It's a Girl!

Welcome to the world Mia Elizabeth Conti! Jason and Beth welcomed their first baby into the world this afternoon. Mia weighed in at 7lb 12 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long. No pics just yet but the proud daddy says she has lots of dark hair and is simply gorgeous.

Lots of love to the new mommy and daddy! Mom and baby are doing great-everyone is happy and healthy. Madison is so excited to have another girl to play with :)

Our day on the Champs

Today was a fun day. Early in the day we finished Christmas shopping for Madison. We have yet to buy any presents for each other yet :) Afterwards we headed up to the Champs Elysees and had lunch at Laduree. It is a very pretty, old-fashioned French tea room. Even Madison's high chair was gorgeous. Madison again flirted with all of the waiters and had the entire room's attention the whole time we were there. After a yummy lunch of sandwiches, ice cream and tea, we walked the rest of the Champs to the Christmas village they have set up with Santa's village, shops and food stands.

Madison took her first picture with Santa. When she first sat on his lap, it definitely looked like she was going to start wailing...it was after a long day and she was ready for bed. But in the end she didn't cry and we have a picture of her and Santa and another of the 3 of us with Santa :) I can't post them because we don't have a scanner but they came out pretty cute.

Tomorrow I'm hoping on getting my gear to make Christmas cookies...I need a mixer and measuring cups and spoons. Hopefully I'll find what I need. Then we have to finish Christmas shopping for each other. We're headed to Disney when Kevin has off from work over Christmas week. The tree should be finished tomorrow...no lights on the tree this year b/c the Frenchies don't have stands where you can water the tree, so we just don't feel to safe putting lights on.

I hope everyone enjoyed our "Christmas Cards". Happy Holidays to everyone!!!

Happy Birthday Jenn!!!

We just wanted to wish Jenn a very happy Birthday! We'll have to celebrate in February :)

Couldn't leave out Angus...

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Merry Christmas

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Birthday Weekend

This weekend was full of firsts...Madison ate her first pancake and we got Madison's very first Christmas tree. It was also a weekend of birthdays....mine and Madison's 11 month bday :)

I've attached a short video of Madison eating her pancakes (all by herself) with a special cameo by Angus.

We'll post pics of our tree once it's all decorated. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes...now the countdown is on for Madison's big 1 year!!!

We're going to be doing a lot of fun Christmas things this upcoming week. Kevin has taken a nice long vacation for Christmas/New Year's Week. Last weekend we didn't make it to Santa or Disney, so that's on the agenda for this weekend. Then we'll be finishing Christmas shopping and just walking around town taking in all of the Christmas decorations. I'll be sure to post pics of our finished tree and Madison in her holiday outfits.

Also, we're going antiquing as my birthday present from Madison. We're on the hunt for an antique jewelry box (or something just as special) that will be passed down to Madison one day.

Reflection

I can't believe we've been here in Paris for 3 months already! With only 4 1/2 months remaining it is crazy how fast time is flying by. I guess what makes it most obvious is how much Madison is growing every single day. When we got on the plane in September, Madison had just started eating cheerios and now she's munching away on croissants and meatballs :) In September she was sitting up on her own and now she's standing up by herself and getting ready to walk! It's just so crazy all of these changes happened in 3 short months. Just imagine what she'll be up to in 2 months when we come back to NJ for a visit!

I posted some pics of Madison from September the week we left for Paris and some from this week...isn't the difference incredible?

Some video

Here's a very brief video of Madison pulling up to stand on her own. I know how much Lexi (and a few others) like watching the videos :)

It's Been a While...

Wow, I can't believe it's almost Christmas already! Thanksgiving was good. George and Sue visited and we had such a great time. We had all intentions of eating Thanksgiving dinner but were way too full from a long lunch of wine and pizza to even think about it. While they were here we did lots of sightseeing, eating and drinking. Madison and Angus both really loved having them around :)

Madison is getting bigger by the minute. I swear she wakes up from a nap with more hair on her head! She's pulling herself up to stand now and is attempting "cruising" on the furniture. She's eating more and more real food...today was her very first meatball. She's even mastered how to sneak Angus her leftover biscuits (he's very happy about that!).

