my taste buds aren't getting a lot of play, I decided to suggest a menu. My idea was curry. It wasn't ingenious in any way since I had already done it but it's kind of soupy. Plus, I could add cayenne pepper to my own bowl to make it known to my taste buds that I still care. I got carried away like always and ended up making a 5 course meal. Camille helped me with the curry and I ended up cooking some basmati rice to go with it. I wasn't satisfied with just two items though so I also made a green salad. But then I saw some dry chinese flour noodles in the pantry and decided to make a lo-mein with sautéed lamb lettuce. Didier decided he was also craving some sausages from North Africa so he fried up some of those too. Though I still couldn't smell, my taste buds got the love that they needed and I finally felt satisfied.
Camille volunteered to wash the dishes while I dried. I asked Baptiste to clean the table which he did wonderfully. He's my little man. Léa is the least organized and least motivated of the three. I wouldn't call her lazy but you kind of have to force her to do stuff. She's the type of kid that looks for love and acceptance from younger adults though, so when I ask her, she normally gets right to it. She could care less about Didier's demands. Ha haha. I feel so bad for him sometimes because the kids really don't like him.
Bed time was pretty low-key tonight. Céline demanded all the kids to read because they spent all of fall break watching movies and lounging around. Camille said that she didn't like to read and I told her that she just hasn't found the right book yet. I have a copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in french. I'll give it to her to try out but the kids are all still reading 15 page picture books. I was reading chapter books by the time I was their age but I also love to read. I want to help the kids broaden their minds, have more imagination, and develop more of a taste for the arts. If any of you have suggestions, please let me know!!!
Though I had planned on sleeping in, I woke up at 10h00 to Céline and Camille waving to me from the balcony we all share. They hadn't made any noise but I woke up and looked in that direction at the right time. Though I'm sick and should have probably stayed in bed, the hilarity of the event woke me up. They were so cute standing out there, it just ended up being funny.
I showered and got ready for the day (minus panties). All of my friends know I like going commando anyway. I feel uncomfortable not wearing underwear around the kids though, even while dressed modestly. It's just that feeling that *maybe* one of the kids might get a glimpse of some cleavage or a butt crack. I wouldn't want to put them through that :-P Though when I'm changing Gregoire or getting him dressed, he has a habit of pulling my shirt down so he can see what's hiding, LMAO...Now THAT is a hilarious sight. Luckily though, the parentals bought a new dryer yesterday so I was able to do laundry today.
I usually eat soup when I'm feeling under the weather so I made a cream of potato soup for breakfast. I had that with some fresh baked bread with sweet cream butter and lavender honey. After I ate, I gave Gregoire a bath which he absolutely detests. He recently had his first encounter with lice so after Céline lathered his hair with the french version of Rid, I had the job of giving him a bath. He always throws a tantrum during his baths and says "pas la tête!" which means "not the head!" I always tell him 'okay' but I always wash his hair. He gets so mad but he needs to get over it. I've never met a kid that didn't like baths until Gregoire, and I've watched a lot of kids...
The interior designers came over during the afternoon to discuss ideas. We had pizza and red wine for lunch which I was unable to enjoy due the loss of my sense of smell. Once they left, I went to my room to relax and catch up on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and the last episode of the Walking Dead. Two shows that are very unlike each other, I know, but I love them both. I tried to nap because sleep, zinc, and vitamin C normally kick a cold for me, but I just couldn't do it. Good thing though because we had more guests arrive. It was Serge, an osteopathic doctor I met the last week, along with his wife and two youngest sons who are in high school. Serge has known Didier since boyhood. They grew up together in Lyon, and came to the south of France at different times--reconnecting here. Serge and his family didn't stay long.
