I am working on a longer post for publication this weekend about our adventures on the island of Epi during the long Easter weekend. Suffice it to say that it was lovely though wet, sticky and we got stranded for an extra day and finally had to call (and pay!) for an airtaxi to pick us up. Simon lived out his fantasies of flying in planes, taking boat trips and riding in large trucks almost everyday!
Boat Boy
The Eye of the Fisherman
After an uneventful drive down from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Chicago and a cramped but mercifully short flight from Chicago to Boston, Fred, Simon and I all boarded the flight to Paris. We were, once again, lucky to get an extra seat to ourselves despite the small plane and all slept relatively well during the short hop across the Atlantic. Simon had a bit of subsequent jet-lag due to the short night, but we all recovered well and were on our feet in no time.
We were pleasantly surprised to learn that despite the calendar saying that it was early October, the weather still thought it was June. Simon thoroughly enjoyed playing ball and eating outside in his Mamy and Pepe's beautiful garden. As it cooled down in the days to follow, he also enjoyed raking leaves with his father (something we don't get to do very often!!!).
Simon's Mamy prepared daily feasts for us and we spent a lot of time eating delicious food (and we'll now spend even more time trying to lose the weight we put on!!!). I think we shocked her a bit by letting Simon eat with his hands instead of feeding him directly - but he won't eat very much unless he can do it himself! Until he can use a spoon correctly, it's a bit of a messy endeavor.
Genevieve and Francois, Simon's grandparents, have a very child-friendly home. They put up security gates to keep Simon from cascading down their steps and brought out enormous Tupperware bins of toys. Simon was particularly enamoured by his Pepe's collection of trucks and spend many hours taking them out of their display case and giving them to anyone around. He and his Pepe definitely bonded.
In between making us scrumption meals and doing all of our laundry all of the time (merci, Genevieve!!!!), Simon's Mamy took us out for several walks to enjoy the beautiful Indian summer. Fred's parents live about a 45 minute drive outside of Paris and about a 5 minute drive from Versailles. While we did find time to walk in the Versailles gardens and around town, we only went into Paris once!!!! The photos from that day are lovely, but Simon was atrocious. In fact, Fred and I rate that day as the worst he has ever had. It turned out that he was cutting 2 molars and a bottom canine... but it still sucked.
Just a little aside that goes with this photo - Fred received the papers from the LA French Embassy on our return to Vanuatu which means that Simon is officially French now! He took Simon down to the Consulate this afternoon in order to get him a passport. Both the US and France accept dual citizenship, so he will never have to make a final choice regarding his nationality. Go dual nationality!
This is a cute photo from that ill-fated day with Mr. Mouthy. We did have a brief moment of respite from Simon's temper when we ran across some very talented breakdancers which we all had a great time watching. I constantly forget just how wonderful Paris can be when the sun is shining... which, unfortunately, is only for about three weeks out of the year.
As our visit waned, the weather got colder and the sky greyer. We were actually pleased about this as we wanted to put on our warm (but not too warm!) clothes and go for autumn walks. Simon spent the last week wearing his flying fox jacket that my mother made for him, garnering many smiles and comments. I loved wearing my knee-high leather boots and Fred his San Diego Padre's hoody.
Since our return, a few people have asked me to give the highlights of our long trip. It's been hard for me to respond to that question because, while we did a whole lot of travelling, we did a whole lot of wonderful nothing once we got to our destination. This trip was about introducing Simon to and catching up with family, sitting around and talking over a good meal, getting to know our nieces and nephews a little bit better, catching up with good friends and spending some much needed time with our distant loved-ones. Simon, while an excellent little traveller, didn't want to let us out of his sight for very long and we were happy to humour him. This meant that Fred and I didn't get much down time together (except for one lovely night when we went out to eat in the restaurant where we had our wedding dinner) but we did get the time that we wanted and needed with friends and family. We definitely came back rested, happy and feeling in the loop a bit.
