All's Well that Ends Well......

Well Bonjour! and Happy Monday! Am I sounding a bit chipper this morning?  It's not because I am back on the coffee-wagon--non, non, non!    Who needs coffee really?! When you can have revving engines and deep voiced French road workers shouting instructions at one another and the hisss---pssss of compression breaks to rouse you from a sleepless night?  Not moi!---but if I am sounding snarky it is not intentional--because I am really, really happy! I have never been so happy to see a parade of HUGE trucks rolling into my 'hood around 7 am as I am today! Because.....today they will be finished! --- We think.

It was a bit dicey there for a while--it rained overnight and apparently it is better to lay asphalt on dry ground...so they stood around in a large group sussing-up the situation...and now I think they have begun, at just before noon-time.....fingers crossed, it's now looking promising.  No more dust and red clay all over the boys shoes and into the house--no more screeching and scrapping and rattling at the crack of dawn!  How will we live?! How will we possibly finish this glorious summer without them?  I am thinking of making a cake or something and placing it out on a little table at the end of our driveway just to say desole for all of those times I leaned out the upper story windows and glared at them, sticking out my tongue at them when they weren't looking in my very grown-up, mature, you-just-woke-up-the-baby-with-your-stupid-concrete-cutter, way.....

But alas-- All is well that ends well....and soon we will have pristine, deep black, smooth paved roads for us and all of the hundreds of daily tourists to enjoy ..... and it will all be forgotten ... and forgiven.

Les garcons return to school in less than two weeks now.  Have I mentioned this before?  I am starting to obsess on it.  In preparation I am waking them up at 9 AM each morning (at least the 'tween' because he would sleep until 2 pm if given the option) and weaning them off the computer and video games.  We now have a period from 2 to 5 pm each day that is 'electronic-free' as in nothing that requires a plug or power for three hours.  If it is sunny I force them to go to the beach for a few hours (cruel, I know!) and if it is rainy or too windy they have been playing with Legos or reading books.... or following me around the house and whining about it and begging for bad-weather-clemency......

Aspirations and hopes for the coming school year?  Of course that we all (les garcons and moi) all become brilliantly fluent in French, that they both make a few friends (oh yeah -- me too again!) .... that I have loads more time between 8 AM and 5 PM to write, cook, write, tidy-up and have it last for a few hours, write, work on photography, write ... oh, and paint my nails.... occasionally.  Let's not get too crazy.

Right now it seems too good to be true.  It's been a good summer but I am ready for the new-pace .... How about you? How will your fall daily-life change in a few weeks?  Here's to the last few free-falling days of summer ... without the guys from 'Spie' road construction.  I will miss them.  And I am certain they will miss me too..... but we have the memories, non?  The 5 week project that was finished in 5 months .... they came, made a mess and a whole lot of noise, they cleaned it up, they left .... Happy summer! 

Oh, how I love a happy ending! A bientot!

Got Coffee?

Ah. So the summer will end much like it began..... gorgeous sunny skies, cool breezes, perfect mid 70ish days and.....sledge hammers......concrete cutters.....and giant dust generating, thumping, screeching, bumping machines that I have no idea what they might be called.....

Yes! They're baaaaack!  Our beloved road-workers.....remember my affectionate posts about them at the start of the summer? They arrived in late Spring to begin work on the roads; dozing, chopping, scraping and digging massive trenches to replace the main utility lines....We received written notification of the five-week project which of course stretched over 4 months...and now they have returned to pave over the road, an estimated 4 days of work...( months?)  We are a corner house, the first on our road-- so we have the loveliness of the construction on 3 sides... (and noisy 'vacation' neighbors on the other--but that's a post for another time!) The noise is incredible...the dirt and dust clouds the air like misty fog and we are forced to close windows and shutters to try to block out both--which keeps it a balmy 80 F-some degrees in the house--when it's a cool 70 F outside....

It pretty much means that by 10 am my nerves are shot....sensory overload to the maximum, and today I am reluctantly refraining from filling up my second mug of coffee... Petite Fille is on another 'no-nap jag'.... and despite the noise (what was I thinking?!) I put her down for her morning snooze and of course that was a complete epic F-A-I-L.....despite my gentle and nurturing attempts to soothe and sedate her, rocking her in my arms and singing Moon-Moon-Moon and Twinkle,Twinkle, Little Star ... 3000 times---between clenched teeth...

So my theory is that I may have to lay off of the caffeine for awhile--until she is weaned....because this mysterious out-of-the-blue napping (and sleeping!) rebellion could possibly, maybe ... quite certainly, be related to the very strong, almost black, French roast coffee I guzzle each morning.

