An American Citizen in Paris

The Raffamonster is now officially American! We went to the embassy to register his birth and sign him up for a passport in anticipation of our impending US trip. Unlike the French administration, even though our paperwork was not perfect (Raffa's photo background was not entirely white and my proof of living in the US for 5 consecutive years was not perfect) instead of making us come back, they just made Thomas and I solemnly swear to tell the truth and they submitted the forms. Little Godzilla got his very own American flag to celebrate his citizenship.

Raffa and I spent the rest of the morning walking in Paris. The Champs Elysees is dangerous, especially when there is a sale on at Baby Gap and Petit Bateau... needless to say the kiddo picked up a new outfit. :-) We then met Papa Bear for lunch in little Tokyo, where the three of us were able to enjoy a meal ensemble (including Raffa who nursed discretely in my new carrier). Good times. And of course I subjected him to a photo session in his new outfit (his first big people clothes!) with the fluffmonster supervising...

"I pledge allegiance to the flag... see mommy, I take this whole American citizenship seriously!"

"Fluffy here bears witness that I solemnly swear to adopt some American culture. For example, Sundays from September through February are reserved for watching the Pittsburgh Steelers!"

"My country tis of thee, mama give me some liberty! Can I go sit in the swing now?"

"See, Paddington? I still support daddy's sports too! Check out my Paris SG shoes! Paris SG, c'est magique!"

"Hah hah fluffmonster! I will use my kickass ninja moves on you! Check out my crouching snuggle bug, flying baby bear! Hah hah!"

And now, to attempt dinner without burning the house down... Love and face eating kisses!

"Haha mommy! You want photos of me in the bath? I pee on this idea!"

So today was another one of those days when my baby blues raised their ugly head again and I got ridiculously sad that my little Raffa was visibly bigger again and time is passing too fast. So I resolved to document more precious moments, including bathtime. Raphael no longer flails and has plumped out significantly since those first few days... He doesn't resemble a little batty bat anymore and although there usually is some significant screaming during the soap time and the dressing time, bathtime is no longer quite so stressful. So I thought, what the heck. Let's get some photos so I can shame Raffa during his tender teenage years. As Tom was snapping a photo of me carrying Raffa in a towel en route to the tub, Raffa takes this opportunity to have a massive pee all over me, his only clean baby towel, and our living room tile. We had to laugh and fluffmonster watched the whole thing in interest. Bear's first words? "No kittenfluff, we will not rub Raffa's face in it!" Hopefully the cat will not take this as an invitation to mark the tile as his territory. And we got some bath photos... So my little Godzilla, when you see this one day, know you have already retaliated and that mommy is laughing in the photo because mommy's dress is soaked in baby pee! :-)
In other news, Tash brought over our brand new carrier! Woo! Pictures of its maiden voyage to follow soon.
Enjoy our batty bat's bathtime...

"I am soooooo angry you are taking this photo mommy! I just know you will use it to embarass me  in front of girls when I am a teenager! Also, I hate being naked."

"Wooooo! I am floating! Woooooo! I like to float! Each time before I get in the water, I scream my head off. Then I remember how much fun it is to floaty float!"

"Mommy I don't want a bath!!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!!! I am going to escape using my super squirmy Godzilla skills!"

"I don't get it, mommy! Why are you laughing? I just peed ALL OVER YOU! You are supposed to not want to give me a bath now!"

I should also mention that each time I give our little Raffamonster a bath, we sing the batty bat bath song. "It's time for batty bat to get a bathy bath! It's time for batty bat to get a bathy bath! It's time for itty bitty bat to get his batty bathy baaaaaaaaaaaaath.... It's time for batty bat to get his bathy bath!" Heh. And now to clean up the baby pee... Love and face eating kisses!

1 Month, 1 Awesome Series of Adventures...

Wow. I cannot believe it has already been a month since the 65 hours of labor and the arrival of my sweet little angel! He has grown so much and is now too big for newborn size! This was his first outfit in the hospital which he was swimming in. Now he has maybe two weeks left of being able to wear it! He has changed sooo much- it is really amazing to watch. Part of me wants to stop time and keep him as a sweet cuddly newborn forever, while the other part looks forward to every step and change on the upcoming journey. :-) Soon he is going to be too big to wear this too! And to think that two weeks ago I was thinking to buy more 1 month sized clothes because I thought he'd only fit 3 month size stuff at Christmas! All I can say is that he may not have been Godzilla sized at birth, but Raffa is on a Godzilla sized growth spurt! And speaking of said growth spurt, today I was slightly (read extremely) concerned (read panicking) because Raffa had an insatiable appetite and did not seem to be satisfied no matter how much he was eating. I broke out the emergency formula, but Bear convinced me to check if my boobs had truly run out of milk. Turns out that this was not the case, as I managed to accidentally send breastmilk squirting across the room and all over my dinner. Awesome. Am thinking it was just gas (my son's solution for everything is to eat.). That or Godzilla has a bottomless pit of a stomach! Even though I have resisted the urge to buy more adorable outfits, I could not resist getting these slippers. I used the whole one month birthday of Raffa as an excuse. Here is a lovely series of photos I subjected Raffa to pose for today. The gorgeous Armani hat- Raphael's first piece of couture- was a present from his Finnish godmama Anna. Godzilla will be stylin' this winter! :-)

"I wish I could wear awesome shoes like little Godzilla... Being a fluffball is just not cute enough anymore!"

"Mommy I am dreaming of all the couture you are going to dress me in before I can actively protest...."

"Kitos Godmama Anna for my awesome hat! I can't wait to spend a summer with you, Markus, sauna, summer cottage, and the hot Finnish girls! Hehehe.." 

"Paddington is totally jealous of my awesome new teddy bear slippers. Mommy  is glad to have something cute to replace the bunny slippers I grew out of! They also have a rattle in them so they work as an early warning system for mommy to come get me when I wake up!!!"

Aaaaand it is bath time. Love and face eating kisses!