A new car calls for a new car seat, and today Juliette graduated to her first front-facing seat. She loves it — she sits up very high and can get a great view of the world outside instead of staring at the back of the back seat (as she did in her rearward facing seat). In time, she’s got a DVD screen at her disposal, with her own set of headphones. So that she can watch Barney as Dad listens to something less… annoying.

The commute’s much more fun when you can look out the window!

After a couple of days with a stomach bug, Juliette was feeling much better by Sunday. Over all, she didn’t seem particularly upset or unhappy about the odd bit of barf, and carried on playing, laughing and smiling as usual.

On Sunday night, though, Mom began to feel unwell. And by Monday morning, it was clear that Dad was down with a stomach bug as well. So on Monday, we had a healthy baby (kept home from daycare as a precaution) and two sick parents. In adults, the stomach bug doesn’t manifest itself as something innocuous with the odd spot of barfing. No, it was the sort of can’t-crawl-out-of-bed misery that I haven’t experienced in a long time.

The good news is that it was short-lived and we’re all on the mend. But sick kids + sick parents? Not much fun.

We had unseasonably warm weather this weekend, with spring-like temperatures and clear, sunny skies. It was the perfect weather for being outside, walking through the woods and enjoying the autumn foliage.

Except that wasn’t how our weekend turned out. When we woke up on Saturday morning, we discovered Juliette had been sick during the night. First order of business was to give her a bath, to get the mess out of her hair. Not exactly the greatest start to the day, especially before your first cup of coffee.

She seemed perky enough, so we figured it was something she’d eaten. She drank her milk with gusto at breakfast. We packed ourselves into the car and went out to lunch. She was fine during lunch until we tried to feed her. Before you could even blink, there was the entire bottle of milk making a rather dramatic reappearance in the middle of the crowded restaurant. It’s a place where we’re regulars, and luckily all the other diners had young kids and looked very sympathetic as we tried to mop up the mess with little napkins the best we could. Incidentally, what’s the appropriate present to offer to a waitress to say “sorry our kid barfed everywhere?”

It turned out that this was a prelude to a much longer weekend — the poor thing has been sick all weekend. Dad’s volunteered to stay home with the little one tomorrow and take her to the doctor. She doesn’t have a fever, so it’s probably just one of those things that’s going around, but Dad will be happy when his little camper is feeling better.

Being sick all weekend means that everyone is exhausted. Especially Juliette.

We were sitting in a restaurant the other day, and an older couple were sitting beside us. The man’s wife had gone to the bathroom at the same time as Aude, leaving just the two of us.

“How old is your baby?” asked the man. Never one to credit a woman with more years than she deserves, I replied “nine months.” No sooner had I answer than the two women returned to the table. “How old is she?” asked the woman to Aude, and Aude replied, “ten months.” Leaving me looking like an idiot who didn’t know how old his baby was.

Well here it is. She’s officially ten months today. Just in case anyone asks. 🙂

Guess who’s ten months old today?!?

It was a pretty exciting weekend for Juliette. On Saturday, Dad’s friends came by with their kids Sophie (age 8) and Markus (age 4), who had a lot of fun keeping her entertained for an evening. On Sunday, it was time to celebrate (a little after-the-fact) her friend Xavier’s first birthday, with all of her other friends.

For Mom and Dad, it was a good introduction to children’s birthday parties — a loud, chaotic affair which turned a pristine home into a bomb site in mere minutes. Something to look forward to. 🙂

Happy birthday, Xavier! How does your fence taste?

Juliette prefers to munch on a block.

Alex and Remi say hello

Dads’ club

After a few days of cold, wet, wintry weather, it was a treat to have beautiful sunshine on a perfect autumn day. What better way to spend the afternoon than playing in the park?

I suspect she can pick up radio signals with her ‘antenna’

Someone’s having fun!

Riding the horse with Mom

I think Juliette would spend the entire day playing with rocks if we let her….

Juliette has asked that her readers for her for the two-week gap since the last update, but Mom and Dad have been extremely busy trying to squeeze everything into the 24 hours that are available in each day. There are houses to construct, cars to get serviced, and jobs that have to be attended to. So there’s been a brief gap in Juliette coverage the past few weeks.

Never mind. They’ve been a good couple of weeks. Last week, Juliette came along with Mom and Dad to the hairdresser, where she’s always the center of attention.

And her walking is improving. Two weeks ago, she was taking her first few steps with Dad’s help. Now she’s started to hold onto the furniture and take a few steps. Surely walking can’t be too far away.

Earlier this week, Juliette’s grandparents came by for a visit. And this weekend, they were back again, offering to babysit while Mom and Dad tried to get some things done for the new house.

Walking alongside the table

Having fun with Mami

Hanging out with Papi

“Hey Mami! I’ve got your ear!”