Music, Bono, and My Favourite Sound

Ever since I was a little girl, my favourite sound was Bono singing. There was just something about his voice that made me feel like I was soaring, gave me chills, and made me feel warm and fuzzy inside, especially when he held those long notes. It felt so good to be alive when his music was playing. The song With or Without You came out, and I thought I had died and gone to heaven (I was only 7 at the time!) My room was plastered with Bono posters. My music library consisted of Bono, U2 and some more Bono. When I was 17, I got to go to a U2 concert for the first time. It was a huge moment in my life. I had daydreams of Bono picking me to go onstage, that we would dance together and then get married. My dream job was to become his personal secretary. Every Christmas and birthday, I was sure to receive U2 paraphernalia from amused family and friends. I read biographies, autobiographies, and became one of the world’s most well versed people in U2 trivia. I warned Julien when we got married that my heart would always be shared with another. I would save my pennies to make sure to have enough to go to each concert, and then sleep in front of ticket master to be sure to get tickets. Even when I was on bed rest with my pregnancy I was online clicking like a madwoman to get my tickets for the show in Paris. I arranged for a babysitter 4 months in advance to be sure I could go, and would put U2 music to my pregnant belly to ensure that Charlotte would love the best band in the world.
But then something happened. One day, Bono and his music just didn’t seem all that interesting anymore. At first, I thought that maybe I was just tired, that maybe it was because I didn’t really connect with the latest album. I thought that for sure things would get better, that I would get the warm and fuzzies once the day of the concert came. The big day arrived, and somehow, I didn’t care. I didn’t even feel the desire to go. You see, another musician has stolen my heart. She makes the best music in the world. Her posters are all over my walls. I could listen to her all day, and never get tired of it. Her music gives me the warm and fuzzies. It makes me feel like life is good. And, for once, Julien and I share the same taste in music. Her name is Charlotte, our little daughter. I’ve fallen in love, and I know that it will be for the rest of my life.

The weekend

I had the funnest weekend. We left Charlotte with Julien’s sister and went shopping for the first time alone (First of all, there is a LOT of the swine flu going around here. Second of all, I am doing this again, because I didn’t have to worry about a crying baby or pushing a buggy and shopping cart!)
Saturday all day Julien and I got the house and meal ready for visitors while the baby napped (if you knew how much Charlotte actually sleeps you would know what a huge challenge it was) and then spent an awesome evening with Julien’s aunt, uncle, sister, brother-in-law and father. On the menu: the wonderful French raclette! While this is usually a dish for
Sunday was just as fun. We went to Julien’s colleague’s house for the day. There were kids everywhere (I’m including all of the daddies in this description, especially as they were climbing trees and sliding down ravines on their backsides to impress the kiddies) and it was 27° out; perfect weather for a walk along the river Oise.
Today is the return to normal. Housework, dinner, diapers, and a little scrapbooking are on the menu, Charlotte permitting of course.

The Princess and the Straight Jacket

Once upon a time in a land far away there lived a baby princess named Charlotte. Now Princess Charlotte was the most beautiful in all the land, and everyone around her thought that she was the most perfect of babies. While during the day this was mostly true, every night, while the land was peaceful and all the villagers were sleeping, the princess turned into a wiggle worm.
It was so bad that her mother put Princess Charlotte in a straight jacket to keep her from thrashing around in her crib and to keep her little arms away from her face. This worked for a good month and a half, but then the baby learned to roll over on her own and also learned to semi crawl while on her tummy. This led to the little princess becoming constantly stuck between the crib bars, starting at one end of her bed and ending up at the other, and turning herself so that her feet were where her head had been.
The princess’ mother became desperate, and put out a request on all the land for advice to keep the princess in one spot while she slept.

Do you know how this story ends? Please give me your advice in the comments, and I will let you know the ending as soon as it happens! Thanks

Back to the rat race

I am a lazy blogger. This is a really sad fact, considering that I started only a month ago!
Here is a little catch up of the last 3 weeks.

After my brother’s lovely wedding, we rested up for a few days and then headed up to Greenwood, home of our long-time friends the Fiebers. Then we came home, played some tennis with some friends (wow, running is not a good thing after having a baby. I didn’t know you could leak so much, for those who know what I’m talking about!), and started the awful job of packing. We spent the last couple of days with family, which was really awesome. Eating sushi was Julien’s one request, so we did that on our last night. Then we left at 5 am to catch our plane home. Julien and I both caught colds (oh joy) and I’m still pretty stuffed up. Thankfully Charlotte is seemingly resisting the bug…Our month in the Fraser Valley went by much too fast, but the good news is that hopefully the next time we come back it will be for good! We are trying to get Julien a residence visa via family sponsorship so we can move back and be with my family for a few years. Please pray for us as this is a really big decision and move!

Charlotte had her vaccinations today (eww) and has been really fussy ever since. The paediatrician is really good though, and actually distracted her (and us!!) by letting us pick a new toy for teething. This avoided tears for both parties (I cried for her last one because she cried so hard! I even broke out in hives after from the stress of it all!) so both Mummy and baby were fine after. At 3 months old she measures 65cm and is 6.4 kilos, and is the picture of health. Milk does a baby good!

That’s all for now. I’m completely uninspired at the moment, and poop stories can only be told so many times (did I tell you the one where I was taking baby’s temperature and it caused a volcano and a bit of vomit on the part of the daddy?)

I’ve posted a couple of pictures that a friend of ours took during our trip. If anyone is interested let me know and I’ll forward you her email (please give me your email) address because she is looking to become a photographer.

See you soon,

Love Becky