Unfortunately, our camera broke half-way through our trip to France and so I did not get to take photos from our visits with good friends. We were grateful to spend a boisterous, joyous weekend outside of Lyon with the Marze family. We were so pleased to meet Ines and Naelle, the lovely little twins that Fred's friend, Stephan, and his lovely wife, Loubna, had about three months ago. I loved having lunch with my friends Catherine and Tara, catching up with them and getting all the goss.
One of the very most wonderful parts of our trip was seeing Simon warm slowly but surely up to his distant family. It's a big ask from a one-year old to meet lots of new people into whose arms he's supposed to jump immediately because he's family. It took him a while to warm up, but after much patient trying from my family and Fred's, he's gotten to know everyone a bit better. We're going to ensure that those connections aren't lost by printing, framing and hanging some of the better photos from this trip on our "family photo wall" and having Simon wish everyone a goodnight by name every night.
Some of my faves from the trip:
Simon enjoying a sunny day and a good play with his Aunt Charlotte.
Simon and Pepe sharing a joke.
After a not-so-bad but oh-so-long flight from London to LA, we stopped at my brother's home for three days to catch our breath and get back into a proper sleeping pattern. Simon had some wicked jet-lag for the first two days which meant that Fred and I were also exhausted. Despite the fatigue, though, we really enjoyed spending some quality time with Will, Carol, Gretty, Adam and Luke. Will took some time off work and so we were able to go for walks and lunches as a family.
On the very last leg of our journey, we took a night flight from LA to Nadi. We had a blessed extra seat and Simon fit into the bassinet provided for sleeping. This absolutely darling photo was taken after Simon woke from sleeping SEVEN hours of a ten hour flight. Little angel.
This is a photo of me smiling a huge smile of delight when I realised that I had just slept for six consecutive hours and there were only three hours left in the flight. Little did I realise that our stay in Nadi airport was going to be extended from the five hour layover that we had planned into a ten hour unplanned layover. So frustrating when you're only a couple hours away from home!!!! But frankly, as this was the worst thing that happened when taking 11 different flights for a total flying time of 53hours with a 1 year old... it really wasn't that bad at all.
And now back to our regular programming.
Early this week, Fred, Simon, Fred's mother Geneviève and I all went to a local farm to visit the animals, ride tractors and buy some local produce. It was a beautiful, brisk week day and so we were practically the only ones there visiting the little children's petting farm.
The photos above were the last ones taken with our little Nikon Coolpix, purchased about 6 months ago when our Sony finally gave up the ghost after 5 years of solid service in harsh Vanuatu conditions. While at the farm, the Nikon all of a sudden went blurry and then shut down completely, flashing the dreaded words "lens error" on the screen. After taking the battery out and the putting it back in again, recharging it to full power and doing the same, trying to see if any debris was stuck in the retracting mechanism and surfing the net for possible solutions, I have come to the realisation that we need a new little point and shoot.
Anyone have good recommendations for a waterproof, shockproof camera with internal zoom (ie no retractable lense)?
The Gates Derousseau family once again took to the skies with Southwest airlines in order to reach our next destination - St. Louis, Illinois. This was a 3 1/2 hour flight in the middle of the day and we were afraid that Simon would be atrocious. This is the only flight for which we bought Simon an individual seat. Frankly, as I sit down to write this post about two weeks after we made this flight, I don't have any clear memories of it... which means it couldn't have been that bad. I do remember that Fred had to walk Simon around a bit at the beginning but that eventually he fell asleep and only woke on landing where we subsequently rented a car, drove across the Mississippi river, through Alton, Illinois and up to Godfrey where we stayed for three days at my grandmother's house.
Anytime I visit my grandmother, I request a trip down the river road and up to Principia College where my mother went to university. It is a beautiful campus that overlooks the Mississippi where my grandfather worked and my uncle currently works. My long,long time friend, Jamie, is currently living in Saint Louis and she and her daughter, Eleanor, met us for this outing.
