Feeling sorry #teething

January Blues #teeth #cough #w̶o̶r̶k̶

Well, we've had a disaster of a week.

My usual cutie pie...

 ...is pretty much doing this all day:

I suppose it's all quite justified: the poor thing has 5 teeth coming in at once, 4 of which are her molars. Her gums are red and horribly swollen and she's basically existing on paracetamol for the moment. So I get it, but I still find it frustrating that I can't seem to comfort her - actually, she doesn't even really know herself what she wants. She doesn't want to be in her bed, or our bed, or in our arms, but yes ok in our arms after all, but not really, but definitely not then in our bed, or her bed...etc She pretty much wants to be carried all the time and flops around moaning and screaming if she gets put down (so I can put on my coat, go to the loo etc). 

This has also been going on for the past couple of nights and somehow it feels like we have a newborn again. I'm not the most patient person even after a full night of sleep, so I've found it really difficult. Small Fry is being a star and managed to get his sister to eat the only food she managed all day: 5 spoonfuls of yoghurt, just because it was him feeding her. 

And to top it all off, I haven't been able to shift my chesty phlegmy cough, which becomes a very, very dry and tickly hacking cough during the night, which turns out is worse. Last night it went on for hours and hours as the coughing led to retching and eventually to vomiting. As grim as it sounds. 

It might be factionally better today though, and I suppose I've been lucky my contract was delayed while all the paperwork went through. Monday will be the first day of our new routine, which means El Puma does the school pick ups...while I 'rest' at work.

All growed up #Thegraduand #Watcheditliveabroad #Willbesopasséforourkids

Today I watched my littlest sister graduate. She was in Brighton, I was on the streets of Paris. Such are the wonders of WhatsApp, 4G and live streaming. Two family members were physically present but an additional 3 of us were able to keep in real time contact and comment with Aunty Stina as the show went on. Itt wasn't only that, that made it all pretty cool of course. Here are a few screen shots of the moment that counts. Congratulations! 

The graduand

Weekend in nantes #downhillsince

Well I'm not usually one to suffer in silence, but I finally conceded defeat to this bout of bronchitis. Although I try it every time, I rarely find that self-medicating works for me. I gargle with rum, I take vast quantities of vitamin C, I drink lots of water and rest LOTS. And still, the past 3 times I've ended up on antibiotics anyway.

I thought I was winning until I woke up with a fever on Sunday morning. We were in the beautifully cold but sunny town of Nantes, about a 2 hour high-speed train journey from Paris, celebrating a kind of Gonzales-side Christmas at Mamie's house. I'd already spent Saturday lounging around, doing nothing, but to no avail. I was quite clearly sick.

On Monday I got the first appointment I could and got my long list of cures as typically prescribed by the French doctor. He called my cough 'productive', which basically meant I was coughing up phlegm every 15 minutes or so. Which is just disgusting. Not only that, but the coughing was so violent that twice it made me retch into the toilet and twice the phlegm came out with such force that I had to go searching for it around me. Yes, it was as gross as it sounds.

Thankfully, my new/old employer is so slow that my start date has again been delayed, and I have been pretty much able to rest at home. I say rest, but as you all know, the shopping, washing, drying, ironing, cleaning, folding, tidying up and cooking all still need to be done. But at least not starting this week has been a blessing in disguise.

 

The one and only time I set foot out the house

Celebrating epiphany

This was me for most of the weekend...and the train back home. I was not on form!

On the mend #usingprops

The G-K household has been battling bugs for the better part of the past week. It was actually Fingerling who was struck down first with a mysterious skin condition the day after we returned from Scotland. She developed little red welts on her torso that spread across her body. The pharmacy thought it was an allergic reaction to something, so I dutifully washed all of her clothes and sheets, but it didn't go away. They then though it might be an allergy to something she ate, but I couldn't think of any big differences to her diet...except for some freeze-dried blackcurrants from the health food shop that I was giving as a snack. Can you be allergic to those?

We don't know either but as soon as I gave her antihistamine they vanished over night. If I was being very scientific about it I suppose I could give her currants again and see what happens. But I won't. We got the antihistamine by going to the doctor, which involved another comedy moment. I took Fingerling at the end of the day as it was the only appointment left, which meant I also had to take Small Fry straight from school. They immediately began squabbling over the raisins I brought as a snack. Well, Small Fry is very good at sharing but Fingerling squealed every time her brother took a handful. She'd flay her arms in anger and of course they all went flying. She then started reading the magazines, which in her case means ripping them. Another person in the waiting room told her she was a 'naughtee butterrr-flyyy' (as she had a butterfly on her top) which I thought was a bit much. Once we got called in to see the doctor, Small Fry played happily with the little selection of toys on offer while I got Fingerling undressed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Small Fry spin on the chair and then reach for something behind him. As the chair tipped I involuntarily screamed his name, but neither of us got to him in time (I because I was holding on to Fingerling on the examining bench and the doc didn't seem to register what was happening) and the chair flipped and he landed on the wooden floor. Small Fry is not a quiet screamer and he managed to set Fingerling off too. Which is just how I like to end my days, and frequently do. I don't know what they all thought in the waiting room, but I ended up giggling quietly. Sometimes it has to be seen to be believed.

Anyway, El Puma spent the end of last week with flu-like symptoms and a hacking cough, but he strong as bull and was over it by the weekend...which is when I started to feel not very good at all. It felt a bit like the start of the flu, but 4 early nights and my contract start date being delayed by a week have helped me rest and I don't feel quite so fluey now. But I might have a mild bronchitis or at least a very nasty cough that I haven't been able to shake yet.

And above all this Small Fry sails, as healthy as anything. Maybe it's right what they say about early childcare providing immunity later!