So today I tried it -- only one cuppa-java....Petite Fille has nursed three times since and right now .... she ... is .... sleeping .... much to my delight and .... dismay.  Because I love need love need coffee........ (okay--I am totally a junkie -- happy!?! I said it!  I --- am--- an ----addict!)........ and frankly no matter how much anyone out there tries to convince me otherwise 'decaf' just does not cut it.  I am a girl who gets 4 hours of sleep at night and I am a terrible napper...

What to do, what to do?  Is it worth the sacrifice of having only ONE precious cup of deep, murky, dark roasted liquid bliss--in exchange for a few hours of afternoon calm while the sweet babe sleeps?  Or should I continue on my 3-4 cup before 10 AM binge and spend a long day wrestling with the banshee princess?!

Thoughts? Suggestions? ...... offers of overnight babysitting while I check into a posh hotel in Paris and catch some quality shut-eye?  (A girl can dream....now only if she could sleep.....or drink many cups of coffee.....or dream of drinking many cups of coffee.......)

Ooh la la! 

Mamanzilla

Over the past few days, I have had serious concerns that I might be turning into 'Momzilla' or 'Mamanzilla'.... I have been hearing myself reading the riot-act to 'les garcons' and ranting to French Guy around dinner time each evening.

Granted I am tired.... really TIRED.  I have posted and lamented over the sleep--or non-sleep issue.  I calculate it has now been over one year that I have not slept through the night....meaning head hits the pillow at 'bedtime' and lifts off the pillow at morning time.....without one single interruption.....and maybe even long before that, as I have wrestled with my bon ami,  insomnia for many years, so as you can imagine, adding a baby to that equation is not pretty....neither am I due to the lack of sleep--(les-under-eye-concealer is my BFF..... c'est vrai!)

We've had a relaxed summer, no vacation trips, no visits from friends (Waaaaahhhhh!) and I finally gave-up on the idea of having 'structure' in our days aside from demanding requesting that the 'garcons' are out of bed by 10, dressed before 11 and do a small handful of chores.  We created a shortlist of required tasks and a few 'rules' of the land (ie- "if you argue with your brother, you lose 30 minutes of computer time"...) But our carefully thought out Magna Carta, in all it's simplicity, has fallen to the wayside..... and recently it would seem that my days have begun with the shrill sound of the 'Oldest Garcon' yelling at 'Middle Garcon' to "GET OUT OF MY ROOM NOW!".....) So very lovely.....Oh, and bonjour to you too!

So by afternoon--our house is a hot-bed of conflict and brotherly love and peaceful co-habitation has given way to mayhem....not the recipe for a happy home.  And I am tired.  Did I mention that already?  Momzilla gets the best of me, smoke comes from my ears and tears of frustration well up in my bloodshot eyes.......

They should be running for the hills at that point.  But they don't.  'Oldest Garcon' who is a pre-teen (much more 'teen' than 'pre' that's for sure!) is 'testing' out how far he can take the casual--too cool to be reprimanded stand--(all the while I can see that there is an inner conflict because he really is a sweet kid and as tough as he wants to be, he just can't pull it off) and 'Middle Garcon' who is 7 is all about direct, in-your-face defiance....."I will not do it if I am not feeling like doing it...." and actually says ' No...' and 'Nuh-Uh'......so smuggly that I could just ring his adorable little neck.....sometimes.

Ooh la la! What is 'Mamanzilla' to do!?  Many an ex-boyfriend, a girlfriend or two and poor-poor French Guy can attest to the fact that when I am upset about something I can beat it to death with words.....(What?! You are surprised by this?!)  So the highest form of torture I can come up with is to sit both and them down and talk about it (respect, compliance, cooperation, brotherly l-o-v-e.......) until they are blue in the face from boredom....But I don't like to.  I don't like the sound of it-- coming from my mouth, generated by my little less than patient, sleep deprived brain.....

Where are you Dr. Spock? Dr. Greenspan? ......Uh? Super-Nanny?!

I always fancied myself to be the peace-keeper in the house. La Americaine-gal, the French Guy, three cats, three dogs, two fish and now for the past 7 months, THREE kids.....living in Cheeseland--- harmoniously.....most of the time.  Sorta......

Where's the 'boof'?

At just before 12 noon I am having trouble keeping my eyes open.  Maybe it's because during an 11 hour 'night' for Petite Fille, she woke to be fed 5 times.....If you count that my night started a midnight when I went to bed...then it makes about 4 hours of sleep.  The second reason for my zombie-like state could be that on a mere FOUR hours of sleep I have been attempting to work on my French verbs.  I have been staring at my new book, 'Conjugaison' by Le Robert & Nathan....which we picked up at the grocery store yesterday evening for Oldest Garcon and then I thought, "I could work on my verbs a bit too!".... but even after guzzling trois tasses de java my eyes are burning and my head is groggy and I cannot imagine how one little verb like 'avoir' (to have) could possibly require 21 forms of conjugation! 