My grandmother spent our three day visit fattening us up with delicious peach pie and cookies. It was wonderful to be able to spend some time with her after not having seen her for 5 years! Simon loved playing in her beautiful, spacious garden and even got to see deer several times. We enjoyed spending time with my Uncle Peter as well as meeting his lovely wife, Linda. It was great to catch up with them and see just how wonderfully they are doing.
The only down-side of the trip was the face-plant that Simon took off of my grandmother's porch the very first evening were we there... but you can see from the picture taken below that he soon got over it!
The theme of this whole trip for Simon has been animals and the sounds they make. Fred and I spent a wonderful day taking him to the St Louis zoo (free entrance!!!) with Jamie and Eleanor. Despite a rainy day, Simon loved it. He road his first train, his first carousel and saw his first monkey. What more could a small boy ask for?!
After 3 nights with my grandma, we bade her and my uncle a fond farewell and took a short plane ride to Chicago where we rented another car and made the drive up to Kalamazoo, Michigan, my old university stomping grounds and home to my college roommate, Bec. I must interject here to say that the ride up to Michigan was a lovely time for me. Fred and Simon both napped most of the way there while I listened to NPR (oh, NPR. How I miss thee in real time) and reflected on times past. The only major regret I have in life was to rush through my university years rather than taking an extra year just to savor them. They really are wonderful times.
We made good time to K'zoo in our little Ford Escort and were met by Bec, Brian, Adain and Eliot for dinner. The next day, Bec prepared a big bruch (accompanied by an orgy of Sweetwater's donuts... OMG are they good) and Chad, another good friend from university, his wife Lindsay and their daughter Meredith joined us for the day. After gorging ourselves, we took the kids to an enourmous bouncy house where I suspect Fred and Brian had as much fun as the kids sliding and jumping. Bec and I had an excellent late night catch-up session during our second and last night there before we headed about 1 hours north to Grand Rapids.
In Grand Rapids, we got to spend time with my Auntie Beth, my gandmother's sister, her three daughters and their families. During my years in college, I spent many a night at my Aunt Georgie's house debating politics with my Uncle Ken, talking about clothes with my cousin Emily, eating meat from my cousin David's hunting trips and gossiping fashion and boys with Georgie. Autie Beth has also been a sweet and solid influence in my life and breakfasts at her house keep grounded and peaceful for months afterwards.
Fred, Simon and I took walks out into the farm and enjoyed the fall leaves and unharvested corn. Uncle Ken let Simon climb into his combine while Georgie took photos. Those photos will be the subject of a separate post! In between visits with the family, Fred, Simon and I took a drive out to Grand Haven to visit Lake Michigan. I will be the first to admit that the beautiful, seasonally warm fall weather make both Fred and I think hard about moving to Michigan (IF we could find jobs). It would be lovely to have a ready-made family and friend network, a large home with a big garden and the lake nearby. But WINTER... oh winter...
After three nights in Grand Rapids, we drove down to Chicago and took a plane to Boston where we caught our connexion to Paris...
The US portion of the trip was better that I could have imagined. Everything went seemlessly and Simon was a wonderful traveler and sleeper. We had an amazing time visiting with family, friends and gaining weight American-style. We've left with excellent memories stored up until the next time.
Fred, Simon and I are now in France after finishing the American portion of our holiday. It was such a pleasure to see everyone, particularly because we were pleased to find that Simon is an excellent traveller and has slept well from beginning to end (he's had a couple of bad nights since we've gotten to France but nothing too horrible...).
Before I get into the details of the trip, I thought I'd give a brief update on Fred's health. After an MRI and a consultation with an ENT specialist, it would seem that Fred has Meniere's Disease which is a frustrating diagonosis as he realises that he will have to learn to manage it for the rest of his life, but much better news than a tumor of any kind. He's had a significant amount of ringing and pressure in his ear during this trip, but luckily not too much dizziness. My father actually has the same problem and was instrumental in giving Fred some coping techniques.
