December Daily - Day 7

Day 7 and I'm still doing this!!! It's been a week and it is surprisingly not as stressful or 'painful' as I thought it would be... The key is to do it really regularly (thank God for naps!). So proud of myself and of all the others still going strong ;)

Straight to the point today because Gaëtan didn't take a long nap and my mama duty called ;)
Yesterday's main page is on the snow we had: I thought it was pretty and fairly unusual... little did I know that it would be 10 times better (worth for some!) today.
So more snow pictures coming in on today's page!!

On the "artsy" side, I tried to put some glitter on page2 with a glue pen, but it was messy... Not sure I like the result but never mind!


page1:
page2: Supplies: Scenic Route stickers, Love Elsie sticker (small snowflakes), Scrapworks Xmas paper (2007), 3D foam tape (for the 3 small pics), Ali Edwards brush (Holiday Wordart vol2), Purple Onion stamps (little bracket + frame), Bazzill blue gray cardstock, Sakura Quickie glue pen, red glitter, Uniball Signo red metal pen.


December 7:
Gaëtan went to Grenadine this morning. It was cold and grey but ok. I spent the morning putting his toys away and tidying the place so that the cleaning lady could work efficiently! Jérôme is still sick and still at home. His temperature has come down though. It started snowing right around the time I was supposed to leave to get Gaëtan from daycare... so I took the car because I didn't want to get too wet, too cold and I especially didn't want to slip on the pavement. Apparently there's been a major crisis at Grenadine and several mums left the board. Sophie therefore asked for my help and I told her about my pregnancy: I can help now but won't be able to in a few months!! We'll see. Watching the snow fall was as usual really pretty, especially when you're safely in the car ;)
Gaëtan played a bit with Jérôme on the computer (Kneebouncers.com) while I finished doing some paperwork (paying some taxes for Beauberty). Gaëtan went to nap and we had lunch.
A pretty ordinary day (apart from J home sick) so far, so I'm still wondering what today's DD story will be.
I found a Holiday sticker activity book in my special Holiday items cupboard so I took it out and played a bit with Gaëtan. I did most of the 'work' but he seemed to enjoy it... then lost interest fairly quickly! So it was back to reading more books, then off to take a shower with Daddy, then dinner (he ate - hooray!). We spend the rest of the evening on the phone with various family members telling them the good news: my grandmother (who had to sit down when she heard it will be twins), Jérôme's parents (who were delighted!), Jérôme's cousin Nicolas (himself a twin, offering lots of advice), Jérôme's aunt and uncle (happy & having a laugh: now it's OUR turn!) and finally Jérôme's brother Laurent (very excited and a bit emotional). What an exciting evening!

December Daily - Day 6

I was planning on decorating the tree yesterday but my husband is home sick and wasn't able to get the tree up... so that will be a great story for another day ;)
The day was pretty gloomy up until we made some gingerbread people with my 2yo: highlight of the day + good story for my December Daily page!

page1:
Journaling: I fell in love with this Gingerbread people kit last Wednesday at WHSmith: on the one hand, I found the shape cutter really cute; on the other I was curious to see how they tasted. They are yummy, have a good texture, lack some sugar... and they're just so cute!

page2:
Supplies: Making Memories Xmas paper (2009), Uniball brown pen, Quickutz clear stamps, Purple Onion stamp (little swirl), Old paper distress ink.

December 6:
[I forgot to write down this daily diary yesterday and now I can't remember what we did! Sigh...]
Jérôme was sick (coughing + high temp) so stayed home and booked an appointment with the GP at 4pm. Gaëtan was home with me and we played and read some books in the morning. We then went to the postoffice to send THE letter (to Jérôme's parents, telling them about the twins) and a parcel (to Italy, containing our gift for Chloé's birth). A quick detour to Monoprix for some grocery shopping, then it was back home for lunch. Huge success at lunchtime: Gaëtan ate almost all his meal + yoghurt and had a piece of chocolate chip brioche. Nap for Gaëtan, craft/internet time for me and computer time for Jérôme.
I couldn't decorate the tree because it still wasn't up and installed in the living room (Jérôme wasn't feeling well enough to take care of that... and I can't blame him) so when Gaëtan woke up (it was a looooong nap), I decided to bake some cookies with him: I love baking and I love that I can do it with him! Added bonus: great opportunity to take some pics of the two of us baking, so that I could finally feature in my December daily ;)
In the evening, we chatted with my brother and sister-in-law on Skype, watched Vale nursing little Chloé and told them the good news! Can't wait to see them at Christmas!! And finally, I spent some time chatting online with Marie, which was fun.