Céline and I rearranged some more things around the house before I started on dinner. There were a lot of carrots in the fridge so someone had mentioned a carrot purée. I didn't want to be rude but since my taste buds aren't getting a lot of play, I decided to suggest a menu. My idea was curry. It wasn't ingenious in any way since I had already done it but it's kind of soupy. Plus, I could add cayenne pepper to my own bowl to make it known to my taste buds that I still care. I got carried away like always and ended up making a 5 course meal. Camille helped me with the curry and I ended up cooking some basmati rice to go with it. I wasn't satisfied with just two items though so I also made a green salad. But then I saw some dry chinese flour noodles in the pantry and decided to make a lo-mein with sautéed lamb lettuce. Didier decided he was also craving some sausages from North Africa so he fried up some of those too. Though I still couldn't smell, my taste buds got the love that they needed and I finally felt satisfied.
Camille volunteered to wash the dishes while I dried. I asked Baptiste to clean the table which he did wonderfully. He's my little man. Léa is the least organized and least motivated of the three. I wouldn't call her lazy but you kind of have to force her to do stuff. She's the type of kid that looks for love and acceptance from younger adults though, so when I ask her, she normally gets right to it. She could care less about Didier's demands. Ha haha. I feel so bad for him sometimes because the kids really don't like him.
Bed time was pretty low-key tonight. Céline demanded all the kids to read because they spent all of fall break watching movies and lounging around. Camille said that she didn't like to read and I told her that she just hasn't found the right book yet. I have a copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in french. I'll give it to her to try out but the kids are all still reading 15 page picture books. I was reading chapter books by the time I was their age but I also love to read. I want to help the kids broaden their minds, have more imagination, and develop more of a taste for the arts. If any of you have suggestions, please let me know!!!
30 Octobre au 10 Novembre 2012: The Move to Meyreuil
The past two weeks have been pretty hectic--even without school. We've had to pack up our entire house in Aix and moved everything to our new house in Meyreuil. Though it is a different town, it takes the same amount of time to get to centre ville. We just come from a different direction.
The new house is pretty fab. Though it looks bigger than the last house, it's about 1000 square feet smaller. This house makes more sense to me though. We don't have three living rooms that will go unused like at the last house. We're all living on the same floor at the moment. While the men restore the ground floor of the house, we are living on the second floor. And when they are finished downstairs, we will move down there so that they can do work up here. Here are a few pictures of the 2nd floor which we are living on.
The french have a different way of doing things. Their houses are still habitable while work is being done. I've been to several homes that are being reconstructed. The work also takes much longer here than it does in the states. It's probably because they use a lot of concrete and barely any wood. [According to my host dad, it makes no noise]. I remember when my parents had our house built, it barely took 3 months. The reconstruction of this house alone should take twice as long.
This three level house is beautiful. Right now we have a huge living/dining room, five habitable bedrooms, two bathrooms, two toilets, and two kitchens. When the construction is finished we'll have eight bedrooms, three bathrooms, four toilets, one humongous kitchen/dining area, and one large living room. There are french doors everywhere. My bedroom along with Léa and Camille's have french doors leading out to balconies so we enjoy waking up to the view every morning.
A lot of my habits have changed during my stay in France. For one, I turn off the water during every lather interval in the shower. I got this habit from the guy I couchsurfed with. I noticed that he would do it, so I tried it--thinking that it was what I was supposed to do. And honestly, now, it makes so much sense to me. A.) You save water, B.) You're not washing off all of the soap or shampoo before it's done its job, and C.) It's already so warm in the bathroom you don't need the water on to keep warm. This is how the french bathe apparently, and I am all for it. I'm still fresh and clean. I just do more for the environment.
Another thing that's changed is that I dress more conservatively. If you compare the pictures of me pre-France or even my first week in France, you see that I am very bright and colorful and kind of just don't care about how much of my skin shows as long as I don't look slutty. Nowadays, I'm always in boots and a cardigan. Dark colors were always one of my 'things' before but now I'm in a place where it's not only acceptable, but encouraged! I love it here. French girls dress modestly--but with style, they don't straighten their hair, and they only use the essentials in cosmetics and they look fabulous!!! I've always thought things were a bit overdone/over-dramatized in the states but being here definitely proves to me that less is more.