Our first stop in the US was Helendale, California where my older brother lives with his wife and three children (Eva, his eldest daughter, was unfortunately not able to join us for the visit as she was with her mother on the East coast). Fred posted a bit about this visit here - I was enjoying my time in the US too much to translate but he essentially talks about the fact that my brother lives smack in the middle of the Mohave desert which is populated with coyotes and Joshua trees.
My father, mother and younger brother joined Bill, Carol, Adam, Luke and Gretchen in their home for three days. Despite the mediocre picture, we had an excellent early Thanksgiving dinner to celebrate all being together. We were sad that Eva couldn't be there, but that smarty-pants was starting a new enrichment class in school and had to get back for the first day. Walks were taken, talks were had and most of all, we enjoyed playing with the kids.
After four days in Helendale, my mom ferried us down to San Diego where we stayed with her youngest sister and my hippest aunt, Jackie and her partner Mike (who, incidentally, is also pretty hip). For some reason, I don't seem to have any fabulous photos of them, but they showed us a fabulous time. Mike made us pulled pork and grilled steak while Jackie kept us plied with pies and gourmet salads. We toured Coranado Bay by ferry and visited Mike at the Marina where he works as a marine biologist.
While we were in San Diego, I was lucky enough to have a visit from Marissa. Despite the visit only being for about 36 hours, we caught up on lots of things... not the least being her pregnancy! We did a lot of baby shopping and even more baby talking - it was wonderful to be able to share in real time!
The whole time that we were in California, both my Mom and my brother Seth spent every day with us. I always consider it an honour when my family drops everything for us to visit when we come. Living in Vanuatu is wonderful, but it does make us miss our families terribly. Fred and I were eyeing real estate and schools the whole time we were in San Diego - while I don't think we're quite ready to move on yet, we were definitely more interested than the last time we were in the US. For consideration...
In the interest of breaking the US portion of our trip up a bit and as this concludes the California portion of our visit, I'll leave you with a few photos:
Simon at the San Diego Aquarium - USD14 per entry
Simon ejoying chasing pigeons in the park on Coronado Island much more than the aquarium - free
A lovely family shot in San Diego that was ruined by my attempt to hide my gut by untucking my shirt... only to accentuate it to the max. (Really... that is not all my gut... I swear).
Mardi 18h, aeroport de Vila, nous apprenons que le vol Vila Fidji ne peut (ou ne veut) pas aterrir, ce qui nous fait rater d office notre correspondance a Nadi. Nous sommes devie par Auckland le lendemain 7h pour prendre ensuite un vol pour Los Angeles. Nous echangeons nos 9h de vol entre Fidji et LA par 12h depuis Auckland avec 8h d attente a Auckland... Heureusement pour nous, Simon a ete super. A Auckland il a joue et courru ds tous les sens et ds l avion (qui volait de nuit) il a dormi 10h sur les 12. Bravo Sisi.
Attention je n ai pas dit que ca a ete un vol facile pour nous, mais ca n a pas ete aussi pire que ca aurait pu l etre. Avec Kendra on se le passait pour qu il dorme sur nous (le lit de l avion etait trop petit pour lui et ses pieds depasses) mais on a pu regarder un film en mangeant et avoir qq heures de someil chacun.
A LA, William nous attendait pour 2h de route jusque ds le desert de Mojave, a Helendal. Kendra mere et Greg etaient deja la et Seth nous a rejoint 24h plus tard. Simon a retrouve sa cousine Grachene avec qui il joue et ses oncles et tante.
on est parti faire une heure de marche dans le desert hier en fin de journee avecGreg et Sisi. On l a mis dans un sac a dos et nous sommes alle voir les Joshua Tree (comme l album de U2). Je n ai pas de photo mais je compte bien en faire a la prochaine balade.