December Daily - Day 5

The weather yesterday was dreadful (rainy and grey) so I didn't take many pictures and they were all horrible... Not a great start for my December Daily page!
So I kept things even more simpler than usual: a photo collage with a few words (things we bought/didn't buy/did at each store) + some memorabilia from both stores (bag + cloth tag).

page1:

page2:
Supplies: Love Elsie stickers (2007), Scenic Route stickers (2008), Ikea shopping bag, fleece tag.


December 5:
We had a good night sleep... bless the sweet child ;) It looks like my belly is getting bigger by the day... weirdest feeling... We had some home-baked (not home-made though!) croissants for breakfast, then drove to IKEA Thiais to get our tree and buy a small table + chair for Gaëtan's room. We managed not to buy TOO many things other than the couple of items on our list: quite a feast! We then ate lunch at IKEA: Gaëtan and I had Swedish meatballs (Jérôme took some smoked salmon + the chicken special) and he ate them all. He's a meat-lover this one! Jérôme is still coughing like an old man with pneumonia and isn't feeling great. I hope it gets better soon...
Gaëtan fell asleep in the car although it was still fairly early (hardly 1pm), woke up when we arrived home and couldn't get back to sleep in his bed. So we got him up around 3.30pm and went to Decathlon [sporting goods store] to find some winter gear for Gaëtan (we're spending Christmas in the mountains, then are going again in March). Before leaving we decided to have Gaëtan try the snowpants from last year to see if they still fitted (it will do for now but will be too small really soon) and he didn't want to take them off when we left! Once there we didn't find much, except a fleece for the boys and I felt exhausted when we got home. I had to lay down for a while and went to bed around 9.30pm which is VERY unsual for me!

December Daily - Day 4

Saturday was busy and I hardly got a chance to work on my page in the evening. Add an annoying computer that was refusing to download my Day3 pages + my Day4 pictures and I was getting really frustrated.
But I prevailed, the computer yielded and I managed to post my Day3 pages and start working on my Day4 pages. The good thing was that I knew which pictures I would use for the front and for the back page + which stories I would tell. The bad thing was that by 10pm I was feeling really tired (somebody said twins?) and it was hard to concentrate on my modest Photoshop skills!

Anyway, here is what I came up with (sorry about the quality of the pics but the light is just terrible with this grey light):

page1:Journaling: Some falling snow and a small fire in the fireplace... could there be a more perfect setting to tell my parents and sister that we're expecting babies in June? They were delighted and excited by the news, although my mother already suspected as much!

page2:
Journaling: I love watching snow fall: it isn't that common around Paris... I am therefore delighted by all the small snowfalls we've had since the end of November and I hope I'll be able to enjoy it with Gaëtan soon!

Supplies: Webster's Page Xmas paper (2009), Hero Arts alpha stamp, black Versafine ink, orange Kesi'art ink, black border sticker ? (2008), Ali Edwards Freebie Capture the moments brush, Ali Edwards Holiday WordArt Vol2, Scenic Route sticker (2008), Making Memories Mistletoe glitter paper (2009).


December 4:
It was a rough night. Gaëtan woke up several times between 1.30 and 3am and we couldn't understand what was wrong: was it a bad dream, was he too cold, was it his clogged nose preventing him from breathing easily, was it hunger (he didn't eat anything at diner)...?? We were feeling pretty exhausted this morning but I was wide awake by 7.30am (sweet insomnia). I got up and decided to work peacefully (ie without a 2yo trying to get on my lap) on my December Daily. It started snowing pretty heavily by the time we all had breakfast so we left fairly early to go to my parents for lunch. The urban and forest landscape on our way there were beautiful. Jérôme fell down on my parents' driveway but I didn't although I was carrying Gaëtan and wasn't feeling very safe. We told my parents and sister the good news and they were really happy and excited! We watched some of their Mexico vacations pictures, had lunch, chatted while Gaëtan was napping, then left after he had his afternoon snack. The snow had stopped falling but we were afraid the roads would become icy after dark. We luckily had a smooth drive home. Gaëtan took his shower, then ate all his Bledina soup with pasta: hooray, such a relief since he only ate 2 cherry tomatoes and a piece of cheese at lunch. It was homemade croque-monsieurs for the grown-ups!
Tomorrow we're planning to go to IKEA to get our tree + buy a small table and chair for Gaëtan's room.

