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For the last few days of Ryan’s parents’ visit, we took a short trip to Paris.  We went by train (as usual) and rented an Airbnb apartment near the Eiffel Tower.  It was in a beautiful neighborhood and was decorated in the typical Paris style that you would expect.

We had to head straight to the Eiffel Tower to get some family pictures.  Ryan forgot his selfie stick (which is key in these situations) so I pressured him into buying one from one of the shady guys selling things on the street.  Well, that was 3 euros wasted because it didn’t work!  We got our pictures and then it was time for happy hour.  On the way to a café we were looking for, we passed a patisserie and we had to get some desserts to have with our afternoon drinks.  We decided on eclairs and I chose a pistachio one since I usually get chocolate.  OMG this was the best dessert I’ve ever had in France.  It was so so good, I’m already dreaming about when we can go back and get another!  After walking around a little bit more, and searching for a new lovey because we forgot to bring Makenna’s lovey, we headed back to our apartment.  Paris has Uber Eats which is the best when traveling with young kids, so we ordered dinner and ate in our apartment.

Like every other time we’ve gone to Paris, it was chilly and raining.  We made the best of it, and tried to spend our only full day doing as much as we could before it started pouring in the afternoon.

We started by walking to the Arc de Triomphe so Nana and Dzia Dzia could see it, then we went to the famous English bookstore Shakespeare and Company.  This bookstore has been featured in several movies, and while it’s not the original (the original closed when the Nazis invaded Paris and never reopened), it has a lot of history.  The original store was frequented by famous writers such as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and served as a place for them to socialize, write and even use as their postal address.  The store is mentioned in Hemingway’s book “A Moveable Feast”, so I purchased this book there and had them stamp it with the store’s logo.  Both the old store and new have been a haven for expat writers, and the current store has been a place for writers to sleep if they need a place to stay.  All is asked is that they work a few hours in the store and read a book a day.  I took some photos and browsed the shop which was really interesting with lots of little rooms on 2 levels.  We bought Makenna a few special books and I bought a couple books about life in Paris.

After the bookstore we had hoped to take a boat ride down the Seine, but the weather was not cooperating.  As it began to drizzle we decided to find a restaurant for lunch.  We chose a restaurant nearby in the Latin quarter that featured the traditional dish of raclette.  This was the first time I had raclette in a restaurant; the only other time I had it was at Ryan’s coworkers home and he had a very large raclette heater.  I was given a plate of charcuterie and cornichons, and then a small raclette maker with potatoes on top of a heater to keep warm.  There were several little trays to put cheese on and slide under the heater.  It was delicious!

By the time we finished lunch, the rain had picked up and after walking around for a little while we decided it was raining too hard to keep the kids out so we went back to the apartment.

Our short time in Paris included several drives and walks through the city, which were truly my favorite part of the trip.  Just looking at the beautiful old architecture that is everywhere you look, whether it be a monument, fountain, apartment building, store, restaurant etc really is so special.  Taking in the city life, which is so different than our small city life in Clermont, is fascinating and exciting.  Each time we visit Paris I fall in love with it a little more.

The next morning Ryan’s parents left for the airport to head back to New Jersey.  We had some time to spare before we had to get the train back to Clermont, so we spent it doing – a lot – of walking.  We walked from our apartment to Champs-Elysées, all the way to Jardin des Tuileries and by then I had to go to the bathroom.  There was a public bathroom there, but of course it didn’t open till 11am!  So we walked to a nearby café and had coffee before heading back down Champs-Elysées and back to our apartment.  And just like that it was time to head back “home”.  When we told Makenna we were on our way to the train station she said “but I want to stay in Paris all the time!”  Me too sweet girl, you are wise beyond your years….

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Am I really writing this post? Is my first baby really old enough to go to school?!  Well, in France most kids start school at the age of 3.  It’s not obligatory, but it is free and it is when formal schooling starts, so why not?

When we moved here, we thought we would be here exactly 3 years which would put us at moving home in December of this year so we figured we just wouldn’t be sending Makenna to school since she would only be in school for a few months before we would be leaving.  So, we didn’t look for an apartment near the international school (Massillon) where most of the expats go.  Once we found out we’d be staying here longer than we thought, I quickly signed Makenna up to start Petite Section at the international school.  After several months I had an epiphany and thought “why am I sending her there??”  There is a French public school about a 10 minute walk from our apartment, whereas Massillon is far enough where I would need to drive and there is no parking lot so I would have to fight for street parking and then take Reese in and out of the car and then do this 2-3 times a day depending on if she came home for lunch (which many children do).  In Petite Section, there is no English class so Makenna wouldn’t be benefitting from learning any English at the international school anyway.  So I quickly made an appointment at the nearby public school and decided to make my life easier and give Makenna the experience of going to a true French school.

In June, there was a meeting for new parents that went over all the basics.  Ryan was out of town and our sweet nanny was so kind to offer to come with me to try and explain everything.  After sitting through an hour and a half of nothing but French, my head hurt and I probably understood 75% of it.  The nanny doesn’t speak English so she tried to explain things to me slowly or in other words that I would understand.  All in all it worked out.  Then I had to wait until September 1st to go to the school and look at a list taped to the window that would say which teacher Makenna would have.

The first week of school was gradual.  On Monday we took Makenna to school for only 30 minutes to meet her teacher and see her classroom.  Ryan’s parents were here so they were able to come and experience it with us.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, the kids were split into 2 groups and one group went to school on Tuesday and the other group went on Wednesday.  Thursday began the normal schedule where all kids went, and there are 28 of them in her class!  Makenna’s teacher has a teacher’s aide, but it is still a large class of 3-4 year olds.

