There is no way that I would have predicted a month ago that Oliver's first sickness would be the highly-contagious communicable disease of chicken pox. Nor that he would have come down with it when we were on vacation on a remote island off the coast of France. Five days before I was scheduled to get the chicken pox vaccine myself (I'm not immune). And yet there we were, on Wednesday of our week-long stay on the Île d'Oléron, when we discovered a few strange blister-like sores popping up on Oliver's torso and face. That morning, we thought perhaps an aggressive mosquito had made its way into his room, but as the day wore on, and Michael did some expert googling, it was pretty clear we were dealing with a case of the pox. To be sure, we drove the 45 minutes to the nearest hospital at around 9pm - see Oliver above in the Emergency Room, not at all pleased with his circumstances. After waiting a few hours, the doctor confirmed it was the start of the chicken pox. First trip to the ER, check! We have no idea where he caught it, and children this young do not normally come down with the chicken pox, as they often receive a sort of temporary immunity through the mother's breastmilk if she is immune. About 95% of adults in the US have had the chicken pox before they are 18, but I was one of the (un)lucky few who have made it to adulthood with no exposure or immunity. And since I am not immune, there were no antibodies to pass along to Oliver. Poor baby actually had it quite bad, but the great fortune for us and him is that while he was most certainly uncomfortable, he was not coordinated enough to be able to scratch his blisters. The most pain that he seemed to be in was at bath time when we had to give him a medicated soap bath followed by antiseptic spray. Our neighbors likely thought we were seriously harming our child, he would cry so hard. As for me, I rushed to the local island doctor the following day after his diagnosis to get a vaccine. If you get vaccinated within 3-5 days after exposure, the severity of the outbreak is significantly lessened, or you can avoid the pox altogether. At the time I am writing this, I have passed the 21 day incubation mark with no outbreak myself. However... we did not know for sure until the full three weeks had passed. In fact, Oliver and I were pretty much quarantined in the apartment when we got back to Paris in what turned out to be one of the hottest June temperatures on record. Because he was still contagious, our one outing was to his pediatrician to confirm everything was healing fine, but we were seriously sweating it out in the apartment that week waiting for his contagious period to end. We managed to survive by shuttering windows, keeping hydrated, and sitting in front of fans - like many Parisian apartments, we have no air conditioning. On the fourth day of the heatwave, the day we were sure he was no longer contagious, I packed our bags and headed straight for the Musée du quai Branly, which is blessedly air conditioned, dark and peaceful. We managed two naps and two feedings, and I have never been happier for AC in my whole life.
0 Comments
We have a few long-ish road trips planned for this summer, so we figured it was a good idea to give the long-haul drive with Oliver a trial run while Michael's mom was in town last month, and headed to the South of France for a long weekend. A good friend of ours has a beautiful house near Provence, which is a tiny slice of heaven on earth. She very generously offered it to us as a bit of a respite from the city, for which we are eternally grateful and extremely lucky. While we love our apartment in Paris, it starts to feel quite small after a while, especially with the ridiculous amount of gear that a newborn requires. Any road trip that involves Paris will most certainly involve traffic. At most hours of the day, cars are jammed getting into and out of the city. So to avoid this hassle with a small baby who does NOT like stop and go traffic (let's be honest, neither do any of us), we headed out at 6:30am. This is what our little nugget looked like at the start of the trip... happy and oblivious as to the long day that awaited him! I think I've mentioned it before, but the French autoroute is pricey but excellent, offering full-service rest stops every 15 miles or so. We took advantage of plenty of them, and pulled off the road every 1.5 to 2 hours, turning what is normally a 7-8 hour drive into closer to 11 hours on the road (also hitting traffic around Lyon). It was a bit grueling for me as the solo driver (Michael joined by train in Avignon), but the reward in the end was five glorious days spent relaxing in the garden, around town, and in neighboring villages. While most of our time was spent near home base in Vinsobres, we took a day to visit the Antique Roman Amphitheater in Orange, which dates back to the 1st century AD, and is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as the best preserved theater in Europe. It did not disappoint. If we had more time, we would have loved to attend a concert there, as it's still a working venue. For this trip, we had to suffice it to climb up to the top for a killer panoramic view.
While I'm not feeding, changing, cuddling or napping with our new little guy, I have been trying to spend some of my maternity leave exploring new areas and attractions of Paris. Even though we have lived here for over three years now, a lot of my time is spent between work and catching up around the house on the weekends. Although I am certainly familiar with the main Parisian attractions on the tourist route, the lesser museums and neighborhoods have eluded me. One of the museums practically in our back yard is the Musée du quai Branly, which houses art from Africa, the Near East, Oceania and the Americas (basically everything but Europe). It also features visiting exhibitions, a performance space and cafe with an awesome view of the Eiffel Tower. I have to admit I hadn't been too enticed to come here before as I really didn't know what to expect - and from the outside, the building is VERY un-Parisian: But once you are inside, the museum is a quiet and calm respite from the chaos of the Parisian streets. I have now visited the permanent collection a few times, and still feel like I haven't seen everything. It's not that the space is particularly huge like the Louvre, but the best way to understand what you are looking at is most definitely with the audio guide - and for that I would say it would take a full day or a few separate afternoons. The other big bonus for me is that the museum is completely stroller friendly, which is not something I can say about all places in Paris (as my forthcoming post on our visit to the Grand Palais can attest!). In fact, I've enjoyed this museum so much that we have become members for the next year - which I fully plan to use in particular the next time we have a heat wave, and I need a dark, quiet place with air conditioning to escape to :)
One of the first outings we made when Michael's mom was here last month was to the Chateau de Vincennes, which sits on the eastern edge of Paris. Perhaps because it is so close we have never prioritized it, but it's been on my list of things to do for a while now. While you can easily reach the chateau through the Parisian Metro (line 1), we ended up driving as it was much easier to do with a 2.5 month old in tow. And as you can see by the pictures, we were blessed with blue skies, a rare sight in Paris after a long grey winter. Having visited a few of the Chateaux in the Loire Valley, the first thing that struck me about the Chateau de Vincennes is that it has a whole lot less "infrastructure" than many of the others. Many of the buildings look like converted military barracks, and the main Chateau tower (seen above on the left) is very well preserved, but lacks furniture and isn't terribly huge, other than vertical. While I enjoyed the day, and we even joined a tour (in French), I wouldn't say that this ranks up there as my favorite Chateau. It is an impressive royal fortress, for sure, but if I'm going to be honest, my kind of chateau is the one with pretty furniture and flowers.
My mother-in-law Suzanne and I share a serious love for champagne. It was therefore only a matter of time before we went on a pilgrimage to the Champagne region to taste and purchase some bubbly from the source. The obvious choice for our trip to the motherland was the world-famous Veuve Clicquot winery, which holds a special place in my heart as it is what we raised a glass to toast our marriage in 2013. It is also one of Suzanne's favorites. Under normal circumstances, we probably would have stayed for longer to visit multiple champagne houses - main cities to visit are Reims and Epernay - but since we had Oliver with us (and he was only 2.5 months old), we really could only do the one tour and tasting for a day trip. From what I gather, most of the big champagne houses in the region can be visited and toured on appointment. Because Veuve Clicquot is such a huge enterprise, they offer guided tours of their cellars in English every day from Tuesday to Saturday. We chose to take the "On the Footsteps of Madame Clicquot" tour, which I would highly recommend. While the tour was awesome, I am still working out how to travel in the car with a young child. When we got there, I though it was all under control as we fed him in the car ride there (it's only 2 hours from Paris). However, when I strapped on the baby carrier and popped on his jacket - it's cold down in the caves - he let out an unbelievably loud banshee-like scream, and didn't stop until the tour actually started. And even then I was sweating bullets that he was going to ruin the experience for everyone else.
He woke up half-way through and started wailing again, poor baby, this time from hunger. Only one thing to do when on a champagne tasting tour... feed the baby and follow it up immediately with a glass or two of excellent wine! We were so lucky to have Michael's mom Suzanne visit us in Paris for three and a half weeks last month. Not only was Suzanne a HUGE help to us - not sure if you've heard, newborns are exhausting! - but it was a wonderful time for her to get to know Oliver, and for Oliver to get to know his Mémère (for those of you who are uninitiated like I was, Mémère is the French-Canadian term for grandma). At 3 months old, Oliver was full of smiles, grew like a weed, and seemed to hit new milestones every day. Many days we stayed close to home, relishing early mornings spent in the apartment, singing and rocking little Oliver to sleep, playing on his activity mat, evening bath time, and watching him discover the joys of being a little human. Other days were spent further afield on mini-adventures to chateaus, vineyards and Provençal markets. It was a wonderful time spent full of laughter and memories to cherish. Can't wait for the next visit!
