Oh baby!

And then there were three... 

We'll be introducing our newest little Sanders June 2018... 

Chaos and mayhem and pasta

Anyone had one of these days recently? Being a pastor’s wife, Sunday often has me outnumbered in the fight for a civilized world. 

I do my best to counteract it—lunch is hummus and picnic goods and dinner is always pasta and spaghetti sauce to keep my sanity afloat. 

Back in the dark ages (okay like 6 months ago) I used to slave away Sunday morning trying to scrounge up some form of after church meal Martha Stewart worthy until my husband finally knocked some sense into me and convinced me that while our children might not suffer too badly forgoing a weekly pot roast (and let’s be honest—three fourths of the time I’d forgotten to either grab the meat out of the freezer to thaw or to actually prepare the crockpot more than five minutes before we walked out the door) , they just might suffer from dangerously crabby mom syndrome. Can I please get an amen?

 So simple and repeated meals became the law of the land and I haven’t look back since. Except, maybe, when I see Isaline covered in red sauce despite all my best full body bib efforts. Alas. Sigh. Momma said there’ll be days like this. 

Bday Bash

Apparently, blogging without a computer tends to be challenging. Such is our life for another couple of weeks until we can buy a new un-crashed one. Oh technology, one day your friend, the next your worst enemy... (except for when has technology ever really been my friend?) So forgive the month lateness of Livia's birthday bash (this time with friends of ours and their little kiddos). Actually it's rather fitting considering we couldn't get our act together and did the party a month late-now you get to have the photos a month late as well :)  

I tried to resist Pinterest's beacon and keep this as low key as I possibly could. I figure I'll save my birthday slaving years for when she'll actually remember it. And I was lazy. 

The back of our apartment shares a big ol' lawn/garden with the three other buildings on our lot so we figured big space + cushy grass + playhouse stuffed with toys = the perfect venue for a bunch of crazy sugar-highed babies and toddlers. 

Those are baby biscuits in case you're wondering...we cater for the under 2 crowd around here (no id necessary). Oh and the watermelon turned out to be delicious. Livia thought so both before and after her slice got dropped and then covered in dirt. I'm really banking on the 'dirt don't hurt' theory otherwise we might be in trouble... 

It pretty much consisted of a whole lot hanging out, gorgeous weather, bottle drinking (milk for the babes, beer for the guys),  and chatting while trying to keep our kiddos from doing ridiculous things. Livia apparently missed the memo that she was hostess and could mostly be found 30 ft away picking grass and doing other random shenanigans that basically involved snubbing the other kiddos. 

It didn't take long for the yard to look a little like this:

But hey, they had fun making that mess, so that's what counts, right?

I gave in to Pinterest for the dessert and went the cupcake route. With sparkly party hats of course--what party is complete without them, right? 

Here's a very telling pic where Mom and Dad are doing all the work while Missay Thang looks condescendingly on... Of course I quipped to the group that I wasn't sure how Livia was going to take the whole cake eating thing considering that she's never had processed sugar before. 

Then I got to eat my words while Livia devoured hers. Yes folks, that is massive concentration going on there. She aint holdin' nothin' back. 

Don't believe that look on her face. She loved every minute of it. She takes after someone I know but gosh if I can remember who.... ;) 

Of course after this she proceeded to wipe the rest of that cupcake all over me. Sharing is caring, really. 

My Lil' One Year Old

Ahh, how time flies. The little curled up wrinkly thing from box 0 that we nicknamed "la crevette" at the maternity ward is no longer a shrimp anymore. (Although she pinches like one, does that count?) What's funny is how fast you forget those previous stages. It's as if she was always crawling around, mischief making and the like. I forget that there was once a time when she actually stayed when you put her down. Well all this to say that the Livster is now officially one year old. Practically a college student. Sniff, sniff. 

Still young enough to have a bit of help on the ol' blowing out the candles job so at least she wont be packing her bags for campus just yet. 

Although she figured out pretty fast how to get into her presents... That just might be genetic though... 

And of course this new age brings all kinds of new challenges to be overcome...

Although some not so thrilling for mom and dad... 

She's lucky she's cute! Here's to many more years of troublemaking adventures! 

A few things from life at chez Sanders

It's like that conversation that you have with your best friend Jenny from highschool that you haven't seen since the last time you were back home and so much has happened in the mean time that when she asks you "What's new?" the only appropriate reply is pretty much "Oh, nothing really..." and then you both stand there awkwardly, footshifting (yay for creating new words!). Sorry for not writing. Sorry for kinda disappearing off the face of the planet.  I kept meaning to write that next post and then nada. So in honor of attempting to not have the above conversation with you, in no particular order, here is a random list of what's happened in the past few months: 

