My most amazing friend

I am so so happy for Gina and Demetrio. Their baby Veronica is so small and cute, and was born at the same weight as me - 2.5 kilos.

Anyway, Gina was walking around and smiling at the camera mere minutes before the big push. We were talking on the phone just after her water broke and she sounded so damn chirpy! After the birth, she was up and talking on the phone and uploading photos and just generally being all healthy and active.

If you don't believe me, look at these photos

It was just awesome.

5 months today!

Dear Sophie,

I cannot believe 5 months have passed since you showed up to change our lives completely. For the better I might add. It is a great change, and your Papa and I welcome it but we try to keep some semblance of our own "normal" lives intact too.

Only when I see little Veronica I remember that you too were once so adorable and tiny. You are still adorable, but now you are my 7 kilo baby mammoth!

Anyways, I just want to record some of the beautiful things you have shown us this month ..

1) Your developing sense of humour
- you get the joke now. With exaggerated sneezing and threats to tickle you to death, your good friend uncle Demetrio can make you giggle till you get the hiccups.

2) Your increasing awareness of cause-effect relationships
- this month, you have learnt that you have the power to affect both things and people. Your experiments in the laws of gravity include the discovery that dropping your toys means somebody has to pick them up for you.

3) I swear that you do understand the REALLY important things
- I am begining to relax a little because you haven't bitten me at all (despite regularly baring at me your 2 front teeth) I think you got the idea that I was serious when I threatened instant weaning if you ever sank your fangs into my boob.

4) good foundation for toilet training
- You are now consistently pooping when held over the toilet sink, and now we need to figure out how to get you to tell me when you need to pee.

Every month I think that you are at your cutest and most fun, and the next month you continue to surprise me by being even cuter. So keep those surprises coming honey, because me and your dad are just generally nuts about you, and so is the rest of the neighbourhood.

With a billion tummy kisses and belly laughs

Your Momma


Oh yeah - html update: I finally cracked and got a snugglepie account so that I could use the ticker code. My main objection actually was that I refused to be associated with a website called "snugglepie". It just sounded so uncool. But then it appears that most tickers and counters for childrens birthdays all have pretty fuzzy names anyways.

This was one that I wanted to get, but thought maybe it might traumatise her later when she reads this blog:

Commercial break

The first couple of days whenever Fabien goes away for work is always a bit hard because the routine feels a bit out of kilter. Sophie and I amuse ourselves with silly girly photos to capture her moments growing up (in the space of 2 weeks!) when her papa is away...



My little French madmoiselle models jacadi petit fleurs collection - a towel is all she needs to look utterly and completely smooch-worthy.

Aint I the proud parent!

Congratulations Gina!

With each new baby the world is reborn. Gina and Demetrio just welcomed little Veronica at about 5:45pm today.

Check their photos

She is a real real cutie and Gina had a miraculously easy labour. We are so so so happy for them!!

A returning social Life

Having a baby changes your everyday routine. Drastically. How do you know when life has kind of returned to normal? When she leaves you alone to have a good saturday lunch. This means, enough time to cook it, and eat it whilst it's still hot.

This is what we had last saturday. Baked trout parcel with potato and fennel, served with a champagne sauce. Lovely crisp Tattinger (can't remember year) to wash it all down.

Our social life has been on an upward curve since Sophie turned 3 months. We have gone out a couple of nights this month without Sophie, or just chucked her into bed in Gina's house (where she obligingly passes out). But we still have to more or less stick to her majesty's schedule.

This weekend we are going to hang out with Gina, and then Fabien disappears to China for 2 weeks.

Eileen was here

Eileen came to Turin for Sophie's tea party and it was great to catch up with her. She stayed with Gina which was great because that way, my old friend from Singapore could meet my new friend from Turin.

She's left me lots of great books that I've been wanting to read for the longest time like "The World is Flat" (although I think Thomas Friedman is a bit of a zionist). And bought a Beatrix Potter collection of rag books for Sophie.

It's nice to see my friends here because we are leaving for Beijing in Jan 2007. Yep it's confirmed (with much nostalgia) - we go to France for Christmas, and then leave from there to go to Beijing.

I don't have our contact details yet for Beijing, but will put it up once I get there.

Distractions

As explained in my earlier post , Baby toys are entirely for Mummy's benefit.

Sophie is becoming pretty easy to look after, because she has figured out how to play by herself. So I can just leave her under the gymini or with Dumbo for up to an hour, and check my email and read the Economist or something before she wants my attention. It's great!

We love those presents!

Big thank you again for those cool presents from all our friends! Fab and I are getting kinda jealous because Sophie has a great travelling toiletries kit from Neal's Yard (courtesy of Eileen), wonderful toys (long list of friends, but notably Michy, Chiara and Gina) and great clothes for winter (yup, the winter collection started already!)

Take a look at Sophie enjoying her new elephant toy,