I've said it before, but one of the best things about being based in Paris is the sheer number of friends who stop through while visiting this magnificent city, both for work and pleasure! This month we had the pleasure of seeing Dave and Colin, who were here on their honeymoon. And also got to see our good friends Jamie and Brian, who have been literally touring around the world for the past year, and who luckily for us, found their way to Paris!
For me, the journey to motherhood has been filled with intense emotions. Ranging from hope to sadness to desperation when struggling with infertility, only to be eclipsed entirely by the profound joy of meeting my son for the first time only a few months ago. Mother's day may be a Hallmark holiday, but it was a very special moment for me this year to pause in thankfulness for my pathway to motherhood, which would have only ever resulted in Oliver had I walked through every high and low step of the journey. And because I live in France, which celebrates Mothers day at the end of the month, I got to celebrate twice! Once in honor of the US date (May 14) and once in honor of the French holiday (May 28). Not only am I immensely grateful to (and far more understanding of!) my own mother, I can never begin to thank Michael's mom enough for bringing my life partner and forever love into this world. We were lucky to also spend both holidays here this year while she is visiting us in France. I would be remiss in not also mentioning my eternal gratitude to my Aunt Sue, who was like a second mom to me growing up having babysat me from 6 weeks old. I think anyone who has mothered a human being should be honored on days like today. So to Suzanne, Aunt Sue and my Mom Rita, I raise a glass of the very best champagne that money can buy in honor of my mothers! Maybe one day we can all celebrate together :)
A miracle happened on Monday. I can see!!! Like many of us who are required to wear glasses or contacts to be functioning members of society, I had been dreaming of laser eye surgery for years. But in the US, it has always been prohibitively expensive and is not covered by any health insurance that I was ever part of. I actually started the process last year. At the initial consultation, I was told that my left cornea was too thin in one place, which could either be a product of a naturally thin cornea or a byproduct of wearing contacts for many years. The only way to find out was for me to wear glasses straight for three months and come back for a re-test. Three months later, I returned to be told that it was in fact my contacts, and I was in fact a candidate for the surgery. However, in the intervening months, I had happily become pregnant, which meant that I would have to wait until at least a few weeks after giving birth to have the surgery - apparently, your vision can change during pregnancy, and even though it is often minor, surgeons will not operate for this reason while you are pregnant. And so it was that one of the first things I did after giving birth to Oliver was to schedule a new consultation at the Espace Nouvelle Vision in Paris. I had more or less worn glasses since the birth in the hopes that I would still be a candidate for surgery, and once I was told I was good to go, I started counting down the days until I was able to have the procedure. The surgery itself is only about 30 minutes. I will not lie and say that it is no big deal, because it's a bit like being abducted by friendly aliens and then discharged into a very bright, semi-blurry world (you can't see perfectly right away). After receiving anesthetic drops to remove any pain (yes, they work!), your eyes are suction-cupped with the laser onto one eyeball at a time. You have to hold perfectly still for 30 seconds while it does its laser thing (omg pressure!). The second part of the surgery is longer and still nerve-wracking while the surgeon does his thing with the scalpel. This sounds horrible, and objectively it kinda is, but honestly you don't feel anything, and the reward is waking up and SEEING for the rest of your life. In about 10 years I may need to have reading glasses, but the trade off is well worth it for me. Oliver's first time on the metro was not what you would call a smashing success. Knowing that the metro isn't exactly stroller friendly with numerous flights of stairs and rarely an elevator in sight, we took him in the baby carrier. What we failed to consider is that at every stop, the metro car's air brakes make a loud hissing noise, followed by the loud sound of doors opening, followed by the even louder (and apparently horrifying) sound of the chimes that signal the doors are closing and you better step out of the way.
