Marco-And-Bene: 2011

I was born on the 16th of December 2011 at 20.45 in Dubai Medcare Hospital. I think I can be considered as a relatively tall and slim girl: 50cm by 2.97 KG, that's a nice BMI.

My parents were expecting me towards the end of the year and I think that my father even thought I would have come well into the new year, but I was feeling lonely in the dark and wanted to celebrate Christmas and New Year with my unprepared parents, so I opened up the door without telling anyone and forced my workalcoholic mum into maternity leave well ahead of her perfect project plan...

Last week was quite a week! I sent mum to the hospital 3-4 times teasing her but it was finally on my cousin's Charlotte 17th birthday that I saw (a lot of) the light... (I later was told that a lot of mummy's friends were born on the same day).
My mum was worried and asked the doctors why I was so quiet and cried so little compared to other babies... I'm glad I heard this discussion, I could re-use it when my teeth are coming out.

I'm thrilled to meet my grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins as well as my parent's friends! I was told they have lots of children just a little older than me so we'll have a lot of fun.

Some are asking if I need anything to settle in this weird world or if I can give them some inspiration... Well as I am the daughter of a geek I have put an inspiration list on Amazon that can be found either under my father or my mum's name and fashion wise I am a fan of Petit Bateau, Zara Home Baby or Baby Gap... but am growing at the speed of light.

I hope to see you all very soon!

Unbelievable! Marco and Bénédicte reproduce themselves...

Earlier this year, Bénédicte simply wanted to know if "this was working"... The problem is that once you've tried, well there is not always a way back...

So in May, we needed both our university degrees to understand what that Clearblue pen was telling: "A blue cross means you're pregnant, even if it is very light blue"... Mine was dark night blue... "Marco? Bénédicte called from the bathroom, what do you understand here?"

So here we are now, with a watermelon hidden under Bénédicte's clothes, after a "relaxing" holiday in the summer that made us traveling from Dubai to LA, to Death Valley, to Vegas, to the Grand Canyon, to Bryce Canyon, to Lake Powell, to Monument Valley and then back to Lake Powell, Vegas and LA to continue to Palm Springs, to San Diego, to Santa Barbara to LA and finally back to Dubai... This baby inside must be some kind on Wonder Woman having survived to bumpy roads, hectic work schedules, and a bouncing speed boat.

As we move into the last weeks of the pregnancy and that Bénédicte's belly is like the universe: in continuous expansion, here is a best of the nicknames that the baby and her mother had over the last 8 to 9 months: "il verme", "project Junior", "la pastèque sous le T-shirt" , "la montgolfière barioléee", "la baleine échouée sur la plage", etc, etc