Ce matin, j ai fait un tour en poussette avec sisi dans le qurtier. Helendale est en plein milieu du desert. La plus part de la communaute travaille a la base militaire du coin. La ville construite autour d un lac artificiel, est entouree de colines ou poussent qq rares buissons. Greg fait des ballades dans le desert et j irai a la prochaine pour vous ramener qq photos.
I am currently in Brisbane, Australia for the annual Malaria Reference Group conference. This is the first time I have left Simon for any length of time since he was born. I was a bit of a mess yesterday when I left him at the airport. Luckily, he was sleeping in his car seat and so couldn't look up at me with those big eyes. Fred was sweet and I am sure my time away will give them the time to bond even further. I like picturing them sitting at La Tentation restaurant eating eggs and toast together.
Saturday morning breakfast at La Tentation - a highlight of the week!
This past week was a big one for Simon. He took his first steps! He has been cruising for over two months now and has become quite stable on his feet. We were convinced that he was able to stand alone but he refuses to let go of our hands. He can now walk quite well only holding on to the end of one finger. This past Saturday was Ellie's, my friend Sara's daughter, 3rd birthday. Fred, Jojo and I all went out to a local beach for the (windy and cold!) birthday party. Simon was enthralled with the balloons festooned from the trees and so did not notice when Fred let go of his hand. He stayed standing for well over 20 seconds and then took two steps forward before realising that he wasn't holding on to anyone. It was particularly exciting as we were all there to witness it!!
The morning of the big day - first steps!
Simon is beginning to wake up to the world around him, expressing a clear preference for certain people and refusing to be held by others. He's still an incredibly friendly little guy and will generally give a smile away quite easily. He loves Josephine which is certainly bittersweet for Fred and I. He has begun crying if she leaves him, stopping soon after she's out of sight. I knew this day would come and it is reassuring to know that he loves his caretaker so much. It is sad for us, his parents, as we would like to be the biggest loves in his life. However, if we want to continue the same lifestyle (and good mental health) we need to work.
Josephine, and consequently Simon, has an excellent support system of other nannies in her life. There is a group of four nannies with their charges that get together a couple times a week to talk, play and share. It is really an excellent time for the nannies to share stories of how bizarre their employers are, plan parties for the kids and themselves and just to let the kids play in different environments. The playgroup is occasionally held at our house, but every Friday I drop Simon and Jojo at Sara's house for the afternoon. Last Friday, when I went to get Simon, the kids were all in the bath together having a great time.
Thick as Thieves!
Simon might be ready for his first haircut.
Practice walking with Papa
Steady on my feet - even standing on a chair
Fred, Simon and I have been in Fiji all this week. I was given the opportunity to come to Fiji for some Public Financial Management training relevant to my job. The thought of leaving Simon behind for a week broke my heart and Fred was long overdue for a holiday. Neither of us had left Vanuatu since we came home from the US after Simon's birth in August 2010. While Vanuatu is a lovely place to live, it is very small. It is best to leave for a week or two every six months just to maintain a semblance of mental stability.
The thought of travelling with Simon was daunting to both Fred and I. However, the thought of a holiday in Fiji with partial expenses paid was just too tempting. We also thought that, with the short flight time and nights in hotels, it would be a good test run for future travels.
I think the hardest part of travelling with Simon was the packing. When in France, the US or other similar developed countries, you can be sure that if you forgot some key item, a new one can be purchased quickly, cheaply and easily. This is not the case in developing countries, and so it is imperative that all essentials be packed. This meant careful planning, lists (yeah! I love lists.) and one full suitcase for our 8.5 month child.
Overall, Simon has been wonderful. He's only had one bad night out of 5 and I'm pretty sure this is due to teething as I can see a new bottom tooth poking out of his swollen gums. He spends his time smiling at all and sundry and practicing his new skill of waving. He's been a total trooper in restaurants. Indeed, the vast majority of our photos are of him in foreign high-chairs eating bits of food.
