THE PARIS LETTER: Tuileries and Chocolate

Hello there and welcome to the BLOG version of The Paris Letter -

Today I'm 38 weeks pregnant, officially full term - and, coincidentally, the 7 billionth person on the planet will be born this week, somewhere in the world. I mentioned this to Matt - since I'm full term, seems like we've got a shot here. Matt's first response was " Does it come with a cash prize?" 

Here is my response: 

So, yes! For the next two weeks, as we await the appearance of our kid, I'm trying to do just what I WANT to do, with my limited energy - so today, the Tuileries Garden and Angelina hot chocolate, after the jump:

THE PARIS LETTER: Nesting...

37 Weeks preggo, with toys

Happy Fall Sunday everyone -

Paris has finally been visited by those sunny, crisp fall days that just make you want to walk by the Seine and stop in at a cafe to share a hot chocolate or a bottle of wine. It is just beautiful out, and today Matt and I are hopefully going on another date of sorts, if I can come up with some good ideas - I have two drawbacks currently: I can't walk much farther than 10 blocks at a stretch, and I don't have a coat that covers my bump - BUT hey, if I plan things right neither of these should really be a problem. I just have to build in plenty of places for us to stop ...

Right now, Matt is at an Irish pub watching the Rugby World Cup final - New Zealand and France battle it out!  Neither of us had ever watched rugby before, which is - apparently - a big sport in the rest of the world ;). New Zealand beat Australia last week; these are usually the two best teams, and nobody can understand how France made it into the final -not even the French!  Parisians are not really the most team-spirited in any case, but their response still seems to be "I don't know how Les Bleus are in the final, they are not a very good team" - and now they're playing the New Zealand All Blacks, the best team in the world.

THE PARIS LETTER: Dating My Husband

Hello there folks -

Montmartre - Follow him!

It's a rainy Sunday here in Paris, and the Claire Lundberg-Matt Valley household is being really lazy as a result. In fact, Matt is still sleeping over there in the bed -though it's almost 2PM ! In fairness, we did have a nocturnal visit from two friends who had a twelve hour layover here in Paris on their way back to New York from Russia. Armen and his brother Grisha showed up last night around 11:30, and we hung out drinking the Belgian beer Matt brought back from Bruges a couple of weeks ago, and then Matt and the guys left to find fun and excitement (or more beer and food) before they had to head back to the airport at around 5:30AM. Matt discovered a 24-hour Belgian beer bar right on Place de Clichy - about 7 blocks from us! Matt said they had a great beer selection but that it was also full of about 5 or 6 bachelor parties all eyeing each other seeing if they'd have to fight later. I should mention that this part of our neighborhood is pretty close to the Moulin Rouge and Pigalle districts, so these dudes were probably either coming from or going to that area. All in all, a good find but one that resulted in him getting back home around 5AM.

THE PARIS LETTER: Baby Supplies, False Labor, and a little 9/11 Reflection

Belleville

Hello everyone -
Well, I know you've heard me say it before, but I am really pregnant at this point - 31 weeks, and I just realized that bending over to tie my shoes is becoming increasingly difficult. Time to bust out the slip ons I guess. Sheesh.

I had some false labor this week - first time in this pregnancy I've ever had to call my midwife after-hours, so thank goodness for that I guess, but because everything with the baby has been so normal these actually-very-normal Braxton Hicks contractions freaked me out. I had also been having some pelvic pain (sorry to get graphic on you so early in this letter...) so I had this fear that I was dialating or the baby was descending early and they'd have to put me on bedrest for the next 6 to 8 weeks. That was really my fear, the bedrest. I already feel so much less mobile that I think I might go crazy if I had to stay in bed - But, I've known so many women that this has happened to that I have had it in the back of my mind since I hit the second trimester.

THE PARIS LETTER: The Princess Phase

Hello All:

Sacre Coeur

Hmmm, let's see - it's been a pretty slow week for me here, as I guess befits the end of summer. Matt's really the one who has lots to report - he's been in New York this week dealing with our apartment there, handling the move out of the old tenants and the move in of the new ones, and making sure some minor repairs get done - plus, of course, eating a lot of barbecue and drinking a lot of beer. He actually told me last night that he's done with beer and hamburgers for a little while - like me, he gorged himself on them while in the US and now needs a break. Well, at least from the hamburgers ;) I'm not convinced he'll need much of a break from the beer.

THE PARIS LETTER: Hurricanes, Mall Pools, and Cloth Diapers

Hello there from non-hurricane-threatened Paris -

Sheesh! What a weekend for my friends in New York and on the East Coast! Matt was supposed to fly to New York for a week yesterday, and just had to change his flight - clearly - in a way, it's nice to see New York taking all these precautions for once. And in another way, why does there always have to be a hurricane/blizzard/heat wave in New York that makes travel and life difficult? Its enough to make you wonder why 10 million people were foolish enough to call this place home. This year has really been a bad weather year for that city.

Sunset from our Paris apartment

But not for Paris! Matt and I were just talking at dinner about Europe's weather in general - it seems mysteriously free of the kinds of yearly insanity that strikes the US ; Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Floods, Tornadoes - Other than an occasional Italian earthquake, does Europe really have these kinds of natural disasters regularly? Given that last winter two inches of snow was cause for alarm here, I feel like maybe not. Someone, please tell me if I'm wrong - it seems somewhat unfair that all of Europe should be spared the kind of craziness all of the US seems to go through each year.

THE PARIS LETTER: It's A Girl

Hi Everyone -

Yes, the Paris Letter is back, apologies for the hiatus - I was traveling in the US for the last five weeks or so, and ended up being too busy to really get it together for this letter. But now that I'm back in very quiet, vacation-emptied-out Paris, I have lots to catch you up on.

One dramatic thing that happened during my time in the US is my belly really popped out and I began to look pregnant. This seemed to me like it happened in the course of a week - one week I was in London and having to tell people in meetings that I was pregnant, and the next week I was in LA and when I would explain that I was pregnant people would all look at me like "Yes, we KNOW". It may have been that I was more covered up in London because it was cooler, but it still felt like I went from "possibly pregnant or just chubby" to "definitively looks pregnant" in a very short time. It was definitely a shock for Matt, who said "wow, your belly is ENORMOUS" when I got back to France.

THE PARIS LETTER: The Big Announcement

Hello all -

Yes, just in time for Mother's Day, we've got a big announcement to make - I'm PREGNANT. Otherwise known as - with child, knocked up, expecting, with bun in oven. I'm finally out of the first trimester, so we are letting more people know (though truth be told, some of you know already - I'm looking at you, Mom. Now you can start telling the neighbors...:) I just had my first sonogram this week, and the baby is moving around and waving its arms and legs, which is incredible considering he/she is still only about 3 inches long. I'm due around Thanksgiving, and Matt and I are both really happy and excited.

Also, I'm so happy to get to finally announce this in the letter, because there are so many funny stories to tell you that have come up in the last few months that I've been HIDING. Being pregnant for the first time is strange enough, and doing it in a foreign country brings with it all sorts of other new things that basically are hilarious - well, now they are. At the time, some not so much. But NOW - hilarious. A warning - as with lots of talk about pregnancy and such, there will be some personal stuff coming up. No, not that personal! But I will be talking about birthing centers and pregnancy tests and whatnot. Avert your eyes if you want.