Health (except for a few easy-to-manage colds) was welcomed back home and, after delaying it for a week, we were finally able to party Orléane last Sunday.

I don’t have many details to report from the party. It went well, for an event of one evening including six babies/kids and 10 adults – which is to say, it was a joyous tornado of amused grand-parents, busy parents, confused and entertained babies, and festive preschoolers. Then, within half an hour, all the guests disappeared, the kids headed to their beds, and the house went quiet again, despite all the strewn decorations, dishes, wrapping and toys everywhere (everywhere!).

It was a success.

We used a flower garden theme. I drew up decorations of flowers and friendly bugs on the computer, as well as menu-placemats for colouring to keep the kids busy while waiting for dinner. Frank installed a flower diaporama on our big tv screen – a great trick for theme decoration that is easy and eco-friendly, by the way, and which adds loads of colour to an otherwise bland surface.

We ate at “Café du Jardin”, ie. the main floor. We served grattin worms (macaroni… accepted by kids everywhere), and flower pots for dessert (cupcake in a flower pot, with a flower planted in it).

Orléane found the experience interesting. She ate cake for the first time!

And now, I don’t have a baby anymore. Boohoo.

All the pictures with comments are over there:
Fête Orléane – 1 an

… or so it seems, life has decided that my complaining for no good reason just wouldn’t do. It proceeded to show me how much illnesses and drama two weeks could hold.

More listing:

• The morning I was back at work from stomach flu, the babysitter called in emergency: she was getting sick herself, and could we please come get the kids right away? She and her daughter have been sick the rest of the week.
• Orléane had the flu with fever and cough.
• Xavier had (and still has) a bad case of the flu: 5 days of fever, chills, almost no food and still not eating much, fatigue, cough… the works. He worries me.
• Xavier threw up one night. (It wasn’t the stomach flu, luckily.)
• The cat peed on our bed. (We did lock her up in our room for half a day, albeit by mistake.)
• Orléane tumbled her highchair at daycare today. (She’s alright, but it had us all worried about a commotion.)
• François has a mild case of the stomach flu.
• Orléane’s shots are tomorrow. *Fingers crossed that it will go alright!*

PS. Here’s a nice link for those of you who would like to take part in a fun astronomy project: Galaxy Zoo 2.

It has been a whole year, already, that I was lying on a hospital bed soiled with sweat, blood and fluids, shivering with cold (it took a real long while for my temperature to settle back up!), and that I first saw my quiet tiny sweetie, and took her in my arms.

She is a pink and magic fairy, Orléane. She might well exasperate her parents once in a while, but she still has the uncanny ability to make us smile from one ear to the other, with her blondie head all dusted with sun. In fact, it looks as if there are sun rays growing out of her scalp, so apt is her thin and wacky hair to catch the light.

Maybe she does not have wings yet, but she manages without problem to land where she wishes, whether by toddling proudly throughout the house or, as needed, by pulling on the most vulnerable adults’ pant legs and be lifted to a better vantage point.

And as if it was not enough to get her meaning across by sweetness and insistence, she is now plucking words one by one, so she can transform them into enchanted droplets to splatter into our conversations. A “cat” here, a “more” there… and a little verbal frustration when miss finds herself “(S)TUCK!” in her high chair or she cannot free a toy.

We don’t tire of seeing her smile – snickering or Mona Lisa – and we love even during the milky reunions in the nook of night. Her borther and her, they are our two great sources of pride, and we wish to tell her “Happy Birthday, pretty Orléane! Your parents are real proud of you, and you make them happy.”.

A pic a month:

Happy Valentine’s Day! (Freakish smile courtesy of Xavier.)

First, I want to note that the reason I’m allowing myself to complain on my blog is that I rarely do (I think). But I’m allowing myself an exception today:

• I was hit by an outburst of stomach flu while at work today. (And there’s a nightmare scenario come true… I think I got through it tolerably well – except for those minutes I was lying down on the hallway floor. Yay for nice partners who work at the same office we do and can drive us back home!)
• I have chills, nausea, backache from being in bed all afternoon, and headache.
• Orléane came back from daycare with fever.
• Xavier and Orléane are congested.
• Orléane has a big cough.
• Xavier seems to have a touch of stomach flu.
• My parents are gone on a trip South, Frank’s parents have health issues to deal with of their own (ie. no external help available).

But right now, the kids are asleep, I’m a bit better because I was sick earlier, aspirin is working for me a little, and Frank is here and healthy.

The things we’re grateful for, sometimes…

I am unjustifiably proud of this picture. I think it is Jupiter (or maybe Venus)… in any case, it is the first planet I photograph that turns up a somewhat decent shot. The shutter was open for about 30 seconds. This planet has been shining South-West in our night sky for many weeks now.
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Paul thinks this must be Venus. Paul is a thoughtful guy, so he’s probably right.