• My baby girl turned 11 months old!! 
• We recently caught her playing with an exploded diaper wrangled out of the dirty diaper pail...lovely.
• I got my Indian Bollywood Dance on at our school's Indian Festival (don't worry, I destroyed any video evidence)
• I hosted a nursery helper brunch and meeting to which I was an hour late to
• I broke out in full body hives for over two weeks due to stress (no it wasn't nursery related, but it could have been!) 
• I flew halfway across the world with my 8 month old and survived. 
• I forgot to finish cleaning the electric kettle and left vinegar in it... which Matt so kindly emptied for me by heating it, herbally infusing it (that means tea people), and then consuming it. 
• I watched my baby learn how to crawl, then pull up to standing, then walk (okay not the last one, just testing ya...) 
• I promptly installed babyproofing magic on the living room buffet. And then re-installed it when I did it wrong the first time. And again. Yikes...babyproof or adultproof? Seriously, ya need a phd for these buggers... 
• Started getting up early to workout (bring it on Jillian Michaels)...
•  Told Livia 'no' for the first time. She laughed.
• Ran out of diapers and was stranded at my parents home in the states... yes, out came my old cloth diaper squares (now used as dust cloths) with chips bag clips to work as clothespins...
• Celebrated Matt's 35th birthday 
• Watched our awesome friends Paul and Kelsey become parents! 
• Realized that my daughter is in love with books. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree me thinks... 
• Got addicted to fashion blogs. 
• Found out my sis and her husband are moving to the States from Chile...so excited! 
• Got stranded for hours (6 to be exact) out in the middle of warehouse land while looking for the Chronopost headquarters all for a pair of boots that turned out to be too small 
• Had said boots stretched twice but to no avail. Natalie, want them? 
• Learned how to carry an almost toddler and stroller up many flights of stairs on a daily basis...I am woman, hear me roar... 
• Got free metro tickets for several days due to Paris' pollution problem. 
• Realized I turn 30 in nine days
• Redid my kitchen (yes, I walk on the wild side, I know) 
• Am finally getting this whole working part time mommy gig down... 

And there you have it. More from the Sanders household later! 

First Date

Ladies and gentlemen, Matt and I have officially accomplished a very important rite into parenthood: we had our first date. Our first date P.L., that is (Post Livia). As in sans baby. Let's all just take a moment to savor this, shall we? See it all started with the fabulous and lovely Charis coming across the pond for a visit (more on that later) and very sweetly offering up a free night of babysitting. And considering that Charis is a bit of a baby guru, there was no way we were passing that one up. 

So I thought I should share about this momentous occasion with a bit of a date breakdown:


6:00 pm

It's official; we're hitting the town tonight. Matt looks up restaurant venues while I shove some stuff at Charis and try not to sound like that parent while showing her all the contact and emergency numbers taped up in the cupboard.

6:30 pm

We decide to shake things up a bit and try out a super trendy place called Sharky's. But first we stop by the maternity ward at the Clinique Lambert where our friend Kristine has just given birth a few days prior.

7:15 pm

Oooh and ahh over little Chloé. I am once again afraid of breaking newborns but thankfully the feeling passes without any baby dropping. I am back to being Talia, Seasoned Newborn Mother, Hear Me Roar (or something like that).

You might remember Kristine from this pic at my baby shower. Now three of the five ladies pictured here have finally popped.

8:15 pm 

We say adios to Charis and Livia. Feels weird but am comforted knowing that the world's chillest baby and the baby whisperer are paired up.  Little can go wrong with that combo.

8:30 pm

Park and take picture documenting our newly found freedom. Head towards Sharky's.

8:35 pm 

Find Sharky's. Take in closed off club-like appearance and booming Latin music pouring out. Tiptoe up to door and peek in. See empty dance floor as barman spots us. Tries to convince us to stay in the empty restaurant area. Realize that we're a bit early compared to their normal clientele. Tell hip barman we'll think about it and back peddle out. Hip barman starts to chuckle. 

8:40 pm

 Realize that we cannot return to Sharky's this evening with dignity still intact. Start looking for other options on foot. Begin comparing ourselves to the white middle class couple from the suburbs in the movie Date Night. The White Wimps nickname is born. The White Wimps make a pact to go back to Sharky's sometime within the next year. 

9:00 pm

Enter lots of walking. The decisions are down to Greek or Moroccan. Greek it is. Enter restaurant. As waiter is seating us I notice a green olive fly off of a lady's plate and onto the floor. She spends the next few minutes sneakily searching for it but only I know that it is really already two tables down from her. My stellar observational skills also pick up on the fact that the average person in the restaurant has a good 40 years on us. If I had a Toto I'd tell him that clearly we are no longer in Sharky's.

9:20 pm

Our first course is served and I forget all about Sharky's. The White Wimps savor a delish greek salad with a fabulous block of feta cheese to top it off. 

9:45 pm 

Bathroom break. On the way back I get stuck between two chairs and a woman who's hand is behind her back looking for a pocket to put her wallet in. Unless I want to get felt up by this stranger, I have to be patient. I wait. 

9:50 pm

Freedom. Matt and I catch up and talk about all things baby unrelated. 

10:00 pm 

Main course served, woohoo! Moussaka for Matt, grilled turkey kebabs for me. After all, who doesn't love a dish that comes with your spoon stuck upright in your baked potato. Savor every bite and dream of someday actually eating Greek food in Greece. Ponder to self the pros and cons of visiting a country during an economic crisis.

