It's funny how one great day can totally lift you up and give you strength to cope with life's challenges. In all honesty, I know that I don't have much to complain about, and have always been good about counting my blessings, but in the past several days I have experienced some homesickness, some food poisoning (puked my brains out after eating a ham sandwich on a baguette that I purchased from my previously favorite bakery!), the commencement of temper tantrums by the little Budda, an annoying doctor's appointment (it wasn't really that bad, but I get easily offended by a doctor who totally cuts me off, and tells my husband to hurry up when undressing our boy yet receives ten thousand phone calls throughout our 30 minute appointment), two weeks of non-stop rain (and in a brief period of sunshine, I hung the wet clothes on the line only to have them soaked and worse, splashed with mud within hours thereafter), and overall frustration in dealing with French bureacracy and inefficiency.
And now everything seems all good again. We started the day off with a wake up at 7:30 am, which happened to be yet another continuous 12 and a half hour sleep. Andrew willingly wolfed down a complete breakfast of cereal and pears (he is back to being a happy little eater again and seems to like everything again except avacodoes and anything pureed, particularly baby food. We then washed and hung a load of laundry (which was dry when we came back home...yay!) The sun was shining, the temperature was crisp, but clear, the beautiful snow covered mountains in the background were glistening and we headed off for a walk into old town to play at the park. Andrew is now more interested in running around the playground and trying to climb up the slide than in eating every little thing on the ground. While at the park, I heard my name and bumped into a friend (and her two little girls) I met in May while I attended the "mom's night out" event with the Riviera Tumbletots. We had a nice chat (turns out her husband works at the same company as Robert) and she also gave me a great reference for a babysitter, who coincidentally happens to be Andrew's swimming "instructor's" daughter (maybe we will have date nights once again after all!) From the park, we headed to the pool for a swim and we made our first French friend. (i.e. does not speak English) I happened to meet her quite easily as Andrew was fixated on stealing all of her little boy's pool toys (her boy is the same age as Andrew) It was really the first time that I actually socialized 100% in French and I felt really good. We exchanged phone numbers and have made tentative plans to meet again next Wednesday. (In France, most working moms choose to work 4 days a week (with Wednesdays off) which happens to be a law here, i.e. that after you have a baby, you have the option to go back full-time or 4 days per week for a period of three years after your baby is born and your company has to hold the same job, position, etc.) From there, we headed back home for lunch and a nap and as we entered our building, we met two more of our neighbours. The woman upstairs (70 ish) introduced herself, asked me all about how things are going here and offered her assistance with anything I may need from an egg to a carer for Andrew. Then we met our seasonal neighbours down the hall who are from England. They, too, were super friendly and Andrew was quite fond of their dogs. After lunch, Andrew napped for 2 and a half hours, while I watched the Young and Restless (embarassed to admit that I am following that show again, but hey, it's great French practice!) and caught up on some bills, emails, etc. After dinner, and a phone call to Daddy who is in Germany right now, we read some books and Andrew was asleep by 6:55 PM. So...feeling very inspired and relaxed, I sat down and completed the remainder of our health insurance claims that have been weighing on my shoulders for the longest time. Life is good!
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