otherwise known as the stomach flu in North America. Started Monday night with Andrew vomitting all over me, Robert and our bedsheets, and lucky me, he passed those lovely germs along to his mommy. After the whole chicken pox incident, I have decided not to even bother trying to keep Ryan at a distance from Andrew when he is sick and vice versa. No matter how hard I would try to keep hands washed, toys separated, etc., Ryan will wander into the bathroom and start sucking on Andrew's toothbrush or something! So, hopefully, Ryan will not be next in line with this bug, but I won't be shocked at all if he is. Sucks, because we have social plans all weekend long, not to mention the fact that I had full intentions of wrapping up the last few Christmas presents, purchasing the stocking stuffers, etc. today and instead I spent most of the day with unwelcome liquids coming out of both ends! Pardon the graphics...it's been a rough day! Fortunately, this particular bug that seems to be going around the schools here, is a 24 hour thingy, and I am already starting to (slowly) regain an appetite, and Andrew was pretty much back to his normal self within a day, barring his decreased appetite.
One of the first things you learn when you become a Mom is that there are no such thing as "sick days" for us. No matter how bad I feel, the kids need to be fed, changed, bathed, taken and picked up from school, etc. and although Robert would be more than willing to help out, that does me no good when he is away on business, which, it so happens is the case right now. I think back to the old days of calling in sick when my job happened to be in an office, and the freedoms I had to stay in bed all day, nursing whatever ailment had come over me, and even still, feeling sorry for myself. And nowadays, I get a chance to throw up in between feeding Andrew breakfast and changing Ryan's poopy diaper! It's funny how us moms seem to manage when we feel this bad, but we all do. Our kids (speaking for all moms) don't walk around starving or naked or whatever when we're under the weather. We somehow find strength, somewhere deep down, to take care of our kids, before we take care of ourselves. I'm not patting myself on the back so much as feeling grateful for my own mother, who managed to care for us three kids primarily on her own, and undoubtedly during times of stomach flus, severe colds, etc. And inevitably, to this day, whenever I have a stomach bug, it is my Mommy's TLC I crave the most, complete with chicken noodle soup!
So this gastro thing brings me onto another subject that Susie and I spoke about at length today. Prior to moving to France, I haven't thrown up since I was a kid. (with the sole exception of one really bad night of drinking!) And yet, I've been living in France for 3.5 years and have already had 4 separate instances involving barf! And I now wonder why. Susie says that all of her friends who have young ones have in the not so distant past, been hit by a stomach flu. So, is this normal when you have little ones? I know for sure that at least one of the four previously mentioned occurrences was food poisoning. I bought a "Kebab", which is a special sandwich on a baguette with lamb meat, and was sick withing an hour of eating it. Here in France, the standards of hygiene are not quite at par with those in North America. And I'm quite certain the Food and Drug Admin would have some serious issues with some of the conducts of business in the bakeries and grocery stores alike. For example, in the US, you will NEVER see someone handling money and food simultaneously. If they handle your food, they will wash with antibacterial soap after touching your money, or more commonly, will simply wear gloves while preparing the food. That don't happen here! The bakery ladies take your coins (which supposedly have more germs than a public toilet seat) all day long, in exchange for a freshly baked baguette on the shelves. But in addition to that, I have noticed that prepared foods, such as quiches, pizzas, cold cut sandwiches, chickens, etc. are endlessly displayed at the bakeries and supermarkets in a non-refrigerated section! Even sandwiches with chicken and MAYONNAISE seem to sit for hours on a room temperature shelf. Quite frankly, I think this is just gross. I am the type of person that usually throws out cold meat or yogourt and the like ON the expiration date. I won't eat leftovers that have been in the fridge more than two days and I certainly would throw out a quiche if it sat on my own countertop for 8 hours. And finally, the other thing I have observed is that the number of public restrooms around here that do not have any type of soap to wash your hands (let alone a sink to wash your hands in to begin with and rest assured if there is running water to wash your hands, it will be NOTHING but freezing cold water) are far more common than those with soap. "Le gastro" is quite a common thing around here. But is it common because my circle is now one of little children that pass along their germs all day long, or does it have something to do with the less stringent hygiene standards in this country?
