9 months old...

My baby is NINE months old!

It has been a tough last month for her. She was down with bronchiolitis and is still nursing a running nose however, she has been a tropper.

At her last visit to the doctor, she measured about 72.5cm and weights about 7.8kgs (bearing in mind she was sick at that time). I suppose she should be measuring around 73-74cms and weights about 8.5kgs now.

New things she started doing over the course of the last two months:-
1) Waves bye bye
2) Says "ter ter" for water
3) Opens and closes her fingers when I sing or croak "Twinkle Twinkle little star"
4) Claps when I sing "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands" (check out the little video below
5) Stands for a good 5 seconds while holding on to the rails on her cot.

First Christmas

This is Laetitia's first Christmas and we spent it with my parents in law and Etienne's nephew Alex.

Here's Lae and I on Christmas morning waiting to open our presents.

Lae looking very pleased with her presents. (Notice the shoe in the background? In France, the tradition is to leave your pair of shoes under the Christmas tree and Santa will leave the presents for you next to your shoes)

This is the first artwork of Laetitia. Handprintings done in her daycare. It was part of the gift her daycare centre gave to us for Christmas. We thought that it was such a sweet idea.

Merry Christmas!

We'll be off to my in laws for C hristmas but before we go, we want to wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS from the Lastennets!

Laetitia and her friend Sophie

Laetitia made a new friend Sophie last Tuesday.

Sophie's mummy, Sharon and I have been communicating forever via email but we have never met. We got to know each other on an online forum for brides in Singapore. (I, infact, have many friends who I met online and stayed friends with). We were then both active in a thread sharing experiences for brides who has a caucasian husband-to-be and were planning for their overseas weddings. We managed to hit it off and kept in contact since. I have invited Sharon to come over to Paris to spend a few days with us and they finally took up the offer.

So, on Tuesday, Sophie arrived in Paris with Sharon. They were going to be with us till Thursday. During the time they were in Paris, the little ones had lots of fun getting to know each other and we even managed to visit the new Musee du quai Branly and stop for a relaxing "chocolat froid" in a cafe.

Here's a picture of the two little ones chilling out while their mummies chat away about their sleeping habits, parenting styles, the silly things the much loved munchkins get up to etc etc.
They spent 2 nights with us before departing for Treuzy-Levelay (a beautiful countryside area just 45 minutes away from Paris by train) for the house of Fabien's godfather. We then met them again there on Saturday and spent another wonderful day with them and their family (Gilles and Damienne).

I wished I had taken more photos but had managed to leave my camera somewhere where it was not easily accessible for most times. Sharon did manage to take more photos and I'm sure she will post them once she settles.

A battle with bronchiolitis.

My poor baby has been sick so much since we came back from Singapore 6 weeks ago.

She had stomach flu (gastro as it is commonly known as in France) two weeks back and is now down with bronchiolitis (bronchiolite). We went to see the paediatrician today and aside from some medications, she has been prescribed some sessions for chest physiotherapy. We went for one immediately after seeing the PD as the physio is just downstairs from her office. I was so traumatised by the experience! It seems so violent for a small baby (Laetitia is 8 months old). Of course Lae was brawling her eyes out. Imagine someone pumping on your chest to forcefully push out your mucus and then choking you so that you would not swallow it back and finally clearing it from your mouth/nose! I keep holding her and saying, "mummy loves you", "you're a brave girl", "I'm sorry you have to go through this"....

Now I tried reading about chest physiotherapy and bronchiolitis and it seems that most materials I read does not recommend it and of course France seems like one of the very few countries practising this.

Now I'm of two minds..... should I just skip the sessions? God, why does parenting has to be so difficult?

Oh, the places you'll go!

OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.
...
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So . . . get on your way.

Yes, my baby is getting on her way. She is really crawling!

Laetitia's Christmas presents and wishlist

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!!! It's going to be a major presents time for my little butt.

Here's the presents she will be getting!

1. Vtech Move & Crawl ball (from my sister in law Manu) 2. Vtech V-Smile Baby (from my parents in law)

3. Chicco Bilingual (English and French) Animal farm (Bought with the gift cheques given by Etienne's employers BNP Paribas).

4. Baby Einstein DVD Box set (from me)

And these are the ones I think will be nice presents for her too. Books are a great gifts for aunties thinking of getting her something for Christmas as they can easily be ordered from Amazon.co.ukand be shipped to Paris. (PS: Do use the link to Amazon from here if you are buying her the books as gifts we'll get extra gift certificates too).

1. Fisher Price Dino Ball

2. A nice baby high chair like a Tripp Trapp.

3. Lilliputiens L'arche de Noe (Noah's ark)

4. The very hungry Caterpillar Board book5. Dear Zoo Flip the Flaps Board book (since she loves books and animals).

And many more that I keep seeing when I go into a toy store or do online shopping. I think she will love baby musical instruments, toys that pops up when you press certain buttons, cloth books (Infact, the caregivers in the daycare told me she LOVES the mini cloth books. I think I will get one that could be attached to the stroller for her to play with when we're out) etc. Well, a few more weeks to go. :-)