Still, I finally got my diastasis seen to. A diastasis is the separation of the rectus abdominis muscles in the stomach and often occurs in pregnant women due to the expanding uterus. The two sides of the muscle normally return to each other, but a maternal age of over 35, a high baby birth weight and multiple pregnancies can mean that they don't quite reach, causing a diastasis. It can lead to lower back pain or changed posture, which I haven't noticed, but it is also a bit unsightly (creating that 'muffin top' look) and quite noticeable on slimmer people.

Here in France, the state still pays for postpartum abdominal retraining, which is what I am getting. I have been prescribed 15 sessions with a physio. I have to do exercises every day, plus in some sessions she'll use electrodes to help the muscles contract, a machine to reduce cellulite to make the area look nicer, and even this attractive set of bandaging:

Hopefully I'll manage a bikini this summer!

...and that's the dishwasher blown up as well #Comesin3s?

I pushed the 'go' button on the dishwasher and the go button went permanently. Not sure the insurance will be much help for this one...

January: the month of spending money we don't have and didn't budget for #there'salwayssomething

So it turns out that the insurance will pay half the cost of my new phone. Which makes it virtually affordable. And is a stroke of luck because El Puma just smashed our ceramic stove top.

Catching up #gotphone,willblogmoreregularly

Aaaand I have my phone! Well, sort of.  I have a phone, and once the lead that I left in London arrives (thank you Auntie Stina!), it will feel a lot like the phone I used to have. Of course what I also have is a great big whopping visa bill. I just knew I'd have to end up paying for a new one because no-one (neither the manufacturer nor the service provider) ever seems to take responsibility when something goes wrong with a phone. And they should: we spend enough money with them. And it's not my fault either that a phone in my pocket got so wet in a rain storm that it suffered from water damage.

It's been such a frustrating experience that we are going to change our service provider. Just as soon as our contract expires. So in another year. Sigh.

Anyway, here are some more photos from the past few weeks that I would have blogged about if I'd had a phone or internet.

Close up Small Fry

Close up Fingerling

new shoes

First trip on the merry-go-round #lovedit #nofear 

In the spotlight

Stealing her brother's head set, toys and books while he's asleep

The snowman light-tastic theatre experience

Waiting for it to start, or for Darth Vadar to appear

The show goes on

New year, new phone, back to taking and posting photos

I am so very happy to be networked up again. But first, I'm off to look up waterproof phone cases on amazon...

Happy New Year! #We'reback #Phoneless #Rested

And a very Happy New Year to you all!!!

We are back in Paris and feeling very rested after a wonderful two weeks in the UK. My lack of photo uploading and blogging is mostly due to my temporary iPhone replacement, which is not an iPhone and therefore the root of all my problems. I have taken some photos on it but I can't download them on to my computer, so for the moment my blogging is a bit bare.

The hiatus is also a teensy weensy bit to do with having next to no internet access in the Highlands over Christmas. And which turns out is good for the soul: nothing to do but talk, read, walk, and relax with massages, steam room, sauna, hot tub, jacuzzi and pool.

And so what will 2016 bring? We have already started to plan holidays, allocate finances for those holidays - and organise work to fill up the finances to pay for the holidays. As of next Monday, I will be employed for 20 hours a week at the OECD for 12 months in order to write a report on fisheries for food security in Indonesia. It's kind perfect: interesting work, only part-time, 30% of which is from home, and of course it will help pay for all those holidays we've got planned. We now have a very tight logistical schedule involving me using my bike lots, El Puma adjusting his hours lots and us relying on Rachel's kind assistance (Wendy's mum) to help out on Tuesday mornings...if it all goes to plan it should work perfectly.

But anyway, back to the last holiday. For lots of different reasons, we decided to travel to Scotland by train this time. It was perhaps a little bit cheaper, definitely a lot more fun than easy jet, and allowed us to stop off in London on the way. We met Oma there too (alas, with a broken arm) and I was able to catch up with friends and also take Small Fry to see The Snowman at the theatre - his first trip. It was a brilliant production and we had cool seats in one of the boxes. The continuous hum of kids talking actually brought energy to the theatre and meant I could freely answer any of Small Fry's questions. With no dialogue it was a really delightful visual production and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

[I'll insert some photos here once I've got them]

The Moness Estate on the edge of Aberfeldy is where we celebrated Christmas 2 years ago and we were looking forward to going back. A bouncy castle for the kids is set up every evening and there are a couple of short and beautiful walks that leave from the estate. We got a couple of cottages beside each other and so had some time together for the big meals and celebrations, but plenty of space for sleeping or taking a break. And without the internet, it really was a lovely and relaxing time. Made even better by our traditional Boxing Day visit to Perth to see the remainder of "everyone".

He really, really wanted to swim. Until he saw the water.

Heading for the birks o' Aberfeldy

Robbie Burns, who was inspired to write the poem The Birks O'Aberfeldy from this spot

 

The happy couple

Although the others headed back down south at the end of the week, we stayed on with Oma in Stirling. But for New Year we went through to Edinburgh to our friends' beautiful and central flat with a view of the castle. Fingerling came with us, which wasn't the initial plan, but seemed easier with Oma's broken arm. We got to bed at 3am and she was awake at 5h15, which pretty much serves us right for going to bed so late. At least on the 1st we were able to have brunch with my good friends from school days before heading home to warmth and a really, really, really long nap.

It's strange - I'm normally pretty good at writing a round up of the year in my diary, as well as some highlights and new year's resolutions. But this year, maybe it's time, it's definitely a problem of motivation, or maybe just because some significant events have overshadowed so much of the year. Not sure, but we are grateful to be happy and healthy, loved and to love, at peace, rested and ready to stuck into 2016, whatever it may bring.

With a happy new year from us all and looking forward to seeing you soon!