Scoop

I am not sure if it is the pregnancy hormones or spring fever that has kicked in, but I have the urge to share the good news with you: We are having a new baby in the summer ! And  the cherry to the cake: it is a little boy..I had hoped my two girls (now aged 5 and 2 already!) would be very excited about the idea of having a little brother. In reality, the older one is. The little one is actively ignoring any discussion of the baby despite the growing evidence that somebody  has invaded mommy's belly..The older one on the other hand has planned it all out already: she has a name for the baby, she has prepared list of do's and don't for the little sister to follow..My husband is of course all proud of his growing family..As for me, curiously enough, I feel like a narrator to the show despite being in the very centre. The afternoons with the girls are intensive with picking them up from creche and school, driving them to hobbies or playdates and admittedly the pregnancy has been a bit on the side lines..In fairness, I do practice regularly yoga and promise to sign-up for a refresher prenatal course, which I guess can be considered as baby time..? There are days of self-doubt when I wonder how on earth will we manage with three kids?? Will I be able to give enough love and individual attention to all three of them?? To be seen.. 

Scoop

It must be the spring fever that has kicked in, but I have the urge to share the good news with you: We are having a new baby in the summer ! And  the cherry to the cake: it is a little boy..I had hoped my two girls (now aged 5 and 2 already!) would be very excited about the idea of having a little brother. In reality, the older one is. The little one is actively ignoring any discussion of the baby despite the growing evidence that somebody  has invaded mommy's belly..The older one on the other hand has planned it all out already: she has a name for the baby, she has prepared list of do's and don't for the little sister to follow..My husband is of course all proud of his growing family..As for me, curiously enough, I feel like a narrator to the show despite being in the very centre. The afternoons with the girls are intensive with picking them up from creche and school, driving them to hobbies or playdates and admittedly the pregnancy has been a bit on the side lines..In fairness, I do practice regularly yoga and promise to sign-up for a refresher prenatal course, which I guess can be considered as baby time..? There are days of self-doubt when I wonder how on earth will we manage with three kids?? Will I be able to give enough love and individual attention to all three of them?? To be seen..

Parental leave - worth the effort!

It all started on a sunny winter lunch break, when I bumped at the garage into a cheery Swedish colleague of mine. She hopped on her bike and steered happily away at 12:30 to spend the afternoon with her children. "Hmm, that's luxorious, I thought. I would like to be in her shoes." In the following days I started rationalizing how could I in reality fit into those shoes: is it financially feasible or in workload wise, what would my colleagues think, how will we manage the daycare for the morning etc..As any project, which comes from the heart, the puzzles pieces just magically come together and a solution is emerging to each problem. All I needed to do is to put them into action! And I did! Within three working days I had convinced my husband, my colleagues, my boss and our nanny and here I am six weeks into my parental leave enjoying the afternoon switch my wonderful girls! Despite the high workload, financial pressures and sometimes rainy afternoons, we all feel it was the right decision. I am a very happy girl :) 

Mindful parenting

Look what I found! Will this be answer to my all my questions??

Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting

by Myla Kabat-Zinn, Jon Kabat-Zinn

Sign of life

Quite difficult to believe it has been almost two years since my last post. For some reason, today, having a rare calm moment before picking up my daughter from kindergarten, I was drawn back here. So many things happened! First of all, our little family has become larger with the birth of our second daughter. She just turned an admirable one year, moves faster than Fisher Price rabbit car and puts a smile on our face at least a hundred times a day. Her older sister - a fresh 4 years old - has developed a strong and yet highly sensitive character (coming from fathers side no discussion) and is placing as many times an argument on the table probably just for the sake of play. Although, tonight we had a unique sharing of feelings at bed time with her, when she was for the first time able to express herself on these chronic tantrums. Her statement was so calm, serious and sincere that I had tears in my eyes before she even spoke : "There is one thing mom that bothers me. It is just that you take all the time the baby, the baby and the baby in the arms.." Thank you my dear for having given me the chance to explain too.

My husband experiences a Renaissance with his healthy foot after the nine operations in four different countries. He plans to be back on the running track and skiing  by no time, but the training starts tomorrow. I finally bought him a Fitbit as birthday present to spin his motivation, but no results in the horizon so far. And me? I am good. Happy!  Decided on an impulse one winter night before Christmas to listen to my heart and asked for a part-time work since February. Convincing my close surroundings of the huge benefits for every family member, defending a business plan to ensure a financially sound spring for this household, lobbying colleagues to support me (at least in front of my back) and finally discussing with my boss seemed the least daunting parts of the process. And then started the glory days of working half-time, which is great. But I still find myself in trying to keep balance in this every day craziness. Of course. I have made some other tough  fundamental 'feel better' changes in my  life as well. Professionally, I moved from working for the private interest to the European interests. Big change in many levels. I have also kept my regular Hatha practice (started when pregnant for my second daughter) and just printed out a new running program to be fit for the 20 K in May. I hope this spring will bring more occasions to go see my friends, keep contact with those ones living abroad, have skype meetings with family and do more spontaneous outings with my husband (among a zillion of other things)..I think we should all ask to have it all, no? 

Breakfast stories

Breakfast used to be my favourite meal of the day. It gathered the family together, required minimum preparation (or creativity) and usually pleased everybody. It was somehow a peaceful ritual to start the new day. Since some months ago my 2 years old daughter no longer shares the same idea. The first argument still holds - the family is still gathered together, but the rest is long gone memory. Creativity (along with patience) have become the only seriously valuable currencies in this market: NO to porridge, NO to sandwich, NO to müsli, NO to pancakes (?!). Her ideal regime would include only and solemnly dried cranberries. Or raisins at the most. So what. It's not so serious I promised some time ago to myself. I got yet a recent and concrete reminder of this. Sunday morning at breakfast table, we're alone with my daughter and suddenly I breath in a piece of my muesli: coughing, fear and yet in the evening I was sure there was a peace left stuck somewhere in the tubes..In consequence I spent the next day in the emergency unit to do x-rays of my lungs. Sitting in the emergency waiting room can be an enlightening experience: the old lady crying next to her motionless husband's bed, the worried mother with a baby in high fever, the young man who didn't have any insurance and could not pay the account for treatment (shocking that this is happening in our "welfare" Europe?) I felt suddenly so sorry for all those people! We have had a somewhat rough path in my little family, but it's nothing! There are so much (more) goodness also around us! The wonderful friends treating us with delicious meals, weekends at the sea or encouraging emails, the neighbour stopping unannounced with a hot soup, the other one offering to do the groceries. The list could go on and on. Life is beautiful and cranberries and raisins are a great option for breakfast (if eaten peacefully).  

New Year's Promise

Dear All,

HAPPY, HEALTHY and FULFILLED NEW YEAR 2012!

The new year started with many wonderful 'Firsts' for my daughter: first road-trip up North to visit Santa Claus Himself, kiss to a (real) rain deer, welding of a horse shoe predicting the new year (yes, it is a tradition) and traveling by train.. Talk about the amazement of an almost 2 -year old! At least as surprised, I realized I had to convince her of the fun of rushing downhill with a snow sleigh, making snow angels or building a snow man..By the end of the week we were finally both enjoying:)

She was not the only one discovering new things either. Apparently the many years abroad have left me with some worrying gaps in my general knowledge about how to live this life (the right way). Did YOU know that:

- It is no longer enough that your child covers her mouth with her hand when coughing? She should be covering it with her elbow of course! (to avoid seriously the share of microbes)
- BIO food is dangerous (because it probably contains un-tested toxins that will harm your health)
- Eating vegetarian will very likely make even your child's growth curve slow down (even if you give them a steak twice a week)
-Yogurts should be forbidden, lunches must be served hot and heavy, milk with vitamin D is the only proper drink for a toddler and vitamin C is THE remedy for all illness!

I felt the responsibility of making smart decisions weighing heavy on my shoulders. Made me also wonder of all the other vital pieces of information I am still left out..How will we survive?

Some weeks later I was back home visiting our neighbourhood boulangerie with my little daughter. As we were leaving, the lady suddenly opened a drawer and - before I could take a breath - took a huge, beautiful bright blue artificial lollipop glowing of e-items and stack it to my daughters delighted mouth. I blushed and muttered: "Oh, indeed, great, there goes her first lolly..!". The lady looked at me puzzled: "But it's not so serious Madame".

I  realized from this moment onwards it was NOT going to be all so serious ! Who cares! Where's the FUN!  Think of us, kids of the wild 70's: How many e-filled candies have we eaten? How many toys coming fresh from Chinese factories? And yet we turned out so perfect !

New Year's promise? Let's take it laid back..