I've also started to drink coffee every day. Most of you know that I am highly sensitive to caffeine so I limited myself to one cup every two weeks at home. I've had to go to numerous doctors for this problem because I had started getting strange caffeine induced panic attacks. It's odd. I would be at a stop light and my hands and feet would getting sweaty all of a sudden, then my pulse would get so fast and heavy that it would feel like my heart was in my throat. I would then get light-headed as if I was going to black out. I've never actually passed out but it scared me enough to see some specialists. I was tested for heart diseases, hyperthyroidism, etc...Negative results for all. After all of the doctors concluded that it was not in my head and that I don't abuse caffeine, they collectively decided that my body must have created a way of storing caffeine. They came to this conclusion after a little experiment. After a month of not consuming caffeine (in coffee, chocolate, tea, soda, etc...) I still had the panic attacks and when brought to the hospital my caffeine levels would be through the roof. It's strange now that I get to enjoy coffee once, or twice a day even. I wonder what's different about the coffee here. Or, maybe, my body fixed itself. Whatever's happened, I'm glad I am able to experience the art of coffee once again.
I've picked up a lot of habits from the kids I nanny as well. Léa and Camille like hugs so I've been more of a cuddler with the kids. You all know I like my space, lol, so this is a change. Baptiste plays soccer so I've been super active with him out in the yard. And Gregoire gets up at the crack of dawn so I'm also up much earlier--without an alarm clock surprisingly.
It was fun having all of the kids here over fall break. Not only did I have the triplets and Gregoire, but I also had Antoine and Nicholas. It was kind of crazy watching 6 kids every day but they're all so well-behaved that I didn't really have to do much in the way of discipline or control. I did, however, learn to say no. They would ask me to do a million things with them and I had already done a million things with them earlier so I got a bit worn out. No worries though. The internet connection here is better than it was at the last house so I would just pull up an American movie, tell them to sit, and they'd all watch intently. Ha haha. They'd even learn some new words and phrases. [No worries, they're kids' movies so they learn good words ;-)] I'm still an advocate for doing all of the outdoorsy things but at the end of the day, I want to just make dinner, drink some wine, and chill with the grown-ups.
Now that we're pretty much settled and unpacked in the new house, I'm looking for ways to decorate my room--either to leave for the next potential au pair or as a guest room. I have beautiful goldenrod walls, I was thinking of doing maybe light-blue bedding. Something I would never have the guts to do in my own house. I'm either in completely bold, warm colors or all white. What do you think? Let me know if you have any suggestions for the blue. I was thinking bedding like this...
Side/Back View of the new house
The new house is pretty fab. Though it looks bigger than the last house, it's about 1000 square feet smaller. This house makes more sense to me though. We don't have three living rooms that will go unused like at the last house. We're all living on the same floor at the moment. While the men restore the ground floor of the house, we are living on the second floor. And when they are finished downstairs, we will move down there so that they can do work up here. Here are a few pictures of the 2nd floor which we are living on.
The uptairs living room which we've turned into a dining room.
This will later be made into the master bedroom.
The stairs lead to the top floor which will have Antoine and Nicholas' rooms
This is a view of the other side of the living/dining room.
I love those doors.
An outside view of the living/dining room with Google en garde
The french have a different way of doing things. Their houses are still habitable while work is being done. I've been to several homes that are being reconstructed. The work also takes much longer here than it does in the states. It's probably because they use a lot of concrete and barely any wood. [According to my host dad, it makes no noise]. I remember when my parents had our house built, it barely took 3 months. The reconstruction of this house alone should take twice as long.
Fire/BBQ pit, outdoor seating/party area
This three level house is beautiful. Right now we have a huge living/dining room, five habitable bedrooms, two bathrooms, two toilets, and two kitchens. When the construction is finished we'll have eight bedrooms, three bathrooms, four toilets, one humongous kitchen/dining area, and one large living room. There are french doors everywhere. My bedroom along with Léa and Camille's have french doors leading out to balconies so we enjoy waking up to the view every morning.