December Daily - Day 3

Day 3 and I'm still doing this! So proud of myself and of all the others who are on board this great adventure ;)

page 1:
Journaling: writing down the birthdays, parties, holidays and future births; reflecting on a full year and imaging the next one full of surprises and possibilities for our family...

page 2:
Journaling: I'm so proud of you little boy! Standing on a chair you follow with great concentration what I'm doing and you want to help. You're getting better with pouring the sugar and you're doing less of a mess when stirring. On the other hand you're still asking regularly for little pieces of apple!

Supplies: JillyBeanSoup Xmas paper (2009), Pink Paislee Misletoe die cut (2009), Making Memories chipboard button (2009), AdornIt alpha rubons, Artemio stamp, Bazzill kraft cardstock.

December 3rd:
Jérôme woke me up at 9am: panic on board! Gaëtan was supposed to be at daycare and Jérôme at work but we didn't hear the alarm clock and Gaëtan was unusually still asleep. Well, at least we were rested ;)
Gaëtan spent the rest of the morning + lunch at daycare while I wrote my DD Day2 blog post. We stopped at Monoprix on the way back from Grenadine to buy a couple of items, incl. diapers (we are running seriously low). He took a fairly short nap (compared to yesterday) and woke up around 3pm. I managed to call the mason contractor (it turns out they sent the final quotation to the house in Auvergne!). After his afternoon snack, we baked an apple cake for tomorrow's lunch at my parents. He's getting quite good with the sugar, but is still a bit too enthusiastic when mixing!
Can't wait to tell my parents and sister the good news tomorrow... and see their surprise!! Hopefully only squeals of delight and no heart attack ;)

December Daily - Day 2

I worked on my second page for Day1 yesterday, then on Day2 and made 2 pages as well... I'm on a roll!

I've updated my previous post to include the second page for Day1 and here is Day2.

page1:

page2:Journaling: installing the nativity set; building the Advent village; finding a place for the NOEL decorated letters; putting up the big Xmas balls in Gaëtan's room; putting the little Xmas magnets on the fridge.

Supplies: Hero Arts alpha stamps, black Versafine ink, Peeled paint Distress Ink, Lipstick Red Colorbox ink, American Crafts foil chipboard, old Scrapworks patterned paper (2007), Purple Onion stamp, Making Memories button flower (2009).


Even though I am trying to focus on one story/one activity per day for my December Daily pages (as Ali suggests), I would like to include a brief summary of what we did that day... but I still haven't found how I'm going to do that. In the meantime, I'm going to include it here on the blog!


December 2
Today was fairly quiet. Gaëtan stayed at home with me and we took the Xmas ornaments, decorations and the nativity set out of the cupboard. He was VERY interested in the big IKEA balls that he kept naming "ballon" (ie soccer ball). It was really cute so I decided to hang them in his room. Then he played with the Advent village I bought years ago on sale in London (best bargain buy ever!).
He then took a really big nap after lunch (allowing me time to work on my DD pages + answer a few emails + call the mason contractor in Auvergne), so the rest of the afternoon was spent reading some books and listening to some Christmas music (I bought a Christmas songs for children CD - in English - yesterday).

December Daily - Day 1 (updated)

Keeping it very simple for the moment, although I have plans (but will I find the time?) to add more pictures + words on the other side of this page (done on Day2 and updated).

Update page2:Journaling: I was a bit disappointed with the Xmas street decorations (or lack of) around the WHSmith shop in Paris (Rivoli/Concorde/Vendôme), apart from the Guerlain shop which was absolutely breathtaking!

Supplies: Hero Arts alpha stamps, black Versafine ink, red Colorbox ink, Cherry Arte rubon number, Scenic Route sticker (2008 - red circle border + Wish), Ranger Diamond Stickles (on the 1), Love Elsie Noël sticker (2007).

Yesterday was a busy and emotional day (in a good way). I was very tired at the end of the day but started working on this page because I knew what I wanted to show and tell.

And I am now working on Day2 (with this morning pics) while the little one (soon to be the big one) is napping... I can do this!


PS: so yes, this means I'm pregnant and expecting twins (due in June, but they will probably arrive sooner). And yes, it means I've been feeling pretty exhausted the past few weeks/months ;) But we are really happy (and a bit scared!).