This weekend we'll be celebrating my birthday by doing lots and lots of Christmas stuff! Saturday we're getting our tree and then walking around the Christmas village on the Champs Elysees (visiting Santa of course). Then Sunday we're headed back to Disney to see it decorated for Christmas (and to visit Santa again). Monday Kevin and I will be going to dinner for my birthday (restaurant not yet determined). We'll be sure to post pics of our Christmas tree once it's all decorated.

No videos this week but there will be some to come shortly. For now I posted some pics from tonight's bath and bedtime.

We have our dates set for our visit home! We'll be flying in Thursday, Feb 12 and leaving Sunday, March 1. We're really looking forward to seeing everyone!!!

Some pics of our apartment

Finally here are some pics of our apartment. The light is not so good today because we actually had a rare snow flurry (it hardly ever snows in Paris). The chairs and couches are actually white but we have to keep them covered because of Angus :) White furniture and bulldogs don't mix. Please remember that our apartment came fully furnished...furniture, artwork, linens,etc. So you can tell that it's not exactly our taste but it's a typical French apartment.

Madison's Parisian Nursery

We just realized that we have not posted any pics of our apartment in Paris. Here I posted some pics of Madison's room. As you can see, we brought a little piece of home with us and "re-created" her mural from home. The crib and bedding set are new additions (I was excited to choose girl specific!) I applied wall decals to the wall behind her crib to spruce up the boring white walls. It's not quite the colorful "Nursery Rhyme" mural like her room at home but it's just as cute.

We'll post more pics of the rest of the apartment this upcoming week.

Lots of Laughs!!! (Please listen to with full volume)

After a long day of playing, I was putting Madison's toys away and she just starting cracking up laughing. Even after I stopped to get the camera and continued again, she just couldn't stop laughing. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

One more short video...

We couldn't resist posting just one more short video. Kevin said we just had to because you can really see how blue her eyes are (which still puzzles us). Enjoy!

A Little Video

Here is a short video of Madison crawling through her playhouse (Thanks Grandma!).

Back from London

The family trip to London was great. We took the Eurostar train and Madison did wonderfully. We did a lot of sightseeing, shopping, eating and walking around. It was a really nice town to get around with Madison. Because of the unique London taxis, we were able to just wheel Madison in her stroller right into the backseat; which was perfect for getting around town. Madison loved the toy store in Harrods (as you can see from the pic).

Madison is officially crawling. She can make about 7-10 crawls and then she bellyflops :) We keep trying to get a good shot of it on video but no such luck. We've attached a short video of her getting around the living room. The video is mostly for Lexi (and Jenn and John) so she has a new one to make her parents watch over and over and over again :) It's a little slippery for her here between the hard wood floors and the velvety outfit but she still gets around. She's getting to be such a big girl so fast! She's eating real food (she pigged out on fresh fruit and bread at the Champagne Brunch at our hotel on Sunday), she's crawling around and starting to pull herself up and she's such a happy little girl. As Jenn said, she's such a little girl now...not a little baby anymore :)

We're getting excited for Christmas! Since London and France obviously do not celebrate Thanksgiving, both towns are in full Christmas mode already and I'm loving every second of it :) Harrod's had Christmas carols playing and was fully decorated already. We're going back to Disney this weekend to see it all done up for Christmas. We should be able to get a lot of fun pics of Madi with the characters.

We also have our first visitors coming soon. George and Sue will be here in about 2 weeks and we're going to have our own version of a Parisian Thanksgiving. We're really looking forward to it.

PS-We wish a very Happy Birthday to John!!!

PPS-Madison is OBSESSED with Kevin's blackberry. Luckily he now has 2 so he and Madi can conference call each other :) Harrod's has a whole floor dedicated to pets and we managed to find a "blackberry" dog toy to bring back for Angus.

Headed to London

Friday morning we are embarking on our first family vacation (other than this 8 month long expedition) to London. We'll be staying for 5 days at the Landmark. This is our first trip there (technically Kevin was there in H.S. but can't remember a thing) so we'll be doing a lot of sight-seeing and such. I'll be sure to post some pics when we return, as well as another short video of Madison (special request from Lexi!).

She's Finally Here!!!

My goddaughter, Samantha Perillo was born very early this morning at 2:48am!!! Mom and baby are doing great. 8lbs, 19.5 inches---she's a beauty!!!!

We wish we could be there to meet her in person. We can't wait to come home in a few months for the christening.

Lots of love to Jenn, John, big sis Alexa, baby Samantha and Tiny!!! We love you guys!!!

Halloween

Today is Madison's first Halloween! It's a pretty tame holiday here in Paris. The suburbs go trick or treating but not here in the city. So we got Madison dressed up in her dragonfly costume and met Kevin for lunch (where Madison proceeded to flirt with all of the waiters, as usual).

Tomorrow we're getting ready for Salon du Chocolat. It's a chocolate expo that is supposed to be out of this world. I'm looking forward to all of the samples of chocolate and champagne, not to mention the fashion show with "clothes" made entirely out of chocolate.

This week while I was walking around I met another American mother with children. I overheard her speaking English to her daughter, so I struck up a conversation with her about Halloween. They're from D.C. and heading back to the States in December. She offered up her babysitter, so I couldn't pass that up :) Starting next week, I have a few playdates set up with other English speaking moms and their babies...some are from the US, England and Ireland. I'm really looking forward to it.

Other than the chocolate expo we don't have anything else planned for this weekend...other than waiting by the phone to hear that Jenn is finally having the baby! For any of you out there that plan on seeing her in the hospital...TAKE PICTURES and email them to me asap!!! It's killing us that we won't be there at the hospital to meet her in person :(

This past weekend wasn't too eventful. Madison had another tooth break through, followed by a cold. But I'm grateful for the timing because next Friday we're leaving for London for 5 days.

I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!

Some video...

For anyone who'd like to see Madison (and Angus) in action, I've attached 2 short videos. The first is of Madison attempting to crawl ...she's so close! The second is just of Madison sitting with Angus on one of her playmats. Angus is reallly amazing with her.

Disney!

This past Saturday we decided to visit Disney. It was a really easy subway ride (about 40 minutes) and the weather was beautiful. The park was a smaller version of Disneyworld in Orlando and had all of the big attractions: Cinderella's castle, Tea Cups, Dumbo, It's a Small World, Main Street, etc. Madison was able to sit on our laps for most of the rides...roller coasters excluded :) The park was decorated for Halloween and had a few Halloween-themed character shows in front of the castle. We didn't stay for the evening parade on Main Street. We're going back in November to see it decorated for Christmas (b/c I am such a Christmas nut!) and we'll do all of those things then. Madison definitely enjoyed herself...she was leaning out of her stroller to look at everything and during the rides her head was going back and forth so fast trying to take everything in.

Sunday we went down to Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter just to stroll around and get some lunch-again the weather was beautiful.

Madison's top left tooth broke through and the right one isn't far behind. She's still not crawling but it will be any day now.

I've found 2 English speaking playgroups to attend in the next couple of weeks. It'll be nice to meet other couples with children who speak English and live in the area. We're trying out the babysitter on Saturday for the first time. The cleaning lady came last Thursday and it was great!

We're all booked for our first adventure. We're headed to London on November 7th. Here is the link to the hotel where we'll be staying:

http://www.landmarklondon.co.uk/

Our First Road Trip

This past weekend we all got in the car and took a little road trip. Because Angus has such strict regulations in regards to entering the U.K., we wanted to make sure his documentation and microchip were in the right before we hit the 6 month marker for our return trip on the Queen Mary.

So we set off on Saturday and made the 3 hour drive to the Eurotunnel in Calais, France. Once we double and triple checked Angus, we did some shopping and eating in Calais. We found a baby store which was the Bloomingdale's version of Babies R Us. Kevin had to pull me out of there before I bought one of everything.

