Travel: St. Paul de Vence, France

While in Nice, we took a morning excursion to the hilltop of St. Paul de Vence.  A town I'd never heard about, but so glad we got to explore.  It's quaint, cozy, and completely picturesque.  It screams "slow down" and literally makes you want to stop & smell the roses (there so many beautiful flowers sprinkled about the town)!

St. Paul de Vence is a town to explore on foot -- it's filled with shops to explore, art galleries to get lost in and spectacular views.  It's the perfect place to sit in a cafe and sip coffee; you might even see some locals playing petanque (lawn bowling).

The town is completely charming & a welcomed getaway from the hub and bub of Nice.  Enjoy a look around!

St. Paul de Vence, cutest little hilltop town!

Upon entering the town, you're greeted by eateries & shops.

Charm around every corner!

The walkways are just as pretty as the buildings!

Gorgeous flowers sprinkled every where...

I, of course, made some kitty friends!

This cat had an uncanny resemblance to my childhood cat, Cuddles. 

And the views!

This one, admittantly, is my favorite view <3

If you're in the area, definitely stop for an hour or two in St. Paul de Vence; you won't be disappointted!


Visit my Travel page to see our other stops from our European travels

Ellis: Eleven Months Old

Another month has flown by right under our noses, and on January 19th, we celebrated an 11 month old baby Ellis!

Pretty soon I will have to say "toddler Ellis" instead of "baby Ellis"... which makes me both sad and happy at the same time.  I will miss having a "baby baby" but I am so looking forward to summer with "toddler Ellis" (and no more washing bottles)! Biking and hiking, and walks in the woods, and swimming, and oh what fun!  Needless to say, spring can show it's pretty little face anytime, and I would be so happy!

The past 30 days has been a whirlwind.  Where do I start? ..... 

December brought :
- TEETHING.
- 102 fever, random diaper-aera rash that we haven't seen before, & cough = 2nd visit to the doctor in 2 weeks, and Dr. finds nothing -- concludes Ellis must be fighting some kind of virus.
- Ellis boycotts his bottle, and all liquids really, for 5 days -- won't drink more than an ounce per feeding. Back to the Dr. for a throat swab = negative for strep and no ear infection. Hmm?  *Cue mom's stress level on high.
- Sleepless nights.
- We celebrated Ellis's first Christmas!!!
- Mom get's a stomach bug for 48 hours, again (second time in 4 weeks).  What a way to ring in the New Year! 

January brings:
- TEETHING.
- More sleepless nights.
- Dad gets bronchitis.
- Ellis has 102 fever AGAIN, cough, labored breathing = an ER visit on a Monday night finds Influenza A and pneumonia.  Mom is DEVASTATED that her baby is so sick, feels like a failure.  Ellis gets a shot of Rocephin, his first antibiotic ever.
- 4th doctor visit in a month = Dr. prescribes albuterol nebulizer breathing treatments as needed and amoxicillin.  Mom waits in line at Walgreens for prescriptions; Ellis has a coughing attack and projectile vomits all over himself, his car seat, and mom.  Walgreen's customers look at mom with disgust.  Mom is sweating & wants to crawl in a hole. 
- Ellis does good with the breathing treatments, but amoxicillin gives him the diarrhea, which leads to horrible diaper rash.
- Poor appetite while sick.
- Finally!  His 4th tooth pops through.
- A few more sleepless nights.
- And by his eleven month birthday... Ellis is finally starting to feel better!

Whew!  They weren't lying when they said Mommin'. Ain't. Easy.

Despite that rough patch there, we did have a lot of fun, too.  Ellis learned how to throw a ball. He's mastered the fake laugh.  He can read people's facial expressions, and is completely perplexed by someone chewing gum.  He takes a nuk now, but in true Ellis fashion, he does it his own way.  He either chews the outside of the nuk, or prefers to hold it in his hand and not suck on it at all, but DON'T YOU DARE take it away from him.

Ellis points to everything and says "dat!"  He recently started having separation anxiety and cries when I drop him off at daycare. He also recently started to despise when we change his diaper. It's like wrangling a slippery little otter to get the job done, and he almost always removes his socks while we do it.

Ellis waves "hi" & "bye" with ease now, and stands independently at times but is not walking. He carries toys around in his mouth, much like a puppy.   When you say "hellllloo" to him, he will put his hand by his ear like he's talking on the phone. He can alllllmost blow a kiss, but his darn finger somehow gets stuck in his mouth every time he tries?  We're still working on the hand clapping, but he does High Five! His current favorite past time is crawling as fast as he can to an open fridge, and once inside, he'll start climbing (as evidenced here). He also likes to read animal books, but they can't be too long cuz homeboy has the attention span of an ant.

Ellis weighs in at 17 lbs. 8oz.  He graduated to size 4 diapers and is in 9-12 month clothing.  Everyone asks why he's so small, and I'm not sure what to tell them because the boy loves to eat.  He eats all table food and takes 6 oz bottles every 4 hours. He is however, alwayssss moving.  He is never still, not even when he sleeps.  Speaking of sleep, he typically sleeps 10 hours at night, with a morning & afternoon nap, usually an hour each.

    *I'm fully aware his diaper is full of pee.  We changed it immediately after this "shoot".  #momlife

Things I love about Ellis this month:
- The way his little finger points at everything.
- How fascinated he is by watching dad blow snow.
- His love for Gracie.
- The way he plays with his hair during his bottle before bedtime.
- How he brings food to the front of his month & chews on his four teeth.
- His new smile, with all four teeth.
- His infectious laugh.  It's still THE BEST.

 

Previous recaps: One Month | Two Months | Three Months | Four Months | Five Months | Six Months | Seven Months | Eight Months | Nine Months | Ten Months

A New Year's Resolution... (or lack thereof)

A new year.
A clean slate.
A chance to start fresh.
Blah. Blah. Blah.

By now, you've read or heard about everyone's resolutions for the new year; we are 4 days in, after all.
But me... I've got nuthin'.

I suppose "floss daily" or "eat less sugar" could surely make my list.   But I just kind of feel like I don't even care.

Am I uninspired?  Maybe.
Tired?  Always.
Perhaps it's the dang sub-zero temps we've had for like 2 weeks straight, and I just need to get outside.
But for whatever reason, I just feel like I'm kind of in a funk this season.

I think it started with the holidays & the feeling of too much pressure to "do it all".  Mostly self-imposed pressure, I might add.  And then I started off the new year on a real good note too, with the stomach flu... my second stomach flu in less than 4 weeks.  What the crap?!  I've never been so sick in all my life.

My kid was sick too and is now teething.  My husband has a really bad cold & coughs all night long. When will we all be healthy again?!

I mean, I feel guilty for even complaining because I have so much to be thankful for, but I think it's just human nature to get in a funk every now & then.

So that's why I came here, to jot it down, and hopefully relate to someone else who's in this funk-like state as well.  If you haven't made any resolutions this year, and don't intend to either -- I'm air high-fiving you right now.

We'll get it figured out.  But for right now, we just BE.

Happy 2018!