Parents have the option of sending their child for just the morning 8:35-11:45, or the full day until 4pm.  We decided to start with just the morning and see how things went.  After just a few days, Makenna said she wanted to stay at school for lunch and wanted to stay the full day so she is now going to school all day and eating lunch at “la cantine”.

Makenna is loving school.  She has already done some art projects and we have been told she is working on a project where she will have to come home and tell us a story by memory.  There is also a class mascot “Lulu”, a stuffed bunny, that each child will be able to take home for the weekend.  The class has several projects throughout the year, one of them being a liaison between their city school and a school in the suburbs where they will communicate, share projects and meet with them once or twice throughout the year.  The kids go outside for playtime every morning and the courtyard is attached to the courtyard of the elementary school so Makenna gets to see her friend Elis (our Brazilian neighbor who is like her big sister) every day.  Sometimes we walk to school with Elis and the girls hold hands and give each other bisous (kisses) when they say goodbye, it’s so cute!

When Makenna first started, her teacher was worried she might have to try translating some things if Makenna didn’t understand everything, but she said there have been no problems and that Makenna not only understands everything but speaks well and without an accent!  (thanks to our nanny and Ryan!)

As for school lunch, I will be writing a separate post on that one.  You’d be shocked at the menu and the length of time they have etc.  I am so happy Makenna gets to experience this aspect of school while we’re here.

Another interesting fact about school here is that the children go to school for 6 weeks and then have a 2 week break.  This might be a little difficult for parents who work, but most parents either have a grandparent/nanny/daycare that they can use for these times or there are camp-like activities for kids during the breaks.  A lot of families take vacations at these times, since the French have 5 weeks of vacation and sometimes these breaks fall during a holiday.  On Wednesdays, some classes don’t have school.  Apparently this has changed several times through different presidencies, but as of now some schools can choose whether or not kids below 2nd grade have school on Wednesday.  Others have school but only in the morning.  Wednesday is usually a day for extracurricular activities.  I have chosen not to send Makenna to school on Wednesday, even though her school does have class in the morning, because she is continuing to go to the dance school that she went to last year and the class is Wednesday mornings.

When Makenna started school, Reese started going to the nanny that she went to.  He goes from 9-12, 3 days a week, which gives me some time to go to the gym or whatever I want to do without kids.  It really winds up being closer to 2 hours of free time after I factor in the time of walking to and from the nanny, walking to the gym or wherever I’m going, etc.  It’s nice to have some kid-free time and it’s also great for Reese to be with other kids, another caretaker and also to start learning French.

I’m excited to see what this school year brings.  I can’t wait to see the progress Makenna makes in speaking French.  I look forward to hopefully volunteering for school field trips and other activities where I can also practice my French and maybe make some French friends.  I may be missing out on socializing with the other American moms at Massillon, but this will be an experience to treasure!

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I am really getting bad at keeping up with our blog!  Here I am a month later writing about Reese’s birthday.  Honestly the most daunting part of sitting down to write a post is uploading photos!  Well, enough procrastinating….

While August is usually a time of 3 weeks vacation for Ryan, this year he had to travel a couple times during the month and he was in Canada for the last few days of the month.  On the day he flew back his parents flew over from NJ, just in time for Reese’s first birthday.

Ryan wanted to have a pirate-themed party for Reese, so I did what I do best and got on Pinterest to start planning the decor and food.  Like every other time I’ve gotten ideas from Pinterest, things took more work and time to put together than I thought, and we were working until the last minute to get everything done!  But the party was a success… and we had a huge sigh of relief when it was over!

We invited some friends and we were happy to have Ryan’s parents here too since we didn’t have any family here for Makenna’s first birthday (well, any of her birthdays).  Against my better judgement, I followed a Pinterest idea and provided the kids with inflatable pirate swords.  This led to some loud and “energetic” sword fighting for awhile, but it thankfully didn’t get out of hand.  Then we set up a “Captain Hook’s ring toss” and that kept the kids happy for awhile.  Ryan did an awesome job making a pirate ship out of a watermelon and filled it will fruit.  We also had “fish and chips” (chips and Goldfish crackers) and homemade pizza.  Ryan’s mom helped me make cupcakes for the guests and a small vanilla cake for Reese.  This time I decided to keep it pretty simple for the cake since Makenna’s first birthday cake looked like brains (instead of the beautifully piped rosettes I wanted to make from a Pinterest photo), so I decorated Reese’s cake with a little pirate garland I found on Amazon and used an icing pen to draw a simple treasure map.  MUCH better.

Now the most memorable part of a first birthday is always when that sweet little baby eats cake for the first time.  Well, I’m not sure if it was because Reese was teething, or didn’t take a nap, or was just not feeling our singing but he cried when we sang Happy Birthday to him and he wasn’t interested in the cake!  We tried singing to him again on his actual birthday and he did the same thing!  We have videos to look back and laugh at, but hopefully next year he enjoys it more.

It was bittersweet celebrating my baby boy’s first birthday.  He is no longer my little baby, but HOORAY we made it through the first year!  We had a rough beginning adjusting to having 2 kids, failing at breastfeeding, dealing with a baby who cried 24/7 until we found out he had a milk protein allergy and acid reflux, and having him teething almost constantly since he was 4 months old (he has 9 teeth and has 3 more working their way through!!).  I have been so blessed to be able to stay home with him and witness all of his firsts and see Makenna interact with her baby brother.  It has been an amazing year watching him grow, watching the love between our 2 kids, and seeing how much joy he has brought to us all.  And yes it’s true….little boys are mommy’s boys!! 🙂

Happy 1st birthday Reese Joseph!