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Andrew's 4th Birthday Party!
First off, I have to say that having a birthday in December sorta sucks!!! Without doubt, he was the best Christmas present ever for me and Robert back in 2006, but now that it's time to start having real parties for him, December is just a bad month for them. People are busy. Christmas events are in full swing, shopping needs to be done on the weekends. The weather is cold and unpredictable. And with the drastic change in temperatures, it's inevitable that people get sick; myself included and fortunately I got in to my doctor the day before the party, who got me on a whack load of meds including antibiotics for my sinusitis.
All that said, I am thrilled to say that the party was a huge success! It was obvious to see that all the children were having a wonderful time, particularly birthday boy, and that totally warmed our hearts. Based on the weather forecast, we decided to change the original date, which unfortunately meant that about 10 kids who had previously RSVP'd would not be available, not to mention the fact that we had to miss a good friend's party who had planned hers for the same date and time as ours. But in the end, it was definitely the right decision as it rained all day long on the day we had originally planned. And fortunately, there were certainly enough friends there to call it a real party, and it meant the world to me that everyone who could show up, did show up, even though it was a rather chilly afternoon, and even with several newborn siblings. I was reluctant to plan the party for a Saturday originally, because that is tennis day, and Andrew is often tired after tennis and in need of a good nap. But everything fell into place perfectly, as I was able to get both of Ryan's naps in before leaving, in addition to putting Andrew down for a good hour before we had to leave. Robert's sole responsibility was creating the "Stick the Eyepatch on the Pirate" game and setting up the treasure chest pinata, but in the end, he contributed significantly, including packing up the car and setting up all the food, drinks, decorations, etc. so that all I had to do was wake up the kids, pack them up in the car and meet him there 5 minutes before the first guest arrived. Organizing a party is definitely a more difficult feat here in France for several reasons. First off, I am the first to admit that if we were in the US, I'd have given Publix a full-on order of finger foods, sandwiches, and a ready-made, beautifully decorated cake at a relatively low cost and simply picked it up the morning of the party. Here in France, that doesn't exist. And though it is probably possible to find someone who would cater things for you, it would be outrageously pricey (I saw an ad for someone who makes birthday cakes for 100 euros...forget that!!!) Pretty much like everything else here, you just gotta do it yourself. I would have been happy to attempt a fun cake myself, but even that is more difficult when you have virtually no baking appliances (we left all our kitchen appliances in the US since they don't work on these outlets here anyway) and in addition to that, I've yet to find a cake mix here in France that makes the right sort of cake to design (all the mixes I've used here yield a very gooey cake, yummy indeed but not ideal to form shapes with!), so I use the cake mixes that Robert brings from the US on his business trips, and I'm afraid to attempt my own design, as if it fails, I am left with nothing! So...I made a big batch of "pirate cupcakes" and made a regular cake and topped it with a personalized pirate icing sheet that I had to order from an ebay store in the UK!!! (if my dying computer will let me, I will eventually post some photos of the day on this site) But as I lit the candle and we all sang Happy Birthday to our little guy in two languages, all the effort was so worthwhile. I so love the fact that our boys are being exposed to such diversity in all respects (language, culture, etc.) and a multi-lingual environment is just so special, and so unique to me. In fact, at the last party we attended, we sang Happy Birthday in FOUR languages! The father is Italian, the mother is Estonian, the common language amongst the parents is English and the common language amongst the children is French. How cool is that?!!!
Ok, so I started this a week ago, and like most things I start now, I seldom get a chance to finish properly and in a timely manner, but I'll wrap it up and say that Robert and I were really happy with the way that Andrew's first real party went, and feel totally blessed for all the amazing friends that came, some of whom I now consider like family, and additionally grateful for the comments I received by email in the days after about how much fun they, and their children had, despite the c-c-c-c-cold!!! And for me, the "icing on the cake" was when I put Andrew to bed that night. Our routine after story time is bedtime prayer, in Andrew's version: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I "pair" the lord my soul to keep, may angels watch me in the night and wake me up in the morning light...AMEN", and then we briefly talk about what we are thankful for, taking turns, and we give thanks for everything from each other, to blankets and doudous and chocolate easter eggs and sunshine and water to drink and a bed to sleep in and dragons and Peter Pan movie, etc. etc. etc. Well on his birthday night, the very first thing he said was that he was thankful for his pirate party and for all his friends that came. And that made me feel, even for just an instant, that we must be doing something right!
