remiandsteph

New Blog!

For a number of reasons, I’ve decided to use blogspot to host our blog for the time being. We might return to this blog later, and I’ll certainly keep it alive for the archives, but for now, look for updates about our life at http://remiandsteph.blogspot.com

See you all there!

9 Months!

Where has the time gone? Suddenly and without warning, our little girl is nine months old. She had a great doctors check up yesterday, she’s right on track and healthy as a horse. She doesn’t care for those vaccinations, but who does really. A couple of weeks ago we went to the beach with my family, everyone was there except Remi who had to stay behind and work. Of course we missed Papa, but a great time was had nonetheless. Camille wasn’t too impressed with the ocean, but she love seeing her baby cousin and being fawned over by her Mimi and Pops. Since we’ve been  back it’s been business as usual. Playing, napping, and playing some more. Here are some pics of the girl.

7 Months, time for a breakthrough.

After days of trying, finally she can pull herself up.

Camille had been putting all her efforts into learning how to pull herself up on her crib rail, and finally, on her 7 month birthday, she succeeded. Now she just can’t get enough of it, and every minute she spends not pulling herself up on something (anything!) is time wasted in her book. She’s become an expert crawler, but this step towards walking is her new favorite activity. We’re finally settled in to our apartment, we have a few boxes remaining, but are pretty well unpacked. We’ve spent the last week exploring our neighborhood, and discovering all the great stuff we have within walking distance. Camille is in heaven, since she hasn’t seen the inside of a car in over a week, and she gets to walk around all day in the baby bjorn, where hundreds (literally) of smiling people greet her every day. They say New York isn’t a friendly city, and this may usually be true, but Camille is making plenty of friends. I think she’s such a ray of sunshine to people who aren’t so used to seeing a baby. The new city has its downsides, however. For one thing it is sooo noisy, something I never noticed as a tourist here. I’m told we’ll get used to it and pretty soon we won’t be able to sleep without the sound of sirens and taxi horns, but I have my doubts. Meanwhile it’s making naptime very interesting. Anyway, here are some pics of the last month. Some of these are from Asheville, where Camille and I spent a long weekend visiting her cousin Julia.

Camille Anne

5 Days old

Here are some first pictures of our beautiful little girl. She was born Sunday, Jan. 25 at 8:29 pm. She weighed 7 lbs and 4 oz., and was 20 inches long.

We are both completely enamored, surprised to suddenly have someone else that we love as much as one another, and profoundly grateful to have this healthy, vibrant, miraculous little girl in our lives.

Nursery work

Rémi loves manual labor

This weekend we checked off some more items on our to do list for the nursery. Rémi installed the new handles on the dresser (a pain since he had to drill new holes), assembled the crib and hung the shades. The room now starts to look like the sunny, cozy, bright space we’ve been imagining for our little girl. There’s still so much to do… We also went to our first birthing class, which was very informative and only a little scary (there was a video.) Steph seemed to be the least pregnant person there, but it was very interesting to get a glimpse of how other couples are handling a similar situation. The teacher was very insightful and interested in alternative and innovative birth methods, just like we are, so that was a good fit. On the whole, not a bad use of 3 hours on a Saturday. Click here to see the: Nursery

Birthday Trip

Aspens!

We loved Durango! We picked the perfect weekend to drive up through Northern New Mexico to visit the beautiful southwestern corner of Colorado. The aspens were in their glory, sometimes the light shining through them would even fill the car with a golden glow. These vast aspen forests of northern New Mexico are truly a magnificent sight. In Durango we enjoyed walking around the town (a bit touristy, but nothing you wouldn’t expect from a ski town), we stayed in a great bed and breakfast (www.countrysunshine.com — if you’re ever in the neighborhood looking for a warm, welcoming place to stay with incredible breakfast), and we hiked. We splurged one night (with the help of Steph’s parents, Rémi’s bday gift from them) on a nice dinner at a good French Restaurant, Chez Grand-Mere. On the whole, the only down-side to this trip (apart from the speeding ticket Rémi got on the way) was that it had to end, but so do all things. It was a great break, a chance to relax and forget about responsibilities, and to enjoy each other.

Jungle Gym

It feels lately more like I’ve got a zoo growing in my stomach, or a miniature conga troupe, than a little girl. She is squirming up a storm, and last night I caught her on tape! Yep, you can see and feel these little punches and jabs from the outside. I plan on using this tape as emotional blackmail in the future: “See how you abused your mother?” Watch the right side of my belly, just after I put my hand on it for the first time, right after I move it away. I think it’s pretty hard to miss, click here to see: Conga

It’s a GIRL!!! C’est une FILLE!!!

Our little baby is growing quickly! She measured in at about 10 ounces, which is two days ahead of schedule. She showed no problem signs at all, and even though the technician couldn’t give us a guarantee, she told us she was pretty sure that this little peanut is a girl! So we can now (tentatively) introduce to you Mlle. Camille Anne Dingreville: