paris photographs

At 3 and a half months old, it was about time Mason visit Paris.

M seems to be over the buggy business. Now he prefers to be carried around so he can see everything. He doesn't want to miss out on any action. Simon carried him like this much of the time. I've done my share of carrying, I think.

Paris is slightly less romantic with a baby in tow. We didn't go to fancy restaurants or go dancing. We basically looked at shops and ate chocolates for 4 days. But we did manage to go to bed around 9 each night, sometimes earlier. We slept a lot.

Our favorite place for breakfast.

Simon got to spend lots of time with his son, which they both appreciated.
London is full of distractions.


We happened to be there for the end of the Tour de France, which was fun to see.
But clearly we were too distracted by our baby to notice much else.

30 second stare

I just had an awkward moment. Our kitchen window is the exact height of a red double-decker tour bus. So for 30 seconds, I met eyes with a frumpy, gap shirt-wearing, woman-tourist with cameras and binoculars around her neck. She stared. I was standing there, hair wet, eating broccoli in my old maternity night gown. (...Which I hadn't worn since black tuesday but just grabbed out of the shower). Clearly not planning on being seen by any other life form, let alone a bus full of gazers.

I feel like a zoo animal.

baby boot camp

You know that feeling you get when you finally finish packing your suitcase at 2 am, knowing that you have to get up at 5 am to leave for the airport? You wonder if it's worth it to sleep at all. You puzzle over how you let this happen to you. You would do anything to crawl into a big clean bed to zonk out for a full night's rest. The feeling is desperate.

This is how I feel every night around 10 pm. I hate to complain but I think I've earned the right. I haven't slept longer than 4 hours in a row in over 3 months, and those stretches were rare. "Falling asleep" sounds so peaceful and easy. But I find myself tensing up as I lay down, knowing that I have to be up again very soon. Sleep deprivation is a torture tactic, and now I know why.

At my birthday party yesterday, a friend gave me a bath potion for overtired people, perfect for me. I'm so tired. Tired of daydreaming about sleep. Tired of not thinking clearly. Tired of not being myself. Tired of being tired.

Enough of this.

Mason made the mistake of sleeping for 5 hours in a row a few days ago. Too bad I wasn't also asleep when this happened. Perhaps it was a fluke, but now I know that it is possible, and his body is capable. No more night rockings for this little man. The gig has gotten old and it's time for baby boot camp. This is week 1. Keep posted for the results.

my favorite holiday

Celebrating the 4th of July isn't really the same in England.
I saw one flag, in a cupcake shop window, but that was it.

Thankfully, we were invited to a lovely BBQ with friends, some of whom were English. But there were no hard feelings.

At this BBQ, I asked my British friend how the subject was approached in schools here. He said that it was told accurately, but generally brushed over. That the King was crazy and deserved a wooping. And they didn't see it as America vs. England, like I always did. The colonists were freshly Irish, or British themselves.

My 5th grade history book told a convincing story of the good guys who started America and the bad guys who tried to stop it. I remember my teacher scoffing at how the British uniforms looked like red targets, mocking their stupidity. He took pride as if he had actually been there fighting for freedom. See, the Brits have a lot more history to cover than we did. There was no time for such elaborate stories.


THINGS WE MISS ABOUT AMERICA:

soft water
customer service
baseball & basketball
being understood over the phone
public forthrightness
space
Thanksgiving
real yards, front and back
quality tv and funny commercials
taco bell
monterey jack cheese
syrup
halloween & haunted houses
affording the movie theater
hearty breakfasts
normal sized refrigerators, washers, and dryers
straight roads with car sized lanes
African American soul
taco stands
closets
censored television
bbq's on warm summer nights before jumping in the pool, aaaaaah
In n Out
general optimism and self belief
cheesy snacks
normal sized houses with garages
turkey
white, nice teeth
dinner options & portion sizes
parking lots
target
family

Since moving abroad, I have seen how intensely America is watched and talked about. I was surprised at how often I heard about America, knowing that I rarely spoke about other countries before I moved to one.

I've also learned that the American Dream is a very real thing. You can ask any American what America stands for and they know the answer. They'll tell you something like freedom, equality, or becoming anything you want to become. We have been taught these things since we were kids, and we believe in them. A few months ago, I asked people from a few different countries what their countries stood for. They didn't really know what I was talking about, which is fine. I'm glad to be part of mine.

We love our country. God bless it.