Madison and Angus did beautifully during the drive and practically cuddled the entire way there. As you can see in the picture, Angus spent most of the time with his head on Madison's lap while she was in her carseat. They really are so cute together.

Now that is squared away, we are back to planning fun weekend excursions. We'll probably go to Disney this weekend if the weather is nice (it's been warm and sunny pretty much the entire time). We are currently planning a trip to London for early November. We have found a babysitter and a dog sitter and she actually lives right here in our building. She speaks both English and French, which is perfect.

Madison is doing great. You can see the start of her top 2 teeth coming in and she's getting so close to crawling. You can clearly hear "Mama, Dada," and even "Angie" in her babbling rants. We can't believe she's already 9 months old!!! It really does go by so fast.

Kevin has been absolutely amazing during our transition here (as always). He really goes above and beyond to make sure Madison and I are perfectly set up and happy. Not to mention all of the trouble he goes through just to make sure Angus makes it home with us. He's hired a cleaning lady so we can enjoy every minute of our stay here...she starts tomorrow and I'm so very excited :)

We miss everyone very much! PS-Happy Birthday to George! See you soon :)

Still getting settled

We are just about officialy settled in. The clothes are unpacked and Madison's playthings are all set up. We decided against Disney this weekend, as we are going to go either this or next weekend when the Halloween decorations are set up (and then again for the Christmas spectacular....because I love Christmas so). We still have to sign Madison up for Gymboree. We have a playdate this Saturday at a park with other American expats, which will be nice to meet other people in our same situation. I joined the gym last week. I go in the mornings while Kevin is on breakfast detail with Madison.

This weekend was a lot of fun. An old friend, Jill, was in Paris for Fashion week and invited me to the Rock and Republic Party at the Eiffel Tower on Friday. It was such a good time (and a good excuse to get all dressed up). Kevin was so sweet-Friday after work he came home with a surprise for me....a brand new pair of gorgeous Ferragamo shoes to wear with my outfit for the party! I was completely surprised, he said I need a pair of fancy shoes to wear to my fancy party. He's such a doll.

Then on Saturday we did a LOT of walking around. We walked all of the way from our place up to the Notre Dame area (approximately 4 miles each way)...stopping at the Jardin de Tuileries, St. Germain, St. Michael and the Latin Quarter.

Sunday was a lazy, rainy day. We mostly stayed at home (afterall, my feet were still recovering from Friday and Saturday). Today we have an appointment with Madison's new pediatrician. This week we scheduled potential babysitters to come in for interviews. We still have some shopping to do for the apartment to add our own touch. Once we're officialy unpacked and squared away, I'll post pics of the apartment.

Our home phone broke, so we're replacing that today and then I'll be reconnected and able to make some calls to the U.S. Email doesn't always cut it :) But we do have our new computer and it's wonderful.

Hope all is well!

We're here!!!

Where do I begin? Madison and I arrived in Paris last Wednesday morning. She was such a trooper on the flight, no meltdowns, no tantrums, nada. We are still unpacking and settling into the apartment. Today the internet, cable and phone were installed and I am happy to be reconnected to the world.

As, for Kevin and Angus's transatlantic travels and European road trip, all was as smooth as could be expected. Angus was treated like royalty on the ship and I do believe the other passengers thought Kevin and Rocco were a couple :)

Our neighborhood is spectacular! There are so many shops and restaurants and things to do with Madison. It is really a perfect area for families. We can walk everywhere, which is perfect. It is still an adjustment to "apartment" living....2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, small kitchen, etc. but the location is perfect, the layout is great and the views are amazing. I'll post some pictures as soon as I get our new computer...our desktop didn't quite survive the transistion.

It only took Madison 3 or 4 days to adjust to the time difference and she's doing beautifully now. She seems to really enjoy the walking and outdoor eating and people watching. We've taken her to the Eiffel Tower (which is about a 10 minute walk from our house) and to Montmartre. Plus, she's already nibbled her first piece of croissant. The baby stores in our neighborhood are gorgeous. We've already hit up a few this past weekend.

This weekend we're going to Disney to walk around while the weather is nice. We know Madison is too young to really enjoy it but I can't resist a good photo op :) Then we'll be shopping around town to get a few finishing touches for the apartment to really make it our own.

I'm looking forward to posting pictures of our place and neighborhood...just bear with us for a week or 2 until we get our new computer.

Hope all is well in the States!

2 Weeks and Counting!

In 2 weeks Kevin and Angus will be boarding the ship and starting their journey to Paris...a transatlantic boat ride, drive through England, train to cross into France and yet another drive to get to Paris. All to get our beloved pup into Paris! 2 weeks later Madison and I will be flying over to meet them at our new apartment.

Tomorrow we have our appointment at the French Consulate in NYC to have our interviews for our Visas. Hopefully it won't take too long and we'll be able to take Madison for her first walk through Central Park.

These last few weeks will be filled with shopping and getting things ready for the movers to pack us up and ship all 1200 lbs of our belongings to Paris.

But before we left we just had to have our family photos taken! Alicia did an amazing job and we can't wait to use her again. As you can see, we HAD to include Angus in the shot :)

Less Than 2 Months and Counting!

It's hard to believe but the big move is less than 2 months away. We have picked out our apartment and have met with the moving company. They will be coming to pack us up on September 2nd. Kevin and Angus depart on September 4th aboard the Queen Mary and Madison and I fly out to meet them on September 16th.

There is really not much to prepare for the move-Kevin's company handles all of the paperwork and the moving company packs us, ships us and unpacks us in the the new apartment. I'm still working on my French( and will continue to do so while I'm over there) with my Rosetta Stone :) Alexa was thoughtful enough to get us two fabulous books about Paris-one that list the best brasseries and the other that lists all of the kid-friendly places in and around Paris. I've been devouring every little tidbit about them since she gave them to me on Saturday.

Our apartment is in the 16th district of Paris, which they say is the equivalent to the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The photos look amazing. We're on the top floor with an amazing view, tons of huge double windows, great hardwood floors, 2 bedrooms and baths. There will be plenty of room for all of our visitors-we'll have 2 queen beds, as well as a pull-out. It will be an adjustment to go from 2800 sq feet to 1100 but we'll make do :) It's centrally located around shopping, restaurants and a park that is twice the size of Central Park. It's really everything we were looking for and more.

Madison just had her 6 month check up and shots, so she is all set for the big trip as well. Kevin's co-worker in Paris is recommending a pediatrician and veterinarian for us to use during our stay.

Well-our next post will be the first official post in Paris! I'll be sure to include pictures of the aparment and neighborhood and, of course, of Madison. Afterall, she's the real reason we created this silly blog in the first place :)

The Countdown Has Begun

5 months from today, Kevin and Angus will be boarding the Queen Mary 2 to begin our 8 month transfer to Paris. Angus will be receiving first class treatment aboard the ship: monogrammed walking jacket, homemade biscuits baked fresh daily, personal bellhop walking service. Luckily Kevin has Rocco keeping him company on the trip, especially the roadtrip from England to Paris. You see, bulldogs cannot fly and babies under 1 year of age cannot sail transatlantically and that's the reason for the split. Madison and I will be flying (first-class thank god) over a few weeks later to meet them after Kevin settles us into the apartment.

We won't know what our apartment set up will be until much closer to the move date. What we do know for now is that it will be fully furnished, at least 2 bedrooms and in a very desirable neighborhood of Paris.

We still have a lot to take care of before the move. Angus has had to get several shots, blood-work and a microchip inserted into his skin (the universal pet passport). We still need to apply for Madison's passport and arrange for all of our Visas. I'm excited because I get to decorate a whole other nursery for our new place :)

We're looking forward to traveling all over France and other places in Europe, time permitting. We are also looking forward to all of the family and friends who are going to be visiting and staying with us.

Well, this will be the last post for a while...I better get back to practicing my French with my Rosetta Stone! For now, here's one of the lastest pics of Madison in her Easter dress.