My bedroom from the hallway
My room continued...
Balcony
The view of my room from the balcony
Terrace below the balcony
A lot of my habits have changed during my stay in France. For one, I turn off the water during every lather interval in the shower. I got this habit from the guy I couchsurfed with. I noticed that he would do it, so I tried it--thinking that it was what I was supposed to do. And honestly, now, it makes so much sense to me. A.) You save water, B.) You're not washing off all of the soap or shampoo before it's done its job, and C.) It's already so warm in the bathroom you don't need the water on to keep warm. This is how the french bathe apparently, and I am all for it. I'm still fresh and clean. I just do more for the environment.
Another thing that's changed is that I dress more conservatively. If you compare the pictures of me pre-France or even my first week in France, you see that I am very bright and colorful and kind of just don't care about how much of my skin shows as long as I don't look slutty. Nowadays, I'm always in boots and a cardigan. Dark colors were always one of my 'things' before but now I'm in a place where it's not only acceptable, but encouraged! I love it here. French girls dress modestly--but with style, they don't straighten their hair, and they only use the essentials in cosmetics and they look fabulous!!! I've always thought things were a bit overdone/over-dramatized in the states but being here definitely proves to me that less is more.
I've also started to drink coffee every day. Most of you know that I am highly sensitive to caffeine so I limited myself to one cup every two weeks at home. I've had to go to numerous doctors for this problem because I had started getting strange caffeine induced panic attacks. It's odd. I would be at a stop light and my hands and feet would getting sweaty all of a sudden, then my pulse would get so fast and heavy that it would feel like my heart was in my throat. I would then get light-headed as if I was going to black out. I've never actually passed out but it scared me enough to see some specialists. I was tested for heart diseases, hyperthyroidism, etc...Negative results for all. After all of the doctors concluded that it was not in my head and that I don't abuse caffeine, they collectively decided that my body must have created a way of storing caffeine. They came to this conclusion after a little experiment. After a month of not consuming caffeine (in coffee, chocolate, tea, soda, etc...) I still had the panic attacks and when brought to the hospital my caffeine levels would be through the roof. It's strange now that I get to enjoy coffee once, or twice a day even. I wonder what's different about the coffee here. Or, maybe, my body fixed itself. Whatever's happened, I'm glad I am able to experience the art of coffee once again.
I've picked up a lot of habits from the kids I nanny as well. Léa and Camille like hugs so I've been more of a cuddler with the kids. You all know I like my space, lol, so this is a change. Baptiste plays soccer so I've been super active with him out in the yard. And Gregoire gets up at the crack of dawn so I'm also up much earlier--without an alarm clock surprisingly.
It was fun having all of the kids here over fall break. Not only did I have the triplets and Gregoire, but I also had Antoine and Nicholas. It was kind of crazy watching 6 kids every day but they're all so well-behaved that I didn't really have to do much in the way of discipline or control. I did, however, learn to say no. They would ask me to do a million things with them and I had already done a million things with them earlier so I got a bit worn out. No worries though. The internet connection here is better than it was at the last house so I would just pull up an American movie, tell them to sit, and they'd all watch intently. Ha haha. They'd even learn some new words and phrases. [No worries, they're kids' movies so they learn good words ;-)] I'm still an advocate for doing all of the outdoorsy things but at the end of the day, I want to just make dinner, drink some wine, and chill with the grown-ups.
Now that we're pretty much settled and unpacked in the new house, I'm looking for ways to decorate my room--either to leave for the next potential au pair or as a guest room. I have beautiful goldenrod walls, I was thinking of doing maybe light-blue bedding. Something I would never have the guts to do in my own house. I'm either in completely bold, warm colors or all white. What do you think? Let me know if you have any suggestions for the blue. I was thinking bedding like this...
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