Smack the Baby

Imagine you're sitting comfortably at home in the evening with a five-week-old baby snoozing calmy in your arms. It took you a while, but he's fallen asleep, and with the house finally quiet you figure if you're lucky he'll keep sleeping and you just might be able to watch at least part of a movie on TV tonight (something you haven't done in five weeks).


Then, out of nowhere, without catching even a hint of a buzzing noise, you spot a mosquito closing in slowly, stealth-like, on the back of the baby's motionless, sleeping head. A sub-Saharan African mosquito. The kind of mosquito that comes out only after sunset and might be carrying the malaria virus. And you love that baby. But you want to watch the movie too. What do you do? Shoo the mosquito away and hope to be able swat him later, before he sneaks back up and bites the baby when you're focusing on the movie? Or do you smack the baby right on the back of the head as the mosquito lands? Right. You smack the baby. Which is exactly what I did last night - and I missed the damned mosquito too.

Let's Hope So...

From the BBC News website:

Being bilingual 'protects brain'

The findings are based on tests on 104 people

Being fluent in two languages may help to keep the brain sharper for longer, a study suggests.

Researchers from York University in Canada carried out tests on 104 people between the ages of 30 and 88.

They found that those who were fluent in two languages rather than just one were sharper mentally.

Writing in the journal of Psychology and Ageing, they said being bilingual may protect against mental decline in old age.

Previous studies have shown that keeping the brain active can protect against senile dementia.

For full article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3794479.stm

Poopy Pants

The day I came home with Noah both Jourdain and Cecilia followed me around the house, watching wide-eyed as I changed his diaper, nursed him, and rocked him to sleep. At one point Cecilia sat down calmly next to me on the couch to watch the baby nurse. After a bit there came a slow, gurgling, gaseous sound followed by a long bubbly-liquid noise emanating from Noah's diaper area. With a look of concern on her face, Cecilia sat up straight, stiffened, and shifted her eyes from right to left without moving a muscle in her body. Feeling her unease I explained that babies always poo when they nurse so that they can make room in their tummies for more milk. A look of great relief came over Cecilia's face as she shifted to look at me and said, "Oh. I thought that was me."

Gabonese Baby

Before Noah was born I had to explain to the kids that no, we could not choose the sex of the baby, nor could we choose his eye color, hair color or even type of hair. That was a tough concept for them, and while Cecilia took quite a while to digest this information, she finally accepted that she would be getting a baby brother rather than a sister, and that while his hair might turn out curly like hers there was a pretty good chance it would end up straight like "everyone else" in the family (a major hang-up for her for most of her short life thus far).

Just a week before Noah's birth we were all riding in the car together when from the back seat Cecilia asked, "Mama? Can we choose the color of the baby's skin, or is it going to be black like the other people in Gabon?" Stifling a laugh I calmly explained that a baby's skin color comes from the mama and papa, and that we were not actually Gabonese, so in our case, no, the baby would not have black skin.

Olivier leaned over from the driver's seat, looked back at Cilia, and announced "He'd better not have black skin, Cecilia".

Noah David Doeff

During our four blissful days in silence at the hospital I kept whispering to Noah that before he knew what hit him our snuggle-fest a deux would be interrupted by

non-stop kisses and hugs
and endless touching and cuddling from his older siblings.
Luckily for all, Noah is proving to be a very calm baby, taking everything in stride thus far. I'm just sorry he slept right through the 0 year birthday party held for him once he and I were back home.
Now all that remains to be seen is how he adjusts to life back in Gabon where we'll try to keep him awake for his 2 week birthday party...

Noah is here!

Here's a shot I took looking down at Cecilia and her little brother about 2 months pre-birth:

Here's Noah and me just a week or so pre-birth:

And here he is weighing in at just over 4 kilos at 12:05 on August 24, 2007!!

Still waitin'

for the next addition to our family. It's gotta be any day now, and BOY am I ready... No picture here as it may shock you. As it is, all heads turn these days when I enter a restaurant, store, or even pass by an outdoor cafe, and at 9 months pregnant I am under the impression it's not my cool outfit they're all checking out... The only benefit really is that traffic stops instantly when I even look at a crosswalk. My mom's thinking of packing a pillow under her shirt once I've left town.

Curly Girl

And this is a girl who wishes she had STRAIGHT HAIR!! What I would do to have hair like that...

Twin Aunties

Luckily for me, my sisters understand the seriousness of their auntie responsibilities when they come visit. They were here recently, and both quickly discovered, for example, that in order to maintain peace in our household, SOMEONE must be coloring with Cecilia at all times, non-stop. Around the clock. The moment this stops all hell breaks loose, and to be honest, I'm pretty much all colored out. Here's Auntie Cate taking things pretty seriously. (As a side note I should mention that Cate continued coloring in that book LONG AFTER Cilia was in bed each night. Maybe it's a genetic disorder?)Alissa took on a prominent role as "Great Answerer to all questions religious" after touring the local church in La Chapelle-en-Vercors one sunny afternoon. Since we lost 1 dog and 3 cats over the past year to what I can only assume is Gabonese road rage, both Cilia and Jourdain haunt us all with questions like: "When I die, can I bring my face with me?" and "Will I have the same voice in heaven?" and "Do you think our puppy Koumba will remember me when I die and go meet her?" My not-so-philosophical answer to these questions tends to be that I'd just rather not talk about it right now. Here's Alissa sharing some precious religious tidbits with her niece and nephew outside the church:

Of course the Aunties took J&C for myriad walks in the countryside...
and dared numerous river crossings.
In the end fun was had by all,

many flies were swatted,

caves were visited,and grumpy faces were turned to smiles with the help of the Twin Aunties!

UH-OH

It appears that we've got a bit of a viper problem in our yard in France. Yep - vipers. Hmmm. I'm told once the house is "lived in" and all unnecessary rocks are taken away from the immediate area they will go away. I sure am counting on it.

Viper alive:

Viper dead: