23 mois.

So here it is: the last month of counting in months. I can't believe that we are a mere 31 days away from your second birthday. That it was almost two years ago already that I gave birth to you. We sent out your party invites today as we will be celebrating your birthday with your little friends next month. I am already looking forward to all the preparations and the party chaos. And given how often you are singing "aaappy biiiir'day" to yourself at the moment, I think you are pretty impatient for your big day too.

Joyeux (dernier) moisiversaire my little monkey!

1 mois - 2 mois - 3 mois - 4 mois - 5 mois - 6 mois - 7 mois - 8 mois - 9 mois - 10 mois - 11 mois - 12 mois - 13 mois - 18 mois - 20 mois - 22 mois

ps: I hope you don't misread the "do not copy". It is just that, despite the little note I have on my blog, I have often found photos of L. on Pinterest, and I would feel more comfortable to have my little boy stays on my blog only. 

Bonne année.

Helloooooooo and bonne année! I hope you have all had an amazing holiday season. I disappeared from the face of the blogosphere a little unannounced, but it has been a busy few weeks around here. Lots of intentions of blogging and zero time in the end.

We celebrated Christmas eve, Christmas day and Boxing day at our place this year. Needless to say, many hours have been spent in the kitchen of late. We had three days of delicious franglais food (foie gras, oysters, turkey, mince pies, & many more naughty treats) and a fair amount of delicious wine and Champagne to go with it. If you're interested to know what our franglais traditions are all about, I did a little guest post on Diana's stylish blog Express-o last week. Pop over and take a peep if you'd like.

As Christmas has come and gone and we have now bided farewell to 2011, my head is full of hopes and plans for the coming year. Mainly, I hope it will be more stress free (see my guest post about this on my friend, Vanessa's lovely blog Coisas Minhas) and that, selfishly maybe, I will have a little more time to myself. Not easy with a toddler and a busy job. But here's to hoping: below are 12 things I would be happy to achieve in 2012.

1. Be. More. Organised - Priority #1 to lower my stress levels. 
2. Exercise - I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't done any regular exercise in almost six years. Some days, I have to run (literally) to be on time to pick up my son from the child minder and I am splattering my lungs out each time. How did I go so far in my "unfitness"? The plan is to start off slowly: yoga lessons for now and maybe later, when we are in our new flat, bikes rides on Sundays in the forest. 
3. Prints photos - Especially, make a photo book of L's first year and his second (which is almost over - blimey!).
4. Be less pragmatic - And more romantic.
5. Learn how to sew - my oh so generous brother and his girlfriend bought me a sewing machine for my 30th birthday though so far there has been zero progress (*cough* sewing machine is still in its box *cough*) but the plan is to become a regular visitor of this fabulous place.
6. Finish my knitting projects - I have two on the go: one scarf and an ear warmer. Better get knitting if I want to use these this winter!
7. Move flats - I mentioned a few months ago that we are *whoop whoop* in the process of buying an apartment but France being France, the paper work isn't yet complete so we are still waiting to become the official owners. Once we get the keys, there will be a lot of refurbishing to do, and by March we hope that we can move into our new home. Fingers crossed!
8. Get more sleep - I am terrible at going to bed. Even if I am exhausted, I will find any old excuse to stay up (movie, blogs, books, photo editing, etc.); I'm never ever in bed before midnight, if that. Trouble is, these days there's no more sleeping in at the weekend to catch up on all that lack of sleep so I need to change this bad habit. It might help with my moodiness too, ha. Two birds with one stone, eh.
9. Say goodbye to my glasses & contacts? - After speaking to several friends who have undergone the surgery themselves, I'm deciding whether or not to go ahead and have the laser eye surgery. I have been wearing contacts for almost ten years but I'm always having trouble with them and my glasses, well I've never liked wearing them. Thoughts anyone?  
10. Revamp my blog - six months ago I drafted a new blog layout but it is still sitting in my drafts. 
11. Follow these wise words (photo above) - with no limits.
12. Plan a wedding - oh, did I forget to mention last year that we are getting married? Well, we are! Just as soon as we find time to organise a wedding.

ps: thanks again to Diana from Express-o and Vanessa from Coisas Minhas for inviting me to post on their blogs. It was a great experience. x

{images: right via Justbesplendid ; left via Kenzalab}

22 mois.

Yesterday, someone asked me how old little L. was and I actually had to think about it. Now that he is almost two, it feels sort of silly to still be counting in months. Twenty two months, he is. That's a lot of months. And yet after all this time, he manages to become more and more loveable. Every. Single. Day. I could spend hours standing at his bedroom door, observing him in his imaginary world. "More water Monkey? No, Miaow miaow! C'est for Monkey le drink". It is the sweetest thing.

The power of toddlers' 'record button' is mind-blowing (although the monkey and cat gibberish is not from me, hmm). Often, we don't even realise that L. is listening to us and the next day, bam! new words. His vocabulary has expanded to the point where he is now speaking in sentences. Sentences! What a long way we have come since he was a wee baby. I am simply in awe with my lil' bilingual parrot: by his English, because he spends so few hours with us each day yet it is the language he speaks the most; and by his French, because we don't teach him any of it so hearing him speak is always a delightful discovery. Maybe he has the same love for languages as his mummy? I wonder.

But for now, he sure does make us smile our mini franglais boy. To his daddy's delight, and my dismay (two football lovers in the house, huh), he cheers "Arsenal, gooooal!" with a raise of the hand whenever a football game in on. I'm not sure he quite understands what it all means this football lark, but he sure knows it makes us laugh, so he repeats.

The best part about baby talk is that there is no beating around the bush: WYSIWYG. When we were in Greece, he held a pair of my knickers around his neck one morning and called it a bib (implying I have a big behind, per-lease!). He also tells us "I'm stuck! I'm stuck!" when we try to steal a cuddle from him and last week, as he came out of the bath and I was brushing his hair, he suggested combing his daddy's hair and then start combing his chest (yes, he is a tad hairy, à la 007). And did you know that toddlers are also professional ego boosters? Almost each night, I get "ouhlala, miam miam, c'est booon!" as he eats his home made (or not) diner and when I've been showing him my crochet/knitting projects he is always so impressed and tells me "oooh, mummy it's pretty!" (which of course, it isn't. Otherwise you would have seen it up on the blog).

Anyway, happy (belated) 22 months, my little boy! What an exhausting and wonderful journey parenthood is.

La diva aux pieds nus.

Hoje, "o mundo da musica ficou mais pobre, mas uma artista, um poeta, nunca morre".
Tito Paris 

Paris snapshots.

I had to snap a few photos of Paris on our way back home on Sunday. After five years, I love that I can still so blown away by the beauty of this city.

Quartier latin: The great escape.

Hello! How have you been? Are you getting into the holiday mood? It's bloody madness over here. Every other person is out shopping and walking around the streets with more goodie bags than their little hands can carry. I tried going into a toy shop on Saturday to have a "look around" and walked straight out. I didn't see much other than hasty people and tempted kids. Not for me. Thank you, but no thank you. I'll be doing all my shopping on line from the comfort of my couch and maybe taking a day off for the remaining bits & bobs. The pressies this year are also going to be simple and useful. I read this quote on Claudia's blog the other day which gave me food for thought: "A good friend told me that they just focus on four gifts for their children: something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read"... the best gift guide, don't you think?

I woke up on Sunday craving for a trip to a museum or an exhibition - something I use to do lots of in my pre-baby life. So we jumped in the car and drove off to the Latin quarter to visit the Grande Galerie de l'Évolution at Paris' Natural History Museum. The little man was euphoric. Animals + space to run + others kiddies = hours of fun! It was such a fascinating and timeless museum. A true getaway for the mind. We came back to the reality just long enough to cross the street (literally) before entering a whole new world as we stepped foot inside the restaurant of Paris' mosque. In a traditional North African decor, we had the most exquisite lunch which brought back fond memories my frequent travels to Morocco when I'd visit my parents were living in Tangier. On the menu: tagine for me, couscous for the Mr. and a bit of both for the little man; followed by mint tea and pastries, which we weren't able to finish so a little birdie came and helped us. How very nice of her.

Restaurant de la Mosquée de Paris
39, rue Geoffroy Saint Hilaire
75005 Paris

Muséum national de l'histoire naturelle
Grande galerie de l'évolution
Jardin des Plantes
36, rue Geoffroy Saint Hilaire
75005 Paris

Bread loaf.

Lack of time and good will are keeping me from maintaining this space up to date like I would like to at the moment. Blame it on my end of year to do list which is never ending -- I always seem to adding items to it, never ticking anything off. Do you have that same problem? So while I'll be away this week fretting about various deadlines and running after time, I leave you with this hilarious bread loaf*. Smile!

* Mr. Franglais says you're going to think I'm weird for posting this picture, but I'm hoping some of you out there have the same sense of humour as me. I hate this webbie abbreviation, but I seriously lololed when I saw it!

{via Think Big Chief}