Time Is On My Side

Just a quick post to tell you that we here in France suffered the depressing effects of the end of Daylight Savings Time.  We "fell back" last night making us only a 5 hour difference from Boston time until you guys "fall back."  Actually it was not too bad, we feared the kids would wake up at a CRAZY hour but they did OK.  Just for fun, check out this oldie...

Oops!...I did it again

I know I said I'd try to get better about not posting so many pictures at once but...refer back to title.

Sorry.

We've done some cool stuff these past few weeks and you all know how Lance is with the camera. These are the whittled down pictures - I promise. Hope you enjoy France Round 4.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

What have I become?

I have become someone who will turn my nose up to a day old baguette.  

I have become someone who expects to get a GOOD, not just a decent, bottle of wine for less than four dollars.

I have become someone who drinks wine out of a box, "Vin en Vrac," and gets that bag refilled (they can do that!)

I have become someone who expects a high caliber meal every time I eat, even just a snack.

I have become someone who sets my alarm at ungodly hours to watch live sporting events.

In the "embarrassed to admit" category -- 

I have become someone who washes, saves, and re-uses ziplock bags (with no diaper pail - Cole's stinky diapers have to go somewhere).

I have become a "Cherrios pusher."  When the kids have Cherrios for breakfast I spoon feed each of them until their bowls are empty because I just can't bear to waste such an expensive commodity (thanks again, Maureen). 

I have become someone who, given the price of cold milk, has contemplated giving my kids sketchy, unrefridgerated, European milk from a box.

I have become someone who watches US television on a tiny screen on the computer (can't miss the Sox, the debates, The Office, Earl, and Survivor.)

Join Together

I finally found the right widget to enable people to sign up and recieve updates when we post something on the site. Check out the box at the top left of the page, courtesy of FeedBlitz. Just think... now you'll never miss another post (aren't you going to sleep better tonight knowing that? You are, aren't you? It's okay, you can admit it.)

Running Down a Dream

OK a quick post for me, only me (few and far between). Some of you may know that I have been pretty much unable to run since the last Marathon (April 2008). A random injury has plagued me and I have run maybe 10 times in 5 1/2 months. So the news of today is that after 5 1/2 months of Physical Therapy, medications and pain, I went for my first run in FRANCE. My run started out on the main road (YIKES - no shoulder, felt a car WAY TOO CLOSE) and then on a dirt road that winds in between vineyards. Good thing I got this "vineyard" run in today as "Shooting Season in the Vines" starts Monday. Gotta find a new route!

They Say It's You're Birthday...

Actually, that is what we said.

We celebrated Ellie's birthday on September 27th (a week late). We mislead (OK, lied) to her and told her that her birthday was a week later because Lance was in NYC on her actual birthday. Good thing she can't read the calendar yet. Although, I have to admit that I did cut her some slack (on the DL) on Sept. 20th. We celebrated by taking her to the Haribo Candy factory that is very close our house. We opted out of the tour (sure fire way to bore a kid) and headed straight to the factory store. Wow. Now I have a full understanding of the phrase "like a kid in a candy store." She had a blast. We also took the kids to a mini amusement park with blow-up air castles (as much as they cause me flashbacks -- 1999 LPS head lice epidemic -- it was her "party" even if it was just the four of us). In addition, she got to pick out her "cake" at the Pàtisserie. Holy cr*p. Probably going to be the best birthday cake she ever has. There is a full pictorial account in the "France Round 3" slideshow.

I Want A New Drug

As promised a quick follow up on prescription drugs.

So we go to the doctor the first time for Cole where they said it might be a cold, an ear infection, or chicken pox.  Refer back to the ever famous saying "French doctors aren't really into diagnosing but they LOVE prescriptions." Although, we had no idea what was wrong with him, we left that doctor with 4 prescriptions.

1. An antihistamine for Cole's "Chicken Pox" itching (even though we told her he was not itching)

2. A anti-inch cream for his "Chicken Pox" itching (wait... haven't we covered that?)

3. A pain reliever and

4. Penicillin for his ear infection.

We asked the doctor about the antihistamine because we wanted to verify that it was just Children's Benadryl because I brought tons of that and I know his dose. We did the same for the pain reliever as I also brought tons of Children's Motrin and Tylenol ("Don't leave home without it," I always say).  It seemed a bit redundant to have her give us prescriptions for things we already had but she still wanted us to have the prescriptions -- guess they really do love them.

So you have to go to a special "Pharmacien" to pick up prescriptions. Now you are thinking, "yeah, just like CVS," but NO. The only things they sell here are apparently somehow all loosely medically related -- i.e. ace bandages, band-aids, baby bottles, formula, head lice treatment (it is going around Ellie's class - keep your fingers crossed) corn removers, cotton balls, nail clippers, etc.  So I get all our bottles, creams, etc. and open up each one to review dose (everything is in milliliters over here). "OK got it...no wait? What is this white powder doing in my son's Penicillin bottle?" She casually explains to me that I have to fill the bottle to a certain line with water and shake.  "Are you kidding, I have to mix this at home?"  She did not seem to care that I had NO pharmaceutical training whatsoever.   Just wing it? Seriously? This is my kid's medication! What I found the most ironic about this is that you apparently need a prescription to get the equivalent of Children's Tylenol and Benadryl, which you can buy over the counter in the US and we already had, but they just give you the unmixed Penicillin, send you on your merry way and hope for the best. Yikes, can you say liability?