Simon is a Pacific Voyager.
I must admit that a holiday with a small child, while it certainly has its wonderful moments, is not particularly relaxing. I am not inclined to use the local babysitting services (I just don't feel comfortable leaving my child with someone I don't know, so shoot me.) and so Fred and I spend most of our time relaying each other so that we can have some individual downtime or fun.
Fred watched Simon all day for four days while I was in my training. I know he was nervous about this at first, but it went wonderfully. Fred is a great dad and I think he's learned that his son is a joy to be with from morning to night (excluding pre-nap and pre-bed time). The boys had a great time seeing different things around Nadi... well, at least Fred did. Simon slept most of the time.
It turns out that Fijians love babies just as much as ni-Vanuatu do. Simon was a hit wherever he went. Women and men flocked around him, requesting to walk him around or to hold him.
As with most holidays, there is photo after photo of us in restaurants. I don't know if this is because that's the only time we think to get the camera out... or because that's all we tend to do. At any rate, you'll see that Simon's learned to ham it up for the camera. I think we've created a monster!
After finishing my course (which was very good, by the way), we moved to Denarau Island. This is a man-made island near Nadi which has gated communities and major resorts. You literally cross a bridge into a different world where the Pacific seems so far away. But more on that for the next post...
Simon and I made it back to Vanuatu safe and sound. He was fabulous on the trip over. I was very nervous about travelling with 20lbs of carry-ons, a stroller, a car seat and a new baby. Once the trip was over, I realised that I was most nervous about how other people would react to my cumbersome baggage and baby. I was anxious about getting through security at LAX, the unfriendliest airport in the world, with people hurrying to flights all around me. I was anxious about spending 10 hours in Business Class surrounded by the accusatory stares of other passengers who had been expecting a quiet, baby-free flight. Well... mea culpa. I didn't give enough credit to my fellow human beings or consider the power that a cute (am I biased?!) newborn would have on the general populous. I received countless offers to hold my stuff while I got everything through security and again countless offers to hold Simon while I completed the myriad of small things to do on a flight (fill in paper work, eat, go to the toilet, etc.). On top of that, Simon slept pretty much the whole time. What a good boy and what a good experience!
Since being back in Vanuatu, Simon has been sleeping relatively well. He didn't go through the expected jet lag (and neither did I for that matter) and has been sleeping in four to five hour stretches at night. The only difficulty that we've been experiencing with him is his chronic constipation.
BREAK*** I am about to talk about my baby's poop. This is a constant theme in my life these days and if you're not particularly interested, please skip the next paragraph.***
Simon has terrible gas after almost every feeding because he can't seem to poop regularly. When he does go, his poop isn't hard and it's copious. But he just can't seem to get it out without me performing some kind of poop ceremony. I massage his stomach, I make him do "bicycle legs," I give his a warm bath, I take off his diaper, etc. And after all that, sometimes it still doesn't come. After 48 hours of this, both he and I are frantic for a good poop. Luckily, Carol, my fabulous sister-in-law and veteran mom, shared with me the birthday candle trick. Lube that little baby up, insert just a tiny bit and VOILA! Almost immediate relief. Poor Simon has had to be candled three times already. The funny thing? He seems to like it! The minute I get his legs into position and lube him up, he smiles. I'll leave it up to you, Dear Reader, to determine the meaning behind that.
Since being back, I've been trying to find some semblance of normalcy. It's very strange to have everything be the same but so different. I am so greatful for maternity leave and the time to get used to this new world. I have been working on organising the TONS of stuff we brought back for Simon and Fred and I will soon finish decorating his room. Photos to follow soon.
It's been a long time since I posted a shirtless photo of Fred! Welcome back, hairy torso! (It's a running joke with Fred that's he's always shirtless in photos on the blog because he's always shirtless at home.)
New morning routine...
Sleeping in his swing given by Auntie Sara.... thanks Auntie!