10:30 pm

Finish food and wine and ask for the check. Waiter passes us three times before he remembers to bring us our check. Not sure why, most of the senior clientele have left and restaurant is half as full as it was originally.

10:45 pm

We (Matt) pay and the hunt for the car begins. The White Wimps were so distracted by the Sharky's fiasco that they've forgotten where they parked their car. Lots of wandering and a smart phone save Charis from an all-nighter in the end.

11:20 pm

Cheap that we are, we return home for dessert (yogurts--it's a French thing). I fittingly choose some greek yogurt from the fridge. Proud of myself, I check on my daughter. Sleeping Beauty couldn't care less that we're home. Ahh, well, you can't have everything.

12:00 pm

Collapse into bed in the hopes that a little someone will sleep until 7 am.

5:30 am

Livia is up and a new day begins.

Nursery Reveal

Warning: tons of pictures. Risk of eyes going fuzzy if complete post is read. 

That said, here be the Livster's new crib... haha get it? You guys love my lame sense of humor. Really. 

But before we get into the happy baby room pictures, let's just back up a bit and look at what the room looked like when we moved in, shall we? 

Wow, just makes you want to move right in, doesn't it? But alas, after months of living in our humble abode, it still looked like this...

and this... 

We finally controlled a bit of the chaos to get it looking like this: (already a huge improvement)

By now it was a bit more ready for some nursery lovin' 

But what to do and how to decorate? Oh the questions that plague us decor freaks. Enter Pinterest, my lovely frenemy (enemy + friend = frenemy). I spent untold (really, it's in my best interest not to tell you guys just how much time I spent on there) hours scouring Pinterest, pinning room pictures that I liked and vetoing anything involving ruffles (unless of course you count the ruffled polka dot bloomers that I just ordered). Unfortunately this did not lead to the genius breakthrough that I was hoping for. The future baby room was just as depressing as ever--no longer an eruption of unorganized crap but far from being the cozy space I was hoping for. After lots of whining and griping to Matt, I had an original idea: make my own real live Pinterest board (haha, it's not like that's what design savvy people did before Pinterest came to be or anything...)! So that's just what I did; it didn't take me long to print off my favorite pics from my online board and tack em' up on those oh so white nursery walls. 

It was like finally connecting the dots in my head: I was going for a light, breezy style with playful pops of color and a dose of femininity (a mini femininity that is!). I desperately wanted to go with a pink metallic polka dot wall like pictured above but alas my hopes were crushed by Amazon and their anti international polka dot shipping grumpiness. (Can you tell I have a slight obsession with polka dots?)  In the end the window wall became more the focal point anyways so I guess my anti-Amazon rants were all for naught. 

We were super blessed when it came to financing the room; Matt's parents bought us the couch, the dresser (repainted) and Ikea Expedit shelves we already owned, and the crib/mattress were donated to us along with tons of clothes and baby things. All that was left to buy was the giant white armoire (more on that later) and nursery accessories (let's be honest, that's the funnest part anyways...). 

There's lot of stuff from Ikea (as you probably noticed) like the curtains/blinds, baskets, etc. The rug is from an online French store called La redoute as are some of the toys I couldn't resist (the wooden whale puzzle, the stacking rings, and the little deer pull toy). The yarn ball garland is from a Paris boutique chain called La Case de cousin Paul that I seriously drool in front of every time I walk by (I'm surprised I'm not on some stalker watch list by now). 

The picture is a print from Showler & Showler (I probably could have bought half the store if had enough wall space for all that cuteness) and the postcards are all ones I've had laying around hoping for a project like this. The whale was birthed from a random idea and  ginormous planks of cardboard I had taking up space. Looking at a sketch of a whale, I penciled in my own version onto one of those big pieces of cardboard then covered it in leftover chalkboard paint. When that was dry I added in the details to the whale with some white chalk. Gotta love free projects.

One of the challenges in a French room is that there are rarely closets so I needed some kind of baby clothing storage system. Enter our previous dresser (it used to be light turquoise and can be seen here) that I slapped some paint onto, threw a changing mattress on top of, an Ikea metal bar and some child sized hangers and we were good to go! 

These bookshelves are just Ikea spice racks painted.

Here's what that side of the room looks like... 

Over the door I added a hanging shoe rack to contain all of little miss' accessories. Seriously, that girl already has quite the shoe and accessory collection going on. I might be alarmed if it weren't all so darn cute! Above the bookshelves is a wooden vintage alphabet that I picked up for 3 euros at a second hand sale. And to the left of the door is where Liv will eventually hang up her coats and whatnot. 

Here's a few close ups: 

(eventually I hope to replace some of the postcards with baby/family pics) 

The yarn ball garland actually lights up--very helpful for sleep deprived mommies during nightly feedings and dispelling monsters once Baby S is a little older... 

For the more astute among you, you'll have noticed something wonky with the picture frames. One still requires a little art project (will show later) and the other I'm waiting for baby to come so I can put in a good pic. 

Well this be the last one...you forever have my kudos if you actually made it to the end of this!