4 Weeks in Review

Well, after 2 weeks of vacation (where we played the tourist) 1 1/2 weeks of sickness, and then another 1 1/2 weeks of extreme busyness. I'm now back into the swing of blogging. Here's a snapshot of our last four weeks.

Jonathan's mom came over for a visit and stayed with us for 10 days. Sometimes it's just nice to be a "tourist" in Paris. It makes us appreciate the city again. Our neighborhood is very French and not so touristy (which I love), but often times I forget that I'm living in such a cool city!

Walking the streets of Montmarte
Girls' Day at Angelina's. The most amazing hot chocolate and pastries you will ever taste.

Hanging out in front of Notre Dame.

Warming up with some hot chocolate!

Then at the end of those 2 weeks we caught a cold. Now in our family, a cold is serious business, especially for our two boys. Within one day, their colds go from runny noses to bronchitis. So, because Micah was so little we took him into the doctor. They placed him in the hospital overnight for observation. Now I must add that I had gotten the stomach bug at the same time. Therefore, poor Jonathan was at the hospital with Micah most of the time while I stayed at home with the kids. It was interesting, but God always gives strength and endurance when you need it. They didn't give him any medicine in the hospital, which I appreciated. They just observed him. However, they did perform a common medical practice for babies and older people with bronchitis that I have never heard of in the States. It is called "kinétherapie". Basically, they would squeeze the infection out of his lungs so that phlegm would collect in his throat. They would then massage his throat until he choked it up. Now if this sounds like complete torture for both mommy and baby...it was! However, I was amazed at how it worked. In the States, they give nebulizer treatments for babies. Yet, the nebulizer treatment simply breaks up the phlegm, and babies often do not have the strength to fully cough it all up resulting in some of the infection staying in their lungs. With the "kiné", it pulls it all out. After the hospital, a kinétherapiste came to our home every day for 5 days to make sure all of the phlegm was out. It wasn't fun; but it was an effective, natural way to get rid of the problem. It didn't bruise the baby, and it did help! Here are some hospital pictures. He loved the bath tub!

After we were all done being sick, and there was yet another vacation. Yes, they have a lot of holidays in France. We had a celebratory camping out session in our living room.

We roasted hot dogs (this is a super rare treat in our house).

Roasted Pears, which were a delicious dessert when peeled and rolled in cinnamon and sugar.

And made a tent!

Then there was that one day that I was exhausted and a little stressed. My hubby brought me a special treat. Nope, it wasn't chocolate or ice cream...just a simple raspberry tart. Mmmm...don't you wish you had a pastry shop around the corner?

A few days later we took our family picture. Just for your information, with a 4 year old, 3 year old, and 7 month old; it takes around 50 shots to get everyone looking in the same direction. Note to self...next year, get help! Actually, I was proud of our family. We were quite calm during the process. Wouldn't you know it; the last picture we took was the best. :) Poor Micah was so tired, and don't you just love his comb over?

And last but not least was the big event of being a mommy chaperone for Matthew's class. Trying to understand little kids speaking French was interesting, but it was so much fun! We went to the Pompidou Center (modern art museum). There were lots of busy little kids, but they did great. And all the modern art is.......modern. That's all I'm going to say. The pictures aren't very high quality since they were taken on my video camera, but you get the idea. :)

In the classroom getting ready to leave.

Working with some of the "hands on" activities.

Watching a video about a modern artist. It was a guy who took junk and made art out of it.

And then we had Matthew's birthday party where there were 10 three year old boys stuffed into less than 15 square meters of space...but that's for another blog post.