A l'ombre d'un bouquet en fleurs

Merci à la gang de chez Voir pour les belles fleurs...

The great milk debacle...

Les choses progressent à un bon rythme entre Rachel et Alice. Nous venons d'entrer dans la phase excitante de la montée de lait, alias "the great milk debacle". Ci-joint une photo de Rachel bien préparée et d'Alice qui ne se doute pas de ce qui l'attend... :-)

Things are hopping along on the Rachel-and-Alice front. We've just entered the exciting phase known in French as the "montée de lait", a.k.a. the great milk debacle. Attached is a picture of a well prepared Rachel and of an unsuspecting Alice...

Meanwhile, princess Lily...

Lily shares in the pleasure of hooing and haaing over little Alice, but let's face it: most of her time is still devoted to her own personal interests. One of which is frequently painting, these days.

Petite dormeuse | Little sleeper

À trois jours d'âge on dort beaucoup, et cela est bien pour les parents... mais ce sommeil se découpe en petits blocs de 1-2 heures, et cela est un peu moins bien... :-)

At three days of age, one sleeps a lot, and this is a good thing for the parents... but all this spleep is chopped up in 1 or 2 hour chunks, and that is somewhat less ideal... :-)

Youpi une petite fille | A baby girl

Alice à la naissance | Mother and daughter united | World, here I come!
Alice est née sans problème à 5h37 ce matin. Elle pèse 9 livres et 3 onces et mesure 21 1/2 pouces, elle est donc une once plus lourde et un demi-pouce plus longue que sa "grande" soeur Lily ne l'était à sa naissance...

Rachel va bien. Ce deuxième accouchement s'est déroulé plus rapidement que le premier, et la bébé a fait irruption après à peine 2 poussées intenses... comme un bouchon de champagne. Les sages-femmes et aide-natales de la Maison de naissance ont été admirables une fois de plus!

Alice was born this morning at 5:37, after nine months and ten days of a wonderful pregnancy and twelve hours of equally wonderful contractions (speaking from my standpoint, of course). Rachel is well (see picture with the smile) and fast recovering and Alice is plump and daunting (see picture with the frown). She weighs 9 pounds and 3 ounces and has a healthy appetite for her mommy's milk.

Our experience with the midwives in the "Maison de naissance" (birthing house) has proved once more to be immeasurably satisfying. While Lily was born there during a snow storm two Christmases ago, little Alice chose to emerge during a rain storm. Thankfully, Rachel's own storm inside the room came to a quick end soon after the waters broke, and Alice appeared after only two major tsunami pushes.

All three of her sisters - Flor, Gabriela and, mercifully, princess Lily - are delighted to see Alice arrive into our family, which family I will be trying to keep happy by staying at home full-time for the coming month, and by generally dedicating myself to all these women for the rest of my life ! (haha)