All that said, I am thrilled to say that the party was a huge success! It was obvious to see that all the children were having a wonderful time, particularly birthday boy, and that totally warmed our hearts. Based on the weather forecast, we decided to change the original date, which unfortunately meant that about 10 kids who had previously RSVP'd would not be available, not to mention the fact that we had to miss a good friend's party who had planned hers for the same date and time as ours. But in the end, it was definitely the right decision as it rained all day long on the day we had originally planned. And fortunately, there were certainly enough friends there to call it a real party, and it meant the world to me that everyone who could show up, did show up, even though it was a rather chilly afternoon, and even with several newborn siblings. I was reluctant to plan the party for a Saturday originally, because that is tennis day, and Andrew is often tired after tennis and in need of a good nap. But everything fell into place perfectly, as I was able to get both of Ryan's naps in before leaving, in addition to putting Andrew down for a good hour before we had to leave. Robert's sole responsibility was creating the "Stick the Eyepatch on the Pirate" game and setting up the treasure chest pinata, but in the end, he contributed significantly, including packing up the car and setting up all the food, drinks, decorations, etc. so that all I had to do was wake up the kids, pack them up in the car and meet him there 5 minutes before the first guest arrived. Organizing a party is definitely a more difficult feat here in France for several reasons. First off, I am the first to admit that if we were in the US, I'd have given Publix a full-on order of finger foods, sandwiches, and a ready-made, beautifully decorated cake at a relatively low cost and simply picked it up the morning of the party. Here in France, that doesn't exist. And though it is probably possible to find someone who would cater things for you, it would be outrageously pricey (I saw an ad for someone who makes birthday cakes for 100 euros...forget that!!!) Pretty much like everything else here, you just gotta do it yourself. I would have been happy to attempt a fun cake myself, but even that is more difficult when you have virtually no baking appliances (we left all our kitchen appliances in the US since they don't work on these outlets here anyway) and in addition to that, I've yet to find a cake mix here in France that makes the right sort of cake to design (all the mixes I've used here yield a very gooey cake, yummy indeed but not ideal to form shapes with!), so I use the cake mixes that Robert brings from the US on his business trips, and I'm afraid to attempt my own design, as if it fails, I am left with nothing! So...I made a big batch of "pirate cupcakes" and made a regular cake and topped it with a personalized pirate icing sheet that I had to order from an ebay store in the UK!!! (if my dying computer will let me, I will eventually post some photos of the day on this site) But as I lit the candle and we all sang Happy Birthday to our little guy in two languages, all the effort was so worthwhile. I so love the fact that our boys are being exposed to such diversity in all respects (language, culture, etc.) and a multi-lingual environment is just so special, and so unique to me. In fact, at the last party we attended, we sang Happy Birthday in FOUR languages! The father is Italian, the mother is Estonian, the common language amongst the parents is English and the common language amongst the children is French. How cool is that?!!!
Ok, so I started this a week ago, and like most things I start now, I seldom get a chance to finish properly and in a timely manner, but I'll wrap it up and say that Robert and I were really happy with the way that Andrew's first real party went, and feel totally blessed for all the amazing friends that came, some of whom I now consider like family, and additionally grateful for the comments I received by email in the days after about how much fun they, and their children had, despite the c-c-c-c-cold!!! And for me, the "icing on the cake" was when I put Andrew to bed that night. Our routine after story time is bedtime prayer, in Andrew's version: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I "pair" the lord my soul to keep, may angels watch me in the night and wake me up in the morning light...AMEN", and then we briefly talk about what we are thankful for, taking turns, and we give thanks for everything from each other, to blankets and doudous and chocolate easter eggs and sunshine and water to drink and a bed to sleep in and dragons and Peter Pan movie, etc. etc. etc. Well on his birthday night, the very first thing he said was that he was thankful for his pirate party and for all his friends that came. And that made me feel, even for just an instant, that we must be doing something right!
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