The brakes were bad enough, but Oliver absolutely could not abide the sound of the leaving chimes - he faithfully spat out the pacifier to stick his lower lip out, and proceeded to produce a "waaa-AAAAAA" at every stop. Our journey took us through 14 agonizing metro stops before our destination. Verdict: not trying this one again for a while, sticking to the bus and feet. Every time my Mom visits Paris she orders hot chocolate (chocolat chaud) in every cafe we go to, and loves that it is not overly-sweetened the way it is in the US. While it still can (and does) use some added sugar, the quality is pretty universally improved from the Nestle hot-cocoa-mix-grade stuff we get back home. Which is why I am a bit disappointed in myself as a daughter/tour guide at having only discovered the well-known Angelina cafe earlier this week, when I met up with another new mom who had her baby a few weeks before Oliver was born. Yes, Angelina's is a tourist spot - but it also has a very well-deserved reputation for serving excellent hot chocolate and equally-delicious pastries (most notably the Mont Blanc). The hot chocolate is served thick and warm in a small pitcher, to which you pour in your cup with your desired amount with fluffy whipped cream. I am not normally a dessert person, but this stuff is seriously good.
It reminded me of the hot chocolate they serve in Italy, which you literally eat with a spoon it is so thick, but it is apparently considered "African" hot chocolate as it is made from cocoa from Niger, Ghana and the Côte d'Ivoire. Angelina 226 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Open every day Nearest metro: Tuileries When it rains unexpectedly in Paris...
and you've forgotten your umbrella (rookie mistake)... and you're a 30 minute walk from home with a stroller and a newborn who is losing it... you send a prayer to the transportation gods and hop on the next bus going anywhere near your apartment. It just so happened that my Mom's birthday was this past weekend while she was visiting us in Paris. What better place to celebrate than the home of champagne and food drenched in butter? In addition to popping and savoring a bottle of bubbly, I took my mom to Fragonard Perfumer to participate in a "perfumer's apprentice" workshop, where we learned the history of perfume and got to make our own unique blend of a citrus-based perfume. Although Fragonard is based in Grasse in the South of France, they have a huge shop and museum here in Paris. While we didn't have free reign to create whatever kind of scent we would like (the class offers citrus-based options) it is a really fun way to spend an afternoon. In a short 90 minutes, you actually learn a lot about how perfume is made, where different scents come from, and how they are blended into the perfumes that we know and love. One of the most interesting factoids is that there are only around 300 perfumers in the world, who are affectionately called "Le Nez" (The Nose).
At the end of the workshop (offered in both French and English), we were given a tour of the museum and left to our own devices in the gift shop. We each left with a Fragonard perfume - I chose Belle Cherie, and my Mom chose Belle de Nuit. Our interview to register Oliver as a "US citizen born abroad" was this past Wednesday on his six-week birthday. We had a ton of paperwork to gather before the appointment, and the little guy didn't handle the two-hour process great, but at the end of the day, he left an official American citizen! A few people have asked us if he is automatically granted French citizenship since he was born in Paris, but the system doesn't work here like it does in the US. If he wants to apply for French citizenship, he can once he is older if we end up staying here and he meets the criteria.
So for now, our little guy is a single-passport holder and ready to hit the friendly skies. Hopefully he likes traveling as much as his parents do - not that he'll have much choice :) A few miles south of Paris, the Parc de Sceaux is a gorgeous French garden designed in the 17th century by Andre Le Notre, who also designed the gardens at Versailles and Fontainbleu. While the chateau is now a museum since 1930s, the beautiful, sprawling garden is free to the public, and is much less touristy than its more famous cousins. The grounds at Sceaux include a number of individual gardens and fountains, and of course a grand canal. We will definitely be frequenting this place throughout the summer with Oliver to get some fresh air and escape the polluted (though beautiful!) streets of Paris. For being a 25 minute drive from our apartment without traffic, it's really amazing how away from it all you feel there. But the real reason for our visit to Sceaux this week was to see the orchard of cherry trees in blossom. Like many visitors to the Washington, DC tidal basin, it's really a crap shoot as to whether or not you will time the visit to coincide with "peak" blossoms. I've been stalking the Instagram feed for the Parc for the past few weeks, and felt that we were close enough to give it a go on Tuesday. We were not quite at peak, but we were not at all disappointed either! The orchard lived up to all of my pink blossom dreams :) |
AuthorBecause why not get married and move to Paris to really kick off your thirties? Archives
December 2016
|