Speaking of words, Petite Fille is working on both her English and French like a good bi-lingual baby should at 7 months, non?  Her English word is 'Mama' and it holds power way beyond her imagination....the word Mama unlocks not only the key to my heart, but also the key to my jewelry box, and my Mini Cooper....ah, yes...and the key to my closet of shoes--all of them.  Which someday I think she will be thrilled to be strutting around in my vintage Kate Spade strappy sandals.....

The second word, which we are assuming is French--is the word 'boof'.... Sometimes pronounced 'buff' and sometimes pronounced 'boeuf'..... and I can only think that due to her expansive vegetarian diet (les haricots verts, le brocoli, les carrottes, les pois, le patate douce.....) she is trying to tell us she craves BEEF.  What else could it be?  The other suggestion was that it was her adaptation of the expression 'poooeuuuffff' which is loosely defined as 'I-have-no-words-for-how-I-feel-so-I-will-make-a-sound-with-my-mouth-to-show-my-indifference.'  Often French women end their sentence with a shrug of the shoulders and the sound 'poeuff!'..... Try it, roll your eyes or look upward for added affect.

For three days now, she has been perfecting it.  From the minute she opens her eyes in the morning, it's 'boof......boof......boof.....boof.........'  She has everyone in the house saying it too.  'Boof!'she says......'Boof?' we answer.  'Boof!'.....'Oh! Yes! Boof!'.........It goes on like that for hours. Seriously.  Apparently we adults are easy to entertain.

And on four hours asleep, it's about all of the language I can handle right now.

j' ai 'boof'
tu as 'boof'
il, elle a 'boof'
nous avons 'boof'
vous avez 'boof
ils, elles ont 'boof'.........

See what I mean? 20 more forms?  Really needed?  I think not!---'Boof!'

.....or 'Poeuff!'

I can already tell it will be one of those days--the kind of day where you are going in circles, feeling incredibly behind and overwhelmed, doing things like crazy--and at the end of the day it will still feel like nothing got done.  I have had hits of super-human domestic-goddess powers lately--but only 'hits' not full blown lengthy days or even hours of it.  In fact, I was going to post a quick recipe 'how-to' for an easy summer dinner but it doesn't seem to go with my next topic in this post. (Trust me...You'll see...).

Right now it's just past 12:30 and I am still working on cuppa-java number two, which has been re-heated four times.  Now I am just drinking it cold because if I have to stand in front of the microwave again watching it circle around and get scalding hot only to set it down minutes later to get burnt milk slimy and cold again--which it will because that is how my morning has gone.....well, you get the picture.  I give up--yum! Cold coffee! J'adore!

But you see I really need the caffeine this morning, or afternoon as it is....because I am about negative 12 in the sleep bank after staying up with poor little pathetic and very ill Petite Fille all of last night. (Pause---gulp cold coffee--yum!) We have no idea what hit the poor little Monkey, but she woke up at about 11PM in a puddle of baby-puke all over her bed and continued to spew baby vomit for the next 4 hours... We figured out quite quickly that she needed to remain vertical, lying flat was a bad option, so French Guy took her wrapped in a blanket (we had changed he PJ's about 3 times by now) and sat up with her watching TV for the next few hours.  I couldn't sleep--I Googled '6 month infant--puking' to see if there was anything we should be worried about...she had no fever, in fact an oddly low body temp--her little body was cold and clammy....and of course there was no way I could sleep, it's a bit scary when your little babe gets so ill out of the blue....I read for a while and then we all tried to get some sleep around 2, I remember still looking at the clock at 4:30 AM and finally was officially 'awake' at 5:30 AM.....so much for the night.

I am a pretty calm mommy I think....my two garcons have put me through the boot-camp of child raising and baby care, but that doesn't mean I don't worry or feel a little helpless when one of them is ill.

So back to the cold-coffee. I should just eat a hand full of coffee beans....Oh, I should tell you that Petite Fille is back to normal or close to and is contently sleeping.  I am a bit spooked and skipped her 'solid food' lunch.  I am doing about ten loads of laundry most of which resulted from last night's adventure.  I am so zonked but I am propelled by the notion that once the beds are remade and the house is back in order that I will again get that zap of creative energy (or any kind of energy--I'm not picky) but in the meantime, just happy that the Monkey is better and I am certain that the entire sleep-thing is just so over-rated anyway.....right up there with warm coffee....

Happy August!  Bonne semaine mes amis!